rmannion

To close the loop on a RTW trip that ended in Bangkok, I booked a SGN-NRT-LAX flight on UA. Separately, I booked a DMK-SGN flight on FD (AirAsia) that departed and arrived earlier that day.

Prior to the trip, every source I found online indicated that I wouldn't need a Vietnam Visa, as I wouldn't be leaving the transit area, and would be spending less than 24 hours in the transit area.

On checking into my DMK-SGN flight, AirAsia refused to issue a boarding pass without my having a Vietnam Visa. It was only after the check-in agent contacted someone at ANA's SGN station (SGN-NRT was on ANA metal) that they were able to make some sort of exception that was facilitated by emailing the ANA agent a photo of my passport and SGN-NRT-LAX confirmation email. There was some mention of AirAsia being a "point-to-point" airline with no connection/transit agreements with other airlines.

When I arrived in SGN, I was met at the gate by the ANA agent, who escorted me over to the transfer counter. Curiously, the agent didn't print my SGN-NRT-LAX BPs directly, but it appeared that someone at the landside check-in counters printed them and walked them over to me.

Anyways, I'm still at SGN and going to board soon, but I was completely caught by surprise with all this. Has anyone else experienced this? My gut feeling is that AirAsia's initial denial wasn't justified, but it's odd that there was some convoluted process involved on ANA's end just go get my onward BP, which hints at AirAsia being correct. (I'm just grateful that everything's been resolved to this point, as I would be missing Thanksgiving with my family otherwise.)

bmwe92fan

I think that the issue is that AirAsia had no proof you were leaving - so to them you require a visa. Just because you say you have onward tickets doesn't mean that they have to believe you.... So without system based proof they were probably justified in their initial refusal. If you had a printed ticket number that they could look up to see if you had onward flights in less than 24 hours it would have made it easier for you I think... Obviously ANA had to get involved and help AirAsia - I'd say you got lucky and had some good agents there that helped you out!

When I used TWOV in Beijing they needed to see my printed itinerary with ticket number - which they checked out - and then let me in.

thebob6

I believe bmwe92fan nailed it on the head. AirAsia had no proof on onward travel. I've had to deal with this when traveling through Asia with two different carriers. It was a hassle but I was also to show a eTicket on the onward travel on a different carrier and was allow to continue on my way. I was happy I had the eTicket saved locally on my phone as of course there was no WiFi.

mduell

Not really a United MileagePlus issue...

Did you show a copy of you onward ticket to AirAsia?

MSPeconomist

Doesn't everyone always carry a printout of the ticket (with ticket number) receipt and itinerary on all international trips? I do, just in case there's a problem, even something like a partner not being able to find my reservation or ticket.

l etoile

As this is not about United or Mileage Plus, please follow it in the Asia forum.

l'etoile
UA moderator

Boo_Radley

Per the published visa regulations, you need a "confirmed onward ticket":

5khours

OP - Duh. Of course the airline is not going to let you board unless you have a visa (or VoA) or proof that you are just transiting.

rmannion

Yes, I had a printout of my connecting ticket in full detail, but thank you for the snarky and presumptuous reply.

artvandalay

This should help you feel even better: I was denied boarding by UA HKG in August, 2011, transitting SGN, with confirmed separate J ticket onward to SFO. Itinerary was HKG-SGN, and separate ticket SGN-SFO, arriving SGN around midnight from HKG, leaving about six hours later for SFO.

Standing there at the UA transfer desk, my only option was to buy award ticket to SIN, then buy another J ticket SIN-SFO. No way to call 1K desk from there, as I was in transit area, and the only agent would not call 1K desk nor allow me to use her phone. Her superviser supported the decision to deny boarding.

I was backtracking to save about $1500 airfare.

So enjoy the rest of your trip, and be glad you made it as scheduled.

rmannion

Ouch! Did you raise the issue with UA after the fact, and was there a resolution?

I'm definitely glad I made it through this potential blocker in the trip, but I wanted to post about it here to see if others have had a similar experience, which at least you have, and if there are any best practices to resolve it when it happens (assuming that one wasn't able to book the trip on a single PNR in the first place).

Again, from all available information it seems that being able to produce the details of the connecting itinerary (i.e. a printout of the ticket confirmation) that occurs within 24 hours of arrival should be sufficient. If the official policy is otherwise, I wish it were explicitly stated somewhere.

artvandalay

Agree--now--that the problem was probably two PNRs instead of one...but my thought was at the time that since it was UA/UA there would be no problem. I did have printout of connecting trip, but they didn't accept that. "No visa--no travel to Vietnam" was their declaration.

UA's response after I shared my pain with them upon return was some miles and "you were provided best airfare available at the time." Lesson learned.

IAN-UK

Helpful? perhaps, but unlikely.

The fact remains that the OP was on two separate tickets across different airlines. Even worse, the first carrier was Air Asia - a point-to-point airline that specifically avoids facilitating connections. The reservations were on two separate systems that were never going to talk to each other.

The airline risked fines, or at least having to provide a seat back to Singapore, if any printed itinerary presented by the passenger turned out to have been changed or cancelled.

A boarding card from a web check-in might have helped: but, again, without a system confirmation of the onward validity of the connection, Air Asia was always going to have trouble with this.

It seems they handled things well, but it's not going to be something they'll want to repeat too often. So best be warned - possession of a $10 VOA letter is good value insurance.

5khours

In that case apologies. The airline was wrong. From Timatic,

National USA (US) /Embarkation Thailand (TH)
Transit Viet Nam (VN) /Destination Japan (JP)
ALSO CHECK DESTINATION INFORMATION BELOW


Viet Nam (VN)


TWOV (Transit Without Visa):
Visa required, except for Holders of confirmed onward tickets

for a max. transit For details, click here time of 24 hours.
Visa Issuance:
- Holders of a pre-approval letter issued only in Ha Noi, Viet
Nam by the Vietnamese Immigration (Ministry of Public

Security) or the Consular Department (Ministry of Foreign
Affairs), can obtain a transit visa provided arriving on
Vietnam Airlines (VN). Fee: USD 25.-.
Additional Information:

- International transit passengers through Viet Nam are

permitted to stay overnight in the transit lounge. However,
there are limited aiprport facilities available to the

IAN-UK

"wrong" might be a strong word to use in this situation


The airline needs to be able to satisfy itself that the passenger has a valid onward reservation. It's rather up to the airline to decide if a ticket print-out, possibly cancelled or changed subsequent to the printing, is sufficient verification.

In the usual situation a connecting passenger will be on a through ticket, using two conjoined tickets or travelling on carriers able to share electronically reservation information. A ticket print-out probably won't hack it.

Unfortunately, Air Asia operates in an interline vacuum, all part of their philosophy of keeping costs low. It seems they only way they could verify the connection was by getting physical confirmation messages from ANA. This isn't a something they will want to build into their check-in/departure control procedures.