Thai Pass

[spoon]

19 minutes ago, pong2 said:

a chance of less as 1 in 6.

I dont think it means 1 in 6 chances, as that implies the rest fail. Its more of the rest has not been processed/approved yet. 

[Londoner]

Regarding timing, buying a flight ticket before getting the pass has its dangers. And vice versa. Could the successful applicants tell us what came first, please? 

[10tazione]

3 minutes ago, Londoner said:

Regarding timing, buying a flight ticket before getting the pass has its dangers. And vice versa. Could the successful applicants tell us what came first, please? 

When you fill in the form you need to know arrival date and airport and flight number. You don't need prove for it. But if you don't book the flight before, you could run into the problem that you can't get a seat at a reasonable price on that flight anymore. And I think it is not allowed to arrive on a different plane than you filled in in the form.
So better book the flight before, but book a flight you can cancel with full refund.

[Londoner]

Thanks; that seems sensible advice.

It's a bit of a nuisance juggling hotel room availability, ASQ booking, flights and the Pass....but worth it!

[Guest]

If doing quarantine in Bangkok, Agoda has live information on availability of quarantine hotels.   Just select the filter.    Also, free cancellation in many cases.  So that is de-risked.

Many airlines allow you to move the dates for no charge these days.

[billyhouston]

14 hours ago, z909 said:

Many airlines allow you to move the dates for no charge these days.

That is my experience also and what enabled me to book flights with confidence. I'm about to change my return, date having converted my Tourist visa (60 days) to a Non-Immigrant type O, enabling a much longer stay.

Although hardly relevant now, I chose my ASQ hotel on the basis of free cancellation up to the day before arrival. Given the change from 14 to 7 days, that proved worthwhile.

[Guest reader]

From The Nation

Ministry warns of fake Thailand Pass registration website

Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) on Friday warned people of a website claiming to let visitors register for Thailand Pass, a new system for vaccinated visitors who wish to enter Thailand that has replaced the Certificate of Entry (COE) since November 1.

he website address is www.thailandpass.org,” said DES spokeswoman Nopphawan Huajaiman. “The ministry’s Information Department has investigated and confirmed that it has no affiliation with the DES or any government agency.”

“To apply for Thailand Pass, you must visit https://tp.consular.go.th, which has opened for registration since November 1 at 9am,” she said.

Nopphawan added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working with Digital Government Development Agency (DGA), the developer of Thailand Pass registration platform, to ensure the smooth operation for all registrants. “Since the registration platform is still new, some users might experience some problems when using the website. The responsible agencies are aware of this and will fix them as soon as possible,” she said. “DGA is also working on optimizing the Thailand Pass website for mobile phone users.”

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40008459

 

[Londoner]

An item from a Youtube report suggests that the only email address that the Pass accepts is  gmail. Is this true? Or was it another glitch now rectified?

[10tazione]

1 hour ago, Londoner said:

An item from a Youtube report suggests that the only email address that the Pass accepts is  gmail. Is this true? Or was it another glitch now rectified?

I used a different one on nov 1st and had no problems i.e. i got the certificate.

[Guest]

Last year I took 9 hours 16 minutes to get a COE, including both steps of the approval process.

With the Thai Pass, over 30 hours and nothing so far.

[10tazione]

15 hours ago, z909 said:

Last year I took 9 hours 16 minutes to get a COE, including both steps of the approval process.

With the Thai Pass, over 30 hours and nothing so far.

I think they should staff up pretty urgently!

https://www.thailand-business-news.com/tourism/85705-thailand-reopening-more-than-65-000-sign-up-for-thailand-pass.html

"More than 65,000 people have submitted their application for Thailand Pass in just 4 days since the country’s reopening. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had already approved this electronic entry document to almost 13,000 people ahead of their visits."

Application to approval ratio is 5:1, that will sooner or later lead to huge delays. 65.000 applications and probably a few 100.000 more who tried without success.

I expect some decline on arrivals beginning from tomorrow, because tomorrow will be the first day people enter on the Thailand Pass scheme instead COE.

[Guest]

13000/4 = 3250 applications approved per day so far.

So at that rate, they would take 20 days to clear all the 65000 applications, when the promise is 7 working days.

The approval is clearly intended to be automated where possible, as some get instant approval.  

Of course, when people hear that others get instant approval, they try submitting extra applications, including things like vaccine QR codes.  So we don't know how many of the 65000 are duplicates.

The obvious thing for the Thai authorities to do is to broaden the criteria for automated approval. 

[Gaybutton]

2 hours ago, z909 said:

The obvious thing for the Thai authorities to do is to broaden the criteria for automated approval. 

If Thailand really wants an influx of international tourists, I think the obvious thing to do is to eliminate the unnecessary hoops and come up with an app that actually works.

I don't see how Thailand can expect mass tourist arrivals when they make just getting to Thailand so confusing and difficult.

[Boy69]

16 minutes ago, Gaybutton said:

If Thailand really wants an influx of international tourists, I think the obvious thing to do is to eliminate the unnecessary hoops and come up with an app that actually works.

I don't see how Thailand can expect mass tourist arrivals when they make just getting to Thailand so confusing and difficult.

Exactly all is needed is proof of vaccination and prc test prior the flight all other unnecessary bureaucratic procedures turn away potential tourists (like me)  to  visit Thailand .

[Londoner]

Yes. My morale rose a week ago. Didn't last long....now all the uncertainties are oppressive.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Londoner said:

Yes. My morale rose a week ago. Didn't last long....now all the uncertainties are oppressive.

JDI

I imagine Thailand will mostly process the Thai Pass within the claimed 7 working days, so apply in good time. 

[vinapu]

9 hours ago, Londoner said:

Yes. My morale rose a week ago. Didn't last long....now all the uncertainties are oppressive.

relax , don't read too much , just do it or if you are not that impatient , wait for first reports from people who arrived under the scheme and then only worry when they do

[Guest]

Two totally unrelated graphs.

1  Thai Pass applications v approvals.   92240 applications and 50231 approvals.     I suspect anyone applying in good time has nothing to worry about.

2  Probability of death in the next 12 months v age for British males.     This is my slightly undiplomatic way of suggesting it's best to get on with this & enjoy what travel opportunities are available, whilst we still can. 

[spoon]

6 hours ago, z909 said:

 2  Probability of death in the next 12 months v age for British males. 

And this graph is using log scale. At linear scale, that line would be much more exponential.

[10tazione]

I really wonder how that automatical approval works. Ok there is the barcode on the vaccination certificate and you can read out the underlying data for the most common ones.

But what about all the other documents? Automatically analyzing an Agoda hotel reservation in jpeg format? Or the content of an insurance policy ... it's a bit beyond my fantasy ... probably they just don't care and as long as the vaccination barcode is alright you could probably upload a picture of your grandmother instead of the hotel booking and it still would be automatically approved?

Would also be very interesting to have the above graph with arrival date instead of application date.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, spoon said:

And this graph is using log scale. At linear scale, that line would be much more exponential.

I like to use log scales wherever appropriate.     Some of the UK scientific advisors would also benefit from carefully thinking about that, including the Deputy Chief Medical officer who seemed totally unfamiliar with exponential decay, when asked very simple questions on covid graphs last year.  

 

2 hours ago, 10tazione said:

But what about all the other documents? Automatically analyzing an Agoda hotel reservation in jpeg format? Or the content of an insurance policy ... it's a bit beyond my fantasy ... probably they just don't care and as long as the vaccination barcode is alright you could probably upload a picture of your grandmother instead of the hotel booking and it still would be automatically approved?

OCR ought to be capable of analyzing the documents.  

[Guest reader]

Only 7 of the 14,728 who entered Thailand under the provisions of "Test-and-go" for the period Nov. 1-7 tested positive, according to Richard Barrow's Twitter site.

That's a 0.05 positive rate.

[daydreamer]

This tweet from Richard Barrow is interesting - the viewpoint of a Bangkok taxi driver on his concern of transmission of Covid from his taxi passengers:

 

[Guest reader]

Richard Barrow had an interview with Thai officials that shed light on some much debated issued concerning Thai Pass. Here are some excerpts:

"I think the biggest improvement that they will be implementing soon is the ability to log in to check on your application status. Which will also give you the ability to download the QR Code once it has been released."

"...there are some (vaccination) certificates that are challenging for them which is why it sometimes takes time. Particularly if someone uploaded an image that is not clear."

"Another problem is the “date of arrival”. For many people, there should also be a date of departure as it might take them several days to reach Thailand. This then becomes a problem if their QR Code doesn’t arrive before their first flight. They recognise that as a problem and have noted it. The second problem is that some people might need to move their flight date for some reason. I think most of us thought that to do that we would have to apply again from the start. But that is not so. You can apparently still arrive as long as it is within 72 hours of that date."

"...many people asked how far in advance can you apply for a Thailand Pass. Well, the good news is that there is no time limit. If you want to, you can apply now for a holiday to Thailand in say January next year. If you do that now, then you don’t need to worry about the QR Code arriving on time."

"... like I have said many times already, don’t rush to come to Thailand. Certainly not during this transition period between the COE and Thailand Pass. But, if you can wait until, say December, then you will find it much easier."

"...there will be a big CCSA meeting on Friday that will be reviewing the first two weeks of the reopening of the country and will discuss possible easing of some of the rules. I think next week, we might see the exemption age for vaccination certificates for the Test & Go program will be raised from under 12 to under 18. Another major change we might see next week, is the dropping of the rule to have a RT-PCR test within 72 hours of departure. This is because there is a growing number of countries that don’t actually have an option to have this test done. If it doesn’t happen next week, then I think we should see that happen by 1st December. The other thing they should be discussing is the list of approved countries and territories."

======================

There's additional discussion about the RT-PCR test and other issues of interest and I encourage readers considering a future trip to check out the post in full context at link below.

https://www.getrevue.co/profile/richardbarrow/issues/latest-updates-about-the-thailand-pass-849676?via=twitter-card-webview

 

 

[spoon]

If they really waived the pcr testing pre departure, that should at least replaced by rtk test, with doctor's letter. Otherwise, the thing we dread the most, sitting next to a positive person, chances for this to happen might increase.