Mystery Deepens: Missing British Man Boarded Flight from Thailand

[bob smith]

3 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

hundreds of people go missing around the world daily. 

....Some days, SAFETY, I wish that you would be one of them!!

 

bob.

[fredwiggy]

3 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

My theory stands.

He (possibly) sold his return ticket and (possibly) his passport to get more money to stay longer in Thailand.

Someone else, who for whatever reason didn't want to travel on their own passport, bought his passport and used it to board a flight to Finland and from there to who knows where.

Consider that on the missing MH370 flight 2 of the passengers were Iranians who'd supposedly bought "stolen" passports in Thailand and were trying to get to Germany (on a round-about route to avoid the Middle East it seems).
The "stolen" passports were from an Austrian and an Italian.

On my first trip here back in '93 I was told that if I "needed money" I could go to a pawn shop and sell my passport. (I was in the military and on leave from a peace-keeping mission in Croatia so there was no way I was going to do anything like that.)

10 years later I recall an article mentioning that a valid US passport could fetch up to $10,000. (While a valid Canadian one was apparently only worth $3,000 ! Discrimination !)

And no, it would not be the first time someone has gone bonkers during a holiday here.

While I was in Kabul in 2004, one of our firefighters took a 2 week trip to Phuket. This guy was one of "those guys" that the girls would go out of their way to catch a peek of. (We used to see a gaggle of women in the "female tent area" all trying to sneak peeks of the guy when he was sun-tanning on the Hesco barriers around the tents.)

During his trip he apparently fell in love (shocker) with the 3rd bar girl he met. He came back to Kabul, did his next 4 months and took his next trip to Thailand again.

The Deputy Project Manager asked me (as the company Security Officer) to go with him to check the guy's bedspace when he didn't return from his holiday. He'd cleaned it out and left a pair of worn socks and a print-out of a photo of him and a girl in a tuk-tuk.

He didn't give notice because the company was paying salaries "in arrears" so that if someone skipped out on their contracts the company could get the cost of their airfare back. But by pretending he was just going on holiday he was able to get his last paycheque before they realized he wasn't coming back.

And lol - the guy thought he'd just "start up a dive shop" in Krabi or something. And then found out it's not that easy. And when the love of his life realized he didn't have a job or anymore money - she left him !!
According to his friends back in Kabul, he had to resort to doing "odd jobs" under the table for a Canadian couple that owned a hotel and took pity on him. (And because he'd burnt his bridge with the company, there was no way he could come back and work with us again.)

All because of a woman he'd met on a 2 week holiday.
 

Anywhere I've flown, the officer checking passports always scrutinized the passport picture, looking at me to make sure I was the one on the passport. This includes the US where I'm from. As far as I know airline tickets are non transferable. You can change flights for yourself but not let another fly on your ticket.

[IamNoone88]

Confused. You should be. I blame the alien abductions. As he will, when he turns up.

[Captain Monday]

14 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

My theory stands.

He (possibly) sold his return ticket and (possibly) his passport to get more money to stay longer in Thailand.

Someone else, who for whatever reason didn't want to travel on their own passport, bought his passport and used it to board a flight to Finland and from there to who knows where.

 

It is not 1993 anymore with Immigration digital photos and fingerprints you think that is easy?

[cowellandrew]

4 hours ago, JoePai said:

Stopped off in Finland for a spot of berry picking ?

No work permit!

Job reserved for !!!!!

[IndomitableSpirit]

After following the Jay Slater story, few more British lads gone missing. They were also vacationing in another country.🙁

[Unamerican]

3 hours ago, Wiggy said:

I agree.
Of course, they shouldn’t release details to any Tom, Dick or Harry, but I would think family members have the right to know if a loved one was on a particular flight. 

Why would you think that?? 

[Unamerican]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I never said they should, but they should to his family, That is what is inexcusable.

Oh no they should not!  Indeed it is probably illegal for them to do so, or not? 

[Unamerican]

1 hour ago, tgw said:

this bit already tells everything:

 

I bet police on both sides did something.

They checked what they could check, probably got him on CCTV and got his immigration checkout photo, and the Finns are also guaranteed to know where he went.

 

BUT

as he is a grown man over 18, his travels, visa status, passport details, entry and exit stamps and whereabouts are nobody's business but his own.

 

Why/how would they possibly know to where he went??? 

[brianthainess]

9 minutes ago, bob smith said:

....Some days, SAFETY, I wish that you would be one of them!!

 

bob.

Hi bob, have you cut off your wife's head now/yet..........................

[kimamey]

2 hours ago, fredwiggy said:

He is the one who keeps in touch with his family frequently. This is why they are worried. Him getting on another flight besides the one where he's going home, as told to his girlfriend, is suspicious. Why to Finland? I don't assume things but it does sound fishy, and if it were my son, I would also wonder why he changed plans to a totally different country.

There are Finnair flights to Heathrow via Helsinki, so that's not unusual.  If he normally keeps in touch but hasn't this time then that's more of a problem. It looks like an issue for the police,  mainly in Finland.

 

[Unamerican]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If they had released it to the family this thread would not exist as there would be no mystery.

And wouldn't that be really great!! 

[Unamerican]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I never said they should, but they should to his family, That is what is inexcusable.

But it is absolutely clear both that they should not, and that they cannot legally do this! 

[Xonax]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

In a recent Facebook announcement, Sarah said, "We have confirmation Simon boarded the flight.

or someone else boarded the flight using his passport!

[bob smith]

6 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Hi bob, have you cut off your wife's head now/yet..........................

.....I'm not far off mate!!

 

bob.

[Unamerican]

30 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Anywhere I've flown, the officer checking passports always scrutinized the passport picture, looking at me to make sure I was the one on the passport. This includes the US where I'm from. As far as I know airline tickets are non transferable. You can change flights for yourself but not let another fly on your ticket.

Really???  And why is US practice at all relevant here? 

[GammaGlobulin]

2 hours ago, brianthainess said:

At 6' 2" he should stand out in a crowd.......

 

Six foot 2...

And...

Eyes of Blue?

 

Edited August 7 by GammaGlobulin

[cnx101]

4 hours ago, Moonlover said:

 

I rather doubt that any airline would reveal passenger details to anyone other than authorized entities such as the police or immigration. The Sun newspaper hardly falls into that category.

 

 

Flew with Finnair from Bangkok, arrived in Helsinki I was starved unbelievable the small amount of food they serve you.

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, Wiggy said:

Unlikely seeing that he had been in constant contact with his sister. 

Until quite some days ago.

[fredwiggy]

Just now, Unamerican said:

Really???  And why is US practice at all relevant here? 

Because it's what immigration does everywhere I've traveled. Protocol is usually the same as far as travelers on airlines.

[Gottfrid]

3 hours ago, Pouatchee said:

20 years since i called my folks

You must be very close with them.

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, Wiggy said:

Unlikely seeing that he had been in constant contact with his sister. 

That doesn't mean they were on good terms, his family could be a nasty lot, which is why airlines should not disclose any info. on him or any other adult.

[Pouatchee]

Just now, Gottfrid said:

You must be very close with them.

 

95 year old grumpy father and 84 year old yes mom... 555 so no...

[fredwiggy]

Just now, brianthainess said:

That doesn't mean they were on good terms, his family could be a nasty lot, which is why airlines should not disclose any info. on him or any other adult.

Nasty lots usually aren't too concerned about a family member's whereabouts.

[tgw]

5 minutes ago, Xonax said:

or someone else boarded the flight using his passport!

 

zero chance of that with biometric passport check

[Kerryd]

7 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

It is not 1993 anymore with Immigration digital photos and fingerprints you think that is easy?

Actually yes.

If your fingerprints are not in Thailand's database, nothing will come up. 

And if I look kind of like you and walk into any of the 50,000 "travel offices" scattered around the country and want to buy a plane ticket, what are they going to do ? Ask for "your" passport and assume you are the rightful owner of it. Travel agents are not "trained Immigration officers charged with protecting the country from nefarious travellers".
So now "you" have a passport and a plane ticket and head for the airport.

And most Immigration officers barely glance at the thousands of passengers they see each day. They check basic details (skin colour, hair colour, roughly the right age and - name on passport matches boarding pass. If nothing pops up on the scanner, away you go.

I've never had one question why my hair is cut shorter than what's in the photo or why I don't have (or do have) a mustache.

It's not a Cold War "Checkpoint Charlie in East Berlin" type interrogation like you see in the movies.

And between 2003-2014 I flew from Canada to the Middle East a couple times, from the ME to Asia a few times, Asia to Canada and back a few times. Essentially went back and forth enough to have circled the globe (west to east and east to west) 3 times. 
Averaged 3 long distance international flights a year. Never had an Immigration Officer anywhere question me about anything more than how long I plan on staying.

I just read an article a couple hours ago where an Interpol spokesman noted that only about 20 member countries actually check passports against the Interpol database.

And MH370 was only 10 years ago. Yet two Iranians were able to board using a stolen Austrian and a stolen Italian passport.

And 5 years ago when I was leaving Canada to come back here I "tested" the system.

I checked in for my flight, girl checked my passport was valid and name matched the ticket. Gave me my boarding pass.

I went to a food court and sat for an hour watching people check in and head to the security check. Or the bathroom. Or the food court. Or the shops.
Then I went to the bathroom and then into Security.

Where they scanned my carry-on and checked the name on my passport against the name on the boarding pass. And as I sort of looked like the person in the photo I was waved through and into the departure area.

Which was why I was paying attention and "testing" the system because once I passed the Security screen - I was in the Departure area and could simply board my flight.

NO Immigration passport check - at all !!! 

And that is in Canada !

I had recalled on a trip in 2014 that I didn't remember going through Immigration when I left but thought I must have just had a brain-fart or something.

But no - when you leave Canada, no one checks your passport to see if you are really you !

Simple as can be. You check in for a flight. Get your boarding pass and go to the bathroom. Mohammed, who more or less kind of looks like you, takes your passport and boarding pass and goes through security.

Security looks, yep, similar skin colour, dark hair, age looks right, name matches boarding pass - "have a nice flight" and away you go.

(I suspect they do that in Canada because they don't really want to know who is leaving the country or accidentally "catch someone" that isn't supposed to be there in the first place.)
 

[brianthainess]

7 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Six foot 2...

And...

Eyes of Blue?

 

No hazel brown eyes and blond, unshaven, like his Photo I would imagine.

[Gottfrid]

8 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

 

95 year old grumpy father and 84 year old yes mom... 555 so no...

Ok, I feel you, but I guess you should talk to them little bit, as people many times regret that when it´s too late. 🙂 

[brianthainess]

4 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Nasty lots usually aren't too concerned about a family member's whereabouts.

That depends on many factors, does it not ? Money owed/stolen, drug dealers the list is endless, wrongly accused of something by the family, none of us know and probably never Will.

[brianthainess]

16 minutes ago, bob smith said:

.....I'm not far off mate!!

 

bob.

Is that Tom in the photo..............................LOL