Over the more than two decades of solo travel, I’ve never encountered an immigration system quite so whimsical as that in Indonesia. I’m only going to speak in terms of entering a county as a tourist, although years back I did work in Jakarta for a spell. How would on-board immigration have worked then?
As I mentioned yesterday, I used to travel a lot between Hong Kong and Jakarta, roughly covering years 2005 – 2012. As a U.S. passport holder, within that time frame, Indonesia went from full-page visa-on-arrival (VOA), to half a page, to no visa, and then back to half a page.
At that time, U.S. citizens were also able to add pages to passports, potentially creating some real monstrosities.
What I didn’t realize was that Garuda Indonesia — back then the most expensive nonstop choice — began to offer on-board immigration for select routes.
Briefly, you’d buy your visa at check-in, then once the flight hit Indonesian airspace, an immigration officer would make his/her way around the cabin.
This peculiar service ended years ago; coincidentally, it was only around between 2010 and 2014. However, it was available between Tokyo and Jakarta, another route I’ve taken a few times, so I really should have tried it out on-board immigration at least once.
It’s not an unusual concept; on a 2004 ferry between Algeciras, Spain and Tangier, Morocco, there was mandatory in-transit immigration.
Of course, among other countries, Indonesia does e-visas for tourists these days. And then there’s preclearance for many U.S.-bound flights, but I think that’s a horse of a different color.
But in-flight passport control, I’m intrigued. Think that concept will ever return to the skies? Or, have e-visas and e-gates put a halt to it?
I might warn that doing a VOA in Indonesia online before arrival can be a fools errand. I tried it and eventually (after several attempts) got payment processed online. I presented the e-visa printout on arrival, only for agent to notice my mistake (yes, my bad) of fat-fingering my birthdate. I had to go back to the VOA desk and buy another one! Ugh!
You know, that’s the same reason a buddy of mine got rejected from getting a Vietnamese tourist visa…then again, at least you were able to use VOA. He couldn’t even get a refund for his plane ticket. Ah well, he knows not to screw up the month and day next time.
It is a shame that they made you buy another one, even with proof. But at that stage, it’s difficult to argue.