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Garuda started in-flight Indonesia immigration on selection routes in 2010 and this week has expanded to Shanghai, Shanghai Daily explains:
Immigration officers will check Shanghai travelers’ passports and issue them visas aboard a Garuda flight. For the first time in-flight visa service will be provided to Chinese tourists who need to pay US$25 for a 30-day visa at the Visa Onboard Counter in the Pudong International Airport after check-in.
Immigration officers will then use a mobile card reader to scan the visa voucher and stamp “Visa on Arrival” on the passport and a card, with which travelers can have a quick pass through the customs and avoid long queues at the immigration counters, according to Garuda.
Photo by Luke Ma
Terminal U lists Amsterdam, Osaka, Seoul, Sydney and Tokyo to Jakarta or Bali as offering the service.
How cool is that? My only visit to Indonesia was a decade ago, and I have no desire to go back. I recall the visa on arrival line taking quite some time.
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@john – I second @Ram, those two monuments are great, otherwise there are not so many throughout Indonesia, which I understand is a combination of the climate and a historical preference for wood construction.
Prambanan and Borobudur temples in the Yogyakarta area of Java are exquisite monuments.
http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/bali-and-yogyakarta-nov-2012.51179/
Did you visit the major temple/ruin thingies in Indonesia (thoughts…)? That is my main motivation for wanting to go there.
@Craig – Indonesia is an absolutely amazing place. There’s immense beauty in both the land and the people. You shouldn’t hesitate to see it.
[…] And you thought Global Entry was cool. Garuda Indonesia airlines is expanding its inflight visa processing. […]
@Mike from Berlin – fair enough, I figure that if I eventually get everywhere else I will give Indonesia another try, there are parts of Sumatra that look interesting. Otherwise, there is plenty more I would rather see for the first time rather than go back there. I like the Travelers Century Club list because it has frequently helped in my travel brainstorming, for instance I recently went to Transistria because I learned of it from the list and had a great trip. Last fall I was headed to Papua New Guinea and because I saw the Bismarck Archipelago on… Read more »
@ Rapid Travel Chai – “I still have some work on the Travelers Century Club llist for Indonesia so eventually I will go back” – now if THAT is your major motivation to go to places, maybe you should rather stay home than traveling as you may have misunderstood the concept…
@Craig – absolutely, every country is worth visiting at least once in my book.
Thanks for the explanation, Stefan. I still think I’d like to explore Indonesia. I’m especially fascinated by working class areas in urban environments.
very cool…if only more countries/airlines adopted this. PS…been to Indonesia many times this past year….VOA lines are pretty much non existent now or move very rapidly.
I always thought that Indonesia would be a great place to visit. How come you don’t want to go back?
@Craig – I have trouble being objective because I got nasty food poisoning while tooling around in my first stop, Sulawesi, then went briefly to Bali, had no interest in resorts or packed cultural experiences, and made my way overland through Java, some sights like Gunung Bromo are nice but I hated the constant hassle from pedicabs, beggars and others since I like to walk around, and across the board I did not see anything that I didn’t feel was better elsewhere in SE Asia. Jakarta is grim. The rave reviews typically seem to be from people who fly in… Read more »
AMS not any more.
@Ralph – thanks for the update, I have made the edit.