Mileage Run Discussion - BKK-KTM-BKK turnaround

I dont mnow if this the correct place to post but free to move anywhere else. Did anybody manage to do a turn around here? Is visa needed and doable for 1 hr ? Thanks!

There's a transfer desk (of sorts), though on my two arrivals at KTM, there was no-one there (in truth, there aren't that many international transfers ...). I wasn't attempting a turnround, so can't offer any more information - although I can advise that entry into Nepal then check-in for an immediate turnround isn't a good idea. You'd likely be a nervous wreck, as the visa lines can get quite chaotic, and failure could be expensive.

It has been done, and you'll find quite a lot of information on it in the BD forum, for obvious reasons. It's not usually a MR, more a way to reduce costs on a BD redemption.

The airline might be able to facilitate the procedure if you let them know what's happening.

I dont mnow if this the correct place to post

The MR Deals actually isn't so moved your query over to MR Discussion forum which is the correct venue to ask for input. :)

tcook052
MR Moderator

What airline/alliance are you flying? Besides ME airlines, from which I have unsufficient knowledge to give advice, RJ from AMM and BD from LON go there.

As people have discussed here
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/oneworld/1225920-aone4-khartoum.html

The possibilities to make a TWOV presumes arriving on one, departing on another airline, or arriving from one destination and transiting to another

I would bet he's flying TG ;)

And I would bet onobond is actually thinking about KRT rather than KTM

I flew BKK-KTM and back in the summer and stayed in Nepal for three days. KTM didn't strike me as an airport I would ever want to do a turnaround at, to put it mildly

+1. Don't know if a visa is required, but if one is required, get it in advance; don't buy it at the airport. When I was there, Nepal was running out of cash (!) and lines at the airport visa desk were crazy. I flew BKK-KTM on TG, and probably could have been out very quickly if I already had a visa and had no checked bags.

My recollection, though vague, is that you would need a visa even for a same day turn, because you need it to exit from arrivals, and you'd need to get out of arrivals to go to departures. This is from a couple of years ago, and I don't have a crystal clear memory (other than of the zoo of trying to buy a visa), so don't quote me on this. I do remember the airport being pretty small, so if you made it out reasonably quickly, you could probably turn around without much trouble.

And I would bet onobond is actually thinking about KRT rather than KTM

I flew BKK-KTM and back in the summer and stayed in Nepal for three days. KTM didn't strike me as an airport I would ever want to do a turnaround at, to put it mildly

Right you are. Sorry if my post confused anyone...

:cool:

It is possible to transit airside (I have done it). Typically, there will be nobody at the transit point. However, if you speak to one of the armed guards which are bound to be around and just ask 'transit?', they will go and fetch somebody. When I did, though, they did check where I was coming from and I am not sure that they would have allowed it had I done a turnaround rather than a transit. It did take some time for the person to check what he needed to do and then to get the BP issued by TG (I was connecting from 9W to TG). I did have ample time (about 3 hrs) so it was not an issue for me. Also, when the time came to leave the lounge and board and I had to go through security, a further mishap happened because my BP had not been stamped by immigration (since I had transited airside) and the person checking my bag was not sure what to do. He eventually let me through, though.

In summary, airside transit is an unusual procedure at KTM which is handled on a case by case basis and can be more time consuming than you would expect. I would suspect that personnel would raise eyebrows at somebody doing a turnaround and, given that they seem to be quite concerned about security issues (witness the number of armed guards and multiple searches when going through the airport), I would most definitely not attempt a 1hr turnaround there.

See this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/864638-regional-c-rtw-hopefully-finishing-flying-every-route-100-airline-6.html#post10548586) to see details of someone who did a turnaround at KTM.