One-Way Flight On Tourist To Thailand.Possible?

[AlaskaDave]

This topic has been discussed over and over again in this forum and elsewhere. I can tell you for a fact that certain U.S. airlines will flat out refuse to board you unless you have a return or other ticket out of Thailand dated on or beore the last valid date of your Tourist Visa. United did this to me the first time I visited Thailand. It was an expensive lesson. United's rebooking fees are steep -- $250 -- I curse them everytime I see one of their airliners now.

I'm in Thailand now. I arrived in September 2011 with a triple entry TV. Because I intended to fly to Paris in the spring my travel savvy friends said, no problem, you do not need to buy your Paris ticket until you get to Thailand. And you're flying on Korean Air too - they'll never hold you up like United did. I ingored them and bought a ticket for April 17 and stashed a printed copy of it along with my other documents just in case.

When I went to board my flight in Seattle the pretty agent at the gate looked over my ticket, noticed it was a one-way and then politely asked me if I had a ticket out of Thailand. I said yes and prioduced the copy of my e-ticket to Paris. I asked her what would have happened if I didn't have that ticket. She replied, I could not allow you to board.

Thai Immigration is notoriously lax about this, as many have said. None of my American buddies has EVER been asked to show return tickets at Thai Immigration. But if I were you I'd go ahead and book something before trying to board your flight into Thailand. And take along a printed copy to the airport.

[wolf5370]

My father had this problem last year. He visits several times a year, but last summer he came via a German airline and when he changed at Berlin, they refised his onward journey until he bought another ticket (he bought a return as that is what they pushed at him). When he got here, I explained that he only needs to show evidence that he is going on and a coach ticket acorss the border would have done. Anyway, after much too-ing and fro-ing, I got Air Berlin to refnd the price of the ticket which he did not use anyway. He did actually go on to Burma and then flew back via another airline.

Some airlines use it as an excuse to force sales of tickets and give false information to aid this.

I had told him to get a Torist Visa (they were free at the time anyway!) but as usual, he forgot.

[snooky]

I have a retirement extension for one year plus my reentry permit and will be purchasing a round trip ticket to the US from Bangkok. Judging from some of the above comments it sounds like I may have a rough time getting back to Thailand since the ticket portion from the US, coming back here, will be the end of the purchased ticket.

Any comments? I have been living here on my retirement extensions for several years now!

Edited February 13, 2012 by snooky

[lopburi3]

There is no problem using one way travel to Thailand on a retirement extension of stay - I was questioned on this by Eva one time and explained the re-entry permit is my visa to return and once they know you have a visa it is not an issue. IATA regulations do not require onward ticket for travel to Thailand for anyone but those with visa exempt entry. The IATA requirements the airline sees you can view yourself at the Delta airlines site below.

http://www.delta.com...ation/index.jsp

[djvolak]

if your having trouble checking in i think there's also something that you can sign that says you will be responsible for any fees the airline receives should thailand charge them - or something like that.

some kind of waiver ?

I just flew in china airlines and they asked for my return flight I told her at the check in desk at Los Angeles that my company got the flight and would get the return when they were ready for me to go back to work 3 weeks later. I told her I had never been questioned about my return flight before so she starts looking at my O visa stamps and sees that the latest one had just expired 31 Jan 2012.I had been working offshore in Mexico and had not been backto the US to do the Visa so I told her I would try and extend it in Thailand and that if worse comes to worse nd they tell me I have to have a flight I would have my office book the flight or get one with my skymiles which she could check the balance on if she so desired. Well she did not want to give me the ticket but I persuaded her kindly to ask her supervisor as I am married to a Thai and have had 4 visas in a row without being late so it should not be a problem to extend so she ran off and spoke to her boss and came back and as the person here said had me sign paperwork saying they were not responsible for my return flight if I got denied entry for no return flight. It is doable but it took a bit of talking and patience she was not being mean just doing her job as they tell them to do so I did not lose my cool, even though I had missed 2 flights that day coming out of mexico and my original out of LA. Good luck with your trip. My company just started gettin my flights as we are down in Mexico so they always book one way. It has not been a problem for me but this is the thrid one way trip I have made and that was the first time anybody said anything but I usually have my tickets already. The missed flights caused me to have to check in for flights I had no tickets for yet.

[pacovl46]

I came to Thailand on a one-way ticket with a triple entry tourist visa back in 2003 and had no problems entering the country. Obviously this might have changed since then.

[AlongtheChaoPraya]

Last year, there was no way the airline was going to let me board the plane with a tourist visa without an on-going or return ticket in-hand. Luckily, the airline representative had warned me of this "new rule" when I called for seat assignments.

So, I just went online and booked a ticket out of BKK (unrestricted, fully-refundable), printed it out, and cancelled it as soon as I arrived in Thailand. I very quickly received a full refund from the credit card co.; didn't lose a satang.

[Bakeman]

Only if you already have a VISA can you use a one way ticket and it says there are no guarantees???

Edited February 15, 2012 by Bakeman

[Jingthing]

I had an experience returning to Thailand on a BKK - USA - BKK ticket and the agent was concerned about a visa or ticket out. I showed her the reentry permit and she acted like she hadn't seen one before and was unsure but I think my tone of voice explaining what it was did the trick. It made me think that can sometimes be a problem as you would have to know a bit about Thai immigration policies to understand what a reentry permit is. Its not exactly a visa which is what they want to see sometimes.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Jingthing