I just landed on an Eva Air flight from London to Bangkok. This thread that I tweeted is my experience today 19/3/2020 of what happens when you arrive at Suvarnabhumi airport.
✅ After disembarking, everyone, regardless of which flight, went through a thermal scanner. Anyone with a fever would be pulled aside and taken to a hospital for further examination. But that apparently rarely happens. [2/12]
✅ After the thermal scanner, there’s a table where you can buy a SIM CARD for 49 Baht. This is for foreign tourists as you need a local SIM for the next step. [3/12]
✅ At the entrance to the Immigration hall, there is another checkpoint where everyone has to fill in the T8 form. To do this, you have to download the AOT Airports app onto your smartphone and navigate to the T8 section. [4/12]
✅ In the AOT Airports app, you have to take a picture of your passport and upload it. Then fill out the form with details like travel history, flight number, seat number, address in Thailand and your general health. [5/12]
✅ Once they had verified I had done this, I was allowed to enter the Immigration hall. It was absolutely empty. It took literally one minute to pass through here. Not many foreign tourists arriving these days [6/12]
✅ The baggage claim area was also very empty. This carousel was for several flights but only a handful of people. I only had to wait about 5 minutes here. [7/12]
✅ A heads up about customs. So few people were going through here that the customs people were literally x-raying all bags. Mine passed but two Thais in front of me had to open their suitcases for further inspection. [8/12]
✅ This is the arrivals lounge at Suvarnabhumi airport at 5:00pm. It’s like a ghost town. Hardly anyone around. I have never seen it so empty. [9/12]
✅ This is the taxi area at Suvarnabhumi airport. It was completely deserted. This is where it got really sad. The taxi driver told me he had been waiting in the queue since 9:47am. I was his first customer. He had been waiting more than 7 hours. [10/12]
✅ I could tell Khun Somchai was disappointed that I wasn’t going far. It wouldn’t be much of a fare. He said he would go back to the airport but there would be no more customers. He said he was sleeping in his taxi. I gave him 1,000 Baht and told him to keep the change. [11/12]
✅ At no point was I told that I should be doing self isolation. However, as I had been in an area of ongoing local transmission, I will be doing voluntary self-quarantine at home for the next 14 days. Luckily I had the foresight to stock up my cupboards [12/12]
👉 https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow/status/1240606082537422850
UPDATE:
⏰ If and when they start the health certificate and insurance thing, it is needed before you board the plane. Not here in Thailand as far as I know. The airlines are not allowed to give you a boarding pass if you don’t have one. If you come to Thailand and then it turns out you have COVID-19, the airline has to pay the expense. I saw a few people at London Heathrow being asked for the certificate. They weren’t allowed on board the flight.
#ไวรัสโคโรน่า #coronavirus #COVID19 #Thailand