The desire to save on a flight and fly out of Thailand on a charter flight is quite understandable, because often the price of tickets for a charter is much lower than for a regular flight. But in the case of Thailand, it is not so simple, in order to protect Thai carriers from dumping, there is a ban on charter flights, in case if you flew into the country on a regular flight. Let's look at the intricacies of this rule.
Which flight is called regular?
A regular flight that operates on an approved schedule is year-round and is approved by international agreements. Flights can be operated: daily, once a week, once every ten days,
but the schedule remains unchanged for a long time (six months, a year, several years). Regular flights can be purchased long before the departure date, and airlines offer a wide range of fares and classes of service. Some of the tariffs allow for a partial or full refund in case of cancellation of a ticket.
Regular flights are operated by such airlines as Aeroflot, Thai airways, Emirates, Turkmen Airlines, Qatar, AirAsia, Lufthansa, Air Pacific and others. If you depart from Thailand on a regular flight, no departure restrictions apply. It doesn’t matter how you got into the country: charter flight, by car, by bus, by ship,
by train - you can always take off on a regular flight.
Which flight is called charter?
Charter flights are flights operated by travel companies, legal entities on the basis of a charter agreement. As a rule, these are direct flights from major cities to popular tourist destinations in Thailand: Pattaya, Phuket,
Koh Samui, Bangkok. Charter flights can be canceled if the plane is not full enough, and also the departure time can be changed. Often the departure time is reported 1-2 days before the departure date. Usually tickets for charter flights are sold only with a travel package that includes hotel accommodation,
transfers and excursion service. But, often, if the plane could not be completely filled, the tour operator can put up for sale seats on the plane without a travel package, and at a better price than regular flights. On sale tickets for charter flights appear only in a couple of weeks,
or even a few days before departure. Charter flights companies: iFly, Red wings, Azur Air, Nord wind, some flights operated by Russia. Charter flights are non-refundable. For an additional fee, you can only change the name of the passenger. In the case of the purchase of a return ticket for a charter flight, a number of restrictions apply.
In which case can I fly out of Thailand on a charter flight?
You can fly from Thailand on a charter flight, provided that you have flown to Thailand also by charter. Moreover, this should be a charter of the same airline. That is, if you flew a charter of Red Wings Airlines -
You can return only with a Red Wings charter or regular flight. Moreover, from the moment of arrival in Thailand to the moment of departure from Thailand, no more than 60 days should pass.
How to fly on a charter flight, for example from Phuket, if the conditions are not met?
In cases where you really need to fly a charter,
but the conditions for flying in and flying on a charter flight of the same airline cannot be met, or you have been in Thailand for more than 60 days - you can apply for a flight permit issued by the Department of Civil Aviation of the Kingdom of Thailand - DCA. Such permission will cost you an additional 50-60 dollars, and you can get it at the carrier.
As a rule, registration takes one day. It is better to check with the carrier about the possibility of issuing such a permission for departure, its cost, and the terms of issuing it before the ticket is issued.
Can I fly out of Thailand by charter without permission to fly DCA?
You may be lucky and airport staff will not pay attention to
that the conditions for departure on a charter flight were not met. Or they might not be lucky, and they won’t put you on the plane, and you will lose not only time, but also money. A few years ago, there was a precedent when half of the passengers were removed from the charter flight for non-compliance with this rule.
Let's look at specific examples:
You have arrived in Thailand with a Red Wings charter flight and are planning to fly back with an iFly charter flight. For departure, you need to apply for permission from DCA.
You arrived in Phuket with a regular Aeroflot flight, and plan to take off on a charter flight Nord Wings. For departure, you need to apply for permission from DCA.
You arrived in Bangkok with a regular Thai airways flight, and you want to fly from Phuket, with a regular Aeroflot flight. There are no flight restrictions.
You arrived on an iFly charter flight in Phukt, then flew to Kuala Lumpur, for several days, with a regular Air Asia flight, plan to fly back on an iFly charter flight. There are no flight restrictions,
provided that no more than 60 days have elapsed since the arrival of the charter flight.
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