Airport Tax

[my friend I]

You are intransit - doesnt count for departure tax.

Really? Even if I venture outside the airport?

Yes u can go outside airport but, last I heard , the limit is 12 hours. For 18 hours u will pay.

[noodle]

There is a line of taxes on your and everybody's ticket, the one you are looking for is labelled "TS" ...

I bought an e-ticket with Jetstar in May for October flight.

The only tax info is 'Surcharges,Fees& Taxes'.

There is no breakdown and no way to know whether the departure tax is included in the ticket.

I called Jetstar, there is no email contact, and after a 14 minute wait got to talk with someone who checked and said that the tax was paid. So I asked how could I prove that if asked? I was put on hold and after a minute the line disconnected.

On the Jetstar website (Ask Jetstar, Airport info - updated 2007-05-09, Bangkok) it does say that airport tax of Baht700 must be paid in cash.

[brahmburgers]

It's a shame that travelers have to question every singel transaction, suspecting they are being scammed.

Why does Thailand have that reputation I wonder?

Thailand has that reputation because they earned it - though to be fair, although the are scam artists in Thailand, it's a lot less infested here than other places, namely Central and South America and Africa.

As for getting refunds. Yes, that can happen sometimes, if you're at the right counter, and the correct service person is there, and you have your receipt, and all the dates are correct and the computers are not down, and you're not in a crashing hurry, etc etc.

The reality is, businesses of all sorts (ticketing agencies, airports, etc) have much more alacrity for taking your money than for giving some back. Wouldn't it be nice if all travelers carried around all their receipts in nice categorized (by type and date) briefcase - and could pull one of hundreds out at a moments' notice .....but that's not the real world for most of us. We want as little hassles as possible. We're willing to pay-as-we-go, but don't like surprise demands for money is clutch situations - like waiting in line to check in to a flight.

SUV is basically in the business of assisting travelers to get from one place to another. They should do all they can to facilitate that process. To pull two elderly women out of line and ask to see receipts for a transaction that may have happened months earlier is warped, and could well have been a scam in my view.

[my friend I]

There is a line of taxes on your and everybody's ticket, the one you are looking for is labelled "TS" ...

I bought an e-ticket with Jetstar in May for October flight.

The only tax info is 'Surcharges,Fees& Taxes'.

There is no breakdown and no way to know whether the departure tax is included in the ticket.

I called Jetstar, there is no email contact, and after a 14 minute wait got to talk with someone who checked and said that the tax was paid. So I asked how could I prove that if asked? I was put on hold and after a minute the line disconnected.

On the Jetstar website (Ask Jetstar, Airport info - updated 2007-05-09, Bangkok) it does say that airport tax of Baht700 must be paid in cash.

If u make a dummy booking on Jetstar BKK-SIN u will get a message come up that says no airport tax needs to b paid

[IMA_FARANG]

outbound from suvarnabhumi last week - saw staff at tg check-in collecting 1,400 baht from two very old ladies - probably tourists.

they argued saying it was charged in the ticket, then when they insisted on getting receipts they were asked to wait at the sofa (business check-in area) out of earshot of other passengers in the queue. i didnt hang around to see what happened next.

just wondering if this is another fast one being pulled at the hub of scams?

returned to bkk last night - took a taxi from the public taxi queue - saw the guy at the desk was writing 400-500 baht slips for people before me who were obviously tourists - he wrote me one as well, but changed to meter + 50 baht after i questioned it in thai... even skimming 200 baht from about 1,000 pax per day, amounts to 6 million bath a month!

The last time I departed BKK I had a return ticket purchased on Thai International from an agent here in Greece. There was just a total of XX.XX euro tax qouted on the ticket. I couldn't tell if the airpot fee was included in the XX.XX euro or not. When I checked in I asked the girl at the check-in counter if the departure tax was already paid or nor. She hit a couple of computer keys, and said it was already paid. No problem.

I think it is possible that some ticket agents in BKK may not be adding the departure tax to their ticket cost, especially on short haul or local flights, to make their ticket seem cheaper than their competitors tickets.

I once had an agent in the U.S. make an error on the price for my ticket (too low). When I went to check in, the person at the check in counter told me that the agent had set the price for my ticket too low (by mistake). However, I was informed that in the U.S., by regulation, if the agent gives you a price that is too low the agent will be resposible to the airline for the correct price. The customer won't have to pay if it is the ticket agent's error.

I bet that doesn't apply in Thailand however.

[misterme]

Airport staff are asking for Airport tax even when it's not due. Although they don't pocket the money, they are 'scaming' in the sense that they shouldn't be collecting it in many cases.

In my case, I recently flew out of BKK. Connecting the night earlier from Phuket, my early morning flight left me with only enough time to sleep a few hours in a hotel and make it back to the airport to check in.

Midway thorough check-in they asked me for 700thb. I'd only bought my ticket a few days earlier in Thailand, so I was sure the tax was correctly collected (my travel agents are so paranoid they check each ticket with the airline before issuing). The 2 agents talked again and I heard the word stopover. I jumped in immediately and said, 'no, no, no, not a stopover, only connection'. It was enough. After a few keystrokes, they agreed and the boarding passes were handed over with a smile.

I had to question them twice. Both times they were positive it was due.

Only after my insistence, that I knew positively it was correct, and telling them why not collecting it was correct did they back down.

Most travelers don't know the rules (or their travel agents habits) enough to make such a confident stand and a proper explanation of why.

Most travelers will pay. Even when they don't have to, thinking the agents are correct, or just by duress.

My advice is to check your tickets with the airline or agent ahead of travel. If you've already paid, or don't have to, stick to your guns. Printed info to support your case will close any case they present to you.

Advice to keep receipts and that if charged twice has me wondering. Do you really expect a refund from the government or the airline for tax incorrectly charged? Call me a skeptic, but that just doesn't sound like it would work.