waltinsocal

Now if what you just posted is true, that truly stinks. I guess that is DL's way of insuring that DL does not contribute in any way to an overstay, although I do not believe your visit with an onward ticket would have constituted that. Does DL have a spot on it's website where one can check out it's own requirements for travel to a certain country? If it does, then you are screwed. If not, then an onward should have worked. I would insist that whoever you talk to next direct you to that part of the DL website that gives pax fair notice of DL's visa requirements.

mikew99

Explain to me one thing: Why does *when* the OP buys the onward ticket matter? If he had bought it 1 year before, 1 minute before, or at check-in, the result would have been exactly the same!

soitgoes

Hmmh...
it seems like DL's issue is that the OP *has* a return flight booked with them, but it's outside of the 30 days (the plan as I understand it is to leave and then later return). I wonder if they would be more pleased if the OP had only a one-way DL flight and the onward travel ticket (that is a very common situation--unlike the OP's which is a bit more unusual).

waltinsocal

http://www.timaticweb.com/cgi-bin/ti...buser=DELTAB2C

According to DL, a one way ticket to Thailand won't work unless you have a pre-arranged Visa on your passport. Hopefully, the above link works. It is from DL's own website and seems to only mention 30 days.

TTT

From Delta's website:
This is what Delta's agents use for reference and is probably what they are looking at when speaking with the OP.

OP, have you tried to change your return to within the 30 days and then change it again once you get to Thailand? Or why not change your departure airport to KUL and leave from there? At this point, I would try pretty much anything as the last couple of days have probably cost you quite a bit. Or you can fly into NRT and then leave from there - Japan does not require visas for 90 days.

stephem

Two things:
The part about Thai immigration being lax is just not correct/current. I have been in and out of BKK a hundred times or more since 2004 and until about 18 months ago there was no problem. There was a crack down at that point and they started asking more often for (1) your incoming boarding pass and (2) your departing itinerary, because foreigners living in Thailand were buying refundable tickets out of BKK, going through immigration to plane side and then heading back through immigration as if they had just arrived. This was a known way to get repeated tourist visas, and the prior government was willing to let this happen.

The part about how DL interprets the Thai requirements is complete BS. Hey DL, guess what, you're completely wrong about this, no other airline interprets the rules this way. As someone who has had to deal with the departure from the prior lax treatment at Thai immigration, I can tell you that ANY airline ticket out of Thailand within 30 days is sufficient.

Hey DL, have you ever considered that people live in places other than the US and they might be getting on a plane to BKK to go to their home in SE Asia? Not everyone is heading there on a sub-30 day vacation!

DesertNomad

This is very odd - before I lived in Dubai I bought a round trip showing a year long stay in Dubai, but has separate tickets onwards to the Seychelles, Mauritius and Australia. They let me board with no issue.

Yaatri

He fed you BS.
He just contradicted himself. If the statement that the Delta's decision to not allow anyone, with more than 30 days return ticket, without a visa eveb if they bought a separate ticket out of Thailand within 20 days, why will Delta allow you with another ticket purchased through Delta?

Yaatri

You are not staying in Thailand for more than thirty days. You can prove that by your ticket out of Thailand. So visa is NOT required.
The ticket out if Thailand doesn't have to be on Delta or its partners.

Yaatri

Once the OP has a ticket out of Thailand in hand, and delta still denies him boarding, Delta will be breaking a contract it made with the OP when the OP purchased his ticket.
To the OP:

1. Buy a refundable ticket out of Thailand with departure within 30 days.
2. Call FAA, Department of Transportation and your Senator.

If the airline is arbitrarily denying you travel, FAA can intervene. I have seen this happen before when a friend of mine bought a consolidator ticket from a travel agent. The travel agent declared bankruptcy before the date of travel and did not pay the consolidator. The airline cancelled their reservation for non-payment. FAA intervened and forced the airline, Air France, to honour the ticket.

idayvuelta

Waitinsocal you've been unfairly harsh to OP and it's nice to see you finally recognizing that. Even if DL wants to be as strict as possible, it's strayed far off the reservation by claiming proof of onward travel is not enough unless it's on DL or a partner. That is patently 100% false and the company is making up the rules as it goes.

Again, at this point, OP, I'd fly another airline. DL is so far in the wrong on this one and you've gone through far too much to justify continuing to try and get someone to acknowledge reality. I'd politely ask for a refund and take your business elsewhere. As someone who has done exactly what you did without so much as a peep, your actions have been entirely reasonable. I cannot imagine a real airline hassling you to this degree, so I'd move on...

luv2ctheworld

Would it be possible for the OP to change his return flight to within thirty days, board the flight, then call DL to change his return ticket? I'm not familiar with changing DL return flights after flying the outbound segment, but theoritically, this would be a solution that may only result in a change fee, and if flexible with the dates, he could be able to find a similar fare basis for the return.

The OP does have 2 vouchers right?

hfly

Are some of you so dishonest and wanting to win an argument that you are selectively editing out waht Timeatic says, and ignoring what has already been posted on this forum?? TTT, forget to post this line, which makes the rest of your post without merit?? *******- It is strongly recommended to hold documents for next
destination as passengers may be subject to random checks.********* whcih in case you have ignored or do not understand means that if one has proof of onward journey, it is not Delta's business?

indogulf

A few more comments regarding this situation which now seems to have gotten way out of control.


1. Delta was correct in denying you boarding based on your original documentation. As I mentioned in an earlier post an actual eticket is the only acceptable proof of travel. And the OP has subsequently admitted to not having this information at check in.

2. If you have an eticket for onward travel within 30 days of arrival you should not be denied boarding. It does not matter on what airline you are traveling out of Thailand.


If the OP is still intending to travel I would request him/her to PM me their PNR and the eticket number for the onward travel so I can have his information reviewed by the department that would be responsible for Ok'ing the documentation and if acceptable note the record so the GNV agents can see it and avoid issues at check in.


I cannot comment on what took place at time of original check in however I will say that in my own experience if a passenger does not have the correct information they can be denied boarding legally. However, we always try to work with them and provide options for them to be able to travel - this includes changing dates, issuing a new ticket, advising them to buy an OAL ticket, etc - so it seems that the agents in GNV may not be familiar with all of the options and caused this situation to escalate.

Again, OP please PM your info if you still want to travel and we can try an resolve this matter today.

TTT

In my reading of Timeatic I interpreted the line I omitted to mean onward entry documents (like a visa for China if that was the next destination) not onward travel documents as those may be subject to random checks once in Thailand. In Timeatic's entry requirements for other countries it specifically list onward ticket as being required for entry. In this case, the Thailand entry requirements do not list onward ticket as a requirement for entry. So no, I did not forget to post anything. In my interpretation the line I omitted was not relevant to the situation since the next destination did not have any entry requirements that the OP had to comply with.

In any case, I was simply providing context for the situation. This is what Delta's agents are looking at when making the determination on whether the OP can or can't travel.

Again, I think the easiest way for the OP to handle this would be to change the return trip to return out of KUL and simply purchase a ticket for travel from BKK to KUL (or wherever).