Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Koh Samui: Making the Connection

I've travelled a fair amount over the years, but that evidently hasn't stopped me from planning dumb itineraries. After Jabeen and I decided to vacation in Koh Samui, I booked the tickets on Bangkok Airways, which now flies daily to the Thai capital from Bombay, and has the most flights to Samui (I read somewhere that the airline owns Samui airport). The cheapest available flight from Bangkok to Samui was scheduled just an hour after the arrival time of our Bombay-Bangkok flight. I thought to myself, "It's a squeeze, but Samui airport offers visas on arrival, so we just need to transfer directly to our connecting flight without any intervening visa hassles".
An elementary mistake, as I was informed at the check-in counter in Bombay. Since the Bangkok-Samui leg was a domestic flight, we'd need to get visas before boarding it. Recalling how long the visa process had taken on my last visit to Thailand, I recognised there was little hope of making our connecting flight.
But Bangkok Airways and Thai immigration outdid themselves in helping us out. Our plane landed just ahead of time and, as we entered the terminal, I spotted a Bangkok Airways staffer holding up a placard with our names on it. This was 6 am, IST. He rushed us to the counter where visa forms were handed out. By 6.10, we had filled the forms and changed money to pay for the visas. He then led us to a fast track counter, where our visas were stamped in under five minutes (the other counter was thronged with applicants, mostly Indian). In another five minutes we went through passport control. At 6.25 we passed security. At exactly 6.30, we were at the gate from which the Samui flight was to take off. It began boarding seven minutes later, and we touched down on the island by 8 am, Indian time.
I said to myself, "Here's a country that takes tourism seriously".
Despite all their efforts on our behalf, we almost managed to mess things up in another way. We'd completely forgotten that our photographs would have to be attached to the the visa form, whether we filled it in Bangkok or Samui. Luckily both of us happened to be carrying mugshots of ourselves in our cabin baggage. Jabeen said, "There's always so much stuff in my handbag that I don't need but leave inside 'just in case'. Well, now all the junk I've carried all these years has proven its worth".

8 comments:

AsimLies said...

You were traveling First or Business class, I assume. I can't imagine any airline anywhere extending this kind of treatment to the unwashed masses traveling by 'cattle class'. :-) If I'm wrong, I'm duly impressed.

Girish Shahane said...

Asim, we're cattle class people, the kind who try to save a few thousand rupees by booking an unrealistic connecting flight; though we do shower regularly :)
So, I was gobsmacked by the polite escort and the quick procedures. Not a word of reprimand anywhere, though I later discovered the Bangkok Airways website says we need a minimum 90 minutes between an international flight and a domestic connection.

saurabh said...

This was the airline helping you, not really the airport/govt officials. I had an "ordinary" experience while leaving Bangkok. They had this exit fee, which nobody informed me until immigration which I'd left until the end to say my goodbyes. Then it was a frantic rush because I'd spent/exchanged all my baht before. Had to pay the fricking commission both ways! During the whole time, everyone was surly, like typical Indian bureaucracy - dont respond until spoken to twice, point instead of talk, dont change face expression coz it's too much work, etc.

Girish Shahane said...

I wasn't aware that Bangkok airlines could provide tourist visas.

DK said...

That's a pretty impressive story. I did a visa on arrival at the Bangkok airport back in 2004 and it was a very smooth affair. I didn't have any of the pressure you were facing, but the visa issuance process was smooth and efficient. You are right, this is a country that takes tourism seriously.

I must say though a 60 min connection for an international to domestic flight in a foreign country....hmmm, what were you smoking when you booked the flights?!?!?! :-) Just kidding.

Girish Shahane said...

DK, in case you didn't notice, the entire post is a mea culpa :)

Anonymous said...

Is there a way use some sort of third party forum moderation to cut through this problem? Then you could go on in whatever way you are comfortable, your forums could coninue to buzz and anyone that's up to no good would hit a brick wall (or get a call from their local authorities, as appropriate). It's just a thought.

Girish Shahane said...

I don't like the compulsory moderation either; for most of the life of this blog moderation was switched on only for old posts to weed out spam. But a while back I wrote a few posts that had a lot of anonymous trolls writing in. I wish I could have moderation restricted to anonymous or pseudonymous respondents, but there seems no way to do it.