Flying With Air Asia

[007]

I paid for an Air Asia ticket to Malaysia, but received only a payment receipt - is it correct that I won't get a ticket/bording pass until I check in at the Air Asia counter at Suvarnabhumi? Also, I'm flying back to Bangkok on the same day, not even leaving KL Airport. So my question is, is it possible to avoid going through Malaysia immigration, or will I get into trouble when returning to Suvarnabhumi from Malaysia with no Malaysian visa stamps??

[H2oDunc]

I can't see how you can or would want to avoid Malaysian immigration ? I may be missing something. When you arrive in KL you will have to leave arrivals and then go to international departures to return to BKK. Your actual ticket will be given to you when you check in.

[timekeeper]

you will get the boarding pass on production of payment receipt at Air Asia desk at swampy

when you arrive KL you will pass through immigration, get stamped into MY and when you check in to take the return flight you will be stamped out of MY

the difference in time between flights may only be minutes but it will happen so you need to allow time between flights for the process

[007]

I can't see how you can or would want to avoid Malaysian immigration ? I may be missing something.

Thanks for the quick reply, H2oDunc. To answer your question, well, I would save the better part of one page in my passport, and also the time to queue twice. After all, I'm not going to town, but just flying in and out for visa purposes.

[PattayaParent]

Your payment receipt will have a booking number on it, that's all you'll need at check in where they will give you your boarding pass.

You'll also need it for the return flight for which you must enter Malaysia and go to Air Asia check in to come out again.

[theoldgit]

Or you could check in online for your outward and return journeys up to four hours before your flight from Thailand, then print your own boarding passes for both legs of the journey, though you will need to get them validated at the document check desk.

[Soutpeel]

I can't see how you can or would want to avoid Malaysian immigration ? I may be missing something.

Thanks for the quick reply, H2oDunc. To answer your question, well, I would save the better part of one page in my passport, and also the time to queue twice. After all, I'm not going to town, but just flying in and out for visa purposes.

And for the purposes of the visa run, you need to leave one country...ie Thailand....enter another...ie Malaysia..and then re-enter Thailand..you are not in transit...not rocket science and why does it take up one page in your P/P Malaysian stamps are relatively small

[007]

And for the purposes of the visa run, you need to leave one country...ie Thailand....enter another...ie Malaysia..and then re-enter Thailand..you are not in transit...not rocket science and why does it take up one page in your P/P Malaysian stamps are relatively small

Fair enough. However, if I flew instead to KL to Paris, Rome, Amsterdam or any other western European airport then I would not get a stamp into my passport, so these two stamps would be "missing" too upon returning to Bangkok. Also, I wrote 'the better part of a passport page'...

[Soutpeel]

And for the purposes of the visa run, you need to leave one country...ie Thailand....enter another...ie Malaysia..and then re-enter Thailand..you are not in transit...not rocket science and why does it take up one page in your P/P Malaysian stamps are relatively small

Fair enough. However, if I flew instead to KL to Paris, Rome, Amsterdam or any other western European airport then I would not get a stamp into my passport, so these two stamps would be "missing" too upon returning to Bangkok. Also, I wrote 'the better part of a passport page'...

Correct but you are on EU passport going into Europe ?, and Paris etc would be your destination, therefore in KL you are in transit in this case, but your destination on your current ticket is KL, thats your "port" of entry, you need to chop into the country and chop out before going back to Thailand.

[theoldgit]

[Correct but you are on EU passport going into Europe ?, and Paris etc would be your destination, therefore in KL you are in transit in this case, but your destination on your current ticket is KL, thats your "port" of entry, you need to chop into the country and chop out before going back to Thailand.

Especially if the Immigration Officer at Bangkok asks for your boarding bass, which they occasionally do.

[John 1]

If you fly into Australia on an Australian passport they do not stamp you passport.

[PattayaParent]

On the immigration form it requests your flight number.

Are Immigration computers at arrivals linked to the passenger list of the airlines?

[beano2274]

Immigration receive payment of 10baht per passenger after a certain time, so maybe they might be linked into each others computers or someone at Immigration is good at counting arrival and departure card stubs

[NanLaew]

The OP can't expect to be 'stamped out' of a country if there's no evidence that he was 'stamped in'. Generally. it isn't possible to somehow linger air-side and just go to the gate when the departing flight is called. Some airports (like BKK) have International Arrivals & Departures either on a separate level, or somehow segregated so that Arrivals are channeled to Immigration. There will be a transfer desk before one gets to Immigration if they allow that sort of air-side transit. KLIA (like AMS) is a single level airport so theoretically one could remain airside and go to the airline transfer desk and get a boarding pass for the return flight without entering the country. However, the OP is on AirAsia via the LCCT. I haven't been through that facility so don't know if its open plan like KLIA.

[whybother]

Seeing as you don't need to go through immigration if you are transiting, you theoretically should just be able to get off the BKK->KL flight and scoot around to the gate for the KL->BKK flight.

It would be just the same as if you were going SYD->KL->BKK ... no immigration in KL.

No one would really know (or care?) where you have come from, just that you are transiting to BKK.

[madjbs]

You are asking for problems if you do that. Both from the airline (air asia do not do airside transfers) and Thai immigration if they notice you were only stamped out a couple of hours beforehand.

[whybother]

You are asking for problems if you do that. Both from the airline (air asia do not do airside transfers) and Thai immigration if they notice you were only stamped out a couple of hours beforehand.

That's all people do on land border runs isn't it?

I'm sure there are heaps of people that fly out, have a meeting for an hour (even possible for 5 minutes - eg sign a contract) at the airport, and fly back.

The only concern I see is if Thai immigration want to see a foreign stamp in the passport ... otherwise, theoretically, you could walk in through immigration and walk out through immigration without actually flying. People do that if they miss a flight. I wonder if they get a new 90 days?

[bifftastic]

You used to have to go through immigration in KL LCCT even if you were 'in transit' I did it in 2009.

They used to state that they were a 'point to point' airline and did not do connecting flights, this has, apparently changed, but only for selected routes http://www.airasia.com/gb/en/tf_schedule.page and not for the round trip you are proposing.

It didn't take long to go through immigration, maybe about 10 minutes to get stamped in and the same out again.

I never left the airport but when you get off the plane you go straight to immigration. If you want to save a page in your passport so badly then you need to go to your country of origin, or if that's an EU country, another EU country.

The extra cost of doing that would be more than the cost of a new passport!