I didn't know that was a possibility. When I went in December interesting, I remember people asking about that but it was generally understood that it wouldn't be accepted. Not that it matters for me anymore.

Interesting. I just checked via the United Timatic link (https://www.united.com/en/us/timatic/ )and it still shows Thai Pass needed.
I thought it pulled from the exact same master Timatic data.

From my understanding, when the documents were being examined more thoroughly, they were looking for specifics on coverage amount and specifically covering COVID. Now that the process is much quicker (automatic?), the scrutiny is not possible. If you turn out not to have coverage when needed, likely will get into some sort of trouble. But reports are that general insurance coverage letters are now being accepted when kicked back before.

Same. I know it's "cheap" but we're a group of 9 so it adds up.

of course normal health insurance will do. I got 2 COE and 3 Thai Pass just with my normal health insurance at no extra cost

Me too I never pay one dime for 3 TP , all using insurance provided by my employer global travel benefit.

Just noticed the new requirements are listed on the US Embassy Thailand website now as well: COVID-19 Information - U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Thailand (usembassy.gov)

Can anyone confirm if they've had any issue using a vaccine QR code on Arrival instead of the paper CDC vaccine certificate? I seemed to have misplaced my paper versions last week, but I have the QR code page from CVS.

I have just arrived at BKK (Wednesday 6/29). My Thailand Pass was checked, but nobody checked my vaccination status.

Thanks. I won't be using a Thailand Pass (july 2nd), so I'm wondering how the process will change. Btw how long did it take you from the time you got off the plane until you were free to head to your hotel?

I arrived at BKK at approx 11:00 pm on 19 June. With fast track immigration (wasn't really necessary but I had it so...) I was in a car and on the way to the hotel in less than 30 mins. I arrived at my hotel in central Bangkok by midnight.

As the previous poster mentioned, no one checked my vax card - just TP.

I transited through Narita and all transit passengers were directed to a special area where TP was checked again. So TP was checked prior to departure in the US, again at Narita, and upon arrival. One suspects you will find a similar situation with the vax documentation along your route.

Edit to add: Did you take a photo of your vax card prior to misplacing it? If so, I'd probably bring the photo and the CVS QR code just to be safe.

Great info thanks, which airline did you take to Narita and did they let transit or people entering Japan off the plane first?

For the vax, I do have photos, just not the originals at the moment. I was considering having CVS recreate it.

Weird that they checked at Narita and good to know, last time I went to BKK and transited NRT they just dumped me right in to the terminal which has been policy since 2019 for US arrivals.

EDIT: CVS recreated my card in 5 minutes

Flew UA to Narita then switched to ANA ("operated by Air Japan"). Transit passengers were let off the plane first, passengers entering Japan told to remain seated until we had disembarked the plane.

We did not change terminals and there was no additional security inspection upon arrival - only the documents check. UA lounge was closed, ANA lounge was open, KAL lounge open until 8:00 pm.

I was at Narita on a Sunday and it was like being in a zombie movie. 90% of shops closed, very few people (relatively speaking to my previous trips through NRT.)

Edit to add: Masks were required on all flights and at NRT.

I changed planes in ICN, flying SFO-ICN-BKK. Asiana staff meet the UA plane on arrival in ICN and escorted us to security and transfer desk. Impressive service. Everyone needed a new OZ BP and TP checked again there. On arrival in BKK, everything went quickly, even though A380 plane had 300 or so pax. No line up for immigration at 11:20 pm. No need for “fast pass”. The only delay was for luggage, perhaps 10 minutes. 🧳 I was out of the airport less than an hour after arrival, and that includes long walks from C arrival gate.

Ok rub it in that you got to fly on an A380 ... I'm not jealous, I promise. Thanks for the report.

Thanks, it was a ghost town in December too. What a disappointment. I was able to get in to the Sakura lounge though.

Just in the last week, this flight changed from an Asiana A330 to an A380. So travel to Thailand must be picking up! My first trip in an A380 x years. Sitting downstairs though! 😳

KE OZ just announced they were adding the A380 back. It's doing 3 trips between LAX and ICN. I have to figure out how to book either J or F on it soon :)

EDIT: it was OZ not KE

Today is the last day of Thailand Pass....and they still checked it seriously before boarding and just after arrival at a special desk... immigration had already long queues and fast lane was not clearly defined...together with Thai passports and the Indian family before me took alone around 10 minutes alone to get through...

Oh you went through today too? Was fairly quick for us as well today, despite LH having just arrived ahead of us. Separate check of Thailand Pass with a bypass lane for Thai citizens but seemed to me like they just matched the name on the TP to that on the passport, and then all good. Immigration was a bit of a mess, with fast track being hidden behind the cordons for Thai passport holders effectively requiring one to cross through the Thai ‘channel’ to get to fast track :(

yes, at about 315pm...I asked twice and they sent me to the Thai lanes...(behind the Thai lanes were only the automatic doors for Thais, which were totally empty...so where is the real fast lane...)...well got in the slowest lane with the Indian family and a real slow officer....totally maybe 15 minutes...I did not wait at immigration in BKK for so long since they introduced fast lanes many years ago...

EDIT: crisis averted literally last minute, trip started

We must have been there at around the same time then! We came in delayed on OS (never again! - not because of the delay though), and are still waiting for our luggage to be delivered to our home..

If you are coming from the A/B/C side of the airport, then the first immigration hall has a fast track towards the right-hand side - but you have to cross over the tensa-barrier across the Thai lane from the Foreigner side, which was no problem. Some immigration people tried to scream at us, but I just held up the boarding pass showing Business class and kept walking - through with zero waiting time.

thanks...next time I know...or they change again...:D

OS or OZ? What was so bad about that flight?

Haha change is likely - the main signs still point further down towards the middle for Fast Track as they have always done, but just ignore :D

OS… The flight… We barely made it on our connection which happens, had to run through VIE. Luggage may or may not arrive by 11pm tonight (so 30+ hrs late, nobody seems to care).

But the real crack was the food and service - for a delayed late night flight, I would have hoped the service (keep in mind our EU business connection served nothing but a few pieces of pasta in tomato sauce) would be expedited, rather than dragged out with a tray of nothing but a cover on it for a long time. And when it arrived, the food was pretty much inedible and taking forever between courses.

And my earphone Jack went toast 30 mins into the flight, so no IFE - crew’s solution was to keep trying different headsets, and after the third one I said forget it. Granted, they did offer to move us to somewhere in the bowels of the J cabin, but wasn’t really interesting at that point

That's kind of surprising. OS is known for their catering, and I have always had great meals / service with them. Hopefully just a one-off, and sorry for your disappointment.

I am heading back to BKK tomorrow. Feels weird (in a very good way) to not be running about for COVID tests and paperwork printouts.

That was what I was hoping for too - only flew them once many years ago but that was very good. On the other hand, LX outbound from BKK was brilliant, both food and service!

Oh and the luggage just arrived, 10:30pm the day after arrival (apparently it takes 8 hrs from Suvarnabhumi to deliver priority luggage…!)

Thailand pass-less check-in experience with JAL at SEA was smooth. They only asked for my vax card and passport, nothing else, didn't even mention the thailand pass or insurance, also had them check me and my luggage through on two separate PNRs. If I was on a single PNR, it would have been even faster.

Took less 5 minutes (being OneWorld Emerald saved me about 30 minutes in line. Now sitting at the lounge waiting to board at 1:30pm.

Checked in for my BKK trip that starts tomorrow; United Airlines, connecting to TG in Europe.
Uploaded Vax card and now "travel ready". No mention of Thai Pass, Insurance, etc.

All boarding passes in hand. Looks good, and much better than ASQs and such. :cool:

100% .. the quarantine was an expensive pain in the ....

sorry to hear about your bad experience

but what a coincidence!
I was actually on the same OS25 flight!

my European connection was 1 hour late (due to late inbound flight) with just 25 minutes left for transit (looks like many others were delayed as well like yours)....but even we docked at the last position in the terminal, I did not run, just walked (fast as usual) as I was guessing, that OS25 will leave late as well....I even walked back to the lounge, but they closed at 2300
my luggage also made it
regarding the food: I actually prefer a slow service course by course with a different wine for starter and main meal and a coffee to pair with my dessert, rather than the cattleclass-style everything on one tray fast service like LX and LH on their late night flights
my food was ok, not great, but maybe we had different choices as starter/main and dessert; wines were good; they focus mainly on Austrian wine, which improved a lot during the last decades

and I consider the OS staff as one of the most friendly and helpful of any European, certainly better than their sisters LX and LH; anyway I felt treated well

well it shows me once more that the same flight experience can be appraised very differently depending on mindset (I was happy I made it on the long haul, as our inbound flight could have been delayed further), expectation and circumstances (my luggage made it; yours not)

What a coincidence!

We were told by the inbound crew to make a run for it and hope for the best - they were holding the flight but no guarantee for how long (we only touched down at scheduled departure time of the onward flight).

I too prefer a slower service if executed properly - but in this case it just felt very mis-timed in terms of having both a drink and food at the same time to go with one another. And that chicken dish was cooked to oblivion :eek: In terms of friendliness, you are right - cannot fault them for that :)

Cannot remember which wine I had (think it was Italian), but that was not bad - champagne was not cold, so quickly abandoned that in favour of red.

I really wonder, why the crew told you to run...as at that time, it was already clear that departure was delayed by at least half an hour...(I arrived the gate after a 10 minutes fast walk through the whole terminal on Schengen level and through passport control up to Non-Schengen level and back into the terminal 15 minutes before original departure time and at that time (2305) delay was already announced...

I did not choose the chicken...I like such deep fried chicken vienna style (Wiener Backhendl) if it is freshly deep fried, but not hours before...IMHO not a dish recommendable on a flight
I had a red wine cuvée from Austria and liked it

landed at 1125pm, walked to immigration and found one with no line, took all of 1 minute to get checked and passport stamped. took a bit for bags to come out, but made it to the last airport link train at 12:05am … overall super quick and efficient compared to the test and go process last december! just a normal airport entry with the addition of my vax card

If I were carry-on only, I would have made it out in 5 minutes, probably because it was 11pm, but the bags delayed me an extra 30ish minutes
all i needed was passport, tm6 (get one to fill out on the plane), vax card and boarding pass. took my fingerprints and photo and that was it.

I thought they were doing away with the TM6?

They gave it to me on the plane, and the screen at the entrance to the immigration officer said it was required. He didn't do anything with it, iirc last time they kept the longer piece and gave me back the smaller piece to give to them on departure, but the immigration officer gave the entire thing back to me.

Ha, ha, ha - how Thai - totally useless - don't keep it, but make you fill it out anyway :shrug: Maybe they want to use up all the ones that were printed before they changed the procedure:confused:

I arrived on 30. June
we had to fill out TM6 as usual. immigration officer checked and kept the arrival part, stamped the departure part and put it into my passport as usual...

This is my experience last week too. I also had read Thailand was doing away with TM6 form, but I was given it on the plane. At immigration, officer kept larger arrival part and put departure part in passport. I suppose I will need it to exit Thailand. 😊

This was published on June 15 in the Bangkok Post - guess you can't believe everything you read LOL

"The government will temporarily halt the need for international passengers to fill out TM 6 immigration forms to ease passenger congestion at international airports.Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday this would reduce the process for foreign visitors as they were already required to fill out many forms upon arrival. It will also help alleviate congestion as international arrival numbers have increased, he added."

of course I have read this, but it will only be implemented once it is published in the Royal Gazette and there was no date given (in opposite to the discontinuation of the Thai Pass which was clearly announced for 1. July)
in addition I do not think there are many other forms to fill out upon arrival...with the discontinuation of the Thai Pass for the majority of tourists, only this TM6 remains...and such an arrival form has to be filled out for many countries (incl. USA); I actually do not know any other Asian country, where you do not have to fill out such a form...