Sandbox Phuket

[Robinhood]

Sounds a good deal Phyton, I'm keeping my eyes on flights, hoping they become operational before I leave.

[Phyton]

Sounds a good deal Phyton, I'm keeping my eyes on flights, hoping they become operational before I leave.

So good luck @Robinhood. I read, the last flights out of HKT was not cheap, and i allways need a taxi from BKK to Cha-Am as well.

[cookie102]

Really like the idea of car hire as it would be a very comfortable trip to do in 3 days with no problem with social distancing.

[bigston]

The car hire idea is one of our options, but there are very few that will accept a booking from Phuket to Hua Hin
one way, and the surcharge is quite steep

[KhunLA]

Don't think of it as a point A to B transport fee. Just part of the cost for a week long holiday. Which if have never taken that route, I'd recommend at least a week and enjoy it, as it's quite pleasant. Exploring Phangna, Krabi & Surat Thani ... doesn't get any better. NST, Ranong & Chumphon can be rather nice also. Afterwards you may start to wonder why tourist even bother with 'tourist' areas.

Those are my first choice areas for out & about. Only went to Phuket 3 times recently, after a 10 year hiatus, because it will never be that nice / without tourist, again, if & when it finally opens up again to the masses.

[bigston]

I would normally agree, as we have done that route from Phuket to Pranburi a leisurely few times, but id rather not have to spend too many nights en route at present.

[Phyton]

The car hire idea is one of our options, but there are very few that will accept a booking from Phuket to Hua Hin
one way, and the surcharge is quite steep

The offer i had is about 6000 Baht. Not too bad i think, for 3 days rental in Patong, and give back in Hua Hin.

[Robinhood]

A couple of days ago I booked a flight from Phuket to BKK for 1,350 Baht. Nice. Two hours later I was e-mailed to say the flight was cancelled.
I've now seen Thaismile advertising a similar flight. Once bitten twice shy I got a Thai person to call the airline who basically said the flight might go, or might not.

[HHTel]

The government banned all domestic flights till the end of August so quite pointless trying to book.

BANGKOK, 3 August 2021: Thailand’s domestic airlines pull the plug on all flights until the end of August as the deep red zones that include strict restrictions and a nightly 2100 to 0400 curfew increase to 29 provinces.

With the latest inclusions to the deep red list, the last few remaining domestic flights have ended for the remainder of August.

[Big Boy]

I thought I read that Thai Smile were doing a special chartered flight.

[Big Boy]

Here you go https://www.thephuketnews.com/caat-allo ... -81014.php

[Robinhood]

Thanks BB,

I had heard the same information, that Thaismile had a special arrangement. When you view the Thaismile website, it looks like you can book a flight out of Phuket everyday. The reality it seems, is that another level of approval is needed for the flights to actually fly. And unless I missed it, the Thaismile web site doesn't tell you this.

[Big Boy]

Did you notice they have an e-mail address for enquiries charterflightwe@thaismileair.com ?

[HHTel]

From the same article BB posted:

“Even though scheduled flights for passengers to travel between Phuket and Bangkok are allowed, the CAAT has opened for airlines to ask and operate charter flights from Phuket to Suvarnabhumi Airport.

“With the limited number of passengers, airline operators have not operated such flights to serve Sandbox tourists, as they consider the flights may not be cost-effective,” the CAAT explained.

“Right now, there are flights for passengers from Phuket to U-Tapao Airport in Rayong [located outside Pattaya, flights operated by Nok Air]. The CAAT has reminded the airline to help passengers by arranging a bus service to Suvarnabhumi Airport,” the CAAT said.

“The facilitation is to solve the problem of tourists traveling under the Sandbox scheme while no airline is operating a charter flight for such a route,” it added.

Thai Smile will operate a special charter flight from Phuket to Bangkok this Saturday (Aug 14). The flight is exclusively for Sandbox tourists.

[Robinhood]

Did you notice they have an e-mail address for enquiries charterflightwe@thaismileair.com ?

I didn't see it, thanks. I'll be able to ask them which, if any, of the flights available for sale are actually flying.