user70 Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 I understand that to go to Bangkok (e.g., via visa exemption, regular tourist visa, or special tourist visa), one currently has to book a so-called authorized semi-commercial flight. To book such flight, is it ok to book it via Google Flight and just making sure that the last leg of the flight has a Flight Number (e.g. SFO---(UA 837)--->NRT----(NH 805)---->BKK) that is listed in the list of authorized semi-commercial flight? Or do I have to book such flight in some special way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 You have to reserve your flights directly with the airline. Info is here on the embassy website. https://thaiembdc.org/visas/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user70 Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 24 minutes ago, ubonjoe said: You have to reserve your flights directly with the airline. thank you do you know if "You have to reserve your flights directly with the airline." means one can reserve online via the airline website, does this means one have to talk to an airline agent to make the booking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackcab Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 16 minutes ago, user70 said: ...does this means one have to talk to an airline agent to make the booking? You can book online using the airline's own website. No need to talk to anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user70 Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 1 minute ago, blackcab said: You can book online using the airline's own website. No need to talk to anyone. thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treetops Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 5 minutes ago, blackcab said: You can book online using the airline's own website. No need to talk to anyone. From previous reports I would agree, but the link supplied by ubonjoe says differently for all but Qatar I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user70 Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 8 minutes ago, treetops said: From previous reports I would agree, but the link supplied by ubonjoe says differently for all but Qatar I think. Thank you, where on https://thaiembdc.org/visas/ does it say one has to talk to an airline agent to make the booking (i.e., one cannot reserve online via the airline website)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salerno Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Re "having to book direct with the airline", based on what? The information on that link is just telling you not to contact the Embassy for semi-commercial flights and to ensure you have all required/correct documentation. It doesn't exclude anyone booking via Google flights etc. At this time the way flights can be cancelled, I'd say it's prudent to book via the airline but it's not essential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treetops Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 2 minutes ago, user70 said: Thank you, where on https://thaiembdc.org/visas/ does it say one has to talk to an airline agent to make the booking (i.e., one cannot reserve online via the airline website)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user70 Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 4 minutes ago, Salerno said: Based on what? The information on that link is just telling you not to contact the Embassy for semi-commercial flights and to ensure you have all required/correct documentation. It doesn't exclude anyone booking via Google flights etc. https://thaiembdc.org/visas/ says: Quote For the semi-commercial flights, please contact the airlines directly. This could be understood as booking via Google Flight being invalid (except if Google Flight perhaps redirected to the airline website). However, I don't see what the motivation behind this is. This makes no sense. But many other requirements also makes no sense, so I am not sure which requirements are required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user70 Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 5 minutes ago, treetops said: From my understanding, this is just for repatriation flights for Thai nationals. (no clue why they would have different flights than non-Thais). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salerno Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 5 minutes ago, user70 said: However, I don't see what the motivation behind this is. Ditto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treetops Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 3 minutes ago, user70 said: From my understanding, this is just for repatriation flights for Thai nationals. (no clue why they would have different flights than non-Thais). You are correct - I skim read it and missed that, but your comment regarding "please contact the airlines directly" may apply. For something as sensitive to change as this, I'd be doing that anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salerno Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 3 minutes ago, user70 said: From my understanding, this is just for repatriation flights for Thai nationals. (no clue why they would have different flights than non-Thais). As I understand it, they've arranged a set number of flights to get their people home, hence giving the contact details so those eligible can arrange to get on those flights and avail themselves of the free quarantine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackcab Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 A friend of mine entered Thailand about a week ago, from the UK. They booked their flight with Qatar using the Qatar airline website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user70 Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 2 hours ago, blackcab said: A friend of mine entered Thailand about a week ago, from the UK. They booked their flight with Qatar using the Qatar airline website. Thanks for sharing your friend's experience! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billpro785 Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 Booked my flight with KLM using their website, even got to select my own seats. Price was around 900 USD from the USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorecard Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 18 hours ago, blackcab said: You can book online using the airline's own website. No need to talk to anyone. Perhaps that's case by case, the Singapore Airlines daily semi-commercial flight (S'pore to Bkk) is not showing on S'pore airlines main website and you have to talk direct to the airline. Calling from Australia the call redirects to a SQ officer in S'pore (but charged as a local call). I've called already, the SQ officer was courteous, good listener and gave a lot of good advice including the specific address to check current situation with transferring flights in S'pore, no hurry and (at least for the flight I was asking about) the fare is much reduced (both legs of the flight; Syd to S'pore and Spore to Bkk). SQ officer also indicated I could book the flight and pay through her immediately (Visa/M'card etc.) or 'call back when your ready' and she gave her name. There is a AU$50 fee for booking using this service. Calling from Australia the Tel no. is 13 10 11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorecard Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 17 hours ago, Salerno said: As I understand it, they've arranged a set number of flights to get their people home, hence giving the contact details so those eligible can arrange to get on those flights and avail themselves of the free quarantine. Plus for many countries there are still many citizens having big problems to get home, currently some 40,000 Australians still trying to get home and the repat. flights can't cope with this, hence they started another stream of flights (labelled semi-commercial flights) which are planned to, on arrival, be met by local health, immigration etc., officials in Bkk, and to get these folks (when all checked) into vehicles owned/operated by the quarantine hotels. It's working well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorecard Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 5 minutes ago, scorecard said: Plus for many countries there are still many citizens having big problems to get home, currently some 40,000 Australians still trying to get home and the repat. flights can't cope with this, hence they started another stream of flights (labelled semi-commercial flights) which are planned to, on arrival, be met by local health, immigration etc., officials in Bkk, and to get these folks (when all checked) into vehicles owned/operated by the quarantine hotels. It's working well. The semi-commercial flight list spreadsheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ijBJOTgFJPAuWUfkPIA60iniXB9j9Ba2XHafXzA6JCw/edit#gid=1563230051 It's created/updated regularly by the Thai Office of Consular Affairs last update was yesterday 10 Feb 2021. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olmate Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 Interested to know the cost of flight,mate of mine just booked SQ flight BKK SIN Canberra for 1500AUD, . via input from Oz Embassy here. 18 minutes ago, scorecard said: Perhaps that's case by case, the Singapore Airlines daily semi-commercial flight (S'pore to Bkk) is not showing on S'pore airlines main website and you have to talk direct to the airline. Calling from Australia the call redirects to a SQ officer in S'pore (but charged as a local call). I've called already, the SQ officer was courteous, good listener and gave a lot of good advice including the specific address to check current situation with transferring flights in S'pore, no hurry and (at least for the flight I was asking about) the fare is much reduced (both legs of the flight; Syd to S'pore and Spore to Bkk). SQ officer also indicated I could book the flight and pay through her immediately (Visa/M'card etc.) or 'call back when your ready' and she gave her name. There is a AU$50 fee for booking using this service. Calling from Australia the Tel no. is 13 10 11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorecard Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 2 hours ago, Olmate said: Interested to know the cost of flight,mate of mine just booked SQ flight BKK SIN Canberra for 1500AUD, . via input from Oz Embassy here. If you mean the semi-commercial flight I was eluding to (not on SQ main website) the details are: - SQ212 Departs Sydney 7.77 am - Arrives S'pore 2.15 pm stopover around 1hr 45 min, then - SQ712 Departs S'pore 16.00 pm - Arrives Bkk (Suv) 17.25 pm. Total airfare Syd - S'pore AU$745, economy class, plus AU$50 phone booking fee. (Bus class is available but I didn't take any details of fares.) SQ officer also mentioned that this is a special class of airfare (because it's an agreed semi-commercial flight) with different calculations and subject to fluctuations, can change every day or every few days. Can go up, can go down. Semi-commercial flights are not available Bangkok to Sydney. Normal SQ Bkk - Syd flights are available on the SQ main website subject to normal booking process and normal fares (quite expensive). As mentioned above passenger can book and pay for the Semi-commercial flight on the phone and can at the same time book and pay for return flight, which is subject to normal pricing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treetops Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 9 hours ago, scorecard said: Perhaps that's case by case, the Singapore Airlines daily semi-commercial flight (S'pore to Bkk) is not showing on S'pore airlines main website and you have to talk direct to the airline. I can see it on their website and can take a dummy booking all the way through to the payment page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorecard Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 SQ712, on the snip attached above departs S'pore 15.25 & arrives Bkk 17.00 SQ712, on the semi-commercial flights spreadsheet departs S'pore 16.00 and arrives Bkk 17.25. Confusing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treetops Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 8 minutes ago, scorecard said: SQ712, on the snip attached above departs S'pore 15.25 & arrives Bkk 17.00 SQ712, on the semi-commercial flights spreadsheet departs S'pore 16.00 and arrives Bkk 17.25. Confusing... The spreadsheet is using the northern summer timings. Choose a date from April on and it'll be the same as the spreadsheet. It's the same flight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user70 Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 The form to apply for CoE (https://coethailand.mfa.go.th) says that we can book via agency: There is no consistency whatsoever in the instructions given by the Thai authorities to enter Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorecard Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 On 2/10/2021 at 6:04 PM, blackcab said: You can book online using the airline's own website. No need to talk to anyone. That might depend on the airline and whether online you can see/access the actual flight number you must book. Maybe it's changed but a few weeks ago the only way to get a booking on the semi-comm. flight list with S'pore airlines was by phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treetops Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 2 hours ago, scorecard said: Maybe it's changed but a few weeks ago the only way to get a booking on the semi-comm. flight list with S'pore airlines was by phone. Seems OK more recently from the screeenshots upthread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorecard Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 1 minute ago, treetops said: Seems OK more recently from the screeenshots upthread. "...screenshots upthread..."? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treetops Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 16 minutes ago, scorecard said: "...screenshots upthread..."? About 6 posts up. SQ712 SIN-BKK. Here it is with the summer schedule timing as per the government listing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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