Refuse To Board On Plane

[bigmove]

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to share this story that happened yesterday at Manila airport. My friend's cousin (Filipino)was on his way to Thailand via Cebu pacific flight 10:00pm yesterday. After he has check-in the cebu pacific counter and paid the airport tax and bpading fee, the immigration officer ask for an invitation letter and a copy of his cousin's passport and work permit. He said he didn't have this documents as he will be staying for maximum 20 days in Thailand as he will be attending my friend's wedding 1st week of November and said that he was not advise of this prior to booking a ticket. But the immigration officer insisted and said he cannot board the plane. He also questioned why the other passenger on that same line was not asked to show this documents and he said that it is the immigration officer's discretion. So he called his cousin to ask if he can give this documents to him and he did. When he asked for a fax number the immigration officer said that it is useless since there is not enough time left. This happened 2 hours before the flight that is set 10:00PM and instead he was asked by the immigration officer to go to cebu pacific office and rebook the flight which would mean he has to pay additional Php1,500 just to have the flight schedule changed.

So to make the long story short he didn't make the flight and got a ne schedule on the 26 which is almost a week from his original schedule.

BM

Edited October 21, 2007 by bigmove

[IMA_FARANG]

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to share this story that happened yesterday at Manila airport. My friend's cousin (Filipino)was on his way to Thailand via Cebu pacific flight 10:00pm yesterday. After he has check-in the cebu pacific counter and paid the airport tax and bpading fee, the immigration officer ask for an invitation letter and a copy of his cousin's passport and work permit. He said he didn't have this documents as he will be staying for maximum 20 days in Thailand as he will be attending my friend's wedding 1st week of November and said that he was not advise of this prior to booking a ticket. But the immigration officer insisted and said he cannot board the plane. He also questioned why the other passenger on that same line was not asked to show this documents and he said that it is the immigration officer's discretion. So he called his cousin to ask if he can give this documents to him and he did. When he asked for a fax number the immigration officer said that it is useless since there is not enough time left. This happened 2 hours before the flight that is set 10:00PM and instead he was asked by the immigration officer to go to cebu pacific office and rebook the flight which would mean he has to pay additional Php1,500 just to have the flight schedule changed.

So to make the long story short he didn't make the flight and got a ne schedule on the 26 which is almost a week from his original schedule.

BM

Sorry to hear that. Can you answer a couple of questions?

1. Did he have a tourist visa? Or was he planning to get a visa on arrival?

2. What was his age? Was he travelling with his family or alone? Young, single men are often profiled as "potential undesirables" sometimes.

And a comment:.....being allowed on the plane is always at the consent of the immigration. Sorry to hear that your cousin had problems. Maybe the immigration officer just had a bad day and took his frustration out one the next person he saw. Bad luck.

[mickj88]

I take it he had a return flight, If not that could cause problems.Some airlines wil not let you board flights to Thailand on a one way ticket unless you have a visa.The reason is that the Thai authorities have been known on occasion not to admit people if they do not have a return ticket.This means that the airline is accountable and has to fly the passenger back to their countyr of origin.I have come accross this when flying from the uk on a one way flight .

[bigmove]

BM

Sorry to hear that. Can you answer a couple of questions?

1. Did he have a tourist visa? Or was he planning to get a visa on arrival?

2. What was his age? Was he travelling with his family or alone? Young, single men are often profiled as "potential undesirables" sometimes.

And a comment:.....being allowed on the plane is always at the consent of the immigration. Sorry to hear that your cousin had problems. Maybe the immigration officer just had a bad day and took his frustration out one the next person he saw. Bad luck.

to answer your question...

1. He didn't have a tourist visa as he only plans to stay for max 20 days.

2. He is 32 and he is travelling alone.

He is a Filipino ang was only asked to go to Thailand as his cousin is about to get married soon.

[bigmove]

I take it he had a return flight, If not that could cause problems.Some airlines wil not let you board flights to Thailand on a one way ticket unless you have a visa.The reason is that the Thai authorities have been known on occasion not to admit people if they do not have a return ticket.This means that the airline is accountable and has to fly the passenger back to their countyr of origin.I have come accross this when flying from the uk on a one way flight .

He has a return flight and would only stay for max 20 days. There are four other passenger ahead of him but were not asked to show this documents. My friend is more than willing to fax the documents but they won't gave him the fax number as they said it was too late. Mind you there was still 2 hours left before the flight when this happened but still they said to rebook the flight. I'm wondering what other documents will they ask next time. My friend is totally pissed by this as he thought since they are from the Philippines it will be easier for them to travel since they only need a return ticket to travel to Thailand and can stay max 30 days on a visa exempt.

hope this will not happen to anyone

[sniffdog]

Quite funny, if you imagine that there are so many Filipinos/Filipinas live for an extended time in Pattaya and work as musicians, singers and teachers, renewing their visas with a border run.

[JonnieB]

The Filipino immigration officers have all sorts of rules and regulations of their own that pertain to Filipino nationals traveling abroad. These are in addition to the rules that apply to all travelers and the airlines own regulations. This is because of all the Filipino workers that are constantly going in and out of the country to work. Basically, I think this is to control their own nationals from going abroad to work illegally...and thus cause problems for themselves and their fellow nationals that are working around the world legally. It also prevents the government from having to come to their aid later if/when they find themselves in legal jeopardy.

I have seen all the filipina maids and sailors leaving from MNL and the packets of documents they have to show THEIR OWN IMMIGRATION officers to get stamped out of the country and onto the plane.

[tropo]

The Immigration officer was acting illegally as he was interferring with a Filipino's free right to travel as he satisfied all the requirements to leave. The constitution affords him this right.

They do this a lot. The immigration officers really like to play God with their own people...it makes them feel good.

I had a problem getting my GF cleared through Philippine immigration about 6 months ago because she didn't have a return ticket even though she had proof of onward travel. We got through eventually after talking with the supervisor, however if she was alone she would have been out of luck.

[jonniebkk]

As for the women, it's likely to prevent trafficking (or as they like to say "white slavery") in sex-workers also .

[astral]

I am not sure how this topic relates to Thai Visas,

so it is moved to the General Section.

[tropo]

As for the women, it's likely to prevent trafficking (or as they like to say "white slavery") in sex-workers also .

It doesn't prevent anything. All it does is inconvenience their citizens when they wish to go overseas....it doesn't stop them.

Imagine what would happen if a girl from say UK, Australia or US wanted to travel overseas for a vacation but were hindered by Immigration at the airport when exiting their countries on suspicion of becoming a sex-worker overseas.

[faxx]

I have lived in the Philippines for 3 years and it is very sad, but the Philippines are not a free country by western standards.

My girlfriend is a Filipina and she comes to visit me in Thailand every couple of weeks and sometimes the immigration at NAIA airport ask her real personal questions .... like, why she is traveling, how long she knows me, how we met, what my job is, what her job is, etc. She was also asked to present an invitation letter from me once. However, she always politely answered and said that she does not have nor need an invitation as she wants to surprise me and that it could be seen from her passport that she is frequently traveling. She got her stamp and was out of the country. She had the imagination that the immigration officer was trying to suggest that she would have less trouble if she would offered to 'pay a fine' for a missing invitation that is not needed at all. One could assume that there are some immigraion officials at NAIA that are just looking for opportunities to make some additional cash.

There is a public letter from the Philippine DFA or even the vice president that each Filipino citizen can travel abroad with a passport and proof of financial means of self support during stay. I will look around to see if I can find that letter and post it here later.

What your friend could try .... is to go back out of immigration area and go back in after 15 mins and try his luck at a different counter. This area is always very crowded so he will hardly be noticed. This alone should work just fine.

[faxx]

As for the women, it's likely to prevent trafficking (or as they like to say "white slavery") in sex-workers also .

This is probably the father of the idea, but it is against their own laws. Nothing new - next to nobody follows the laws in the Philippines so why would immigration officers? It is very interesting to observe their 'rules and regulations' in many aspects of daily life that are imposed to 'help people', but that are violating basic human rights.

As a matter of fact young women with a fresh new passport are most likely to be denied departure from a Philippine airport. Even if they are accompanied by their boyfriends and they state they met over the internet or are a couple for less than 3 months she will most likely be denied unless the guy calls for a supervisor to raise hel_l. It has happened many times before.

[smartecosse]

As for the women, it's likely to prevent trafficking (or as they like to say "white slavery") in sex-workers also .

that doesnt stop it, also it makes the assumption that a woman travelling alone must be a sex worker???

anyway its just little people enjoying the power that they have over others to brighten up there day

For example

Heathrow Airport Security - You cannot take your tweezers onboard miss, they should have been checked into the hold.

Don't be silly, they have never created a problem before

In the bin please, or we cannot let you through

They have been on hundreds of flights

In the bin!

Fairly standard you might think except the person who had the tweezers was the pilot of the commercial plane and there is a big axe in the cockpit in case they need to hack out the windows which is rather more dangerous than the tweezers - plus of course she could just have crashed the plane...........

like i said little people with power - like the bouncer on the club door - oi you -nae trainers!!!

[bigmove]

What your friend could try .... is to go back out of immigration area and go back in after 15 mins and try his luck at a different counter. This area is always very crowded so he will hardly be noticed. This alone should work just fine.

As I was told he went on a different counter twice as per advice of the first officer. He was told to try his luck on the next once and that maybe they will not asked him to show an invitation letter. But they were all the same and when asked for a fax number where his cousin could fax the invitation letter, they said they are not allowed to give this information.So my friend was so mad as he was rushed to make a letter just to let his cousin's pass the immigration. What i told him was that this people are trying to make money out of this poor guy by asking him these documents that is not a requirement in the first place, if so all the pasengers travelling in that flight should have showed them the same.If they were that serious about the letter they should have given the fax number so his cousin could board the plane.

So this poor guy cannot do anything about it for they return his luggage and was ask to rebook the flight. And when rebooking the flight he was asked to paid a no-show fee Php 1500 (even if he argued that it should not be paid since he was on the airport and check-in to cebu pacific) and a rebooking fee of Php 1500.

So unfortunate that he has to pay all this jut to attend the wedding of his cousin. So guys if you plan to fly via cebu pacific think twice. This airline is a total rip off. Hate to say this since I am a Filipino myself but this is reality this is happening and unless someone puts an end to this and take action it will never stop. I ask my friend to get the name of the officer and file a complain as this violated his counsin's right to travel.

BM

[faxx]

So this poor guy cannot do anything about it for they return his luggage and was ask to rebook the flight. And when rebooking the flight he was asked to paid a no-show fee Php 1500 (even if he argued that it should not be paid since he was on the airport and check-in to cebu pacific) and a rebooking fee of Php 1500.

So unfortunate that he has to pay all this jut to attend the wedding of his cousin. So guys if you plan to fly via cebu pacific think twice. This airline is a total rip off. Hate to say this since I am a Filipino myself but this is reality this is happening and unless someone puts an end to this and take action it will never stop. I ask my friend to get the name of the officer and file a complain as this violated his counsin's right to travel.

BM

Why do you believe he can not do anything? He can do the following:

- contact DFA with the details and names of immigration officers and request a statement.

- Report this to the media

- file legal claims (if he knows a good and reputable lawyer ... there are some lawyers that will love to take this case for no payment ... some of them are politicians from the opposition)

So, there are plenty of things to start with. But of course, most Filipinos will obey and just swallow all the problems. This way problems will never get solved.

It is certainly not the fault of the Airline.

[thai_narak]

Quite funny, if you imagine that there are so many Filipinos/Filipinas live for an extended time in Pattaya and work as musicians, singers and teachers, renewing their visas with a border run.

this is the reason why...