Report: Thai Non Immigrant B Multi Entry Visa. (brisbane Australia).

[petercsea]

Report: Thai Non Immigrant B Multi Entry Visa. (Brisbane Australia).

(Travelling on AirAsia flights)

The warrant and application form:

Purchased this through Sunbelt Asia. (Advertised on Thai Visa.com).

Travel: Air Asia.

Online booking. www.airasia.com

Bangkok to KL (return)

KL to Gold Coast. (return)

Easy, cheap flights offered. Changes were fraught with quite a few problems. (new service)

BKK/ KL LCCT/OOL

No forms to fill out on arrival at KL LCCT

If you're considering a night stop over at KL then KL LCCT terminal is approx 90 Kms out of the city. This is a different terminal to the KL International Airport and is not serviced by the train system.

Quick and cheap LCCT to City and City to LCCT transfers available by buses waiting at the airport. City terminal at the new central Station. Many bus lines to choose from and the price is approx 8-10 Ringgit.

Flight from KL to OOL (Gold Coast airport) Departs 21:40.

Pre-book meals is a good idea but please keep your original receipt. Boarding passes for some passengers didn't acknowledge their meal booking and they weren't offered or given except as a separate purchase at a higher price than online pre-booking. Plane arrives at Coolongatta at 07:40. Customs and immigration procedures straight forward, thorough and polite.

Transfer: OOL to Brisbane.

Distance: approx 90 Kms. Approx 2- 3.5 hours

Government advice website for Queensland travel and scheduling: www.translink.com.au

Bus service available at the airport. Approx $13.60 AUD for the inclusive ticket from the airport to the stations in the city. Chose to get out at central Station Brisbane.

There are two bus transfers to the first Gold Coast railway station: Robina. The intermediate bus was waiting. The train to Brisbane arrived within minutes and is an hourly schedule. Travel time to Brisbane from OOL was approx 2 hours.

I caught a taxi from Brisbane Central to the Thai Consulate a distance approx of 5 or so Kilometers. Suggest that a bus would be as good.

Details of Thai Consulate.

Royal Thai Consulate-General, Brisbane.

87 Annerley Road,

South Brisbane, QLD 4102, Australia.

Phone: +61-7-38467771 Fax: +61-7-38467772

Website: http://www.thaiconsulate.org.au/

email: [email protected]

Current business hours:

09:30 to 15:30 for Visas. (Some information suggesting that two days required for Visa processing.)

Arrived after a gazetted business time for Visa applications. Very accommodating and quickly inspected the application documents with the visa application. Cost $225 AUD. The visa was surprisingly given to me within minutes and that was the end of the Visa process. If that information or reality was available to me I could have returned to KL the next morning!

Transfer from Brisbane to Coolongatta: (Public transport may be difficult.)

Flight departs Coolangatta at 08:55. Public transport cannot accommodate this timing directly. The first service from Brisbane to OOL arrives at 09:05. Three hour check-in. Impossible

Requires leaving Brisbane the day before. The Translink advice authority isn't knowledgeable on this return trip. Advice was sort and offered. Plan was to catch the last service departing Brisbane at 00:25 and arriving OOL at 02:37. Not. No buses running from Robina station to the airport at this time. Taxi the only solution and needs to be phone ordered. Fare Robina to OOL: $59 AUD. The airport is not a 24 hour terminal and opens at approx 04:30-05:00. Breakfast is sold at cafes on site.

Flight OOL to KL LCCT.

Dep 08:55 OOL time. Arrive: 15:30 KL time.

Check-in: 06:00. Easy and fast.

Customs: Busy with many flights departing for New Zealand. Australian passport holders very easy and reasonably thorough.

Beware new handheld luggage regulations starting at the end of March. More restrictive than the current and extremely thorough I would presume. The flight arrived KL at 15:00 KL time (30 minutes ahead of scheduled arrival). LCCT airport is extremely busy with AirAsia flights. Passport control is crowded but the process is quick per passenger. No forms at all to fill out.

Flight KL to BKK.

Chose 17:45 flight (KL time) arriving BKK at 19:50 (Bangkok time).

Thai immigration: (Suvanaphoum)

A joy. No anxiety. Still a thorough inspection of the multi entries prior Tourist Visas, visa waivers and finally resignation with a smile after feeling the visa!

Recommendations for other applicants considering Air Asia flight and Brisbane as the point of purchase.

Confirm by email to the Thai Consulate their visa processing times and price.

Choose your flights based on the visa processing times. NB: be sure of your Air Asia bookings initially and please keep all AirAsia documents offered on-line at the time of purchase.

Air Asia: Things to consider.

Purchase as much as you need online: including meals, luggage and seat allocation if this is important. Meals and luggage are available at a discount if purchased online.

Insurance is ONLY available on-line at the time of purchase. Changes to an itinerary will invalidate your insurance and cancel the policy. This cannot be purchased subsequently and isn't able to be re-purchased with the change.

Keep all on-line type printouts

Transport Gold Coast to Brisbane and return.

Check the Translink website for public transport time tables for Brisbane and confirm any return city to airport travel details. Pre-bookings aren't offered. The website should be able to advise of the bus from the Central station to the Royal Thai Consul General office.

Translink:

Website: www.translink.com.au

Call center: 1312 30

For PDA's:

To access Brisbane/Gold Coast travel information on your mobile or PDA 24 hours a day, jp.translink.com.au/mobile

Limitations:

There are many synonyms for the Gold Coast airport: Including Brisbane airport (Which it most definitely is not), Coolongatta airport. International Airport Code: OOL. The number of people who know that there are 2 airports in the Brisbane region is about 1 in 5 (personal experience)

Public transport not a 24 hour service from OOL to Brisbane more relevantly Brisbane to OOL.

Translink is a great travel advice service for Brisbane and surrounds but because the Air Asia service is new and the demands for info low, their information is very limited and probably inaccurate.

Both the KL and Coolongatta airports are a long way from their corresponding major city centers, requiring reasonably long transfers.

Air Asia is suffering teething problems with this new route but I would presume will be ironed out shortly. Please be aware that Air Asia is strictly a point to point service. They do not have a facility for joining flights as a single purchase. There are, in effect, penalties for changing itineraries. Changes are not easy

[Jandajoy]

I'll try again.

Excellent report. Thanks.

I'm planning on doing the same in early April for a Non Imm. "O" multiple.

Am I right in thinking you went there and back with no stop over?

What were your total costs all up?

If you did it again, what would you do differently?

Really helpfull, mate

Thanks again

Geoff

Edited March 6, 2008 by Jandajoy