waltinsocal

I hope the OP offered to buy a ticket out of Thailand within 30 days. If he did, which he should have done prior to this mess, hopefully DL will get him there . For someone above, I never said the outbound ticket within 30 days also had to be on DL. It's just that he needs one. Can we agree on that, or in light of the link I posted, does anyone want to argue otherwise?

mikew99

As previously stated, the OP offered to purchase, right then and there, a ticket leaving Thailand. Given your understanding of the issue, that should have solved the problem immediately. Do you agree with that?

The other key point is that DL doesn't care if the OP has an onward ticket leaving Thailand. DL requires a visa merely because the DL ticket itself didn't have the OP departing within 30 days. Due to DL's overly strict interpretation, tickets on other PNRs (even DL PNRs) don't matter, which is why the OP's offer to buy an onward ticket didn't matter. Is that clear to you now?

Mabuk dan gila

Wrong. This is 100% a clear area!!!!! IF the OP has a valid onward ticket on any airline and a valid US passport, he has all the proper documentation to fly. If Delta 'still' denies him it they are 100% to blame and the OP is zero % to blame. Why should anyone ever have to get a visa that no law or even 'real' Delta rule requires that they have simply because some low level Delta employee is to incompetent to know Delta's own rules.

brenkarch

Correct. Both GNV and at least seven different representatives from Delta have said that it is impossible to travel to Thailand without a pre-arranged visa if your ticket booked with them is for greater than 30 days.

waltinsocal

I agree that his offer to purchase a ticket leaving Thailand "within 30 days" should have solved the problem. He should have done that, but did not. There is more to this than we are hearing. Many threads ago, he mentioned something about Thai immigration being lax in the past. He is not a novice traveler. He should have purchased the ticket before he even showed up at the airport. By his own admission, he failed to do so. When confronted with that, I can hear the conversation now, " Oh, really, you won't let me board now. Okay, I will just buy a ticket out of the country within 30 days then." who knows; in light of the OPs travel experience , something does not click. I do agree, thought, if he shows up at the airport with the other ticket, DL better letter him board. But he didn't.

BobRoss

Correct. Something sounds a little fishy. Now, OP, I'm a very friendly, trusting sort of guy. But I'm mostly a "trust, but verify" sort of guy.

Since you tried to get to the airport and were denied - I'll assume you don't have a boarding pass. If you do, could you scan it (redact out the ticket #, name, etc.) and post it? Even the DL.com itinerary should suffice. Just so we're not all getting riled up and down a the rabbit hole over something that is a very serious situation but may not even happened. Just saying.

brenkarch

I am not a super novice traveler, but I also am not a globetrotter like many on this forum. I have never been to Thailand or anywhere in SE Asia. I knew about lax Thai policies mainly from all the internet forums and research I did before the trip. I'm not a globetrotter, but I did cover my bases. I really have no reason to invent this story. Why would I - just to get a rise on an online forum? This has cost me a ton of stress.

I admit now I made a mistake by not having a etkt# for onward travel to hand them at the airport before I arrived. Yes, I did a lot of research for the trip, but we're also young backpackers, and we wanted to have the flexibility to tinker with our schedule a bit. We had planned to travel April 1 to Kuala Lumpur, we had looked up flight availability and prices, but we hadn't hit the purchase button. In retrospect, yes, buying an onward ticket ahead of departure would have been a good idea.

But this is all irrelevant, according to check-in agents. When I offered to show them one (which I could have purchased within 30 seconds), they said it didn't matter. And everyone I've spoken to on the phone has the same stance: it simply doesn't matter whether you have documentation of an onward flight or not.

Again, I wish to God the issue here were the onward flight. I could have corrected that. I could admit it was my mistake. But that's not what Delta is saying. They are saying they automatically deny boarding to any passenger over 30 days R/T to Thailand without a visa, regardless of evidence of onward travel. This seems like a dangerous policy if they actually decide to implement it all the time, and for other countries with similar visa rules (which I can't imagine them realistically doing).

waltinsocal

By the way, we can go back to post #1 when he said he did a lot of research for the trip. He said he knew about the 30 day rule, but still did not buy the outbound ticket, and only had an "itinerary", whatever that is. Maybe he was going to wait to buy the ticket until he got to Thailand, hoping to get a better price; but that would have given him maybe 20 days to buy the ticket. Sure, it's possible, but DL does not have to take that risk given the link I have posted. Why not buy the ticket in advance and eliminate the possibility of this mess? For someone who did a lot of research before his trip, itt makes no sense. Especially since according to the link I posted, proof of an onward ticket within 30 days is mandatory, not optional.

Mabuk dan gila

Kind of scary that DL now owns NW yet you can't someone on the phone who could give a correct answer on such a REALLY simple question. If you don't have an onward ticket in your possession, it's a little of a gray area. NW would have never fussed about it but I could see how a novice check-in agent might. BUT, if you purchased one after you were denied but before boarding closed or get rebooked to fly today or tomorrow an DO have have a valid ticket out of the country on ANY airline this time it is 100% crystal clear, no points to argue, black and white, open and shut, you should be allowed to travel. In that scenario there is no grey area. No visa required. Plain and simple. If the Delta person you are speaking with says otherwise they are wrong and don't even know Delta's own policies.

stephem

This is another example of an airline that has too much of an Atlanta-centric mindset and that has thrown away all of NW's institutional knowledge. We've been commuting to SEAsia for a couple years and have always used BKK as a substitute where SIN availability was poor and just picked up a TG or SQ flight to close the loop. I cannot tell you how many times we did this with NW, either with tickets that were issued with "open" returns or with dates out many months. It is only in the last 12 months that you would get turned back from immigration at BKK if you could not show a ticket onward within 30 days, before that I was never asked. Now I have been asked by Thai immigration to show an onward ticket, but a ticket ON ANY AIRLINE works! NW had at most asked to see an onward ticket, but even that was rare. They must have gotten burned and had to fly someone back recently. But the correct answer is to ask for proof of ANY onward ticket. Argh, this new airline is driving me crazy.

waltinsocal

Did this happen in at JFK or in Gainesville, Fl? The OP said the agent "slammed his fist down and said you are not boarding without a visa". We are still missing something here. Slammed his fist down? Was this his first response, or after you said something to the agent? My guess is the OP may or may not have been going on to Malaysia. I guess we all have different travel habits. My own are to have every darned ticket I need purchased before I get to my first airport. The other one is to have a printout of the Visa requirements of each country I am visiting along with the phone number of the Consul General of that country. Too much is at stake to "fully research a trip" and show up at the airport still missing a critical document needed to board. Would anyone here do that? And then at the airport, when pressed, say, okay, I will buy it now. I don't care what the DL agent said, I would have bought it and then politely demanded boarding. Still a problem, dispute it with the credit card company. You are out no money. Something still does not add up.

danielonn

I know from years of international flying to check the requirements of the country before flying.I try to limit my flying to countries that give entry with no Visa. In your case I would get a Visa extension to save you hassles and money. You would be surprised to find that a Visa extension is cheaper than losing out on a ticket. At least you would be safe in the unlikely event you needed to stay extra due to delays.

Also maybe you can fax the onward flight to Delta with a letter showing them that you are booked to leave Thailand. In my opinion I take the IATA law with a grain of salt its just a recommendation.

It would be nice on airline websites to be able to put in your onward flight info even if its on a different airline the airline can verify that yes you are leaving on an onward flight leaving 20 days later even on Thai Express. Also government officials should have such a service setup where travelers can enter their onward flight info on a database.

waltinsocal

To Danielonn: The OP never got a Visa. He has nothing to extend. He had not yet purchased his onward ticket from Thailand when he arrived at the Gainesville airport, this in spite of full research. What people, many times, fail to understand, is that the safe course of action with international travel is to assume that visa, vaccination and other requirements are not optional, and don't count on a break if you screw up. I know it sounds cold, and is somewhat politically incorrect, but I, like many people here, have been to six continents and way too many countries and have never had a visa, vaccination or other problems. A couple of robberies, chased through the streets of Alexandria and threatened with death; but none of the other stuff. So I am sorry if I seem a bit harsh.And, if I did have those other problems I have mentioned, I would blame it on myself for not planning better and would learn from the experience, as I trust the OP has done.

jjglaze77

I still can't believe you are having to deal with all of this, but at this point I think you just have to give up and try a different approach. A couple of options:

1. New ticket on a different carrier - obviously, bad choice as it will be expensive. A quick search of ITA shows a United ticket leaving tomorrow and returning in 6 weeks for $1525. 2 negatives: 1) Departure is from MIA & 2) Both outbound and return are via Europe.
2. Use a visa service - the company I have used (www.traveldocs.com) lists a turn time of 4 days. Perhaps other companies can do better. Since it's the weekend now, you won't get anything done till next week.
3. Get to a Thai embassy/consulate over the weekend and be there when they open Monday morning. They indicate on their site a turn time of 2 days (link). Perhaps if you explain to them the situation they can help you quicker than 2 days.
4. Get to ATL (o/w flight / drive / etc) and try to plead your case there.

Not a lot of good options here, but if you have spoken to as many people as you indicate, it would seem that DL is simply not going to budge on the issue. At this point it is about salvaging your trip. Having been through last second passport issues myself on a couple occasions, it's not fun, but you just have to be committed to not letting it stop you.

brenkarch

Unfortunately, I was unaware that airlines could have their own requirements for travel contradicting U.S. and Thai law. Thai consulates in NYC and DC by phone, The U.S. State department http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p.../cis_1040.html , two travel books, and a half-dozen travel forums said that while proof of a ticket out of Thailand is a good idea, it is rarely checked or enforced. I made a mistake, and tried to correct it, but was told that even if I had an ongoing ticket, it would not matter.

Delta is telling me that even with proof of onward travel, I will not be able to enter Thailand without a pre-arranged visa if their flight is greater than 30 days.

Edit: Didn't mean to say Thai Consulate and US State Department told me that enforcement was lax. That was obviously the guidebooks and forums.