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British travellers left stranded in Thailand accuse airlines of cashing in on COVID-19 crisis


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I cant get a commercial flight from Thailand because Emirates have my money and my passport is nearly full.What can I do? I have 2 young kids with me I cant make an extension with a nearly full passport and cant make a new passport since the agency is closed.

 

Opps, agencies issue passports now. It's always nice to blame others for their own incompetence. Innit? 

Edited by Isaanbiker
What about your embassy? Emergency passport, etc??
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5 minutes ago, bristolgeoff said:

my friend is struck in cnx and he knows the price is high.he has decided to stay put and wait until a flight is available at a fair price.nothing he can do but wait and do something about the vise renewal from there

10 days overstay is 5,000 baht. Visa renewal?

 

You've mixed something up here. 

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We flew Thai Airways as we always do.

They rescheduled our tickets with no fees at all, when we had to cut holiday short 14 days ago.

 

That's service.

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Just checked out of curiosity flights from BKK to London. EVA has direct flights for about 21k baht, on Sunday 5th would be the next possibility. It is certainly more expensive than half of a cheap return flight but not an extorniate price. Also a one way flight is usually relatively more expensive even in normal circumstances. Now they are flying empty to Thailand. Airlines are not charities and these are exceptionally difficult times for them. Also many options with a connecting flight without ridiculous flight times.

 

I had a flight myself with Qatar originally in May. When the crisis was unfolding I changed the date to early April. When the company cancelled the second segment of my flight and the schedule became very inconvenient I decided to act fast and bought a Finnair flight for 20k baht instead and departed last week. Still waiting for the Qatar's customer service to solve my issue and get a refund. Good side about that company is that it is backed up by the oil rich state and not the first one to go bust so I am pretty confident about getting my money back. They sent me a message that it will take 2 to 4 weeks to handle each case but as long as the request has been made early enough as the rules state they will take care of it.

Edited by rabang
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13 hours ago, Andrew65 said:

A few weeks ago I paid 4,900 Baht to change my airline ticket, almost exactly the same amount that I'd paid a year previously. nowt to do with CV. (Cos it was a cheap ticket to start with).

Another thing being, Thailand is now pretty much closed to foreigners, foreign airlines are gonna have to fly almost empty airliners into Thailand in order to fly people out.

Returning Thais may be booking those flights

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8 minutes ago, baansgr said:

Returning Thais may be booking those flights

There aren't too many of them according to reports we have seen. Sometimes only four or five passengers in big plane going to Thailand.

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No sympathy for anyone who have been in Thailand since the virus started, and

who did not think about leaving before now.  Going to home countries, mean going

to where family lives as well, so you could get a bit of help while you are doing

your 2 week isolations.  Good luck now, before the remaining flights are

cancelled.

Geezer

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1 hour ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

No sympathy for anyone who have been in Thailand since the virus started, and who did not think about leaving before now. 

I have sympathy for all those who left Thailand for UK, US, and elsewhere and would have been better off if they had stayed in Thailand.

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19 hours ago, Vernon Wooldridge said:

£1950 Qatar one way economy BKK-HRW selling blackmarket fares cashing in on the coronavirus and stranded passengers. 

Why not actually look at the website rather than look at the business class, short notice, ticket price. But no you just prefer to complain

7CD7DF2A-B1DC-4636-9E42-AF458E887CE4.thumb.png.a2801b35bf32e5a437aedb8ac680de69.png

 

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9 hours ago, rabang said:

There aren't too many of them according to reports we have seen. Sometimes only four or five passengers in big plane going to Thailand.

When break-even numbers for airlines tend to be around 70% bums on seats.

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15 hours ago, StevieAus said:

Thanks Andrew never thought of using the traditional Thai method this was for a short holiday booked a year ago so it’s not that we had to go

We live north of Chiang Mai so my wife suggested if they are open we drive down and visit their office

PS if there is a young lady at the travel agent I might go on my own

Good luck. Some of the Thai travel agents can be very helpful and really know their stuff.

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Qatar Airways has closed their Chiang Mai office and aren't answering their phone calls in Bangkok. Online requests for a refund are not answered. They didn't even send me a notice telling me my flight has been canceled, I had to find out for myself online. Anyone else have any luck getting a refund from this airline after having your flight cancelled?

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14 hours ago, losworld said:

Good points but a German told me they would be charged for the flight at a later date.

That's right, they are charged only 99 Euro initially. This is a humanitarian gesture by Condor, who are thereby enabling people low on cash to get a flight out. However, once they are back they will be sent a bill for the remaining cost of the flight, most likely in the 400-700 Euro range.

 

Condor will not dare to profit from these flights unduly as the German government will not want that (bad publicity). Nevertheless it is common practice nowadays to pay for rescue measures. The same would happen if you are saved at sea by the coast guard, or if you get an ambulance. This will all be charged.

 

Nothing is free anymore. Only our parents enjoyed the free days, we, their children, have to pay their pension and our own costs.

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On 4/2/2020 at 2:54 PM, twix38 said:

No sympathy. I saw this coming and left 6 weeks ago. No way did I want to risk Thai health care or costs. 

 

Those that stayed until now risk both of the above.

Dang.  Guess you smart me dumb.  Stuck here in LOS.  

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I'm with those who say it's still simple to get to the UK, and not overly expensive.  Here's a current offer with KLM (leaving Sunday 5th), fairly reasonable timings, and it includes a return later in the year.  Add 1,500 baht each way if you want a hold bag.

image.png.f1c49998f94f0a367605b4576abd9bbb.png

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On 4/2/2020 at 11:48 AM, Jajazazajaja said:

 

“I cant get a commercial flight from Thailand because Emirates have my money and my passport is nearly full.“

 

Passport nearly full? What has that got to do with anything?

 

 

How about reading the full quote? "I have 2 young kids with me I cant make an extension with a nearly full passport and cant make a new passport since the agency is closed."

 

Flights have been cancelled and Emirates are charging extortionate prices for flights during the coming weeks, which means people are forced to extend their stays in Thailand, which is a problem if your passport is already full.

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20 minutes ago, treetops said:

I'm with those who say it's still simple to get to the UK, and not overly expensive.  Here's a current offer with KLM (leaving Sunday 5th), fairly reasonable timings, and it includes a return later in the year.  Add 1,500 baht each way if you want a hold bag.

image.png.f1c49998f94f0a367605b4576abd9bbb.png

forgot glasgow was in the UK

 

do they not do one-way for 15k?

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37 minutes ago, treetops said:

I'm with those who say it's still simple to get to the UK, and not overly expensive.  Here's a current offer with KLM (leaving Sunday 5th), fairly reasonable timings, and it includes a return later in the year.  Add 1,500 baht each way if you want a hold bag.

image.png.f1c49998f94f0a367605b4576abd9bbb.png

 

no one from the uk is stuck in thailand.

 

since the virus started it has been possible to get flights to the uk in the region of 350GBP - 600GBP from sites such as expedia and lastminute, just do some research, just done a quick search now...

 

IMG_3244.JPG.b87f14ce7f428cee0dabd7c58e4e46ee.JPG

 

 

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9 hours ago, strabel23 said:

Qatar Airways has closed their Chiang Mai office and aren't answering their phone calls in Bangkok. Online requests for a refund are not answered. They didn't even send me a notice telling me my flight has been canceled, I had to find out for myself online. Anyone else have any luck getting a refund from this airline after having your flight cancelled?

With Qatar Airways, I Wouldn't Hold yer Breath waiting for a REFUND !!

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4 hours ago, Myran said:

How about reading the full quote? "I have 2 young kids with me I cant make an extension with a nearly full passport and cant make a new passport since the agency is closed."

 

Flights have been cancelled and Emirates are charging extortionate prices for flights during the coming weeks, which means people are forced to extend their stays in Thailand, which is a problem if your passport is already full.

There are other airlines than just Emirates. Try Skyscanner. I am not saying that everyone is like that, certainly there are people who can't go back home for one reason or another but also plenty of folks don't want or can't find out what options they have. They are just waiting for someone else to rescue them.

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10 hours ago, strabel23 said:

Qatar Airways has closed their Chiang Mai office and aren't answering their phone calls in Bangkok. Online requests for a refund are not answered. They didn't even send me a notice telling me my flight has been canceled, I had to find out for myself online. Anyone else have any luck getting a refund from this airline after having your flight cancelled?

I am waiting. I got a message a few days ago that all requests will be processed within 2-4 weeks of receiving them, on a first-in, first-out basis. This is what is says: "Rest assured that as long as your request was received at least 72 hours before departure, it will go through as expected."

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Anybody who has left it this late to be flying home only has themselves to blame. I, me and the Mrs were due for a trip to the UK in late March. I started looking at flights in January when this started to really kickoff, followed what was going on, and in the end cancelled the trip. Reason being the situation we have now. European as well as other nations have been advising their citizens to return home ASAP for a while now. Sorry, I hope you all get home safe and well but not much sympathy from me.

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