There are currently some attractive fares from BKK to MXP with the Italian airline Blue Panorama. There are then various options to get to the UK - flights with FlyBe don't look too bad and they fly direct from MXP to BHX. However, I foresee a problem if I want to take my Thai wife along.

She already has a long duration visit visa for the UK so this is no problem. But, if, as I suspect, FlyBe is a point-to-point airline we would, presumably, have to pass through Immigration at MXP and then check in again for our connecting flight. This would mean leaving the the international transit area at MXP and entering the Schengen area. To do this she would need some sort of Schengen visa I believe.

Can anyone confirm that this would be the case, based on actual experience. We could get a Schengen visa I suppose but this is just an additional pain in the posterior. I would probably preferentially opt for connecting flights where it wouldn't be necessary to leave the transit area in whichever airport we made the connection.

I've done a bit of a Google but haven't found any definitive information so any help would be much appreciated.

DM

Why not fly Emirates BKK to Birmingham via Dubai and avoid Italy?

aren´t they flying out from Phuket?

so maybe you need to fly there first, add the flight from italy to UK, so i think there is not much money saved.

Fly-Be apply a very stringent excess baggage regime.

Your Wife could well incur charges in excess of the fare.

Most of my friends have recently flown their wives to the UK, with the Indian airline Jet.(LHR) Very competitive fares.

No Indian visa required in transit.

Why not fly Emirates BKK to Birmingham via Dubai and avoid Italy?

Yes, not a bad idea. I wasn't aware that Emirates now fly to Birmingham. I'm not keen on doing a transit in Dubai though.

aren´t they flying out from Phuket?

so maybe you need to fly there first, add the flight from italy to UK, so i think there is not much money saved.

The Blue Panorama flights go direct from BKK to MXP on the outward leg but return via HKT. No extra charge for the Phuket bit and, overall, including the connection from MXP to BHX, there's a saving of about 200GBP over doing things more conventionally.

Fly-Be apply a very stringent excess baggage regime.

Your Wife could well incur charges in excess of the fare.

Most of my friends have recently flown their wives to the UK, with the Indian airline Jet.(LHR) Very competitive fares.

No Indian visa required in transit.

I'll be keeping a careful eye on the baggage, otherwise we'll have a suitcase full of stinky fish mixture!

I've heard mixed reports about Jet - apparently Mumbai airport is absolutely chaotic. Jet only fly to London anyway and this is not an attractive option for me.

Thanks for the replies.

DM