Entring Thailand With A Single Way Ticket

[Noof]

HI,

Me and my Girlfriend, want to travel troughout South East Asia. We want to start from Bangkok. We've already booked a flight to Bangkok, but the travel agent doesn't want to hand over the ticket because we don't have a ticket out of Thailand. Does anyone know if a Visa for 90 days, with a statement that i'll be leaving is enough for Thai customs??

Regards

Noof

(netherlands)

[hasoo]

Things are in a state of flux regarding requirements for visas and one-way tickets. Up to now a one way ticket was not a general problem unless you flew on a Japanese airline, and perhaps some others, or were from certain countries. Still that didn't hold true for everyone, but it could be starting July 10. The Thai government has had a rule against one way tickets, but were not known to enforce the rule.

For some insight into your question check this out:

No specific urls, please, see our guiidelines

(That's an airline forum and you may have to log-in.)

Edited July 9, 2004 by george

[Axel]

If you have 90-day's visa, that would be a non-immigrant-type, you do not need

an outbound ticket. Same appplies for tourist visa which are valid for 60 days' entry and can be extented by 30 days with an immigration-office inside

Thailand.

If you have no visa but hold EU-passports the airline might wish to see a ticket.

btw, it is tthe immigration-police officer who checks your p/port, customs comes afterwords, checking your cujstoms declaration form.

Have a look here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=12209&hl=

The Thai government has had a rule against one way tickets,

hasoo, I just wonder where you found this ruling, I do not mean any airline rule but a web-site of the Thai government confirming your statement, which could be valid for other than EU (incl. in 41 nations) -passports.

[hasoo]

Axel, I was writing about an airline rule.

In my case, the airline rule over-rode the Thai gov lax approach to this issue and was revealed to us by the airline only at check-in!!!!

Perhaps forum members will be interested in the details:

I am an American who taught English for five years in Korea. The time recently came for my Korean wife and I to leave Korea for good. Because we knew we would not return to Korea we purchased one-way tickets to Bangkok, where I planned to teach English. We bought tickets on ANA, All Nippon Airways, from Joy Travel, a well-established travel agent in Seoul, with whom I had booked many flights through the years.

At the ANA check-in desk at Inchon airport, my check-in went smoothly but when the ticketing agent turned to my wife and spoke forcefully, if not scoldingly, in Korean I knew something was amiss. Not being a Korean speaker I just didn't know what the problem was. Only after repeating my request several times and insisting that I want to be included in dealing with the problem did the ANA clerk switch to English.

I was told that because my wife is Korean she could not travel on a one-way ticket. She was required to have a round-trip ticket. "Whose rule is that?" I inquired. the Korean government, the Thai government, or All Nippon Airways?"

"The Thai government," she answered.

I knew that was not true. We had asked at the Thai consulate, a week or so before, whether there would be any problem entering Thailand on a one-way ticket.

"Okay, let's call them up," I said, expecting that the matter would be thereby quickly resolved.

The ticketing clerk phoned the Thai consulate and spoke some time before handing the phone to me. The consulate worker told me that the matter had nothing to do with Thai government regulations, but that the airlines simply didn't want to be stuck with having to pay for a flight back to Korea if my wife needed repatriation, something, she said, the airlines think might happen because they had just such an experience with one Korean in the past.

The flawed logic notwithstanding, I showed the agent several thousand dollars, trying to assure her that we are financially responsible, that my wife would certainly not require repatriation, and that we are going to live permanently in Thailand, all to no avail. Maintaining my composure, and despite the obstinacy I was facing, I tried to be reasonable. "We bought a ticket in good faith and relied on the airline to be acting in good faith as one does in these circumstances. If ANA will not allow Koreans to fly on one-way tickets why are we only being informed of this at check-in? We are making an international flight because we are moving to Thailand, and suddenly instead of giving us boarding tickets you tell us out that one of our tickets is no good. Why is this our responsibility to rectify and not yours or your agents? The airline could inform travel agents of their policy regarding one-way tickets, so that tickets that you will not honor are never sold in the first place and passengers will not be in the situation you are putting us in."

"I am sorry sir, but that is our policy."

I asked for and spoke with her supervisor, but made no progress. Instead, things got even more bizarre and outrageous. We were told that the ticket we held for my wife could not simply be upgraded to a round-trip, with our paying the difference, because a travel agent and not ANA itself had issued it. The supervisor suggested that I immediately purchase a full round-trip ticket for my wife, or go back to Seoul and have the travel agent there issue an upgrade round-trip ticket for an ANA flight on another day. The latter was not only a foolish request but an impossibility, as I was on the last day of my visa.

The time pressure of our flight's departure was becoming a factor, but I wasn't about to fork over hundreds of dollars because of what was increasingly seeming to me to be a power play, a scam, an insult and a terrible inconvenience to us who had every reason to believe that the ticket we had purchased was going to get my wife to Bangkok.

"What is it that will satisfy ANA so that we can board the flight for which we bought tickets?" I calmly asked.

"Your wife must have a ticket out of Thailand," she answered.

"Okay, she'll take a train with me to Malaysia," I countered.

"No, she must have a plane ticket out."

"Does it matter to which country she flies?"

"No."

"Must she fly out of Thailand with ANA?"

"No."

Well, that was the key to the only way I was going to get some slight satisfaction out of the ###### ANA had foisted on us. So, we dashed madly about Inchon airport to find the cheapest one-way flight out of Thailand on a carrier other than ANA.

There may have been better alternatives, but under the pressure of time and emotion we purchased a one-way ticket on Thai Airlines from Bangkok to Penang, rushed back and showed it to the ANA agent, which satisfied her, and so we finally received boarding passes for our flight.

On the flight to Bangkok, an ANA flight attendant was sympathetic and got me forms to submit a complaint to ANA. She told me it would be unlikely that I will receive a reply from ANA management. She was right. I never did. Nor did we ever use that ticket to Penang.

Our experience with ANA was no misunderstanding. Whether, as my wife believes, it was blatant racism or not, the question is how to stop this sort of thing from happening to someone else? International air carriers should not be allowed to treat people in such a manner. They could not get away with it in many countries, but would be heavily fined or worse.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Always ask the Thai Consulate for a letter confirming that if one has a visa, one does not need an outbound ticket. BTW doesn't a South Korean get a 90 days stay in Thailand without a visa ?

[hasoo]

Yes. Dr. Pat Pong, South Koreans get a 90 day stay in Thailand without a visa.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I think that your treatment by ANA was shabby.

[Roger13]

Hasoo,

What happened at Immigration, Bangkok?

Roger

[Roger13]

HI,

Me and my Girlfriend, want to travel troughout South East Asia. We want to start from Bangkok. We've already booked a flight to Bangkok, but the travel agent doesn't want to hand over the ticket because we don't have a ticket out of Thailand. Does anyone know if a Visa for 90 days, with a statement that i'll be leaving is enough for Thai customs??

Regards

Noof

(netherlands)

Noof,

I would say that the Travel Agent is being very over "Protective" to you !!

IMO - it is of no concern to him. Credit to him for pointing out what he perceives is a problem - but to refuse to hand over the ticket you have paid for seems over the top.

With a Visa you did not require a return ticket - but some now think that COULD change from today - although nothing to that effect has been published to my knowledge.

You mention a Visa for 90 days.

A tourist Visa is valid for arrival for 90 days.

but on arrival you will be given a 60 day stay.

Roger

[btw the correct English is "I and my Girlfriend"]

[hasoo]

Hasoo,

What happened at Immigration, Bangkok?

Roger

Roger, at airport immigration she breezed right through. There was no question about one-way ticket.

[hasoo]

[btw the correct English is "I and my Girlfriend"]

Funny, I learned that it is correct as "my girlfriend and I".

[thaiflyer1]

Hasoo......it is!

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I second that

[Yohan]

For Hasoo:

1-

You should complain by registered letter in English with full explications to the head office of ANA here in Tokyo.

I would be surprised, if you do not receive a reply. It is not company policy in Japan not to answer to complaints.

2-

Indeed, a South Korean may enter Thailand without visa for 90 days, but needs as an immigration rule, a confirmed ticket to leave Thailand. This is not really checked carefully at the Immigration in Bangkok however.

Same is with all 30-days visafree visitors, but again it is not really checked by immigration, but airlines are worried about it.

(it was also a long thread here at Thaivisa Forum about it)

3-

Only if you have a visa from a Thai Embassy, you need not to hold a confirmed flight out of Thailand.

You wrote, you travelled to Thailand, planning to teach English....it must be noticed that visafree 30 days /or 90 days is strictly for tourism only.

If the person in question was a South Korean citizen, without holding a Thai visa, entering visafree for 90 days as a tourist only, the handling of ANA was correct, however this does not mean, you should not receive a reply to your complaints.

[Yohan]

hasoo, I just wonder where you found this ruling, I do not mean any airline rule but a web-site of the Thai government confirming your statement, which could be valid for other than EU (incl. in 41 nations) -passports.

http://www.thaiembassy.or.kr/thai1.htm

Axel, the Thailand-Embassy in Korea clearly mentions the requirement of holding a confirmed return ticket, if visafree for 30/90 days as tourist.

The Thailand Embassy in Tokyo is always a bit back with their informations on the internet, but also confirmed to me when calling them up for more informations, that there are new internal guidelines for the employees, in future to check more carefully about such requirements.

The consulat staff of the Thai Embassy here in Tokyo is advised to inform any person, who is inquiring about the visafree-30 days rule for Japanese or other nationals, that a confirmed return ticket is required.

[hasoo]

Yohan, thanks for the suggestion about writing to ANA headquarters. I'll try to follow that up, with my wife's permission. She wants to put this incident behind her. Also, thanks for the warning, but after exploring the scene and attending a few interviews I decided against teaching here. And for sure, I wouldn't dare violate any immigration rules. Anyone who does is a fool.

Just for the record, the ANA trauma took place several months back, when the Thai consulate in Seoul was not following the strict guidelines that they now post on their web-site, such as the confirmed air ticket requirement, even for Americans. That's why I said in my original post that things are in a state of flux. The airlines and the Thai government seem to be more in accord.

Noof, Netherlands is on that list of countries -- there are few that aren't. Get a return ticket!

Will those leaving the Kingdom hoping to return on a back-to-back tourist visa and overland travelers, say, coming to Thailand from Viet Nam via Laos, or elsewhere, pursuing a tourist visas on arrival with thoughts of buying a ticket out of Thailand in Bangkok be refused entry? We're about to find out. It's July 11.

[Axel]

Well hasoo, the incident happened a few months ago. Probably now too late to complain and, you are right, our wife might wish to forget it.

Your point of complain would, however, only have been for the shabby treatment they gave you, let's say agitation. A reply would have been something like "sorry, we will discuss with the check-in staff to improve on politeness."

btw, commonly the problem is solved, as you did, by buying a ticket to Penang.

Strictly following their own rules, it is not enough, as the ticket is one-way to Malaysia but your wife has no proper doucmentation to stay there, albeit need a ticket out of Penang as well. Catch 22.

Having said this, the basic rule is still, all travellers to Thailand need to have a visa, or if they go on the tourist-exemption rule (30 or 90 days for tourism purpose) need fund to finance their stay. Baht 10,000 per person, 20 K per family)

Now, as said b4, the airlines do not wish to check the pockets of their passsengers to find out how much money they have therefore the internal airline rules require tickets.

At this moment, at the airport immigration is to check p/port, arrival card, and now also ask for boarding pass (of the trip just finished). They might ask to show the funds, it happens on plausibility. Means if the immigration officer feels a need to check. The final decision is with the immigration at entry-point.

Entering Thailand overland, now I am cynical, is handled by another division of the immigration police. No, they do not ask for a ticket, not even a bus-return ticket.

[Axel]

The consulat staff of the Thai Embassy here in Tokyo is advised to inform any person, who is inquiring about the visafree-30 days rule for Japanese or other nationals, that a confirmed return ticket is required.

Yohan, I know, even different embassies make different rules.

The embassies do follow the instructions of the MFA who in turn leaves leeway to the embassies. (Any more documents the embassy-staff might need necessary)

As I said before, so much easier and less trouble just to have a visa or a ticket and no fight at the airport. (Yes, some airlines even fight for a return ticket despite of having a visa)

So while travelling on 30 or 90 days visa exemption, I always recommend to carry an outbound ticket, even if I say the MFA does not have this rule.

It makes sense, a tourist is supposed to come and go but not to stay.

[Yohan]

Maybe one notice more: if you get troubles at the airport, regarding not providing an airticket out of Thailand, it is the best to buy an airticket Bangkok to any international destination paying the FULL price. Such a ticket can be later on easily refunded or exchanged for a MCO Money Collection Order, and used again for airlines almost like cash....

No need to argue around about the return ticket at the check-in counter... buy the ticket for the full price, and later collect your money back again.

For HASOO: Thailand is not organized like Japan or Korea... airlines are worried about unexpected troubles, Thailand regulations are never really clear.... just check the many questions about all and everything on this ThaivisaForum. Thailand works nice considering that the income per capita is only USD 2000,- per person/year (in Japan 33.000,- USD), but you cannot compare the organisation in Thailand with such one of Japan.

Several months ago or not does not matter, you gave a complaint to ANA-staff in the airplane, and you did not receive any reply yet. So you should continue to complain, but better do this directly by registered letter to ANA in Japan. Do not think, that all Japanese customers are so polite and forgetful towards Japanese companies, if something goes wrong. - Japanese customers are penetrant and persistent in such cases, and you should do the same....

Entering Thailand overland, now I am cynical, is handled by another division of the immigration police. No, they do not ask for a ticket, not even a bus-return ticket.

Correct, no questions at all...the reason for it is easy, you come from Korea, you will be sent back to Korea in case of troubles.....(by airplane, so you need the air-ticket), you come from Malaysia, you will be sent back to Malaysia (by feet) ...

[Siam108]

QUESTION: TO SATISFY THE AIRLINE IN USA (WHEN FLYING ONE-WAY TO THAILAND), IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRE-BOOK ONLINE AN OUTBOUND TRAIN TICKET FROM THAILAND TO PENANG, VIENTIENNE OR SOMEWHERE ELSE? IF NOT, WHAT IS THE CHEAPEST FULLY-REFUNDABLE ONE-WAY BY AIR? THANKS

Edited January 28, 2011 by Mario2008
email removed per forum rules

[richard_smith237]

I always understood it the Immigration Law states that upon entering Thailand either a return ticket (for the visa exempt nationals) or a valid visa is required. A one way ticket falls outside of this regulation.

A 30 day or 90 day (for S.Koreans?) visa exemption stamp upon entry is not classed as valid visa in this case.

The Airline are responsible for their passengers if they are refused entry into Thailand.

Without purchasing an onward ticket (which as other posters have mentioned you may be able to refund later) the best option would be to obtain a visa from a Thai consulate before you attempt to depart.

[Mario2008]

It would be better to get an airline ticket. A train ticket might or might not be accepted and would also depend on if you can show sufficient proof that you bought the ticket.

Plane tickets don't have to be expensive. There are several low budget carriers, like air asia etc.

PS.

Turn off your capslock when posting. It is considered SHOUTING and not polite.

[Jawnie]

I have flown into Thailand three times in the last three months without a "forward" plane ticket. Only once did the airline personnel ask me about this upon check in. I replied that I don't have a ticket because I am planning to stay in Thailand and work there. She just shrugged and processed me through. Thai immigration in Bkk has never inquired, either. I'm in Thailand on the 'exemption' status.