Tanman,
This exact problem happened to my girlfriend japanese) when she came to visit me in Phuket.
If you are flying from Tokyo, when the plane lands in BKK, the passengers get off and wait in transit. When you are checking in your luggage in Tokyo, the Thai staff give you this sticker to put on.
My girl was not paying attention when she landed in Phuket and missed immigration. When i asked if everything was ok, she told me that she did not have to go through immigration. Once i realized what happen i contacted one of the airport staff, and they escorted her to immigration in Phuket (like all the other japanese people did).
For people wanting to avoid immigration, phuket is an easy way to get round it, however your problem is when you want to leave the country, because you will not have a stamp in your passport, and you will not be in their system. This will provide many hours being kept in a room in Phuket airport explaining what happened!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by TanMan
I'll add this:
I flew from Suvarnabhumi domestic terminal to Phuket last week. When I deplaned, all passengers walk through the arrival corridor into the terminal. At this point there were two girls, and a stand up sign, which basically were there to instruct passengers to turn left for "immigration", or turn right if you were a domestic passenger (me), basically letting the customer decide whether they wanted to go through immigration. I must have caught an international flight from Tokyo (with a layover in BKK), because there were quite a few Japanese on board.
The Tokyo passengers had a silver oval sticker on the chests to identify them, but these could be easily peeled off. I left this scene with several unanswered questions:
1. How did the international flight from Tokyo get to the domestic terminal in BKK?
2. Could the passengers have gone through immigration in BKK?
3. If not No. 2, then if an international passenger peeled off his sticker and turned right at Phuket, he would not get stamped in. How long does anyone know how long he's been in the country???
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