The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) would like to inform tourists, international and local, of the measures issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) on “Practical Guidelines for the Air Operators Relating to the Services to be Provided in the Territories outside Thailand Defined as Disease Infected Zones of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak.”
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Thailand has been a safe haven for people living in Hong Kong who wants to get away for a shorter or longer period of time. However, last week there was an announcement that travelers from Hong Kong would have to undergo 2 weeks of self-quarantine upon arrival. This was later withdrawn, reissues and redrawn, before it all got clear as mud.
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I had leave planned for a couple of days, so I was booked to go and see the kids in the Philippines for 6 days, however, with the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak, Philippines has temporarily banned anyone traveling from Hong Kong to enter the country. As most things in Hong Kong are closed nowdays I needed a new plan for my 6 days off, and booked a last minute trip to Bangkok with Cathay Pacific, and from there transport to Pattaya which several of my firends have recommended. I was there in 2008 and thought it was mostly a dump, but I thought I’d give it a second chance. At least it is close and convenient, and I wanted a quick holiday where I could just relax and do as little as possible.
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As I wrote about earlier, Cathay Pacific are canceling all flights to Japan effective March 9th and 13th until March 28th.
I have taken a look at Hong Kong Express booking website, and based on the unavailability of flights it seems like they are also canceling all flights between Hong Kong and Japan until March 31st – at least you cannot book any tickets to Japan during this period, so it seems they are all canceled as well – making it very hard to travel between Hong Kong and Japan for those who might be on holiday either place and want to go home…
Japan has recently introduces strict travel restrictions for people traveling from Hong Kong to Japan, and as a result of this it seems like Cathay are canceling all flights between Hong Kong and Japan.
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Phu Quoc was a place that I had never really heard about before I booked my ticket to go there. I have been to Vietnam twice before, in 2004 I was in Ho Chi Minh city, and did not enjoy it at all (one of the few times in all my travels that I had someone trying to scam me), and I was in Hanoi and Ha Long Bay in 2011 and had a pretty good time. I was therefore curious to see how Phu Quoc would compare.
Boarding was already starting as we arrived at the gate, so we could skip most of the queue and were quickly showed to our seats, again the centre seats together, seats 11 DEF. As I said in the previous post , the middle seat was quite cramped, so convinced the kids to swap with me, so on this flight I got an aisle seat, whereas Marcus would take the middle seat.
Looking on the apron of the airport today, I saw an Etihad Airbus A380 parked there, something that you normally don’t see here. I then realized that I haven’t seen any Etihad passenger flights recently, so I went to their webiste to see the status of the flights.
Etihad has since February 21st canceled their one daily flight to Hong Kong, and this cancellation remains in force until March 28th. Seeing how the number of flights in Hong Kong has dropped and near empty terminals, I believe there is a good chance that this cancellation will be extended past this date.
Why there is an Etihad A380 here is still a mystery though….
In a press release today, SAS announces that they are suspending flights between Hong Kong and Copenhagen effective March 5, 2020.
They do not specify until when the flights will remain canceled, so I guess this is subject to future demand.
In the same press release they also say they are suspending a number of short haul flights within Europe over the next couple of month, so based on that I think it is safe to say the route to Hong Kong will be suspended at least until the end of April.
As I wrote about earlier, Cathay together with American Express has a promo for twin bookings, which I have taken advantage of, and booked a trip to Taipei, and also a trip to Bangkok. Total price for the two return trips was 3500 HKD, and this will give me 2700 Asia Miles, plus 7000 miles through the promotion.
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