My Domestic Phuket-bkk Flight Went International!

[simon43]

Have to tell you about this! I've just flown from Phuket to Suvarnabhumi on a domestic Thai Airways flight, terminating at Suvarnabhumi. Although we parked at a gate, we were then ushered down the outside steps and onto transfer buses. The buses made the short trip to the arrivals entrance and we disembarked.

After walking some way along the arrival section I suddenly realised that the bus driver had dropped us all at the wrong entrance and we had been dropped at the international arrivals entrance! I was now 'outside' of Thailand and I hadn't even got a re-entry permit before I left the country

I approached an immigration guy who tried to direct me to the immigrantion/passport queues. When I showed him my boarding ticket stub he looked perplexed. When I and other passengers explained what had happened, his mouth dropped! A few calls on his radio and suddenly there were about 10 immigration people all running around and trying to locate the missing 'domestic' passengers.

Happily, we were then taken to the correct entrance door for domestic arrivals. I only wish I had purchased some duty free.....

Simon

[Solosiam]

Not sure I understand, the international arrivals terminal is not a different country, did you leave Thai airspace or something. Is there a piece of the story missing?

Else its a bit of a non-story really.

"I got on a plane and then a bus, the bus driver made a mistake and then someone fixed it"

[simon43]

Well, when you arrive at international arrivals, you are arriving from outside of Thailand! That makes a hel_l of a difference if you are actually coming from a domestic flight! IE - You do not have the correct TM form in your passport, only the outbound portion from your last trip. You may not have the re-entry permit in your passport (and if you're going for PR then you not only get a fine but your PR application goes back to ground zero...). Oh, and you have no stamp for when you were last stamped out of Thailand.

All in all - extremely important!

Simon

[tolsti]

What a wonderful story!!! That's one to dine out on!.... it needs adding to the ''Only in Thailand'' genre.... TIT rules

[Crossy]

An oops, but fixed efficiently by the staff once they realised what had happened (that has to be a first for Suvarnabhumi)

Some years ago I flew LHR - Ankara via Istanbul (Turkish airlines). No immigration process at Istanbul, arrived at Ankara and followed everyone else (as you do) through a door into the terminal (in those days [1996] you actually walked from the plane across the tarmac). Next thing I know there are taxis, buses, bustle etc. Erk, I'm in Turkey with no visa, no entry stamp and no luggage! Found someone who looked official, eventually I was directed back the way I'd come and in through a nondescript door at the opposite end of the terminal with a small sign saying 'international arrivals' from then on everything was fine, definately heart stopping for a while (thought I would have to go back to Istanbul for immigration).

[flightcrew1]

Priceless! Working for the airlines I have heard it all - and Suvarnabhumi has got to be one of the worst for crew arrivals as well! I would have loved to see immigration running around! That would have a first!

[PeaceBlondie]

Priceless story. There's more than one way to 'slip between the cracks.' At the old Don Muang, if you arrived at Bangkok and were transiting to Chiang Mai, you were asked to wait in the Transit Lounge, before your passport had been stamped. But it was easy to just walk downstairs and out of the airport.

Some domestic travellers fly without their passport! What about the Thai citizens who were flying internally?

I once had a special Mexican visa booklet in addition to my passport, and that booklet had to be stamped going out of or entering Mexico. I once had to walk past the queue line in reverse to find an immigration officer, and both of them were confused. Also, I later left Mexico at a border airport and land crossing, without getting stamped out (but by then, it didn't matter). When I finally turned the booklet back in (living on the Texas side of the border), I just rode my bike south across the bridge and handed it in without having my passport with me.

Great story, Simon43.

[Phil Conners]

I arrived in De Gaulle Paris from Brazil once, and somehow walked straight out without passing either customs or passport control. These things happens

[Farma]

^ I had the same thing in Paris and spent 4 weeks travelling around europe without a visa. It was only as we left paris again and the immigration officer couldn't find an entry stamp that they noticed.

[lazeeboy]

^ I had the same thing in Paris and spent 4 weeks travelling around europe without a visa. It was only as we left paris again and the immigration officer couldn't find an entry stamp that they noticed.

im sure this isnt the 1st or the last time this has happened .

[samran]

I arrived in De Gaulle Paris from Brazil once, and somehow walked straight out without passing either customs or passport control. These things happens

this happened as my parents arrived in Paris on a flight from HCM City in Vietnam. While my parents, Aussie citizens, got 90 days on arrival regardless, there must have been a bunch of VN travellers who must have thought they hit pay dirt....

[geoffphuket]

Sometime back, I recall another TV member recollecting the reverse of what had happened here. An international flight had docked and the passengers were disembarked from domestic via a bus ride - without passport control

[torrenova]

Flew from London to Sundsvall in Sweden maybe about 10 years ago and changed at Arlanda. Went to get my bags at Arlanda and nowhere to be seen. Lots of running around, panicking etc. Then told they were checked through.

My first stopover with the same airline and checked through bacjkage. Missed about 2 hours drinking at the bar !

[Zpete]

Priceless story. There's more than one way to 'slip between the cracks.' At the old Don Muang, if you arrived at Bangkok and were transiting to Chiang Mai, you were asked to wait in the Transit Lounge, before your passport had been stamped. But it was easy to just walk downstairs and out of the airport.

Some domestic travellers fly without their passport! What about the Thai citizens who were flying internally?

I once had a special Mexican visa booklet in addition to my passport, and that booklet had to be stamped going out of or entering Mexico. I once had to walk past the queue line in reverse to find an immigration officer, and both of them were confused. Also, I later left Mexico at a border airport and land crossing, without getting stamped out (but by then, it didn't matter). When I finally turned the booklet back in (living on the Texas side of the border), I just rode my bike south across the bridge and handed it in without having my passport with me.

Great story, Simon43.

Talking of MEXICO.

When we drove to the border from San Diego, to visit Tijuana.

We paid our park and pay fee. Just put dollars in a box.

Then walked through a turnstile, hey presto, we were in Mexico.

NO immigration

First sight was, just a row of decrepity Yellow Cabs, held together with fencing wire and masking tape. Touts like at Suvarnabhumi.... LOL.

There were 10 in our group, so 2 cabs and we were off on a helter skarum trip to Tijuana.

Returning was a hassle, the US Immigration......... grrrrrrrrr.

[Naam]

What a wonderful story!!! That's one to dine out on!.... it needs adding to the ''Only in Thailand'' genre.... TIT rules

nothing like "only in Thailand" a it happens all the time in continental Europe nowadays. people arriving from an EU-country are not required to clear immigration but are quite often directed to the wrong desks.

[Naam]

arrived in Heathrow coming from New York in transit to Spain. couldn't find a smokers corner, walked around and suddenly i was outside where the taxis waited.

[simon43]

arrived in Heathrow coming from New York in transit to Spain. couldn't find a smokers corner, walked around and suddenly i was outside where the taxis waited.

[\quote]

That's because smoking is now banned in the UK, inside public areas. So they just routed you outside as fast as possible...

Simon

[naka]

arrived in Heathrow coming from New York in transit to Spain. couldn't find a smokers corner, walked around and suddenly i was outside where the taxis waited.

Wow, how could that happen ?

Naka.

[Crossy]

arrived in Heathrow coming from New York in transit to Spain. couldn't find a smokers corner, walked around and suddenly i was outside where the taxis waited.

Wow, how could that happen ?

If the good Dr. can get out (and presumably back in), then Bin Liner and his friends won't have any problems, most disconcerting