Advice on my transit process, please...
 

Hello,
Please help me guys. This is very urgent.
I am a passport holder of India, currently residing in Taipei, Taiwan.
I am flying to Kolkata (India) via Bangkok. Here are my flight details:-

Taipei -> Bangkok (ThaiAirAsia) Reach at 8.50pm
Bangkok -> Kolkata (Air India flight operated by Thai Airways Intl, it is a code shared flight)
Departing Bangkok at 11.25 pm same night.

So I have about 2.5 hours time at Bangkok airport. I do not have any check-in luggage with me. Only one hand bag.

I have following queries:-

1. Do I need to go through passport control/immigration to check-in for my Air India flight after I arrive at Suvarnabhoomi? Or is there any facility/check-in
counter of Air India (or Thai Airways?) without going to pass through immigration check?

2. If I have to get through immigration do I need any Visa for just check-in to another flight after 2.5 hours. If I need Visa, can I get a Transit visa on arrival?
How much time it would take to get visa on arrival and check-in again at Air India check-in counter? Is 2.5 hours enough (I do not have any checked luggage)? How much is the transit visa fees?

3. I have heard about Cabinet's decision to waive transit visa http://www.airportsuvarnabhumi.com/s...gkok-thailand/

Am I eligible for this? Do I still need transit visa?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Kindly reply ASAP as I am flying in a week.

Thanks!

There are definitely Thai Airways transit counters at BKK and you do not need to exit immigration if transfering to a Thai Airways flight. Being your flight is a code-share, not quite sure how that works. Best to call Air India to be sure if they have a counter there or if you can use the Thai Air counter. Most major airlines do have counters there, so my guess is the answer would be you can do it. It's normally only the discount air carriers that don't have transit counters airside before immigration.

I you can get your onward boarding pass airside, then there's no reason to pass through immigration and so no reason to worry about any sort of VOA or transit visa.

The Thai Airways transit counters are located at either end of concourse D.

Do not worry about Immigration formalities. Indian passport holders are visa on arrival category so even if you need to enter thailand to exit thailand, it should not be more than a formality. I am also led to believe that Thailand are offering free visas on arrival untill march 2010 to improve tourism after the polictical turmoil from the last year or so.

As I already mentioned to the OP, try to contact Air India and see what they say. If you can't for some reason, leave a post here and when I'm back at BKK this weekend I'll try to ask at the Thai transfer desk if they can process Air India passengers. Not 100% sure I'll get the chance, but likely I will if you're really having a hard time getting the correct information from Air India.

Just for further clarification, holders of Indian passports can apply for a "visa on arrival" (15 days), as they are not in the "tourist visa exempt" category. This does require a form to be completed, along with one photo; the fee is 1,000 baht and is not currently waived (only tourist visa issued by embassies are waived.). The lines and wait for a VoA can be quite lengthy so if you find you cannot use the transfer desk (I think you will be able to do so but if any issues I would just go right to the departure gate assuming you can clear mid-concourse security; have your itinerary or even on-line check-in docs in hand.) maybe have the form, a photo and 1,000 baht to expedite the procedure.

To OP -

It is not clear to me if your two flights are on one ticket or two different tickets.
Anyway, have them all available at Taipei airport, when you go to Thai Air Asia check in counter. [Added Later: There was some great advice here for most connections at most airports, but as dsquared37 points out below, it does not apply to OP's situation.]

There is no reason to worry about visa in Bangkok. Out of general prudence, I always carry my entire itinerary, a few pp size photographs and some small cash in US$, even if I don't expect to need them, and would recommend the same to you. In practice, all the laws, treaties, and Geneva conventions of the entire world carry less weight than the whim/misunderstanding of the guy/gal who happens to be on duty. :)

Good luck, and welcome to FT!

Thai Air Asia is a point to point carrier. They will not do anything more than check you in for that flight. No more no less. They do not sell connecting flights, they do not have interline baggage aggreements. And OP doens't have checked baggage.

i checked over the weekend and there is an Air India transfer desk, at transfer counter 3, located at the start of concourse G. They said there was no need to pass through immigration. Just go directly to the transfer counter when you arrive at BKK and get your onward boarding pass.