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My Thai Girlfriend is Trapped in South America

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About a year ago I had the genius idea to take my Thai girlfriend to South America.

We flew to Japan, and then to Peru via Airmexico. It was one of the few routes I found that her passport allowed for.

Last week she said she was bored and wanted to go home. OK. I booked on Aeromexico, Peru to Japan, and then separate flight to Thailand. I took her to the airport, trying to be a good Dude.

She was denied at the gate, after checking luggage and recieving boarding pass. Turns out Aeromexico added a very small, extra stop to the Mexico part of the trip, which means the temporary transit visas for mexico no longer work.

So how the hell do I get her back to Asia? I'd put her on a 6 month boat if I could...AND it was cheap. I've been told that it is possible to apply for a transit visa through Amsterdam, but that one way trip is over 3k USD.... there's gotta be a better way... Let's just suppose I was willing to pay 2500$ USD for her to get back.. how could I do that?

At the very least let this be a lesson... Taking a Thai abroad can be some very tricky shit.

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  • Surely a transit visa for Europe, if staying in the airport transit lounge is not necessary? I know it is for the USA, but for most other countries it shouldn't be (for Thais). Otherwise, consider fl

  • Something doesn't ring right about this post and its authenticity...

  • There's multiple ways -- the OP is just looking for someone to share the responsibility of getting his girlfriend home to Thailand when such a trip should have been well planned in advance. I've done

  • Popular Post

Surely a transit visa for Europe, if staying in the airport transit lounge is not necessary? I know it is for the USA, but for most other countries it shouldn't be (for Thais).

Otherwise, consider flying via Australia or New Zealand. Neither country requires a transit visa for Thais as long as they don't leave the airport transit lounge. Qantas flies from Santiago de Chile to Sydney, from where she could connect to another Qantas flight to Bangkok.

  • Author

Thank you. This is exactly the sort of idea I was looking for.

Except when I check fares on Qantas, I see that the one way flight will be minimum of 3k... and coming from Peru it will cost almost 500$ more than that to get her to Santiago by a bus and flight combo... A direct flight would be a couple hundred more on top. So all in all this appears to be about a 4k journey.

Let's just imagine that I'm not willing to pay 4k. 2500 is a higher end goal.

What's the problem with getting her a regular Mexican tourist visa? I got one for my now wife some years ago when we were in Portland, OR, and heading down to Baja for a few days. Easy and cheap.

Mac

I don't think a visa is necessary, just make sure before booking any flights

The U.K has a 48 hour transit Visa on arrival, usually very cheap flights running through the U.K too.

There are cheap seasonal promotions from Argentina/Brazil to Thailand via South Africa.

I think the route is San Paolo-Johannsburg-Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok. I heard some friends from Argentina having pay for all route 2 ways for just $1500 but It was surely a promotion.

I am not sure about the need of visas for Thais to South America. You should contact some embassies and ask them about this chance and tell them it would just be a transit in the airports. Some countries like China and Russia don t require visas if you stay less than 24/48 hours (and you depart from the same airport),so even if you have a longer connection, you can overnight without the need a visa.

Not sure about every country and every nationality, but check about that route with malaysian airline ,despite being a very long trip, it is not that expensive.

Actually that was my thought also. Whatever she needs to get through Mexico can't she get it at the Mexican embassy/consulate in Peru?

Turkish Airlines fly to Brazil and several other South American countries (Peru is not one of them).

Since Turkey is visa-free for Thai people, You can try to book a ticket from Peru to Istanbul, and use Turkish Airlines or another cheaper airlines (qatar or aeroflot) to fly her back to Thailand.

Of course, a route via Japan should cost less. I thought Japan was visa free to Thais?

You can book a flight on Emirates from either Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro via Dubai for about 1800.00 USD.

Kurt

Perhaps the travel hackers at flightFox will take this on.

Now i feel like a noob. I actually thought that there didn't exist transit visas when flying ?

  • Popular Post

Something doesn't ring right about this post and its authenticity...

Mexican govt telling the u.s. they need to be looser on their treatment of illegals and they can't even let a thai fly through... says a lot...

  • Popular Post

There's multiple ways -- the OP is just looking for someone to share the responsibility of getting his girlfriend home to Thailand when such a trip should have been well planned in advance. I've done the Mexico -- Peru -- NZ -- Thailand thing several times in differing formats. Nothing special or difficult about finding the flights and visa requirements. There's no international transit area in USA airports, so a visa of some kind is needed by every non-USAsian. Find the cheapest flight combo that doesn't go into USA and then look at the visa requirements - if any - and add that. It's not rocket science. I pity the girl who has probably had a bit of an eye-opening experience with the OP which will give her stories to tell all her family and friends for a long time to come. No wonder Farangs get a bad press -- some deserve it, but we all get tarred with the same brush :(

If you had just paid up the extra $500 she would of been home by now. Just goes to show how much you care about here. Poor girl on the other side of the world with no Som Tam. Shame on you.

I just checked Qatar, found one way Lima to Bangkok on 16. January for 7,458 PEN . . . go get it right now

it is 7:25 hour wait at Sao Paulo, and 9:50 hours wait in Doha, making it a 42 hours trip . .but better than anything

it is still avaialable right now

At the very least let this be a lesson... Taking a Thai abroad can be some very tricky shit.

I hear you brother, on top of them getting bored very quickly, don't like this or that,

best to leave her at home with mother.

Obviously trying to send her in the run up to Christmas is going to be expensive.

But Ethiopian Airlines (ET) maybe the answer.

ET operate a flight from Sao Paulo (GRU) to Addis Ababa (ADD) via Tome (LFW). At Tome. passengers just sit on the aircraft. From ADD, ET fly direct to BKK.

You should be able to buy a ticket from Lima (LIM) to GRU on TAM and have the whole journey ticketed on one ticket.

I just did this search and it comes in at 8654 Sol on 19th Jan and no transit stop is that long. And that ticket includes J class on the section LIM-GRU due to lack of availability in cheaper classes! From GRU onwards, she is back of plane.

Lima (LIM) to Bangkok (BKK) — Mon, Jan 19
JJ.png
Lima (LIM) to Sao Paulo (GRU) — Mon, Jan 19
TAM Linhas Aereas 8067
Dep: 12:25 pm
Arr: 8:50 pm
5h 25m
Boeing 767
Business ©
Layover in GRU
4h 15m
ET.png
Sao Paulo (GRU) to Lome (LFW) — Tue, Jan 20
Ethiopian Airlines 507
Dep: 1:05 am
Arr: 10:30 am
7h 25m
Boeing 787
Economy (G)
Stop in LFW
1h 45m
ET.png
Lome (LFW) to Addis Ababa (ADD) — Tue, Jan 20
Ethiopian Airlines 507
Dep: 12:15 pm
Arr: 8:45 pm
5h 30m
Boeing 787
Economy (G)
Layover in ADD
3h 55m
ET.png
Addis Ababa (ADD) to Bangkok (BKK) — Wed, Jan 21
Ethiopian Airlines 618
Dep: 12:40 am
Arr: 1:20 pm
8h 40m
Boeing 767
Economy (G)
Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees)
S/.8,654.00
Total cost for 1 passenger
S/.8,654.00

If you wait till Feb you can send her for just under 7000 sol via GRU and Doha (DOH) all in economy:

Itinerary
Lima (LIM) to Bangkok (BKK) — Mon, Feb 2
JJ.png
Lima (LIM) to Sao Paulo (GRU) — Mon, Feb 2
TAM Linhas Aereas 8067
Dep: 12:25 pm
Arr: 8:50 pm
5h 25m
Boeing 767
Economy (U)
Layover in GRU
7h 25m
QR.png
Sao Paulo (GRU) to Doha (DOH) — Tue, Feb 3
Qatar Airways(Q.C.S.C) 772
Dep: 4:15 am
Arr: 10:45 pm
13h 30m
Boeing 777
Economy (H)
Layover in DOH
2h 40m
QR.png
Doha (DOH) to Bangkok (BKK) — Wed, Feb 4
Qatar Airways(Q.C.S.C) 828
Dep: 1:25 am
Arr: 11:35 am
6h 10m
Boeing 777
Economy (H)
Mileage
  • 12,802 total miles
CO2 Emissions
  • 1,730 kg (estimated by ITA).
Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees)
S/.6,893.70
Total cost for 1 passenger
S/.6,893.70

Meanwhile, if you get her to GRU via bus for 28 Jan, you can fly her on QR via DOH for 3388 real (about $1220).

Itinerary
Sao Paulo (GRU) to Bangkok (BKK) — Wed, Jan 28
QR.png
Sao Paulo (GRU) to Doha (DOH) — Wed, Jan 28
Qatar Airways(Q.C.S.C) 772
Dep: 4:15 am
Arr: 10:45 pm
13h 30m
Boeing 777
Economy (N)
Layover in DOH
9h 50m
QR.png
Doha (DOH) to Bangkok (BKK) — Thu, Jan 29
Qatar Airways(Q.C.S.C) 832
Dep: 8:35 am
Arr: 6:45 pm
6h 10m
Boeing 777
Economy (N)
Mileage
  • 10,644 total miles
CO2 Emissions
  • 1,443 kg (estimated by ITA).
Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees)
R$3,337.48
Total cost for 1 passenger
R$3,337.48

We flew Thailand - Amsterdam (transit) - bonnaire (transit) - Peru. Wife didn't have any visas no issues.

In fact on 24 Dec, it is available for just under $3000 from LIM to BKK with a long layover in Lome. Take this itinerary to a travel agent.

Itinerary
Lima (LIM) to Bangkok (BKK) — Wed, Dec 24
JJ.png
Lima (LIM) to Sao Paulo (GRU) — Wed, Dec 24
TAM Linhas Aereas 8067
Dep: 12:25 pm
Arr: 8:50 pm
5h 25m
Boeing 767
Economy (L)
Layover in GRU
4h 15m
ET.png
Sao Paulo (GRU) to Lome (LFW) — Thu, Dec 25
Ethiopian Airlines 507
Dep: 1:05 am
Arr: 10:30 am
7h 25m
Boeing 787
Economy (K)
Layover in LFW
49h 20m
ET.png
Lome (LFW) to Addis Ababa (ADD) — Sat, Dec 27
Ethiopian Airlines 906
Dep: 11:50 am
Arr: 8:35 pm
5h 45m
Boeing 737
Economy (K)
Layover in ADD
4h 5m
ET.png
Addis Ababa (ADD) to Bangkok (BKK) — Sun, Dec 28
Ethiopian Airlines 618
Dep: 12:40 am
Arr: 1:20 pm
8h 40m
Boeing 767
Economy (K)
Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees)
S/.8,837.70
Total cost for 1 passenger
S/.8,837.70
How to buy this ticket
Provide this information to a travel agent to help them match the fares found.
Make sure to provide the exact booking and fare codes shown.
Fare for 1 adult
Fare 1: Carrier ET KOWBR1 LIM to LFW (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code L, K
Covers LIM-GRU (Economy), GRU-LFW (Economy)
S/.3,901.94
Fare 2: Carrier ET KOWTG1 LFW to BKK (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code K
Covers LFW-ADD (Economy), ADD-BKK (Economy)
S/.2,557.04
Peruvian Sales Tax (PE)
S/.1,162.40
ET YR surcharge (YR)
S/.898.60
Togo Embarkation Tax (YH)
S/.27.80
Togo Security Tax (YG)
S/.16.70
Togo Aeronautical Development Charge (ZT)
S/.55.50
Togo Passenger Service Charge (VO)
S/.55.50
Togo Infrastructure Development Charge (SM)
S/.72.20
Peru Airport Departure Tax (HW)
S/.91.20
Subtotal per passenger
S/.8,837.70
Number of passengers
x1
Subtotal For 1 adult
S/.8,837.70
Fare Construction (can be useful to travel agents)
LIM JJ X/SAO ET LFW Q6.00 1310.00KOWBR1 ET X/ADD ET BKK Q2.33 860.07KOWTG1 NUC 2178.40 END ROE 1.00 XT 91.20HW 1162.40PE 72.20SM 55.50VO 16.70YG 27.80YH 55.50ZT 898.60YR
Total Airfare & Taxes
S/.8,837.70

Mexican consulate, get her a transit or tourist visa for Mexico, book her back on the same flight. This isn't rocket science.

  • Popular Post

"I had the genius idea to take my Thai girlfriend to South America." "I took her to the airport, trying to be a good Dude." "Trying to be a good Dude" !!!

So, if you weren't such a "good Dude" you'd just show her the door ? It was your idea to take her from her country halfway around the world.How about trying to be just a normal dude & man up ? Grow some balls, accept it's your problem & put your hand in your pocket & pay whatever is necessary to get her home. There's been plenty of suggestions already.

Now here's a novel idea..... How about being a "really good dude" & escort her back to Thailand ?

Maybe I'm on a different wavelength, but me thinks the operative word here might be "RESPONSIBILITY"

Just my 2 cents worth.

Cheers..... Mal.

Your Thai girlfriend is stuck in South Africa?

And you're not?

Your lucky guy!

Something doesn't ring right about this post and its authenticity...

Yeah, I was thinking "Smuggler" right away. I mean, who takes their Thai Gf to PERU? HAHA.

Yeah, yeah, Machu Picchu and all that --that's what all the smugglers say.

Maybe she backed out and wanted to go home or maybe her belly is fully of condoms and he's panicking that she's gonna take a dump in the airport terminal.

Sorry OP, that's just how I think

BTW...Is the OP Nigerian? (we've seen this story before)

To the looks of things this posting should have been posted in the " Cheap Charlie " category was there one on TV rather than being " Trapped "

You should have done your homework before taking her from her home country so take responsibility and put your hand deep down your pocket mate. Not fair that she should suffer long transit hours in 20 different countries so you can save money.... not even to mention what her friends and family going to think of you if she's a keeper.

Have some respect for your lady and get her a proper ticket home wai.gifwink.png

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