Must Read Thailand starts checking foreigners' passports on domestic flights

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

My Thai drivers license has always been sufficient.

And still is.

[Phulublub]

1 hour ago, sungod said:

 

The law for foreigners is that you need to check in with a passport, if the law is not followed then that's another thing.

Which law?  Link, plese....I think you will find it is "ID" which is very often laziy translated as "passport".

[malt25]

8 hours ago, bdenner said:

Can't remember I time, over the past 22 years, where I boarded a domestic flight WITHOUT my passport!!!

I've never shown my passport on domestic flights in the past 14 or so years. Just my drivers license. I realise that has my Passport number on it but just a glimpse for ID, never checked.

[Bepah umayun]

I hope it won't escalate up to the mini van boarding at Ekkamai

[BusyB]

31 minutes ago, sandyf said:

No government should be criticised for moves to try and reduce illegal activity but as far as this forum is concerned the Thai government can do no right.

I suppose the next winge will be the traffic fines. My wife received a speeding ticket yesterday and in the text there was an indication that fine defaulters will have to settle all outstanding fines before they will be allowed to leave the country.

 

I agree with your sentiment. I wasn't whinging. I was merely pointing out the gargantuan illogic of this 'policy' if it was actually aimed at overstayers. It would have required a Herculean organizational effort with chaos at check-in counters, or have been utterly ineffective as regards the stated aim.

 

As I have read in between times though the government release apparently did not mention overstay. It was, as I also guessed, a Nikkei news 'interpretation'. (Perhaps after a sake lunch.)

 

So same same but different.

[khunpin]

A good step in the right direction! 

I can only hope that those rules will be strictly checked and implemented. 

[impulse]

27 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

9 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

My Thai drivers license has always been sufficient.

And still is.

Maybe, maybe not. 

 

The graphic shows that other ID is only acceptable for foreigners who lost or cannot produce their passport.  Not hard to imagine those people will have to produce a police report showing they lost or cannot produce their passport. 

 

I'm gonna wait and see what they really do.  Not that it matters to me, since I always carried my passport traveling domestic, even when I had a DL.  Too many hotels that don't accept a DL.

 

[impulse]

10 minutes ago, BusyB said:

It would have required a Herculean organizational effort with chaos at check-in counters, or have been utterly ineffective as regards the stated aim.

 

Not really.  All it requires is that a passport number be attached to each boarding pass.  The heavy lifting could be done by the immigration database that can flag anyone on overstay (or wanted for crimes), and be waiting for them when they deplane. If it's a fast database, they can be waiting at the departure gate, before the flight.   That's assuming, of course, that the Immigration database can talk to the airline database.  But that's '80s tech.

 

 

Edited January 18 by impulse

[Bday Prang]

2 hours ago, Hakuna Matata said:

This is certainly a step in the right direction!

 

However, only 1% of overstayers are travelling by air.

 

But at the same time, 99% of overstayers have a bank account in Thailand.

 

I suggest that the Government should issue a new order under which all banks in Thailand will be obliged to check if their foreign clients, individuals who have a bank account in Thailand, are staying in Thailand on a valid visa.

 

In case of any doubt, they should report immediately to RTP and Immigration.

How on earth do you know  what % of overstayers travel by air,  and what has it got to do with you anyway?    Likewise peoples bank accounts. you should mind your own business.

[hotandsticky]

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

You said it is not an ID card. It is that's why it says ID card. It really doesn't get any simpler.

 

 

Not much hope for you if you are incapable if understanding those fine words are from CAAT......who have no responsibility for pink cards, or the wording on the back of the cards. 

 

Get someone who can read Thai to tell you what it actually says on the back of the pink card.

 

 

Here you go, just to make it easier for you..

 

 

Edited January 18 by hotandsticky

[Bday Prang]

13 minutes ago, khunpin said:

A good step in the right direction! 

I can only hope that those rules will be strictly checked and implemented. 

Another odious busybody

[Neeranam]

53 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

I too have used my pink card at hotels. Flights I've used it for years. Doctor's clinic no problem. Post Office not a problem. Bank not a problem. All accepted the card as legitimate ID.

Dept. Of transport didn't accept mine as proof af address. 

[BusyB]

5 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Not really.  All it requires is that a passport number be attached to each boarding pass.  The heavy lifting could be done by the immigration database that can flag anyone on overstay (or wanted for crimes), and be waiting for them when they deplane. If it's a fast database, they can be waiting at the departure gate, before the flight.   That's assuming, of course, that the Immigration database can talk to the airline database.  But that's '80s tech.

 

 

 

In a perfect world perhaps.

 

But it is another extra fiddly task for a check-in agent so extends check-in queues.

 

Said agent or another would also have to input the number to immigration computer, which I can't see being allowed. It would still need checking against PP or you could use your pal's PP number.

 

Or immigration would need access to airline systems without a warrant - not likely. Or PP numbers would have to be put on pax manifests and handed to immigration for data entry - not a popular and also an extra task for immigration. Not sure about the legality of that either.

 

Basically a hopeless cause. Surely they have smart BMWs for all this?

[tomazbodner]

35 minutes ago, Bepah umayun said:

I hope it won't escalate up to the mini van boarding at Ekkamai

That's where it's needed the most, so they can inform next of kin when inevitable happens.

[RobU]

2 hours ago, dinsdale said:

It's not about overstay.

I agree.

Think of the Thai bureaucracy as if they were a commercial company that needs to expand and innovate new products to justify its existence, running costs and staffing levels to the shareholders. So they create ever more complexity and push their penetration into new markets, in this case the airline industry. 

[dinsdale]

30 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

 

 

Not much hope for you if you are incapable if understanding those fine words are from CAAT......who have no responsibility for pink cards, or the wording on the back of the cards. 

 

Get someone who can read Thai to tell you what it actually says on the back of the pink card.

I've translated the back of the card but that doesn't change the fact that pink ID cards have been used for years as ID in Thailand. If this isn't the case how can it be that everytime I fly domestically I show my pink card. Doctors: Pink card. Post Office: Pink card. Bank: Pink card. I haven't shown my passport since I got the card 5 years ago anywhere the pink card can be used. Can you explain this? Can you also explain how several other posters say the same thing? It would seem that it is you who does not understand and I may be wrong but I doubt you have one of these cards. What is on the back bears no connection with reality. Can't leave the issuing Changwat is evidence of this. And you just cant ignore the bit that says guidelines for ID card holders and then says it's not an ID card. TIT.

Edited January 18 by dinsdale

[TheFishman1]

Domestic flights I usually just show him my drivers license

[Dogmatix]

Since you need your passport anyway, if you are staying at a hotel and overstayers are unlikely to travel by air, this is a solution looking for a problem. 

[brianthainess]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

can board with a temporary passport, or with a non-Thai ID card or a driver's license issued by the Thai government.

So is a pink card a non-Thai ID card? How would a Foreigner have a Thai ID card?   🙄

[sometimewoodworker]

7 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Yeah so that is now over, unless you have a police report showing your passport is stolen then.

The news report is that it is over! That may be true, that maybe like so many other “requirements” in name only and actually be business as usual, I will discover next time I fly if it is actually going to be required or not.

[impulse]

1 minute ago, sometimewoodworker said:

The news report is that it is over! That may be true, that maybe like so many other “requirements” in name only and actually be business as usual, I will discover next time I fly if it is actually going to be required or not.

 

Please post back and let us know...

 

[dinsdale]

16 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

So is a pink card a non-Thai ID card? How would a Foreigner have a Thai ID card?   🙄

Non-Thai ID card is a card for non-Thais. It's like the blue Thai ID but for foreigners who qualify. A foreigner cannot have a Thai ID card because.........they're not Thai. Getting Thai citizenship will get you the blue card.

Edited January 18 by dinsdale

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

Dept. Of transport didn't accept mine as proof af address. 

You were unlucky the DLT in Nong Hang did 

[sometimewoodworker]

35 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Please post back and let us know...

 

Since it will be some months from now I probably won’t remember.

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, khunjeff said:

No. The CAAT announcement never mentioned overstay, and the "new" policy has nothing to do with immigration or visas. The overstay angle appears to have been dreamed up by Nikkei and the outlets that have quoted their article. It obviously wouldn't make sense for the bored contract screeners at the airport - who somehow take several minutes to confirm that the name on the boarding pass matches that on the ID - to also be flipping through passports pretending to understand what the stamps mean

          Totally agree ,  the absence of any reference to the immigration authorities confirms that as far as I am concerned.  I take little  notice of any of these pathetic online publications. 

           As regards middle names, it isn't always that clear,  International flights are quite specific about it,  Domestic flights seem to vary depending on which company one uses, From memory Thai and/ or Thai-smile I think, specify putting first and middle names together in the first name" box"can't remember about the space being needed or not.  Air Asia don't request middle names for domestic tickets   I flew to Buriram early last month and had not stated my middle name  and it was never mentioned at check in.

            I don't really see what the fuss is about to be honest, domestic flights, in reality  are no different to catching a bus.  

            Those arguing about the validity of the Pink ID cards should read the CAAT document,  What it actually says is "Those who have lost Or are unable to present their "identification documents " (by which it is clearly referring to the international travel documents given as examples in the first pic )  must present one of the following "documents"  to me the omission of the word "identification"   implies that whilst they don't consider those alternatives to actually be "real " ID's like the ones in the first example they are prepared to accept them for the purposes of domestic travel, a subtle difference.  So both differing  schools of thought are in practice correct

              There was no mention of a police report being required either, that is just another example of someone thinking too much, a police report may be required to obtain a temporary travel document after a passport has been stolen but after that it is superfluous. In the case of a passport being  destroyed in a washing machine a police report would not be required or even issued as far as I am aware

                All in all nothing has changed, it is a non news article

[dinsdale]

8 hours ago, hotandsticky said:

 

The pink card should not work.

If you translate the first point on the back of the card, it clearly states that it is "Not an ID card".

Indeed the 1st point says it's not an ID card. This is the 1st point for the Guidelines for ID Card Holders. So the 1st point of your ID card is to tell you it's not an ID card. So is it or isn't it? It sure can be used as one. TIT.

 

Edited January 18 by dinsdale

[Puccini]

9 hours ago, dinsdale said:

They always check your boarding pass against your ID before customs and at the gate. 

 

This topic is about domestic flight departures. Customs are not involved.

[CANSIAM]

Sounds promising, is there a way to find all the long stayers that are under 50 and do the 'Lawful' thing there as well ?

[Bday Prang]

9 hours ago, sungod said:

You'd need your passport anyway if checking into a hotel.

In theory, but let's not forget where we are, Its still Thailand and despite the wishes of some on here it hasn't yet become the carbon copy of their miserable countries of origin I recently stayed in a hotel with my mrs,  she checked in with her Thai ID,   I was asked for nothing 

[Bday Prang]

6 minutes ago, CANSIAM said:

Sounds promising, is there a way to find all the long stayers that are under 50 and do the 'Lawful' thing there as well ?

Why,  just why, would you concern yourself with the activities of others that in no way concern you?