ID for domestic flights

[guru]

I’ve used my passport and Thai Driving license many times before to satisfy security for domestic flights. 
 

I saw the sign that said you could use any Thai Government issued photo ID so I  tried my work permit, Thai Teaching license and foreigner pink card on  my previous trip at Survanabhumi and Chiang Rai airports. I wasn’t denied but the security personnel at both airports did not let me through saying they need to go and find and check with their supervisor as they couldn’t say whether any of them were acceptable or not. As a queue was forming behind me I ended up just showing my Thai driving license in both cases which was immediately accepted. 
 

Just wanted to know in case one day I was in a pickle at the airport without my drivers license or passport. 

[malathione]

5 hours ago, guru said:

I’ve used my passport and Thai Driving license many times before to satisfy security for domestic flights. 
 

I saw the sign that said you could use any Thai Government issued photo ID so I  tried my work permit, Thai Teaching license and foreigner pink card on  my previous trip at Survanabhumi and Chiang Rai airports. I wasn’t denied but the security personnel at both airports did not let me through saying they need to go and find and check with their supervisor as they couldn’t say whether any of them were acceptable or not. As a queue was forming behind me I ended up just showing my Thai driving license in both cases which was immediately accepted. 
 

Just wanted to know in case one day I was in a pickle at the airport without my drivers license or passport. 

The pink card probably won't work because the name is in Thai while the name on your boarding card is in English.

[Fairynuff]

3 hours ago, malathione said:

The pink card probably won't work because the name is in Thai while the name on your boarding card is in English.

I was told by an airline, I think it was Airsia that my booking name has to be in Thai if I wanted to use my pink card.

[86Tiger]

5 minutes ago, Fairynuff said:

I was told by an airline, I think it was Airsia that my booking name has to be in Thai if I wanted to use my pink card.

My experience as well.

 

They don't care what you use as long as the name matches what is in the computer when you made the booking.

[digger70]

9 hours ago, guru said:

I’ve used my passport and Thai Driving license many times before to satisfy security for domestic flights

Just be a Normal person and use your Passport .

[Bangkok Barry]

Just curious why you would travel without a passport, even domestically. It would be needed at any hotel you stay at, and it is a legal requirement that you be able to produce at least a photocopy of it at any time. Why is that so difficult, instead of being delayed by security while they go and look up their rule book or just want to be bloody-minded? I'm not being argumentative, just wondering why you don't want to produce it.

[Peterw42]

12 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Just curious why you would travel without a passport, even domestically. It would be needed at any hotel you stay at, and it is a legal requirement that you be able to produce at least a photocopy of it at any time. Why is that so difficult, instead of being delayed by security while they go and look up their rule book or just want to be bloody-minded? I'm not being argumentative, just wondering why you don't want to produce it.

 

I think the must carry passport is one of those things that often gets quoted and repeated but nobody can ever say where its written or documented as a requirement.

Most guys traveling with a Thai partner probably dont think about passport for domestic travel or hotel. I dont think I have ever taken passport on Thai trips

[guru]

59 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Just curious why you would travel without a passport, even domestically. It would be needed at any hotel you stay at, and it is a legal requirement that you be able to produce at least a photocopy of it at any time. Why is that so difficult, instead of being delayed by security while they go and look up their rule book or just want to be bloody-minded? I'm not being argumentative, just wondering why you don't want to produce it.

It’s not a problem producing my passport. I had my passport and Thai driving license with me. As I said in my post, as there was a sign in English saying any Thai government photo ID is accepted,  it was an experiment to see if a work permit, Thai teachers license or pink ID would be accepted. As the security personnel would not accept any of them without the supervisor, I quickly produced my thai drivers license. I could have also have produced my passport if required. 
I’m not an argumentative or obnoxious person but just wanted to see what would be accepted at the airport in a worst case scenario, if for instance, I had forgot to collect my passport from my school when they were using it for a 90 day report and if my Thai driving license had expired.

From posters above, it seems the pink card would not be accepted due to names being in Thai script so that is one of the 3 crossed of the list. 

 

[foreverlomsak]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

legal requirement that you be able to produce at least a photocopy of it at any time

I was stopped in the street by 3 uniformed and armed Immigration Officers (I recognized one of them from the office) who had just come out from a hotel, presumably doing a foreigner check, and asked for my passport. I had only a copy on me and was informed in no uncertain terms that I must carry my passport at all times as they have no means of proving that a photocopy is real. I produced my Pink Card and Driving License they were waved away with the comment of "no use to us".

[rkidlad]

Flew to Phuket once and completely forgot my passport. They accepted my UK driver’s license no questions asked. 

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, Peterw42 said:

I think the must carry passport is one of those things that often gets quoted and repeated but nobody can ever say where its written or documented as a requirement.

 

A post by foreverlomsak below tells a different story. There have been posts on this site in which a senior police officer stated that a copy was okay to carry, not the actual passport, but as usual each uniform makes up their own rules, and whether or not it is an actual law or documented means nothing at all. They have the uniform and you obey. That's the way it is. Not exclusive to Thailand, I'm sure.

[impulse]

1 hour ago, foreverlomsak said:

I was stopped in the street by 3 uniformed and armed Immigration Officers (I recognized one of them from the office) who had just come out from a hotel, presumably doing a foreigner check, and asked for my passport. I had only a copy on me and was informed in no uncertain terms that I must carry my passport at all times as they have no means of proving that a photocopy is real. I produced my Pink Card and Driving License they were waved away with the comment of "no use to us".

 

Ya didn't finish your story...  After the stern warning, did they haul you off or turn you loose?

 

A few years back, 3 different officials in a row made 3 definitive -yet conflicting- statements about carrying a passport.  One said you have to carry the original at all times.  The 2nd guy said a copy is okay.  And the 3rd official said you just have to be able to produce your passport in a reasonable amount of time.  All 3 definitive statements made the media within a day or 3 of each other.

 

I rarely carried my passport around BKK because the consequences of losing it were steeper than the consequences of getting hauled in and having to call our company's fix-it lady who deals with such issues.  But in general, I'm with BKK Barry- it's safer to just follow the strictest of the 3 conflicting edicts.  And when I left town, my passport went with me, if only for the hotels that required a passport with the current visa page.  Rare, but they were out there.

 

Edit:  I was never denied airline boarding using just a Thai DL.   But things can change.

 

Edited December 7, 2020 by impulse

[brianthainess]

12 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

 

I think the must carry passport is one of those things that often gets quoted and repeated but nobody can ever say where its written or documented as a requirement.

Most guys traveling with a Thai partner probably dont think about passport for domestic travel or hotel. I dont think I have ever taken passport on Thai trips

If I travel anywhere out of my province I will always take my passport, one never knows what can happen when travelling leading to an emergency situation, where you might need it.

[jomtienisgood]

15 hours ago, 86Tiger said:

My experience as well.

 

They don't care what you use as long as the name matches what is in the computer when you made the booking.

Same same experience

[Fairynuff]

14 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

It would be needed at any hotel you stay at,

I always use my pink card to check into hotels

[jomtienisgood]

14 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Just curious why you would travel without a passport, even domestically. It would be needed at any hotel you stay at, and it is a legal requirement that you be able to produce at least a photocopy of it at any time. Why is that so difficult, instead of being delayed by security while they go and look up their rule book or just want to be bloody-minded? I'm not being argumentative, just wondering why you don't want to produce it.

As far as I'm concerned the point is not being reluctant to show a Passport or any kind of ID... In 20 years here I never carried my Passport with me, and have never been checked anywhere, I just don't carry PP with me because of ALL the hassle it causes in case one loses it..... 

[jomtienisgood]

14 hours ago, digger70 said:

Just be a Normal person and use your Passport .

Do you always carry your PP in your home-country?? Don't you have any other way of identifying yourself wherever you come from???

What happens in case you lose your PP or worse it gets stolen??

[jomtienisgood]

14 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Just curious why you would travel without a passport, even domestically. It would be needed at any hotel you stay at, and it is a legal requirement that you be able to produce at least a photocopy of it at any time. Why is that so difficult, instead of being delayed by security while they go and look up their rule book or just want to be bloody-minded? I'm not being argumentative, just wondering why you don't want to produce it.

Completely untrue......

[Peterw42]

19 minutes ago, Fairynuff said:

I always use my pink card to check into hotels

That cant work, The hotel wants passport to complete a TM30 report using details from your passport, visa, arrival date/card etc. Pink card provides none of those details.

 

[Fairynuff]

3 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

That cant work, The hotel wants passport to complete a TM30 report using details from your passport, visa, arrival date/card etc. Pink card provides none of those details.

 

You’re either calling me a liar or talking without knowing what you’re talking about. I’m speaking from personal experience.

[Peterw42]

15 minutes ago, Fairynuff said:

You’re either calling me a liar or talking without knowing what you’re talking about. I’m speaking from personal experience.

How does the hotel complete check-in of a foreigner without the relevant details ?

You may have presented a pink card and the hotel skipped the check-in and immigration reporting requirements, but they are not checking you in legally, they dont have the required information for TM30, visa type, arrival card number, date of entry etc, all of this information comes from your passport and a foreigner cant be legally checked in without the information.

 

If a hotel doesnt check you in and report to immigration, they are doing so illegally.

  

Edited December 8, 2020 by Peterw42

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, jomtienisgood said:

15 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Just curious why you would travel without a passport, even domestically. It would be needed at any hotel you stay at, and it is a legal requirement that you be able to produce at least a photocopy of it at any time. Why is that so difficult, instead of being delayed by security while they go and look up their rule book or just want to be bloody-minded? I'm not being argumentative, just wondering why you don't want to produce it.

Completely untrue......

 

You're wrong. But even if it isn't the law there are many, many reports of police demanding it from people in the centre of Bangkok. Uniforms can do whatever they want, with little or no comeback.

[Fairynuff]

1 hour ago, Peterw42 said:

How does the hotel complete check-in of a foreigner without the relevant details ?

You may have presented a pink card and the hotel skipped the check-in and immigration reporting requirements, but they are not checking you in legally, they dont have the required information for TM30, visa type, arrival card number, date of entry etc, all of this information comes from your passport and a foreigner cant be legally checked in without the information.

 

If a hotel doesnt check you in and report to immigration, they are doing so illegally.

  

Doesn’t change the fact that no hotels (of any star rating) have ever refused to accept my card.

[chuang]

16 hours ago, digger70 said:

Just be a Normal person and use your Passport .

Yeah, why is it  a burden to carry  one's passport during travels....maybe a rocket scientist can enlighten us....????

[chuang]

2 hours ago, jomtienisgood said:

Do you always carry your PP in your home-country?? Don't you have any other way of identifying yourself wherever you come from???

What happens in case you lose your PP or worse it gets stolen??

No, are you a thai citizen..

A thai has his/her ID for identification..

In case you lose your PP...get a new one..You can also lose your life if you go anywhere..no new life...

[FlyingThai]

2 hours ago, jomtienisgood said:

Do you always carry your PP in your home-country?? Don't you have any other way of identifying yourself wherever you come from???

What happens in case you lose your PP or worse it gets stolen??

 

In my home country it's only required to be issued a form of government ID, although it's not required to carry it. IF the police needs to verify your identity (with given cause) and you can't produce the document you'll be taken to the nearest police station for verification based on data you provide.

 

In any case what you do in your home country is irrelevant because most of us have civil rights and protection under the law back home. Here you don't. You're a foreigner and even Thai people suffer from arbitrary application of the law by those in uniform.

[Fairynuff]

29 minutes ago, chuang said:

Yeah, why is it  a burden to carry  one's passport during travels....maybe a rocket scientist can enlighten us....????

Clearly you’re not a rocket scientist then

[AlfHuy]

17 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Just curious why you would travel without a passport, even domestically. It would be needed at any hotel you stay at, and it is a legal requirement that you be able to produce at least a photocopy of it at any time. Why is that so difficult, instead of being delayed by security while they go and look up their rule book or just want to be bloody-minded? I'm not being argumentative, just wondering why you don't want to produce it.

Not true.

I check in at any hotel by just showing my Thai driving licence.

[Moonlover]

5 hours ago, brianthainess said:

I think the must carry passport is one of those things that often gets quoted and repeated but nobody can ever say where its written or documented as a requirement.

Here's one and I'm sure there have been others.

 

https://www.thephuketnews.com/no-passport-required-phuket-immigration-confirms-passport-on-person-not-required-despite-operation-x-ray-outlaw-foreigner-69367.php

[jacko45k]

3 hours ago, Fairynuff said:

You’re either calling me a liar or talking without knowing what you’re talking about. I’m speaking from personal experience.

I forgot my passport recently and checking into a hotel it caused a problem. Fortunately a copy is on my phone which I could email them. My personal experience...

Always asked for it, so carry it. It is not a problem until it is.....