Problem Leaving Thailand

[Polarbeast]

I had my first visit to Thailand with my partner recently, and had a good time. But on returning back home, something strange happened on the airport while checking in. I am myself Norwegian and my partner is Maltese, but she has been living more than 20 years in Norway. We were booking in on a flight to London for a 2 days stay there before flying back to Norway.

Not holding British passports, the girl at the check in asked if we had tickets out of UK, and I said yes, we have tickets to Norway. "Can I see them, please?", she said. I showed her the tickets. "Is Norway your final destination?" "Yes"

Then to my partner, not holding a Norwegian passport: "Can you prove that you live in Norway?", with the implication that if she could not prove it, they would not let her embark on the plane. As it happened, my partner had her passport renewed recently, and had not got a new stamp from the Norwegian immigration. So now we were in trouble, but fortunately she had a Norwegian banking card with photo, and the girl accepted this as proof.

The reason for all this, as I understood it, was that Thai Airways was afraid that they would have to take her back to Thailand at their expense if she was refused entry to either UK or Norway. ( Anyway, as a Maltese citizen, she is also a British subject, so she could not have been denied entry to UK.)

Now the question is, what would have happened if she had been refused to embark on the plane - was she supposed to remain in Thailand forever? What would happen after 90 days when the visiting visa expired. And if she had been sent back to Thailand from UK without a new visiting visa, then what?

Does this mean that you cannot bye a oneway ticket to any (foreign) destination, but must always have a return ticket all the way back to your place of domicile?

[oxymoron]

I had my first visit to Thailand with my partner recently, and had a good time. But on returning back home, something strange happened on the airport while checking in. I am myself Norwegian and my partner is Maltese, but she has been living more than 20 years in Norway. We were booking in on a flight to London for a 2 days stay there before flying back to Norway.

Not holding British passports, the girl at the check in asked if we had tickets out of UK, and I said yes, we have tickets to Norway. "Can I see them, please?", she said. I showed her the tickets. "Is Norway your final destination?" "Yes"

Then to my partner, not holding a Norwegian passport: "Can you prove that you live in Norway?", with the implication that if she could not prove it, they would not let her embark on the plane. As it happened, my partner had her passport renewed recently, and had not got a new stamp from the Norwegian immigration. So now we were in trouble, but fortunately she had a Norwegian banking card with photo, and the girl accepted this as proof.

The reason for all this, as I understood it, was that Thai Airways was afraid that they would have to take her back to Thailand at their expense if she was refused entry to either UK or Norway. ( Anyway, as a Maltese citizen, she is also a British subject, so she could not have been denied entry to UK.)

Now the question is, what would have happened if she had been refused to embark on the plane - was she supposed to remain in Thailand forever? What would happen after 90 days when the visiting visa expired. And if she had been sent back to Thailand from UK without a new visiting visa, then what?

Does this mean that you cannot bye a oneway ticket to any (foreign) destination, but must always have a return ticket all the way back to your place of domicile?

No it simply means you must have a valid passport or visa to enter the place the Thai, or any other airline for that matter, flight terminates.

Although in the case of a visa the airline still takes a risk, as a visa does not guarantee you will be allowed to enter that country. Hence some airlines will require you have a ticket to the place the passport was issued. BTW the thanks for the lesson I did not know that if you were a citizen of Malta. I am guessing where your partners passport was issued, automatically entitled you entry to the UK and I am white and a citizen of Australia. Why would you assume a Thai Booking clerk to have such worldly knowledge???

[Polarbeast]

No, I was not blaiming the clerk for anything, she was only doing her job and not rude in any way. But my question was - what would have happened if she (my partner) had not been allowed to leave?

[ercorn]

This happened to my wife and I last month(she`s from a eastern european country)we were told to buy another ticket ,basically its your job to have the right tickets to satisfy the airlines,so went straight back to travel agent cashed in our tickets and bought tickets with another airline which didn`t give us any problems every airline has different policies as I understand it.Though I find TG the best.

[Krub]

No, I was not blaiming the clerk for anything, she was only doing her job and not rude in any way. But my question was - what would have happened if she (my partner) had not been allowed to leave?

The airline will in some cases amek you sign a paper that absolve them from the cost of taking you back to Thailand if you are denied entry at destination.

It seems very unusual that they enquire up to your second destination and should content themselves with your first point of dissembarkation (if not in transit) which in thios case seems to be the UK

[astral]

Malta is now EU and I assume Norway is also, so you should not have had any problem.

For anyone in this situation, just ask to see the Station Manager. He is the airline boss

at the place where you are departing. Put your case to him, as he will know the rules,

even if the check in clerk does not.

[Penkoprod]

Malta is now EU and I assume Norway is also, so you should not have had any problem.

Norway arent members of the EU

Their people had more sense, and rejected joining in 2 referenda

Malta. however, DID join in 2004

HTH

Penkoprod

[LaoPo]

In my opinion, reading the story, the girl at the check-in was overdoing her job.

Your partner (from Malta with a Maltese passport not needing a visa for the UK) was flying to London as a EU citizen and whether she was to stay in England/London or not was not of the girls' business.

But, she's probably never been in Europe (let alone Malta) and wasn't aware of the situation.

I doubt very much if she would not have let her embark the plane and let her stay in Thailand.

The -higher ranked- airline officials would have 'teached' her accordingly.

LaoPo

[the scouser]

Norway may not be a member of the EU, but, along with Iceland and Liechtenstein, she has signed up to various reciprocal agreements and, as such, members of EU countries have freedom of movement rights there. The EU plus these three countries are termed the European Economic Area (EEA).

The issue which concerns the airlines is not so much whether they're going to be stung for the repatriation cost, but whether they're going to be charged £2000.00 for carrying an improperly documented passenger to the U.K. However, in relation to a Maltese national, this is patently absurd and I would suggest that the check-in clerk had no idea that Malta is an EU member, if she'd heard of Malta at all.

Scouse.

[samran]

Norway may not be a member of the EU, but, along with Iceland and Liechtenstein, she has signed up to various reciprocal agreements and, as such, members of EU countries have freedom of movement rights there. The EU plus these three countries are termed the European Economic Area (EEA).

The issue which concerns the airlines is not so much whether they're going to be stung for the repatriation cost, but whether they're going to be charged £2000.00 for carrying an improperly documented passenger to the U.K. However, in relation to a Maltese national, this is patently absurd and I would suggest that the check-in clerk had no idea that Malta is an EU member, if she'd heard of Malta at all.

Scouse.

I think the OP was unfortunate in simply getting a moron.

From time to time I have people look at my Thai ID or Passport, and me, not looking typically Thai, they then ask, "well where is your visa/work permit for Thailand?".

Kinda takes many moments for the penny to drop.

[Pink Mist]

Norway may not be a member of the EU, but, along with Iceland and Liechtenstein, she has signed up to various reciprocal agreements and, as such, members of EU countries have freedom of movement rights there. The EU plus these three countries are termed the European Economic Area (EEA).

The issue which concerns the airlines is not so much whether they're going to be stung for the repatriation cost, but whether they're going to be charged £2000.00 for carrying an improperly documented passenger to the U.K. However, in relation to a Maltese national, this is patently absurd and I would suggest that the check-in clerk had no idea that Malta is an EU member, if she'd heard of Malta at all.

Scouse.

I think the OP was unfortunate in simply getting a moron.

From time to time I have people look at my Thai ID or Passport, and me, not looking typically Thai, they then ask, "well where is your visa/work permit for Thailand?".

Kinda takes many moments for the penny to drop.

brain surgeons the clerks aint and that applies across the board, any country

[IMA_FARANG]

I had my first visit to Thailand with my partner recently, and had a good time. But on returning back home, something strange happened on the airport while checking in. I am myself Norwegian and my partner is Maltese, but she has been living more than 20 years in Norway. We were booking in on a flight to London for a 2 days stay there before flying back to Norway.

Not holding British passports, the girl at the check in asked if we had tickets out of UK, and I said yes, we have tickets to Norway. "Can I see them, please?", she said. I showed her the tickets. "Is Norway your final destination?" "Yes"

Then to my partner, not holding a Norwegian passport: "Can you prove that you live in Norway?", with the implication that if she could not prove it, they would not let her embark on the plane. As it happened, my partner had her passport renewed recently, and had not got a new stamp from the Norwegian immigration. So now we were in trouble, but fortunately she had a Norwegian banking card with photo, and the girl accepted this as proof.

The reason for all this, as I understood it, was that Thai Airways was afraid that they would have to take her back to Thailand at their expense if she was refused entry to either UK or Norway. ( Anyway, as a Maltese citizen, she is also a British subject, so she could not have been denied entry to UK.)

Now the question is, what would have happened if she had been refused to embark on the plane - was she supposed to remain in Thailand forever? What would happen after 90 days when the visiting visa expired. And if she had been sent back to Thailand from UK without a new visiting visa, then what?

Does this mean that you cannot bye a oneway ticket to any (foreign) destination, but must always have a return ticket all the way back to your place of domicile?

The clerk was simply doing her job, and probably didn't really know the rules as applied to Norway.

The general rule is however that any traveller must be able to meet the entrance requirements of the country they are travelling to, If they are not allowed entrance, the AIRLINE is responsible for returning them to thier place of origin.

So in the event that he wasn't allowed entrance to Norway (probably an unlikely scenerio) the airline would be required to return him to Thailand, or possibly another country that would accept him. That would be at the expense of the airline.

Having said that, I can't imagine a Maltese citizen being turned down from entering Norway. The clerk probably didn't know, but was just being careful.

[the gent]

Any airline operating out of most recognised airports will have computer access to the Travel Information Manual detailing worldwide visa requirements or its hard copy. This is published annually and available to just about everyone in the business and is regarded as the bible. Interim changes on an ad hoc basis are communicated to airlines by whichever government agency is affected and most, if not all, station managers, will be aware of those changes since they may incur penalties if inadmissible passengers are subsequently carried. If the carrier is not so notified then no penalty can be levied.Ergo, the system is made watertight since no airline is prepared to risk losing a dime nor would the relevant government wish to miss the opportunity of enforcing its migration laws.

There is no excuse for a checkin clerk at an international departure point being ignorant of the fact that a Maltese national requires no prior clearance or conditional ticketing in order to enter Norway.If the passenger had been denied boarding then the airline would have been liable to a claim for damages since they were clearly in breach of contract made between themselves and the passenger when the ticket was sold.

[vinny]

See also an IATA database which is publicly available on a number of websites. Click here or here or here or here to go to such websites.

[Arkady]

This seems a stupid case that reflects Thais' general ignorance of geography and other parts of the world and THAI's poor staff training. Maltese should be able to enter the UK without a visa as it is an EU country - end of story as far as THAI is concerned. They can probably enter Norway without a visa too. If they are supposed to enforce airline rules about visas, the airline should give them some basic training about nationalities and visas, e.g. which countries are in the EU, so that they don't inconvenience passengers and waste time.

[Briggsy]

Recently I posted a parcel to the UK. I used one of those private postal service shops. The postage seemed to be expensive so I craned my neck over the counter to look at the postage chart that the clerk was using. I saw the weight on the scale and it did not tally with the amount requested so I queried it.

The clerk's finger shot to British Virgin Islands. I said that is not "Anggrit" and pointed to the UK. "No, no, British," she protested. We got there in the end but she had no idea that UK meant "Anggrit".

Same principle applies here, I suppose.

[Rinnam]

Recently I posted a parcel to the UK. I used one of those private postal service shops. The postage seemed to be expensive so I craned my neck over the counter to look at the postage chart that the clerk was using. I saw the weight on the scale and it did not tally with the amount requested so I queried it.

The clerk's finger shot to British Virgin Islands. I said that is not "Anggrit" and pointed to the UK. "No, no, British," she protested. We got there in the end but she had no idea that UK meant "Anggrit".

Same principle applies here, I suppose.

For your case, that woman is very poor in geography and english. No idea how she finished high school!

[frankthetank]

However, in relation to a Maltese national, this is patently absurd and I would suggest that the check-in clerk had no idea that Malta is an EU member, if she'd heard of Malta at all.

Scouse.

Surely if Malta is a member of the E.U. then their citizens would have a European 'RED' passport, same as other member states,

i.e. the U.K.

bit of a giveaway.......red passport with the words European all over it!