Xiamen Air seat selection?
Apr 12, 2019, 5:17 pm
#47
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 107
I just wanted to add a few things on my experience. When I did the technical stop at TAO, I had the blue card filled out. When I got to immigration, the officer asked me if I want to enter with the visa instead, so I did. I didn't really know what to do. He was going to give me the option to get the free visa.
I only bring that up, because there was another American, who had the same flight itinerary as me. She did NOT have a visa. She was able to pass immigration with a free visa. We're both about to board to Korea in a bit.
So she was able to transit through TAO to XMN perfectly fine on the free visa. I'm not sure if it was the 24 or 72 she was on, that she got from TAO immigration.
I only bring that up, because there was another American, who had the same flight itinerary as me. She did NOT have a visa. She was able to pass immigration with a free visa. We're both about to board to Korea in a bit.
So she was able to transit through TAO to XMN perfectly fine on the free visa. I'm not sure if it was the 24 or 72 she was on, that she got from TAO immigration.
Apr 12, 2019, 5:31 pm
#48
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I just wanted to add a few things on my experience. When I did the technical stop at TAO, I had the blue card filled out. When I got to immigration, the officer asked me if I want to enter with the visa instead, so I did. I didn't really know what to do. He was going to give me the option to get the free visa.
I only bring that up, because there was another American, who had the same flight itinerary as me. She did NOT have a visa. She was able to pass immigration with a free visa. We're both about to board to Korea in a bit.
So she was able to transit through TAO to XMN perfectly fine on the free visa. I'm not sure if it was the 24 or 72 she was on, that she got from TAO immigration.
I only bring that up, because there was another American, who had the same flight itinerary as me. She did NOT have a visa. She was able to pass immigration with a free visa. We're both about to board to Korea in a bit.
So she was able to transit through TAO to XMN perfectly fine on the free visa. I'm not sure if it was the 24 or 72 she was on, that she got from TAO immigration.
She may be lucky, but it is also a real chance she could be pulled off the plane, even after boarding. Having a visa for your itinerary was absolutely the right thing, not least on arrival in China, but also boarding at your point of origin. A good agent should have refused uplift as the TWOV requirements were not met.
The blue form is only for TWOV. You should have completed the yellow/orange form on board and joined the regular visa queue on arrival in TAO. In other ports like Shanghai the TWOV queue can be very long and time consuming, whereas the visa queue should have you though fairly quickly.
Apr 12, 2019, 11:22 pm
#49
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 107
She's on your same flight to korea?
She may be lucky, but it is also a real chance she could be pulled off the plane, even after boarding. Having a visa for your itinerary was absolutely the right thing, not least on arrival in China, but also boarding at your point of origin. A good agent should have refused uplift as the TWOV requirements were not met.
The blue form is only for TWOV. You should have completed the yellow/orange form on board and joined the regular visa queue on arrival in TAO. In other ports like Shanghai the TWOV queue can be very long and time consuming, whereas the visa queue should have you though fairly quickly.
She may be lucky, but it is also a real chance she could be pulled off the plane, even after boarding. Having a visa for your itinerary was absolutely the right thing, not least on arrival in China, but also boarding at your point of origin. A good agent should have refused uplift as the TWOV requirements were not met.
The blue form is only for TWOV. You should have completed the yellow/orange form on board and joined the regular visa queue on arrival in TAO. In other ports like Shanghai the TWOV queue can be very long and time consuming, whereas the visa queue should have you though fairly quickly.
Apr 13, 2019, 1:41 am
#50
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The latter is almost conceivable - Chinese immigration are practical ... many pax would be unaware the stop in TAO requires immigration clearance. But on the other hand, there are actual data points of pax being refused entry in the exact same situation as yours in other airports around China where flights have had these 'technical' stops.
Apr 13, 2019, 3:36 am
#52
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LON
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3,906
If it was the same itinerary then they would have been in China for 27 hours. As far as I can remember TAO offers 24 hour visa and 72 hour but the latter is restricted to the province of Shandong. Sounds like a mistake.
Apr 13, 2019, 8:29 am
#54
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Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,966
Ah, I missed that. While technically the woman was in violation, I can fully understand offering discretion to refrain from laying down the law, especially if she was friendly.
Last edited by moondog; Apr 13, 2019 at 8:41 am
Apr 14, 2019, 5:02 pm
#56
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 107
My layover coming home is around 22 hours. I should see the girl also on our way home. I'll see if she runs into any issues on the return flight. I really hope she doesn't though.
Apr 14, 2019, 6:07 pm
#57
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You should use the regular immigration lines however, not the TWOV line.
Your tour colleague shouldn’t run into any issues given she was allowed to leave China without any warning after 27 hours.
Apr 29, 2019, 2:01 pm
#58
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: EDI
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Posts: 422
Hi, can anyone confirm that I will be able to select seats when checking in online for a NUE-AMS (KLM) and AMS-XMN (MF) route? More specificially, will I be able to check-in online for NUE-AMS and during that OLCI be able to select seats for AMS-XMN? I was finding contradictory information here and on tripadvisor. Thanks.
