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I have a flight with three segments, the first is from Bangkok to Cochin (India) with Thai AirAsia, the second from Cochin to Doha with Qatar Airways and the third from Doha to Frankfurt also with Qatar Airways. Only the flight from Bangkok to Cochin has online check-in.

My question is, whether I can get my boarding pass for the flights with Qatar Airways already in Bangkok at the Qatar Airways booth. Because I don't have a visa for India, so I can't leave the transit area to collect my boarding pass at the regular check-in counters.

I didn't find my option in the answer of this post Where to obtain boarding passes when travelling with distinct airlines?

Also I didn't understand where the hotel agent in this answer came from or whether I can make use of this option: Can I get a boarding pass for a different airline in the transit area of Delhi Airport without going through immigration?

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  • The question is how are you planning to deal with your baggage? AirAsia will not check bags through to Qatar and AirAsia's maximum carry on bag is 7 kgs. And I thought Qatar had online check in?
    – user13044
    Jan 26, 2017 at 8:20
  • Will Thai AirAsia even let you board a plane to India when that's the final destination on your ticket and you don't have a visa? Jan 26, 2017 at 9:13
  • @Tom I will only travel with carry on baggage, I don't know why Qatar hasn't online check-in for this flight
    – Ian
    Jan 26, 2017 at 11:28
  • @David Richerby I booked the whole flight via one company, so I think it should be possible. I hope they know what they're doing
    – Ian
    Jan 26, 2017 at 11:29
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    @Ian It's your responsibility to have the correct visas, not the travel company's: they'll sell you whatever ticket you ask for, as long as it exists. Jan 26, 2017 at 11:33

2 Answers 2

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Usually this is possible; sometimes it is not. Unfortunately it depends on a number of unpredictable airline back office systems. It helps if you can do online check in.

For a different airport to print a boarding pass, first they have to check you in remotely. This is a different process from online check in, so even if online check in fails this can still work. For this to happen the flight must be unlocked (sometimes the flight is locked for editing by headquarters particularly if you are trying to check in many hours in advance), and the departure airport must allow remote check in. The departure airport can turn this off for many reasons, most of them technical reasons.

There are at least two different ways to do a remote check in; there is an "easy" way that most of the newer check in agents will know, and there is a way that only the older agents seem to know. So if your first try is unsuccessful, it can be worth asking again.

[Finally, there are cases where the first airport has telephoned the departure airport and got them to do the check in over the phone so that the boarding pass can be printed; and I even know of a few situations where the pilot has radioed ahead to ask for the check in to be done and the boarding passes were waiting at the gate(!). However neither of these options are going to happen for you with Qatar Airways.]

Once you are checked in, it is not difficult to print a boarding pass; this is just a piece of paper.


If you are unsuccessful in obtaining your boarding pass at your first airport, most international airports outside the US facilitate international-to-international connections without needing to pass through immigration. They have a means for travellers to obtain their onward boarding passes in the connections area, usually by providing staffed airline counters before security. At worse this may mean waiting for some time while a member of staff goes away to get your boarding pass for you. However, I cannot speak for COK airport specifically.

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  • Ok that sounds like most likely I shouldn't need a Visa for India to get to Frankfurt
    – Ian
    Jan 26, 2017 at 11:32
  • At worse this may mean waiting for some time while a member of staff goes away to get your boarding pass for you. What if some airline does not have dedicated transfer counter and only has regular counter (after immigration)? Can the airport ground staff go and bring your boarding pass if you give them your passport?
    – user13107
    Oct 6, 2017 at 2:38
  • @user13107 Yes. For instance this happens at Cairo. (You will be waiting a long time.)
    – Calchas
    Oct 6, 2017 at 7:46
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This is how it turned out: In Bangkok at the AirAsia Check-In the staff told me that I cannot board the plan because I don't have a valid visa for India. This is required for my case, because as soon as you enter an Indian airport with a low cost airline you have to pass immigration. No matter if you have an other international flight from the same airport a few hours later or not. ( Together with the next sentence, I assume that the terminals are designed in a special way that makes this the case) They also told me, that I wouldn't have had this problem if I would have chosen a five star airline for my flight to India as I did for my connecting flight. If you arrive with such a premium airline you don't have to pass immigration to catch a connecting flight ( I assume this should also be a premium airline). I couldn't find this information on the web, nor did the staff at the Indian embassy in Berlin tell me (I contacted them before I my flights) All these Information are based on what the AirAsia staff told me. So in the end I had to book a new flight.

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  • Did you try to get your boarding pass for the flights with Qatar Airways in Bangkok at the Qatar Airways booth? What did they say?
    – user13107
    Oct 6, 2017 at 2:41

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