Anonymous participant Oh dear. You received the monkeypox vaccine?

@Michael *******

Ah, that's Air Asia.

For EVA Air, even with advance bookings of 1 month it was 25,000 return/round-trip from CNX. From Bangkok, as little as 9100 (in economy class) and also on EVA Air. THAI starts from around (ex BKK).

@Elías *******

There is unless you use the e-gates, which I never have.

Unless the officer you had forgot to stamp your passport (extremely rare, I've never had it happen anywhere in Thailand) then you most likely used the e-gates to exit so obviously there's no stamp.

If you're French, I'm surprised you wouldn't be aware of e-gates, considering all of Europe has had them for years for both entry and departure and passport stamps are no longer given to EU/Schengen citizens. In fact, it's been like 15-20 years since EU/Schengen passports were last routinely stamped, either on entry or exit.

@Michael *******

What airline? I have to admit, I was only looking at EVA Air, and their economy class fares from Chiang Mai are 3500 Baht more expensive per sector than Premium Economy from Bangkok (premium economy not being available ex Chiang Mai), making for a rather expensive ticket.

Other airlines, not sure. Due to less competition, flying internationally out of Chiang Mai tends to be more expensive than Bangkok but of course it doesn't mean you can't get a good deal at times and you also have to weigh whether flying down to Bangkok first would be worth it. Sometimes it is, other times it isn't, because the price difference might only be the cost of that ticket to Bangkok.

@Michael *******

That's right but if you're talking EVA Air, they use a smaller A321 on the Chiang Mai route and it not only fills up quickly, but is more expensive than flying from Bangkok, from where you have lots of airline options and EVA Air has up to 5 daily flights depending on the day of the week.

Starlux also flies from Chiang Mai to Taipei and possibly Air Asia too, so you do have options that don't require you to transit in BKK, but it may end up being a lot cheaper if you do.

@Dca ****

Correct, yes. I suspect the remaining ones will move to the e-visa system, one by one within the next 3 or so months, but there may still be some "holdouts" that will take longer.

@Thomas *******

The ETA system has been postponed. Originally, I think they were going to do a trial beginning in December and a full implementation in June 2025, but my guess is the trial won't even begin until mid 2025 at this rate.

@Yiba ******

Laos isn't going to e-visa yet. It might eventually, but until that happens, you have to book and appointment and go in person.

I expect Vientiane and Savannakhet to get busier now that consulates in 3 neighboring countries are moving to e-visas effective this coming week.

@Tod ********

Indeed and this can be a major headache for someone applying in a neighboring country, having to extend their stay for an indeterminate period in order to re-apply and not only pay the application fee again but also for additional hotel nights, transportation, meals etc.

Of course, if one is denied for other reasons (not qualifying for the visa at all) then they'll have to either go for a different visa, come back on visa exempt (temporarily) or perhaps pack up and find another country to live in, depending on their circumstances.