carrotjuice

Agree with the COVID theatre statement. Flying to Singapore now requires PCR test (strictly PCR, no ART) which is more expensive.

Plus the more onerous requirement where the test must be done no earlier than 48 hours before scheduled flight departure, which oftentimes is more costly than PCR tests with more "regular" turnaround times.

For example, BA11 departs at 18:50, which means you can't do, say, a Randox in-person test at Heathrow or Waterloo where the results can arrive as late as 23:59 the following day. Because the Randox testing centre appointment closes at 18:30 - which means the earliest time you can test is the next day, and you'd need to pay for the more expensive "speedier" version whose results arrive by 23:59 the same day.

jetsetter30

I have 2 Avios J seats and 1 full fare J ticket for LHR-SIN-LHR. I booked these last year with the plan to spend a couple of nights in SIN before flying off to Thailand for New Year. The whole family is vaccinated so getting out isn’t a problem but trying to work out how to get back from Thailand. My thinking is to add a JetStar flight to the full fare ticket and buy 2 cash tickets for the Avios booking. If we check bags through on the full fare and then the other 2 travel hand luggage only we wouldn’t have to clear immigration. Do you think that would work?

sammyg901

Wouldn't work unfortunately- you can't transit Changi on 2 seperate tickets even without bags so you'd be denied boarding in Thailand

sammyg901

Shop around if you are in London - e.g. Doctap has 7pm & later appointments for it's "next day by midnight" tests. This still gives time to do a 4hr PCR on departure day in the unlikely event it goes wrong

sammyg901

By the looks of availability I'd say it is going to continue as four days a week as well- T/Th/S/Su outbound M/W/F/Su inbound. A downgrade or cancellation won't allow a move to BKK unless Avios seats are open

I imagine a lot of F seats won't end up being flown whilst various restrictions are in place so if you do want to fly I would think you'd confirm F seats between now and departure if you keep an eye

strickers

Plenty of time yet, only two of us travelling so can live with the restrictions in Singapore for a few days. Finnair from BKK-LHR are reasonably price in J at the moment. If necessary I’ll cancel the F return from Singapore and suck up the £70 cancellation fee. Still need to work out where to go, cases coming down nicely in Indonesia hopefully Bali will open up more.

sammyg901

I imagine it's the lack of being able to self connect or stopover in Singapore on the return that'll cause a lot of people to change plan rather than the restrictions in Singapore themselves.

Depending on what you want to do then Jan-Mar the weather in parts of Thailand will be much better than Bali + as you say, more options for getting home at a reasonable price!

JD1905

I can cancel any time up until Christmas but need JetStar to add some more flights. The outbound is fine, but no options coming back from either HKT or BKK atm. Will be gutted as this would be my first ever flight in F. Hopefully more flights come up.

jetsetter30

JetStar don’t appear to have a problem with it when I spoke to them. Has anyone transited Changi recently on two tickets?

sammyg901

https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/s...ugh-singapore/ different airline but you can see that their links mention in multiple places that it must be a single reservation. Jetstar themselves have this on their website - https://www.jetstar.com/sg/en/travel...gh%20Singapore

You are right though that the CAAS and Timatic advise only refers to "approved transit routes" - of which this is. So the reality on the day might be OK with no checked bags. But I personally would not risk it, even if I had it in writing from Jetstar, they will not have their own staff on the ground in Thailand & if you can't get it resolved then it'd be an expensive problem to fix.

As an aside you can now route via Singapore on one BA ticket to Bangkok Airways (PG), Jetstar (JQ), Malaysia Airlines (MH), Qantas Airways (QF) and Fiji Airways (FJ) as well as Jetstar Airways (3K) - opens up some options for Aus and other destinations in the region

sammyg901

The challenge is Singapore keeping Thailand at Category 4 which requires arrivals to quarantine in a dedicated facility. This means essentially no local traffic demand and so Jetstar will only want to schedule limited services

strickers

‘The’ challenge, strewth Sammy this would be a walk in the park if that was the only challenge!

sammyg901

I know the feeling - I feel like you should get a certificate at a prize giving ceremony on your return from any exotic travels!! Can't wait to get back to that part of the world though so it'll be worth it when the time comes

JD1905

I didn't realise that even if I do manage to get a JetStar flight connecting with decent timings, i'm still going to need to get a PCR test in Thailand for my return. As the days go on, I feel like this trip is less and less likely to go ahead and i'll have to make arrangements to go a different route.

Ah - and also wouldn't be able to use the lounge on return as we'd be taken into a THA (doesn't sound fun)

strickers

Have a look at Finnair direct from BKK, there were some good prices in J via Helsinki.