Flying To Thailand On A Return Ticket

[Dont Panic]

I have heard that when you fly into Thailand you are required to have an onward ticket - unless you have business here and carry a work permit. Im sure in the past when I had no work permit I was buying return tickets from Bkk and I was never asked anything. A friend of mine is adamant that you need to show either an onward ticket or if not a work permit when you get to Thai immigration. Could somebody please clarify this for me

[Pink Mist]

The problem will more than likely be your airline refusing to carry you without a return ticket.

[sinkorswim]

alot of airlines will not take you on a 1 way ticket. Or they charge a crazy price. When I moved here it was £400 return and £4500 one way. Dont ask me why. I just booked a return ticket and never bothered coming back.

I think slightly illegal but I have flew with the same airline since with no problems.

If the airline will take you then it should not be a problem unless you do not have the correct visa when you arrive in which case they may refuse you entry and you will be on the first flight back out.

[Dont Panic]

There is a high chance that I will quit my job next year and therefore lose my work permit. I had a plan to get a return ticket from Bangkok and whilst in the UK apply for a marriage visa (which I should get no problem). I would be flying in on a return ticket with a visa......any problems there?

[calibanjr.]

My experience (maybe 4 times before I got a Bvisa), is that if you have a consulate issued tourist Visa, you will be fine, but you are at risk of a pissy imm. officer.

[Pink Mist]

no

[jbaldwin]

The rules are that you only need a return ticket if you use a 30 day visa waiver stamp. If you have any type of visa, including a tourist visa you do not need a return ticket. Immigration will not check your ticket but airlines will not allow you to board an aircraft to Thailand if you do not meet Thai immigration rules as they face fines if you are refused entry

[Maizefarmer]

The rules are that you only need a return ticket if you use a 30 day visa waiver stamp. If you have any type of visa, including a tourist visa you do not need a return ticket. Immigration will not check your ticket but airlines will not allow you to board an aircraft to Thailand if you do not meet Thai immigration rules as they face fines if you are refused entry

Where on earth does this story come from - I can only speak from personal experiance (but I fly overseas at least once every 2 months from Thailand - which means I am coming back on the return portion of my ticket - and NEVER NEVER has I ever been asked where my return ticket is or how am I leaving Thailand - NEVER.

Okay I am a PR, but on checking in wherever I am - the only part of my passport that the checkin staff ever look at are the photo/detail page - meaning the link between my Thai PR status and my ticket is never made.

Lots of peole are asking the question - but can anyone report actually having been confronted by a travel agent with the issue that I must see your passport before I can sell you a one way ticket because it dont happen in the UK or the USA.

And in anycase - what happens when it comes to booking a ticket over the internet which a lot of people do nowadays - does anyone ever find they run into problems, or cant book the ticket because its one way to Thailand.

And as for coming in through immigration in Thailand - has anyone ever actually been stopped by the clearance officer and denied entry because they only have a one way ticket?

As for ticket prices - wel, if you are coming to Thailand a lot, you defineatly want to invest in a one way ticket here and then when you travel out always buy a return ticket. I return ticket (imaterial of class) is about half the price form Bkk La or London and back than it is La or London - Bkk and then back to one of those places. Dont ask me why (must have something to do with Asian costs of living and waht people can afford to pay versus what Europeans earn and can pay) but it is far far cheaper to by a ticket in Thailand to go home and come back than it is to buy a ticket to come here and go back home.

Of course the plan only works if you tarvel here a lot.

Tim

Tim

Edited October 1, 2006 by Maizefarmer

[lopburi3]

Yes to all the above. I have been stopped Thai International LA, NWA Chicago, United many several times/places, EVA Seattle and LA. The computer said you must have an outbound ticket to fly without visa to Thailand on the IATA data base and airlines often checked it closely. If you had the visa no problem (although I have had to go to station manager level several times) - if not you had to either buy a ticket or otherwise meet the specific airlines requirements. I have been refused carriage on a return ticket (Thai International from PI).

The problem is at check in where your passport is examined for meeting visa requirements of the country you are ticked to. That is where it becomes an issue for most people.

Most people from western nations do not have it checked by immigration but it can be and often is for some passport holders from a number of reports here.

[tim77]

One easy solution is to buy a one year open ticket out of Thailand for say, Singapore. At the end of the year you - depending on the carrier from whom you purchased the one year open ticket - either throw the ticket away or redeem it for cash.

[Maizefarmer]

Okay - the "logic" been they dont really bother about Westerners because out of every 100 checked over 90 are going to have return tickets - so at the end of the day they just dont bother checking in many cases - whereas "groups" like those from West of North Africa from where a lot of people come who are trying to find ways through the system are because of the fact they are from thos esorts of places are going to be more scrutinsed in the first place!

That makes sense.

I have never had that problem - never, and it would appear that the way around it is simply to get an Eticket i.e. you buy on the net, you pay on the net, and so long as you have just handluggage your ticket & boarding pass is issued at the airport by a machine (when you stick in the credit card you used to buy the ticket) and you have no interaction with anyone - except going through immigration and they never check that on the outwards bound sector.

Then what happens when you get to the Thai side - do they ever check and stop people?

Lopburi3, you are the first person who I know of that has run into that problem - and I was back home in the USA 3 tims last year and on leaving the USA I was always on a single journey ticket maybe theres alot more on that computer we dont know about - and in you case how did you explain it to the station manager?

Sounds like its something that could be easily exploited by airlines for commercial reasons.

Tim

[Crossy]

Yes to all the above.

Me too, although I've always had a visa I've often had to show it to the check-in person, this has happened more often at Heathrow and Manila (most times I've been through),but also at Rome, Brussells, Amsterdam and Paris.

Immigration have NEVER checked

[lotus eater]

Well I bought my one-way ticket (from Paris) on the internet - no questions asked; have picked it up from the agent's town office - again no questions. I will be checking in on Thursday. Will post here my experience. I do have a visa however - and sincerely hope that will remove any problems that do initially arize.

[Naam]

"need return ticket"

the last time i was asked to present my ticket at immigration was more than 15 years ago. in the meantime i have travelled in and out of the country at least three dozen times.

[lopburi3]

As was said immigration has never been strict on this with most travelers. And there has been a change in the Delta Airlines web site wording of the IATA notice to recommended rather than required in the last several months so perhaps the electronic age has removed this condition.

[Maestro]

The rules are that you only need a return ticket if you use a 30 day visa waiver stamp.

It should be said that there is no universal rule: each airline makes its own rule or adopts the rule created by another airline.

The official rule, issued by the Thai government, is that if a passenger arriving in Thailand without a visa is denied admission, the airline can be fined. It is up to each individual airline whether and how it chooses to limit this risk.

---------------

Maestro

[libya 115]

I was travelling from the U.K. once on a one-way ticket to Bangkok.

I checked in at the EMIRATES desk, and on the desk, was the most obnoxious, ugly jobsworth, who had clearly got out of bed the wrong side, and resented all passengers travelling to Thailand, whilst he was stuck in a dead-end minimum-wage job, and knew his chances of happiness were nil because of his attitude and personality and chip on his shoulder.

Well; he said, "one-way are you" with a sarcastic, didactic, and sagely 'I'll put an end to your game' style voice and intonation:

Then he flicked through my passport, eventually finding my tourist visa.

I said " I can travel one way with a visa";

He looked up at me and said in a raised voice, spitting venom and vitriol "ARE YOU ASKING ME OR TELLING ME?".

I paused, and thought; not wanting to make trouble.

"Stand to one side" I will have to go and check he said.

I stood to one side, and he called forward the next person to check in, totally ignoring me for sveral more check-ins. He used the old psychological bullsh1t of being really nice to the following check-in

passengers.

To cut along story short; he eventually got advice off a supervisor and I checked in about 30 minutes later, at a different check-in counter.

[bluedragon]

Good question!!. I recently bought an open ticket, in Bkk for a round trip from BKK to Okinawa via China Air. I plan to return to BKK in Nov, on my oneway ticket. I normally don't need a visa to get into Thailand, as I am a U.S. citizen, soooo if I read the posts right, I may or may not be stopped my China Air upon my attempted departure, or I may or may not be stopped by Immigration in Thailand for not having a return trip. If I get a tourist visa prior to leaving Okinawa then I shouldn't have to worry about it?

My intent is to purchase another round trip while in Thailand to save money.

Regards, BD

[thaihome]

My experience over the past couple of years flying back to BKK on return ticket is the airline desk always checks my passport for visa. Since I have 2 sets of extra pages (60 pages) and many expired business visas from several Asian countries they often have trouble finding the current visa. This is flying on JAL, Thai, Malaysia, SG, United, etc, from Singapore, KL, Beijing, HK, SFO, etc.

If they can easily find the current visa, you probably would not even know they looked. I have also flown in on 30 day visa exempt and with a return, primarily from HK, and never had Immigration ask to see the return ticket. Of course, since my wife was with me, we usually were in the Thai passport line.

TH

[lotus eater]

My experience on the 5th was precisely that. I was flying from Paris on Qatar Airways with a one-way ticket. The check-in checked for my visa (multiple non immig o) but mentioned nothing to me. My check in altogether was as brisk as any other.

[ovenman]

My travel into Thailand is always on either a one-way ticket (low-cost carriers) or on the return portion of a round-trip ticket, effectively making that a one-way ticket. I used to get asked to show my Thai visa fairly regularly when departing the US, but I'll bet that hasn't happened to me since 2000 or so. It's never happened to me within Asia. Still, it only takes one jobsworth-type at the check-in counter to ruin your departure...

[tropo]

My travel into Thailand is always on either a one-way ticket (low-cost carriers) or on the return portion of a round-trip ticket, effectively making that a one-way ticket. I used to get asked to show my Thai visa fairly regularly when departing the US, but I'll bet that hasn't happened to me since 2000 or so. It's never happened to me within Asia. Still, it only takes one jobsworth-type at the check-in counter to ruin your departure...

I really think the officials around the world are going cold on the return-ticket-issue because these days the majority of tickets are e-tickets which are very hard to check.

I just keep an expired e-ticket to Australia on hand just in case I'm required to show a return/ongoing ticket at check in. Every year I adjust the dates to make it look current...and everyone is happy.

I get asked to show it when flying to Philippines, and when I buy a one-way ticket from Manila to Bangkok the travel agent likes to see it before I can buy the ticket.

When I do visa runs flying to Penang, no one looks at my tickets.

[thaihome]

My travel into Thailand is always on either a one-way ticket (low-cost carriers) or on the return portion of a round-trip ticket, effectively making that a one-way ticket. I used to get asked to show my Thai visa fairly regularly when departing the US, but I'll bet that hasn't happened to me since 2000 or so. It's never happened to me within Asia. Still, it only takes one jobsworth-type at the check-in counter to ruin your departure...

But they had your passport right? Were you watching to see if they checked? My experience is they don't ask unless they cannot find it.

TH

[ovenman]

But they had your passport right? Were you watching to see if they checked? My experience is they don't ask unless they cannot find it.

I've watched airlines staff look at my passport numerous times. All it ever receives is the cursory glance of the ID page. There are enough pages and stamps in the passport that somebody would have to do some hunting to find the visa.

[ovenman]

I really think the officials around the world are going cold on the return-ticket-issue because these days the majority of tickets are e-tickets which are very hard to check.

I'm sure that there is some truth in that. It would be difficult for airline staff to chase down the authenticity of an e-ticket on certain other carriers, especially the budget carriers.

[jackbox]

It really depends on what country you are a citizen of. I have been to LOS many times on one way tickets and have never been refused boarding on the plane or entry into LOS. But I have had people in front of me that have been scrutinized in detail. They had to show their tickets, money, etc. Last time I entered LOS the man in front of me was showing his return ticket, etc. I was thinking oh crap I am here on a one way ticket and SOL. When it came to my turn I handed over my USA passport and the immigration agent stamped it without barely looking at it or me. If you are from a western country or advanced nation like Japan or Korea you will probably have no problem. But if you are from a poorer nation expect to need a return ticket, means of support, etc. Again it appears to be who LOS has deemed is a desireable and non-desireable tourist. Good luck.

[IMA_FARANG]

I have heard that when you fly into Thailand you are required to have an onward ticket - unless you have business here and carry a work permit. Im sure in the past when I had no work permit I was buying return tickets from Bkk and I was never asked anything. A friend of mine is adamant that you need to show either an onward ticket or if not a work permit when you get to Thai immigration. Could somebody please clarify this for me

The problem isn't with immigration as much as the airlines.

First of all I'm assuming your arriving with a Visa, but are expecting a VOA (Visa On Arrival - stamp in your passport). The law requires you to have an ONWARD ticket. That is a ticket that will get you out of the country. You must have this on arrival in Thailand.

The airlines know this. If they allow someone to fly to Thailand, and that person is not allowed to enter Thailand because they have no onward ticket, the airline could be responsible to remove the passenger from Thailand or return the passenger to his/her point of departure. For that reason the airlines want to see a Thai Visa in your passport or an onward ticket before you depart. They may ask to see either one as you check in.

Now, to be clear, the only requirement is an ONWARD ticket when arriving without a Visa. So you could purchase a ticket to Thailand and continuing onward to Malysia or Singapore. Leave the departure date open, but be sure you pay for the entire ticket, including an outward flight. You meet the requirement. You can pay cash or via credit card.

Asuming you are intending to return to your home country, here's how to use that onward ticket. Go to the Thailand (probably Bangkok) office of the airline you bought the ticket from. Tell them you want to buy a return ticket to your home country. Use the unused portion of your arrival ticket as CREDIT toward the purchase price of the return ticket. Sometimes the airline may need verification you bought the inbound ticket from the agent who sold it. That may require them contacting the ticket agent for verification.

I've used this procedure before with SAS and Thai International tickets. It may take 2 to 7 days to get approval depending on how long it takes to contact the original ticket sales agent.

Airlines don't like the idea of refunding money for unused protions of tickets, but they are much happier using a open ticket as credit toward purchase of another ticket.

Edited October 14, 2006 by IMA_FARANG

[North]

I just found this thread after doing a search here on thaivisa - forum.

My situation is, that I have bought a one-way ticket Copenhagen - Bangkok with Thai Airways, I will arrive on 2. november. (not bought from the airline, but bought from a travel agency)

I will have a double tourist visa from the thai-consulate here in Denmark.

I am not really concerned about having problems with thai immigration, but I think about, if Thai Airways can deny me boarding in Copenhagen because I don´t have an onward ticket ?

Any opinions appreciated.

North

[Norrad]

I just flew into Bangkok from Hong Kong on a one-way ticket. The lady at the checkin in Hong Kong asked to see my visa and my credit card. That was it, she just smiled and said enjoy the flight. I had a multiple entry non-imm("B") though.

Edited October 19, 2006 by Norrad

[laxman1960]

I was asked once by NWA in Baltimore where was my return ticket. This was a few years ago when I worked for a different company, lived in Maryland and had an office in Bangkok that I visited regularly. So much cheaper buying return tickets originating in Thailand so I bought a one way from the USA to Thailand then always bought return tickets in Bangkok. It happened 1 time out of like 10 trips that the NWA checkin agent asked me if I had a WP or other Visa to live in Thailand. I said no, I have a return ticket waiting for me when I get to BKK, and I had a Non Imm B at the time as well. Lucky for me I had a one way ticket to Singapore that I had not used so she let me on.

Dan

The rules are that you only need a return ticket if you use a 30 day visa waiver stamp. If you have any type of visa, including a tourist visa you do not need a return ticket. Immigration will not check your ticket but airlines will not allow you to board an aircraft to Thailand if you do not meet Thai immigration rules as they face fines if you are refused entry

Where on earth does this story come from - I can only speak from personal experiance (but I fly overseas at least once every 2 months from Thailand - which means I am coming back on the return portion of my ticket - and NEVER NEVER has I ever been asked where my return ticket is or how am I leaving Thailand - NEVER.

Okay I am a PR, but on checking in wherever I am - the only part of my passport that the checkin staff ever look at are the photo/detail page - meaning the link between my Thai PR status and my ticket is never made.

Lots of peole are asking the question - but can anyone report actually having been confronted by a travel agent with the issue that I must see your passport before I can sell you a one way ticket because it dont happen in the UK or the USA.

And in anycase - what happens when it comes to booking a ticket over the internet which a lot of people do nowadays - does anyone ever find they run into problems, or cant book the ticket because its one way to Thailand.

And as for coming in through immigration in Thailand - has anyone ever actually been stopped by the clearance officer and denied entry because they only have a one way ticket?

As for ticket prices - wel, if you are coming to Thailand a lot, you defineatly want to invest in a one way ticket here and then when you travel out always buy a return ticket. I return ticket (imaterial of class) is about half the price form Bkk La or London and back than it is La or London - Bkk and then back to one of those places. Dont ask me why (must have something to do with Asian costs of living and waht people can afford to pay versus what Europeans earn and can pay) but it is far far cheaper to by a ticket in Thailand to go home and come back than it is to buy a ticket to come here and go back home.

Of course the plan only works if you tarvel here a lot.

Tim

Tim