Amazon still does not ship to Thailand

[TotallyOz]

I order 50 or so packages a year to be delivered in Thailand. Mostly books and smaller items. But, since CoVid19, nothing. They will not even ship books to Thailand. I do wonder who long this will last?

Likewise, I-Herb is not shipping to Thailand now as they did before.

Once these shipping routes open up again, I'll be thrilled to once again use them as my cart in both is getting too full!

[PeterRS]

My guess is that amazon used regular international flights for shipping. If you have the packages sent to a friend in the USA or UK, DHL still ships into and out of Thailand.

[TotallyOz]

3 hours ago, PeterRS said:

My guess is that amazon used regular international flights for shipping. If you have the packages sent to a friend in the USA or UK, DHL still ships into and out of Thailand.

Years back, Thai Airways had a non-stop from NYC and LAX to BKK. They were always full. They cancelled both. They said they could not make money as they could not hold as much cargo. I think many planes started to rely on cargo to make money and not passengers. To me, I'd have paid more money for the direct flight. But, it is gone now.

For shipping, I like Amazon as you prepay the tariffs and there is never any issue getting into the country and Amazon takes care of all import issues and no extra expense. When I ship DHL or US Postal I have had issues at having to go and pick the items up or paying more or never getting them.

[Guest]

I suspect Peter RS is correct.   

I also have had I-HERB products shipped to the UK & they are very quick.

 

As for the very long distance flights, I believe they went out of fashion due to the high fuel costs, as flying the weight of the fuel increases overall fuel consumption.   Prior to the virus, there has been something of comeback in the long distance flights, assisted by lower fuel costs and improvements in aircraft efficiency.    There were, for example, direct flights from London to Australia, but so far only to Perth on the west coast. 

For the US to Thailand direct flights, would lack of demand also be a factor ?    For much of the last decade, for example, fewer US tourists went to Thailand than from the UK.  Of course, the US population is spread over a much larger area, so that means demand from a particular airport catchment are would be lower than London, for example.    I see US numbers were above UK numbers for the last 3 years.

 

[PeterRS]

3 hours ago, z909 said:

As for the very long distance flights, I believe they went out of fashion due to the high fuel costs, as flying the weight of the fuel increases overall fuel consumption.   Prior to the virus, there has been something of comeback in the long distance flights, assisted by lower fuel costs and improvements in aircraft efficiency.    There were, for example, direct flights from London to Australia, but so far only to Perth on the west coast. 

For the US to Thailand direct flights, would lack of demand also be a factor ?

I believe the reason for the THAI flights being cancelled was a result of the airline purchasing a fleet of long haul 4 engine gas guzzling Airbus A340s for the US routes. This was just before the extended flight range over water for twin engine jets like the 777s was extended to enable twin engine aircraft to fly these ultra long haul routes. The THAI A340s had an extra large biz class and If I recall correctly load factors wete more than good. Sadly the A340s were the wrong plane at the wrong time, same as the A380 was also several years too late into the market.

THAI has tried to offload the A340s without much success. Most airlines just dont want them now.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, PeterRS said:

I believe the reason for the THAI flights being cancelled was a result of the airline purchasing a fleet of long haul 4 engine gas guzzling Airbus A340s for the US routes. This was just before the extended flight range over water for twin engine jets like the 777s was extended to enable twin engine aircraft to fly these ultra long haul routes.

That's probably a factor as well, but if the direct route had that much potential, I reckon another airline could put 777-200LRs or A350 ULRs onto it.  

[PeterRS]

6 hours ago, z909 said:

That's probably a factor as well, but if the direct route had that much potential, I reckon another airline could put 777-200LRs or A350 ULRs onto it.  

True. Even with good load factors the profit was probably minimal. I also suspect THAI just did not have spare twin engine aircraft to maintain the US routea. Singapore Airlines had a daily Newark/Singapore non stop for some years but that also used A340s and was cancelled when oil prices started to spike.. It was reinstated last year as a business and premium economy only flight using newer A350 aircraft. I cant imagine a THAI non stop surviving without a decent sized economy section.

[williewillie]

It’s shipping now!

[TotallyOz]

Yes, it is shipping now. But, the fees are much higher as they are only shipping 2-5 days for me. I ordered some books at 120 USD, shipping was 60 USD. Ouch!