More airline cancellations as options dry up for stranded visitors

It is becoming increasingly difficult to fly in an out of Thailand, posing more challenges for stranded foreign visitors and tourists. Last week the Thai government estimated there were some 500,000 overseas visitors currently in Thailand.

Some of the latest cancellations from local carriers…

• Budget airline VietJet suspended its flights to major Southeast Asian destinations, out of Vietnam, including Thailand from last Friday. They are still taking bookings and flying domestic routes within Thailand.

• Bangkok Airways is temporarily suspending all international flights from today (Sunday) until further notice.

BA earlier suspended many services to destinations in Thailand including Koh Samui, virtually cutting off Samui from all air traffic. Suspensions are now extended to destinations across its network serving Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

“Passengers can call the 24 hour call centre at 1771 or 270 6699 or Bangkok Airways ticket offices to receive a full refund. Passengers who booked their tickets through travel agencies are advised to directly contact their agents for further assistance.

• Thai AirAsia is suspend all international flight services in accordance with travel restrictions being enforced by various governments. The suspension will affect all international services operated by Thai AirAsia (FD) from today up to April 25. All domestic flights and services are still in operation.

• Vietnam’s government is suspending all inbound international flights to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country. Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc says national carrier Vietnam Airlines will suspend all international flights until April 30.

“Vietnam will suspend all the flights carrying foreign passengers to minimise the number of people coming to the country.”

Flights to Southeast Asian destinations including Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar were suspended from yesterday. Flights to Britain and Japan will be halted from Monday, and services between Vietnam and Germany and Australia will be stopped from Wednesday.

If you need to change or cancel flights fo to the airasia.com website and the ‘Mange My Booking’ page.