One way ticket to thailand

[barney]

Hi, Can anyone help me?

I want to enter Thailand with a one way plane ticket as i dont know how long im gonna be there and the flights which have one year validity, flexible dates are extortionately priced.

CXan i get in without any hassles?I plan to get a two month tourist visa from the  embassy in London before i go and extenbd with visa  runs.

I thought i better check this as the last time i flew out Qantas specifically asked me if i had a return booked(had two seperate singles with different airlines due to changing dates,  i.e.extending beyond my original flights validity ).

Will all airlines ask me this?

if i dont have a return, will a copy of bank account staemnet to show i can support myself be enough to convince them to let me in?

Thanks for any help in advance

[jonwilly]

I came out last trip on a one way ticket with SAS via Copenhagen. I checked on booking and they called Scandinavia who said no problems.

I have never had an immigration officer check my ticket in all the many times i have entered thailand.

jon

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Get that tourist visa before you enter Thailand. The regulations are very very clear....if you have no return ticket within 30 days you are ineligible for the 30 day visa on arrival. It is highly unlikely that any airline will carry you unless you have got a visa. Regional security has tightened things greatly

[valentinoxxx]

As long as you have the tourist visa, you'll be fine.

[PK2]

The regulations are very very clear...It is highly unlikely that any airline will carry you unless you have got a visa.

The regulations have been very clear for many years. Airlines and Bangkok passport control haven?t checked for return tickets though. It would be nice to here peoples recent experience rather than having the regulations read out as air tickets are cheaper to buy in Thailand in many cases and many people maybe show up on a one-way tkt.

[valentinoxxx]

Get a visa and there will be no problem. I think it is not difficult to see that you have a one way ticket and there is no way of knowing whether the particular check-in person/airline is going to make anything of it.

So no amount of anecdotes is going to change that.

Is there a reason why you you wouldn't want to simply apply for a tourist visa?

I travel there regularly on one way tickets WITH a visa.

I think I have forgotten once, but didn't have a problem. Possibly because my PA called the airline.

[PK2]

Is there a reason why you you wouldn't want to simply apply for a tourist visa?

In my own case my work often takes me overseas to where there are no Thai embassies to apply for a visa. I have often turned up on a one way ticket and got a 30 day stamp on arrival without question.

[valentinoxxx]

We are talking about the UK.... The problem is not with Thai immigration, but whether the airline lets you board or not. To remove the uncertainty, get a visa.

[PREM-R]

If you are flying from UK, GET A VISA!

I have seen several people turned away because they have no visa and a one way ticket at Heathrow (Thai).

 

I asked the Air Canada people who deal with Thai in Heathrow why it was that Thai immigration don't check for return tickets but the airline won't fly you without one, Answer: "because if they do check and you are sent back the airline is responsible for your return to UK, if you have no ticket the airline has to foot the bill, which they will not do, So no return ticket - no Flight"

  Seems fair enough, so GET A VISA !

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Succinctly put Prem. But the law does say eligibility for that 30 day tourism visa on arrival is dependent on the pax having a confirmed outbound ticket within 30 days. Somehow the witless are at odds with the Authorities about this. So hard to comprehend.

[Sateev]

Just pre-purchase an onward ticket to Singapore, Phnom Penh, HCMC, etc., and then cancel it once you are in BKK.  You may have to pay a couple hundred baht service charge, but...

Sateev

[wilson steer]

Last time I left the U.K. for the LOS I had a one year return flight ticket. I had a quadruple tourist visa good for eight months. I had a right job persuading the check-in clerk at the airport that the visa was O.K. and the year return could be changed. It seems like they are really checking passports now for tourist visas.

Bangkok, there is never a problem, they never check and if you have got a tourist visa you have actually got to point it out to the grumpy immigration official.

The dilemma must be difficult for those travelling to LOS for 5 or 6 weeks, can they count on being accepted at check in without a tourist visa?

[Axel]

Travelling within Asia, i.e. close to Thailand, I say in over 50% of all checking ins the airline staff adviced me, that I cannot fly, because I am holkding a return ticket to BKK, only. (My re-entry permit is in another book)

My son is returning today from Europe after one year, i.e. his ticket ends here in BKK. I adviced him to at least carry the airline confirmation fax for his outbound trip end of this month and to check in early. If any problems he can buy a ticket, let's say BKK-Penang which can be cancelled alteron. But you lose Baht 800 or thereabout. So, as said, better have your visa in order. The airlines staff at Heathrow usually does know the rules, in smaller airports in Europe they might not or don't care to check, but why take the risk if you can avoid it.

[gadgetsteve]

I've travelled 8 times in the last 12 months on one-way tickets into Bangkok on Thai International from London, Perth, Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh.  

I travel on a UK passport, I've always had a valid 2 month tourist visa, and more recently a Non-Immigrant B visa.

No problem from the airline or immigration, the only hassle is from rip off travel agents in the UK who try to make more commission by conning you into buying a return ticket.

[lopburi3]

I've always had a valid 2 month tourist visa, and more recently a Non-Immigrant B visa.

No problem from the airline or immigration,

The visa precludes any problem.  It is the travel without a visa that requires a ticket out.

[Axel]

My son is returning today from Europe after one year, i.e. his ticket ends here in BKK.

OK, my son did check in at Frankfurt/Germany with Gulf Air 5/9. He has a used visa that expired one yea ago and 1 in-out chop from another trip last year in his EU-passport. Holding the return slip of a ticket issued BKK-FRA-BKK last year the airline should have questioned this. Did not. Immigration, no problem, he got a 30 days' stay. But as pointed out here, it is against the rules. So when you come to Thailand without a visa, be prepared to show to the airline and to immigration your outbound ticket, which must be valid for return or outbound within the period of your requested stay (usually 30 days depends on nationality) and per prepared to show your money a proof you can support yourself. Every thing else is "lucky". From my own experience, Europeans, Americans and Australians are usually not questioned. People from "poorer" nations do have to show money and tickets. Not talking about racism, talking about what I see all the time.

By the way PK2 Posted on Sep. 03 2003,15:44:

Usually, the tickets in BKK are cheaper if you return within 3 months or so. If you ask for an open return/valid for 1 year the price goes up considerably. That's why this time my son goes back to study in Europe and buys a 3-month's ticket next time, cheaper in Europe than the 1-year version in BKK.

[ovenman]

From my own experience, I'd say it's 50/50 as to whether an airline check-in agent wants to see a Thai visa in my passport when returning to Thailand on the return portion of a ticket.  I flew from Honolulu to Bangkok last week and was not asked to produce a Thai visa nor did the agent look for such visa in my passport.

Having said that, I have never traveled inbound without a Thai visa, don't recommend it and don't know whether one could talk their way around the problem if the check-in agent enforces the rule that is in place.

Sure, one can purchase a fully refundable one-way ticket from Bangkok to wherever and simply return it upon arrival in Thailand but this strikes me as being an unnecessary hassle.  Best to obtain a Thai visa, any Thai visa, in advance of travel.

[valentinoxxx]

Succinctly put Prem. But the law does say eligibility for that 30 day tourism visa on arrival is dependent on the pax having a confirmed outbound ticket within 30 days. Somehow the witless are at odds with the Authorities about this. So hard to comprehend.

This is not a visa but a visa waiver. Issued for trips not over thirty days, from eligible countries.

[Mackerel]

Hi,

Last time I flew from Amsterdam to Thailand, 2 years ago, I had a one way ticket and no visa. I worried too when I found out the rules about entry requirements and with 2 days to go, I not have the time to get the visa.

So, I reserved a ticket, via the net, and printed out the reservation for a flight to Phnom Pehn or somewhere like that. My idea was that if I was stopped by immigration, I could talk my way out of it and bluff them.

I got in ok, but only after needless worry about getting turned away. Imagine having to sit on the plane for another 11 hours just to go back if I was to be turned away.

If you get a visa, you eliminate the worry. I will in future for sure.

Regards,