700 Baht "airport fee" ex-BKK!?
 

I have flown Thai ex-BKK prob 20 times in the last 1.5 years. Not once have I ever heard of this fee. Checking in today for BKK-DAC, the Royal Silk check-in girl said I had to pay a 700 baht airport fee because when I landed from the Philippines last night at 11pm, I left the airport instead of remaining in transit. This sounds like 100% BS to me, but I was running late and didn't have time to argue. Should I be sending a nasty letter to TG or is this actually a thing?

It is usaul thing when someone booked the two segments in one booking which has connecting time less than 24 hr but decided to leave the airport between the flights.

How come they did not issue the 2nd boarding pass when you checked in from the philippines. Maybe that would have been a way to avoid paying 700 THB.

This has been in place for stopovers for many years, and there are lots of threads about it already. :confused:

I have left the airport on sub-24h stops countless times and never been charged this fee before

We didn't get hit at all last year but were asked to pay recently.

You're technically subject to it so it sounds like you've come out ahead overall.

You're lucky in the past times. Maybe the check-in agent didn't aware of this issue.

They seemed to have tightened up the collection this year.

Sorry, but you have not been told BS by TG. Your ticket did not include the THB 700 BKK airport fee as you were in transit (< 24 hours in BKK) but when you decided to leave the transit area, you became subject to the fee to re-enter the transit area. Nothing new there!

You may have been lucky in the past that the immigration officer (who is supposed to check that your BP is issued at BKK only) did not notice, but if you ask for a BP at the TG check-in at BKK (rather than to re-enter with a BP issued at the origin) TG will ask you to pay the supplemental airport tax. Obviously, if you stayed air side you would have not been asked to pay the airport fee.

As stated above this issue has been discussed many time in this thread.

If it's a scheduled stopover the system will automatically collect this tax, if it thinks it is a transit it doesnt and you cant leave the transit area unless you are willing to pay.

And for your info - every ticket* you have purchased in the MANY MANY years since the 500 baht was collected at the airport has had the 700 baht included as part of the taxes and surcharges of the ticket. (* - referring to tickets that have had a stopover in Thailand or been ex-Thailand). The tax code is TS.


So I suggest you take a chill pill.

Or they won't. Absolutes are poorly placed here as TG has been very hit and miss on this particular subject over the last few years.

This is a typical problem for many years (since the introduction/increase to Baht 700 and inclusion in ticket (instead of local cash payment for everybody!)
for example DPS-BKK-MUC: you have to leave the airside transit area for your hotel room, but the CRS - upon automatic calculation of the applicable taxes) think that you will stay and "only transfer" (within 24 hrs)...Thai must then pay 700 Baht to Airport of Thailand (AOT)...
Only if you "force" your travel agent before ticketing to make sure (for example by forcing a stopover at BKK om your ticket itinerary) you can make sure that these taxes will be collected upon ticketing already.

[KVS Availability Tool 7.2.0/Diamond - TIMATIC: Country Information: Airport Tax]

The tax is charged for embarkation. . Its just included when you buy the ticket. You've paid it regardless

Yes had t Not only you pay, his rude awakening lst December.
Not only that you mst pay cash in local currency ! Had to run over first to change into baht and then come back to check in !