Recently, I flew USM-BKK-LAX on TG. My bags were tagged through to LAX and I received both boarding passes at USM. I knew I would have a 9 hour layover at BKK, so I intended to leave the airport there and go into the city.

On the flight status monitors, the USM-BKK flight was shown as departing from two gates simultaneously: 2 & 6. I didn't understand what that meant until later. I was sent to gate 6, where every passenger was required to go through immigration and exit the country. (Like me, they were all connecting to a same-day international departure.)

When I realized I was going to be stamped out of the country, I knew I was in trouble. I tried to explain to the immigration officer what I wanted to do. His English was passable and he was courteous, but he insisted that I could not get on the USM-BKK flight without clearing immigration. So I did. Instead of causing a fuss, I decided to just re-enter Thailand at BKK.

When I arrived at BKK, I freshened up in the lounge, made a few phone calls, and then tried to go through immigration & re-enter Thailand. This caused great consternation. After more than 2 hours waiting by the immigration staff office, off to the side of the main immigration hall, I was told they could not let me back into the country. Instead, a Thai Airways representative had to come get me, escort me to "Transit Immigration," and cancel my departure stamp, so that I had officially never left.

I got 3 TG First-style buggy rides through the airport, went downstairs to a staff office in the basement of the terminal, and had the English word "CANCELLED" stamped in red ink over the departure stamp in my passport, along with some hand-written notes in Thai. Then I was simply escorted around all the immigration booths and walked back into Thailand.

It was a huge hassle. I'm not sure I could have done anything differently, but I did realize that gate 2 at USM was the "domestic" departure gate. I should have explained what I wanted to do to the TG agent at check-in at USM. Had I left from gate 2, my passport would not have been stamped and I could have walked out of the airport at BKK unfettered. Of course, there would probably have been equally great concern when I presented myself at immigration at BKK to finally exit the country after my in-transit layover.

In my case, departure was a breeze. I checked in at the Royal Silk counters and explained what had happened. They said it was no big deal -- happens all the time. I paid the 700 Baht departure tax again and was on my way to immigration in less than 2 minutes. There, the officer was completely unfazed by the CANCELLED stamp and simply stamped me out a second time. I think they were glad to see me go.

Be warned!

David