Repatriation flights full !

[jingjing99]

All 3 repatriation flights with Thai airways in August were booked out immediately... is there any prospect of more flights being laid on...on are they simply closing the door...

does this leave persons who qualify to enter completely locked out ...

ie...have work permits, and valid reentry stamps.... and an indate VISA....?

 

My booked Qatar flights cancelled ...Qatar says their flight program to Bangkok will start 2nd September...

 

Suvarnabhumi airport arrivals schedule are showing arrivals daily

from Cathay Pacific(HK)....KLM from Amsterdam,Austrian airlines(Vienna)...and I believe Lufthansa(Frankfurt).....can one book into these flights...?

Grateful if anyone has any input on this....

 

[BritTim]

The only way to find out is to ask the local Thai embassy. They know how many people they are allowed to send to Thailand, and on which flights. Presumably, Thais have priority, but there may be a small allocation for essential foreign workers.

[moontang]

My Cathay flight to HK was cancelled two weeks ago..it was for mid October.  Look at HND, NRT.

[ubonjoe]

They may have flights later this month and certainly next month. Get your name on the waiting list to for flight by starting the application process for a certificate of entry at the Thai embassy.

[DrJack54]

OP, I don't even know why your looking at flights. The first step is to contact Thai Embassy/consulate where you currently are. 

Some very helpful current threads of folk having gone through the process and gone through application, COE the whole deal including quarantine. All your info is there.

[stubuzz]

15 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

They may have flights later this month and certainly next month. Get your name on the waiting list to for flight by starting the application process for a certificate of entry at the Thai embassy.

From the Thai Embassy, London.

This makes the timeline very difficult.

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

please get repatriation flight first then you can send your documents for COE and visa

Kind Regards,

Visa Officer

[Phillip9]

31 minutes ago, jingjing99 said:

Qatar says their flight program to Bangkok will start 2nd September...

Airlines have been saying they will start flying to Thailand “next month” every month since March.  Qatar will cancel the September flights soon and then tell you they will start flying in October—which will also be a lie.

 

The only way in for the foreseeable future is on repatriation flights.

[sanuk711]

56 minutes ago, jingjing99 said:

All 3 repatriation flights with Thai airways in August were booked out immediately... is there any prospect of more flights being laid on...on are they simply closing the door...

does this leave persons who qualify to enter

I'm confused.....repatriation = the return of someone to their own country..

 

and then does this leave persons who qualify to enter.

 

Enter where.? their own country.....

This is about Thai nationals coming home----yes?

 

 

Edited August 12, 2020 by sanuk711

[Phillip9]

14 minutes ago, sanuk711 said:

I'm confused.....repatriation = the return of someone to their own country..

 

and then does this leave persons who qualify to enter.

 

Enter where.? their own country.....

This is about Thai nationals coming home----yes?

 

 

Foreigners that qualify and jump through all the hoop can take “repatriation” flights into Thailand.  It’s just a way to refer to the few flights authorized by the Thai government and not meant in the strict sense of the word repatriation.

Edited August 12, 2020 by Phillip9

[ubonjoe]

9 minutes ago, sanuk711 said:

This is about Thai nationals coming home----yes?

No

People that qualify can fly on the repatriation flights for Thais.

[sanuk711]

OK thanks for the clarification......

Edited August 12, 2020 by sanuk711

[moe666]

Ok, for those who did not read the latest. All Thai airports are closed to all incoming comercial flights, except those given special permission: repartration flights, and flights carring cargo. Do not buy a ticket on any flight unless you have went thru the Thai Embassy of your present location

[KhaoYai]

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

They may have flights later this month and certainly next month. Get your name on the waiting list to for flight by starting the application process for a certificate of entry at the Thai embassy.

He is refering to the Thai embassy in London Joe - there is no waiting list, even for Thais. When they announce flights its forst come, first served - that's why there are still some Thai's in the UK that have been trying to get home since March. Absolutely crazy situation.

[KhaoYai]

3 hours ago, BritTim said:

The only way to find out is to ask the local Thai embassy. They know how many people they are allowed to send to Thailand, and on which flights. Presumably, Thais have priority, but there may be a small allocation for essential foreign workers.

Sorry, waste of time. I spent 2 weeks trying to get some sense out of the Thai Embassy in London.  No matter what you ask them about COE, they reply with the same crazy email - one that states you have to book flights and an ASQ hotel without dates before they will consider a COE application - even though booking the flight is impossible until the embassy gives the go ahead.

[KhaoYai]

3 hours ago, jingjing99 said:

All 3 repatriation flights with Thai airways in August were booked out immediately... is there any prospect of more flights being laid on...on are they simply closing the door...

does this leave persons who qualify to enter completely locked out ...

ie...have work permits, and valid reentry stamps.... and an indate VISA....?

OP, don't fry your brain trying to get any sense out of the RTE London. You are not locked out but there is no waiting list.  No matter what you ask them they will just keep sending you the same e-mail over and over again.

 

The best thing you can do is to keep a close eye on their website or facebook page and as soon as they announce the dates for September, get on to them.  Be aware though, you are unlikely to get one of the £689 economy seats - you will most likely have to go business class at £2808!!!

[BritTim]

3 hours ago, stubuzz said:

From the Thai Embassy, London.

This makes the timeline very difficult.

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

please get repatriation flight first then you can send your documents for COE and visa

 

Kind Regards,

Visa Officer

 

When did you receive that? For some time, the procedure has been to purchase the flight and ASQ hotel only after you have been assigned a flight.

[KhaoYai]

4 minutes ago, BritTim said:

When did you receive that? For some time, the procedure has been to purchase the flight and ASQ hotel only after you have been assigned a flight.

Incorrect. I gave up 2 weeks ago and was getting a very similar e-mail on a daily basis. They only change when flights become available, once thay are full they revert to the same craziness. No proper explanation - just ridiculous e-mails.

 

[stubuzz]

1 hour ago, BritTim said:

5 hours ago, stubuzz said:

From the Thai Embassy, London.

This makes the timeline very difficult.

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

please get repatriation flight first then you can send your documents for COE and visa

 

Kind Regards,

Visa Officer

 

When did you receive that? For some time, the procedure has been to purchase the flight and ASQ hotel only after you have been assigned a flight.

This week.

[Milky girl]

There is no more flights in August. You need to wait until September. Do not book any flight. It need to be only repatriation flight from the embassy. And always check in Thai embassy website.They will be update next flights around 27-31 August. 

[SnipTheCat]

Only repatriation flights are operating, arrivals and departure indicated on the airport website may indicate commercial lines operating cargo only flights (they are allowed as long as no crew gets out of the plane). 

 

Number of repatriation flights are limited by the number of quarantine places available (last week there were 3400 places available for ASQ => 6800 persons per month), I have not the number of how many government quarantine places are available for the thais. 

 

I got out of ASQ on sunday, I can say that there were Thais in my ASQ, I also know that diplomats and some guests of the government are using some of those 3400 places. 

 

Priority is given to Thai repatriates, then to foreigners contributing to the thai economy and the urgency of the return is taken into account : If you are a director of a thai company, you are more likely to be accepted than if you are an english teacher. Also you need to convince the embassy of the urgency of your return... You will have to call, email, insist, and take leap of faith to show you are willing to do what it takes to get back... 

 

My father is currently trying to get back as well, but his reason is marriage, he got married in february and had to go back to finalize things before go to live in thailand, and he got stuck  since March, they ask him to get an ASQ reservation before accepting his paperwork, only 3 hotels take flexible ASQ reservations, but... when he gets the flight there is no guarantee there will be availability, I talked with the ASQ I was in, and they said they received instructions from the thai government not to take any reservation unless a repatriation flight issued through a Thai embassy is provided to them, and anyway they are fully booked for August and almost fully booked for September (as well as all others I contacted). 

 

The difficulty to get back will be adjusted according to the quota... if there are too many people wanting to come back for the number of ASQ places and repatriation flight, they'll make things more hard / impossible depending on the urgency, it's as simple as that...

 

Economy seats are given in priority to Thai people, so expect to be asked to take a Business class seat. In my repatriation flight, there were ~300 passengers, I would say 270 Thais and 30 foreigners, all foreigners except for a couple and a family with 2 kids were in Business class.

[tso310]

18 minutes ago, SnipTheCat said:

Economy seats are given in priority to Thai people, so expect to be asked to take a Business class seat. In my repatriation flight, there were ~300 passengers, I would say 270 Thais and 30 foreigners, all foreigners except for a couple and a family with 2 kids were in Business class.

Nearly correct. They have been using their A350-900s. The booking systems for repat flights are 5 business, 255 economy. The A350 is the most efficient and is being used also to Copenhagen. There have been attempts, as posted in the Thai News section in July from The Nation, to increase the number of flights from London but obviously to no avail.

The BKK-LHR flights were bookable

https://www.thaiairways.com/en_TH/book/offers/special_offers/bkk-lhr.page

 

Whats annoying is that back in April the Germans repatriated 30,000 of their citizens from New Zealand over about a 10 day period. I posted about this back then. Loads of pics from NZ aircraft enthusiasts as Lufthansa A380s and B747-8s were first time visitors to NZ.

 

Edited August 12, 2020 by tso310
more info

[Maestro]

3 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

...The best thing you can do is to keep a close eye on their website or facebook page and as soon as they announce the dates for September, get on to [the Thai embassy in London]...

 

23 minutes ago, SnipTheCat said:

...I talked with the ASQ I was in, and they said they received instructions from the thai government not to take any reservation unless a repatriation flight issued through a Thai embassy is provided to them...

 

I am a bit confused about the timing of the first step in the entire process. What comes first, 

1. filling out a form immediately on the embassy web site or contacting them in writing by other means to let them know that you would like to get a seat on the first available upcoming  repatriation flight with free seats, or
2. waiting for flights with free seats to be announced on the embassy's website or Facebook page and then Inform the embassy on which flight you would like to get a seat?

[KhaoYai]

20 minutes ago, SnipTheCat said:

Only repatriation flights are operating, arrivals and departure indicated on the airport website may indicate commercial lines operating cargo only flights (they are allowed as long as no crew gets out of the plane). 

Not strictly true. Passenger aircraft are landing but without any passengers being allowed to disembark. Some are taking passengers out of Thailand - others are refuelling etc.  The crazy part about this situation is that if the various Thai Embassies and Consulates around the world would just check eligibility and issue a certificate of entry, leaving the flights and quarantine hotel up to you - you could enter on one of these 'ghost' flights.  The airline is supposed to check your hotel booking and in any case, it will be checked when you arrive. That would mean more space on repat flights for Thai people.

 

Aircrew do leave the planes and do stay in Bangkok overnight if necessary - I don't know who told you they can't leave the plane. They are controlled though.

 

With regard to your reference to the airport's arrivals and departures website - I have found that site to be inaccurate. I've been watching some arrivals and departures closely as my wife will be travelling to the UK in a couple of weeks so I am following flights as I'm wary of cancellations.  Last week a Finnair flight never arrived in Bangkok and never departed either - at least according to the airport's website.

 

When I checked on flightradar24 the flight was in fact, over Kazakhstan having left Bangkok on time at 08.55. 

[KhaoYai]

1 minute ago, Maestro said:

I am a bit confused about the timing of the first step in the entire process. What comes first, 

1. filling out a form immediately on the embassy web site or contacting them in writing by other means to let them know that you would like to get a seat on the first available upcoming  repatriation flight with free seats, or
2. waiting for flights with free seats to be announced on the embassy's website or Facebook page and then Inform the embassy on which flight you would like to get a seat?

The Embassy is also confused. The only application form I've seen is one for Thai's.  Now that August flights are full, they will probably revert back to how they dealt with enquiries previously.

 

Example:

 

Q. "I want to travel to Thailand to visit my wife, can you tell me how I go about making an application?"

A. Below is a straight copy and paste of an e-mail I received from the RTE London.

 

[email protected]

Fri 17/07/2020 00:02

 

 

For those who would like to travel to Thailand, please kindly visit http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/119247-Requirements-for-Certificate-of-Entry-during-trave.html#1

Visa : Requirements for Certificate of Entry during travel restriction - Royal Thai Embassy, London What you need to prepare hard copy to present at the immigration in Thailand: 1. The Certificate of Entry . 2. Declaration form. 3. Copy of your work permit or WP3 or permission to work in Thailand www.thaiembassy.org

You are required to have the flight booked prior submit the application for COE which can be submitted at the same time as the visa application (if you do not have the visa) .

For those who have already obtained the visa and the flight booked, please submit document and application for COE to this email.

Please be advise to wait until there are commercial flight  first before planing your travelling.

Due to the high volume of emails, we do not reply information which can be found on the website.

 

 

That email was sent repeatedly until 21/07/2020 when a slightly better one appeared:

 

Consular Section <[email protected]>

Tue 21/07/2020 11:34

 

Dear Sir/Madame,

 

  Thank you very much for your email, you need a visa and the COE. You can submit all document requested to proceed visa and COE at the same time at http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services

You are also required to bring in a copy of all document required.

 

Please note that COE will be issued once you have the confirmed flight and ASQ.

There will be a repatriation flight. The seat will be allocated prioritise for Thais. Please keep update further information about the seat available at www.thaiembassy.org./london

 

 

Unfortunately the last repatriation flight of this month on 26 th of July is fully occupied.  We would like to emphasise that there are no commercial flights allowed to get into the country at the moment. However, the airline would like to sell you tickets that cannot really fly. They may be able to refund it later. It would be better to wait a little more until there are updated.

 

Should you any further enquiries, please kindly contact

[email protected][mailto:[email protected]]
 

Best regards
Consular Officer,
Royal Thai Embassy, London
29-30 Queen's Gate 
London
SW7 5JB
Tel: 02072255500

 

Your option 2 is probably the best thing to do unless things have changed since 24/07 - that was my last contact with them. At that time, there was no queueing system available although I heard (unconfirmed) that those foreigners travelling with a Thai national were having more luck.

 

I doubt things have changed, they seem to be more receptive when flights are first announced, then they just send out senseless e-mails. I haven't heard of anyone being able to register for the 'first available flight' but I'm sure someone will come along and claim they have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SnipTheCat]

55 minutes ago, tso310 said:

Nearly correct. They have been using their A350-900s. The booking systems for repat flights are 5 business, 255 economy. The A350 is the most efficient and is being used also to Copenhagen. There have been attempts, as posted in the Thai News section in July from The Nation, to increase the number of flights from London but obviously to no avail.

The BKK-LHR flights were bookable

https://www.thaiairways.com/en_TH/book/offers/special_offers/bkk-lhr.page

 

Whats annoying is that back in April the Germans repatriated 30,000 of their citizens from New Zealand over about a 10 day period. I posted about this back then. Loads of pics from NZ aircraft enthusiasts as Lufthansa A380s and B747-8s were first time visitors to NZ.

 

In my case it was a Boeing 787 from Amsterdam to Bangkok, operated by KLM, I did a quick count and there were about 30 seats in business 8 x 4 and there were 2 missing seats on the last row in center.

[SnipTheCat]

40 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

 

I am a bit confused about the timing of the first step in the entire process. What comes first, 

1. filling out a form immediately on the embassy web site or contacting them in writing by other means to let them know that you would like to get a seat on the first available upcoming  repatriation flight with free seats, or
2. waiting for flights with free seats to be announced on the embassy's website or Facebook page and then Inform the embassy on which flight you would like to get a seat?

It depends on the category under which you are repatriated, for Work Permit, the ASQ reservation will be asked after the embassy has a repatriation and willing to give you a seat. I had deposited the COE request about 16 days earlier, and 1 week after they opened a link to a google doc to apply for a repatriation flight (lucky I was checking the embassy site every day, they wouldn't give me the info by themselves). I had been emailing and trying to call them for the last 5 days of those 16 days without any luck when I got a phone call from them saying they had a repatriation flight for me on 24th for ~800€ (10 days later), which was not 100% confirmed, and that I was requested to make an ASQ reservation ASAP. I spent 10 hours and think I got the last ASQ place by begging the last hotel that suddenly turned full (this was the day with the egyptian soldier and somalian diplomat incident, I think they blocked rooms for them). Even though the hotel told me "things have changed" and they couldn't take any booking, I heard the girl talk with her manager and they finally let me make a reservation... Sent it to the embassy, they called back saying "Sorry there is a problem with the repatriation, it's full... there's only seats available in Business class for 1900€ but if you take it it's 100% sure), there was an alternative for 2 days later from Frankfurt... but my ASQ wouldn't be valid, and getting a covid test less than 72 hours before a flight on a sunday evening made that option impossible.

For marriage reason, they request an ASQ reservation when you deposit the documents for the COE... That just doesn't make sense... unless it's a way to say they don't allow that category for the moment without really admiting it, or at least discouraging most of them by making the way incredibly difficult... that's my feeling.

[SnipTheCat]

50 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

Not strictly true. Passenger aircraft are landing but without any passengers being allowed to disembark. Some are taking passengers out of Thailand - others are refuelling etc.  The crazy part about this situation is that if the various Thai Embassies and Consulates around the world would just check eligibility and issue a certificate of entry, leaving the flights and quarantine hotel up to you - you could enter on one of these 'ghost' flights.  The airline is supposed to check your hotel booking and in any case, it will be checked when you arrive. That would mean more space on repat flights for Thai people.

 

Aircrew do leave the planes and do stay in Bangkok overnight if necessary - I don't know who told you they can't leave the plane. They are controlled though.

 

With regard to your reference to the airport's arrivals and departures website - I have found that site to be inaccurate. I've been watching some arrivals and departures closely as my wife will be travelling to the UK in a couple of weeks so I am following flights as I'm wary of cancellations.  Last week a Finnair flight never arrived in Bangkok and never departed either - at least according to the airport's website.

 

When I checked on flightradar24 the flight was in fact, over Kazakhstan having left Bangkok on time at 08.55. 

I possibly don't know all or don't have all the info correct as things change all the time???? But on CAAT website they mention allowing cargo flights as long as no crew gets out... I read an article when I was in Belgium, I think it was about Air France, talking how they removed the seats from some A380 for using them as cargo and they mentionned the route to Bangkok. COE was supposed to be given and flight and ASQ up to you, but they changed that early july, now you can only get back through a repatriation flight which is managed by the thai embassy and the airline (In my case it was Thai embassy of belgium through thai embassy in Netherlands with KLM for Amsterdam-Bangkok, the alternative flight was through thai embassy in germany and Lufthansa for Frankfurt-Bangkok)
It's true I did check flightradar24 and I saw some mismatch... 

[AndrewMciver]

7 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

He is refering to the Thai embassy in London Joe - there is no waiting list, even for Thais. When they announce flights its forst come, first served - that's why there are still some Thai's in the UK that have been trying to get home since March. Absolutely crazy situation.

 

I refuse to believe there are Thai's that have been waiting since March. Give me a source for this. 

 

You have some who haven't completed the forms and aren't registering then whinging on facebook they didn't make the repatriation flight. 

[tso310]

3 hours ago, SnipTheCat said:

In my case it was a Boeing 787 from Amsterdam to Bangkok, operated by KLM, I did a quick count and there were about 30 seats in business 8 x 4 and there were 2 missing seats on the last row in center.

Thanks for the update. I know Thai have used EVA from London, I saw a video of a flight on the Thai Embassy London Facebook page. Videos on check in, arrival at Bangkok. Actually quite informative which surprised me. 

[KhaoYai]

5 hours ago, SnipTheCat said:

It depends on the category under which you are repatriated, for Work Permit, the ASQ reservation will be asked after the embassy has a repatriation and willing to give you a seat. I had deposited the COE request about 16 days earlier, and 1 week after they opened a link to a google doc to apply for a repatriation flight (lucky I was checking the embassy site every day, they wouldn't give me the info by themselves).............................................

I take it that as you mention a ticket price of 800 Euros, you were dealing with a European Embassy?  Note, the OP is refering to the UK - all embassies are dealing with this matter differently.