Cathay Pacific Nightmare - WARNING

Travel Taiwan Travel
1

Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong haven’t got a baldy clue about Taiwanese immigration rules and if you travel with them to Taipei on a tourist visa and you do not have an onward ticket, they will force you to buy one at full fare from them - or you don’t get on the plane.

This is what happened to my wife. If they treat you the same way they did us, they will also be rude and arrogant, and extremely unhelpful.

There is no point in trying to reason with them because they do not care.

Of course having spent nearly NT$9,000 on a ticket she didn’t need, my wife was allowed on the plane.

YOU DO NOT NEED AN ONWARD TICKET IF YOU HAVE AN EXTENDABLE TOURIST VISA. I have checked this with three different members of MOFA / immigration and they are unusually all giving consistent answers.

Cathay in HK said they sent a telex to CKS immigration to ask if my wife would need a visa. Cathay said Taiwan immigration replied she does. I spoke to all three members of that office that evening and they said they sent no such telex, and would send no such telex, and furthermore pointed out that the point of an extendable visa is that the holder intends to stay in Taiwan for an extended stay of indefinite length. NO ONWARD TICKET IS REQUIRED, nor have instructions that they are ever been issued to airlines.

Are Cathay lying ? PLEASE NOTE: I offered to sign an refused landing indemnity form and they wouldn’t have it. Much rather sell me a ticket, eh lads… I will read these telexes with great interest. (Well, I probably won’t actually, as CX are unlikely to respond to my complaint.)

One thing is for certain, you will have your documents inspected by people who KNOW NOTHING about Taiwanese immigration law. I asked the horrible arrogant HK Chinese supervisor which regulation she was talking about. Obviously she hadn’t a clue.

Be warned. If you are getting a visa and it is extendable, and you are flying Crappy Pacific, make sure you get the visa office to write on your visa “holder does not require onward ticket”. Alternatively, fly with someone who gives a shit about customer service.

2

Write to Cathay and demand a refund. Did you get the names of the Cathay staff that arsed you about? NAmes of the Taiwan side that were helpful??

3

I had a similiar situation quite a few years back, except I was on a non-extendable and should have had an onward ticket. This was with China Airlines. Put the ticket on my credit card, got the visa, went to their office the next day and got a full refund. This doesn’t excuse them not knowing the visa rules, but if it is a full fare ticket, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting a refund.

Good luck and thanks for the warning,
CK

4

This happened to me as well coming back from Palau in 1996…

As I was checking my luggage, they asked me for an onward ticket out of Taiwan. I replied that since my flight had originated there why would I need one?..I refused, they refused to either let me on the plane or return my luggage (my dive gear! Oh gee I’m stuck in Palau) which took the fun out of an extended stay.

This was on Continental Micronesia. I was lucky that my Dive buddy worked for the airline down at the Tainan air force base where they serviced their planes at the time…With my ace in the hole, I proceeded to bitch up a storm, the Taiwanese passengers got into the act, also refusing to board unless I was allowed on (bless them). After delaying the flight more than 90 minutes, it took off without me.

After about 5 minutes the faxes started rolling in…From Guam, Taiwan, even corporate Continental in the US! The poor woman at the check-in counter had no idea of the shit-storm she had created, and was ordered to put me on the next flight out or else…The next flight was to Guam, and I ended up there at 10pm where I was informed that I would have to spend the night in the transit lounge as Continental held no responsibility for Taiwan VISA requirements. I snapped at this point, telling them that not only are you responsible, I want a suite at the finest hotel on the island, some pocket money and a rental car. I sat there for about 30 minutes after which a phone call was received. I could here the yelling from the counter! Crazy enough, they put me up in a 500US dollar a night suite, gave me 100US for food allowance, and a nice rental car!..If that wasn’t enough, a newlywed couple that were on their diving honeymoon were put up as well. Why? just to get rid of that damn foreigner as quickly as possible. My friend and my wife had been on the phone nonstop to everyone who they thought could help and now the Guam office was being bombarded with faxes, including a really nasty phone call from the VP of operations for Air Mike which said ‘make him as comfortable as he can possibly be while he’s here’. They did.

I returned to Taiwan the next day, first class and champagne, and lodged a formal complaint as soon as my feet hit the ground. They agreed that it was a major snafu and proceeded to comp me with free first-class r/t tickets for Palau!

It was the only time in my life I’ve ever flown first-class and it had to be on a 20 year old 727! :s

However, to this day, nobody has given me a clear explanation for the onward ticket rule. In my case, the fact that my wife is a Taiwanese National and of course my Air Mike QC manager friend in Taiwan tipped the scales in my favor…Hope this never happens to you, and if it does, don’t be afraid to complain!

If you do travel to Palau on a Taiwan tourist VISA be warned, they are sticklers for the rules…

5

Part of the problem might stem from the fact that, in a case where there is a mistake, the carrier is, according to my understanding, responsible for repatriating the passenger. I’m sure all of the airlines, Cathay included, are pretty frustrated by the constantly changing visa rules that our fair island has and wish Taiwan’s entry/exit policies toward travellers were a little more streamlined. At least this is always the impression I get when I’m flying from an airport, like Rome last year, that doesn’t receive a lot of foreign passengers whose final destination is Taipei. This shouldn’t, however, be an excuse for Hong Kong and Cathay where traffic to Taipei is pretty high.

CK

6

Michael J Botti,

Was your Taiwan tourist visa extendable or non-extendable?

Whenever I have had a valid tourist visa (60-day “visitor visa”), no one has ever demanded that I have an onward plane ticket. But every tourist visa that I have had has always been extendable.

However, once when I arrived in Taiwan, I found out that my multiple-entry tourist visa had just expired about a week before I arrived. So when I got to the Immigration Counter at the CKS Airport, I asked to get a 30-day “landing visa”. But the people at the Immigration Counter insisted that I had to have an onward plane ticket in order to get a landing visa, and in addition, the onward plane ticket must have a departure date within the next 30 days.

I tried to argue with them, but it was useless. So then I told them that I would buy a plane ticket right away if they would let me go to the ticket counters upstairs. So they had two security guards escort me to the ticket counters, and I went to the ticket counter that had the shortest line and asked them what was the cheapest refundable ticket that I could buy for going anywhere, departing 30 days later. It was a one-way ticket to Manila and it cost 10,000 NT. (I know it was a rip off, but the price didn’t matter because I planned to get a refund right away.)

Then the security guards escorted me back downstairs to the Immigration Counter, and then they stamped the 30-day landing visa in my passport as soon as I showed them the ticket to Manila.

Then as soon as I got through Customs, I went back upstairs to get a refund for the ticket to Manila that I had just bought. But unfortunately, they only gave me a 90% refund. (When I bought the ticket, they said that it was “refundable”, but they didn’t tell me that I would have to pay a 10% penalty to refund it.)

7

My sister had a huge muckup with Cathay trying to fly out of Taiwan. Adolf Ho (no kidding) was the manager at the counter at the airport so we didn’t expect much help from him. However, my sister wrote a 20 page complaint when she got home and was eventually reimbursed.

8

To Mark Nagel:

Was on a five year multiple-entry tourist visa nowhere near it’s expiration date.

9

That is correct, i.e. in accordance with the official rules for landing visas.
I was also denied entry because the return flight on my ticket was dated after the visa would have been expired.

For other visas other rules apply though.

10

Ahem… I doubt they were thinking “get rid of the foreigner” :laughing: … “haole” maybe.

11

Michael J Botti: You were lucky to have such connections. I was all for staying put and causing them as much hassle as possible, but my wife just wanted to get it over with. She was right though, as it was 100% clear that Crappy Pacific couldn’t have given a damn about us. They would have, judging by their attitude, have had us arrested if they could, just to make us go away.

It’s the true test of an airline - what happens when things go wrong. The problem is a combination of ignorance, and indifference. At the time there was no point arguing with them as they simply weren’t interested. The horrible bat I had to talk to just kept interrupting me, and when I asked her whether she cared that Cathay’s ignorance of the immigration regulations they were setting themselves up as experts on was ruining our holiday, she wouldn’t respond. I asked her three times whether she cared or not, and her eventual response began “even if I did care…”

That was when I knew it was time to stop talking to her.

Now, the correct response to my complaint will be instant refund of the ticket, apologies, and free upgrades/tickets. I won’t be holding my breath. Funnily enough in HKG I met an old classmate of mine who’s now a lawyer… we shall see.

12

Did you complain once you got here?

Yes, after reading your story I realize I was lucky as hell and maybe shouldn’t have been so cocky…But I also knew I was legally correct and there was no way in hell I was going to let them off the hook. To be honest, the real reason I was so indignent was they refused to give my dive gear back to me. That was like losing a limb in Palau. Otherwise, I’d have just checked in at the PPR, scheduled a few more dive days and let Air Mike foot the bill. They got off cheap.

Go back to CKS or Cathy’s Taipei office and demand (politely) to talk to whoever is in charge…Explain your story, there are laws (lawyers care to comment?) regarding your rights to unrestricted air travel!

To save them much trouble, keep your demands simple. A full refund on your purchased ticket, and free round-trip tickets anywhere Cathy flies. Play upon the legality issue and the rudeness of the Hong Kong staff.

Do it and they WILL buckle…This is one scenerio where the little guy will almost always win. They’ll be far more cooperative on this end, and are probably surprised as hell you haven’t showed up yet. Go get em!

Smerf, Tigerman…?

13

Yeah good point. Their office is near mine. I will pop in tomorrow.

14

short interuption here: do i need a onward ticket if i have a multiple entry visa for taiwan? thanks in advance

15

Mesheel,

That would appear to depend on which airline you fly, as per Hexuan and Michael J. Botti’s stories above. The answer, I think, should be “no”.

Good luck,
CK

16

Officially not. I have been out of the country a few times, including by flights on Cathay, and never had any problems after I got my multiple entry permit & ARC.

17

Officially not. I have been out of the country a few times, including by flights on Cathay, and never had any problems after I got my multiple entry permit & ARC.[/quote]

I think with an ARC, there are no problems. I think the original question was with a multiple entry tourist/visitor visa. In the past, I’ve traveled from 3rd countries to Taiwan, and was never asked to show proof of onward ticket, although I did have one. Either they had my full itinerary in the computer, or they thought a multiple entry visitor visa was ok.

18

I’ve always had to show onward tickets. Once here in Indonesia, they almost didn’t let me on once even though I had an ARC. And this was on China Airlines!:bluemad:

19

I’m pretty sure you don’t need one if your point of origin is Taiwan and you have a valid multiple-entry visa.

I flew around Asia for years on my tourist visa, and have only run into this problem once…

Hexuan, have you been down to see them yet?

20

I was given the same crap years ago when I had a connecting flight from Vancouver BC to Taipei. After taking two planes just to get to Vancouver, the ticket agent at Cathay Pacific wanted me to buy an onward ticket out of Taipei or she wouldn’t let me on the plane. I demanded that they bring down a representative from the Taiwan Trade office as well as the general manager for Cathay Pacific in Vancouver. I guess my attitude shocked them. I figured they were being morons because they were Canadian. They let me on the plane. I didn’t have to buy another ticket. I’ve never flown on that airline again.