From 1 January, airlines operating at airports in Belgium will compare passenger identity documents with the boarding pass at the gate when boarding. This so-called conformity check was already applicable for flights outside the Schengen area, but will now also be carried out for all flights departing from Belgium.
The measure is part of the Belgian government's fight against terrorism. During this identity check, when the passengers board, the surname and first name on the boarding pass are compared with the name and first name on the passport or identity card.
Read more at the source: www.zakenreisnieuws.nl
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Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and music.
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Earlier at check-in they seem to find you suspicious in Belgium if you don't have a return ticket from Bangkok and they don't trust your re-entry visa. Why wasn't it made clear to me and my argument didn't count either, that you don't even have to show a visa for Thailand at Zaventem airport, since everyone can get a 'visa on arrival' upon arrival in Bangkok. Waited half an hour for a woman higher up the hierarchy to examine my passport and, it seemed reluctant, handed it back to me. And no apology or any friendly comment, but I'm used to that from the stiff, peasant Flemish services that always want to make you feel guilty, but that must have to do with their Roman nun past.
Niek, if you think Flemish services are stiff and peasant, why do you fly from Zaventem?
Probably because it's cheaper! Please avoid Zaventem and fly from Schiphol.
I live in Ghent, Wim.
Hans says.
So now it is in Belgium too, with problems of a re-entre visa.
Also at Schiphol, with every airline, a specialist must first come who is familiar with this
Hans.
.
Stricter here means more complete, more extensive.
Not stricter in the sense of unfriendly or blunt.
Anyway, we have at least learned something about the socio-cultural background of Flemish courtesy.
NB If it was not clear to you why people did not trust your re-entry visa, you could not know what to argue against. If you also claim that everyone in Bangkok can get a visa on arrival, you also unwittingly indicate that you are not well informed.
How so Fransamsterdam, is it then incorrect that everyone can get a visa on arrival upon arrival in Bangkok? Of course not if your passport is not in order, but you will not mean that because it is obvious.
I always see crowds at that counter in the arrivals hall of Suvannabumi airport.
As a Belgian or Dutch citizen, you are not eligible for a “Visa On Arrival”. That is only reserved for passport holders from 19 countries. Belgium and the Netherlands are not included.
Belgians and Dutch citizens obtain a “Visa Exempion” (Visa Exemption) of 30 days.
Is something completely different.
And yes, that is why an airline can and may request proof that you will leave Thailand within 30 days. However, that applies all over the world and with most airlines. Has little to do with that peasant Flemish service as you put it so rudely.
By the way, a “Re-entry visa” does not exist either.
“Re-entry” only refers to keeping a previously obtained residence period upon re-entry. And that is not a visa at all. This period of residence can be one year on the basis of “Retirement”, but there are more options.
“Re-entry” never applies to the visa itself, only to the period of stay obtained with that visa. The visa itself can only have one or more “Entries”, with which you can only obtain a new period of stay.
Perhaps first provide yourself with the necessary knowledge, before you spit your bile about those Flemish peasant services.
Ronny, I didn't know that Dutch and Belgians are exempt from obtaining a 'visa on arrival', but good thing they get a 'visa exemption' and that means, I think, that our Flemish checkers at the counter don't have to worry ensure that we will be admitted, even without a visa.
It is about a 're-entry permit' in the period for which you have a visa, which means that you have a visa and can also enter on that visa. I do not understand that our Flemish ladies have a problem with that and apparently also at Schiphol, given the reactions. Or do they lack basic knowledge of English?
And the fact that they also ask for my return ticket is completely out of whack, because after arriving in Bangkok I decide for myself where I'm traveling to and from where I will or won't come back. That Flemish also had the audacity to ask for my residence card for Thailand, which she has nothing to do with.
C'est le ton qui fait la musique, misunderstandings at the desk are there to be resolved, but preferably in a pleasant and friendly way. Many Flemings do not understand this art and are quick to act punitive in my experience, even outside the airport.
nick, I had to sign a paper at the Air France check-in desk at Charles de Gaulle airport in France that if I HAD to be refused entry to Thailand I would immediately purchase a (return) ticket at my own expense. At Lufthansa I hear from friends that this also happens regularly. Keep in mind that this will become " routine " in the future !
Apparently you do not yet know the difference between a visa, a period of stay and an extension of a period of stay.
A visa gives you the opportunity to obtain a period of residence. You can then extend a stay for 30, 60, 90 days or a year. That extension is not a visa. To keep that period of stay upon your return, you need a re-entry.
This re-entry has nothing to do with your visa, only with your (extended) period of stay.
A visa only has entries and no re-entry can change that.
Airlines can be held responsible so they have every right to check whether you meet the immigration requirements. For a Visa Exemption, this includes checking whether you are going to leave Thailand within 30 days. Not where you're going.
By the way, I think that many Flemish people understand the art of friendliness. Usually the annoyance comes after people start telling them how to run their business… You often see this in Thailand, for example at immigration…
My goodness Ronny, you make it needlessly complicated.
'Visa on arrival' is the same as a 'visa exemption' in the sense that both entitle you to a month's stay in Thailand upon arrival.
A single or multiple re-entry permit is valid within the period of your visa and entitles you to re-enter Thailand without your visa expiring.
And that's all, Ronny.
And that's all the ladies at the check-in desk need to know.
No, but I won't bother explaining it anymore.
I can understand those people at the counter.
quote from Niek's reaction: "And no apology or any kind remark, but I'm used to that from the stiff, peasant Flemish services that always want to make you feel guilty, but that must have to do with their Roman nun past."
Personally, I find this comment totally inappropriate. What should we Flemings think of the manner in which some Dutch people act and react? I'd better not mention it because I don't want to offend anyone. But it's anything but flattering. No one is preventing you from leaving the Netherlands.
lung addie, of course any generalizing remark is inappropriate, but after being Dutch for 25 years I do have some right to speak about Flemish services in general.
I live in Ghent, so it's quite cumbersome to travel via Amsterdam, although I hate stopovers while Amsterdam has more direct flights from Bangkok.
Nick.
I am also a Dutchman and I always buy a klm ticket with which I travel from Antwerp with the tgv to Schiphol and this journey is simply included in my ticket and is then even cheaper than
directly from Schiphol to Bangkok. Just behind your computer. is worth it. But don't blame the Belgians anymore.
Kung jose, I crawled behind my PC and ended up with cheap 2-month return tickets (35000B) Bangkok-Brussels with KLM, and arriving at Schiphol you have to transfer to Cityhopper, but your return flight is more complicated and time-consuming because it goes after the Cityhopper also went to Paris to transfer to Air France.
Do you have a better idea? By the way, I don't criticize the Belgians and have enjoyed living among them for more than 25 years, but in terms of service they can learn something from those 'Ollanders' and not just at airports.
And if, as you suggested, I enter Antwerp CS as arrival and departure point for the same ticket, I end up with 40.000B. but also with travel times of about 14-15h. which corresponds to travel times from Etihad, incl. the stopover in AbuDhabi and that ticket then costs 38.000B..