No worries, went on cathaypacific.com and booked my ticket..as usual. Unfortunately I had to book the morning flight on monday as the afternoon was fully booked. Maybe due to the fact that Indonesia had a long weekend off as it was there independence day. (wikipedia) This year their 64th day.
Anyway, when rocking up at the airport express station in Hong Kong...with a big suitcase I was happy to see that there was hardly any queue.
When checking in, the attendant said: oh sorry, you will have to wait for an hour or so as we need to check your status. Uhh, sorry what do you mean? Well if you fly to Jakarta we need to verify if you will be allowed in. Hmm, well they let me in for the last few times AND as you can see there is a multiple entry business visa. So.....what is the problem. The supervisor had to send a telex to Jakarta to get approval for me to be checked in and board the plane. As per Immigration department directives.
I was already thinking on how to kill that waste of time, whilst trying to understand what was going on here. Even if I didn't have the multiple entry visa..I can get a visa on entry.
Then the light went on. As I was returning to Jakarta....I didn't have a ticket out (well that was the assumption). Funny enough...I do have a ticket and it is an eticket. So, before I was send off to Starbucks or so to kill an hour of my time..I told the gentleman that I do have a ticket to leave Jakarta. Upon which he returns if I am carrying the ticket with me.
Uhhh no, thats the point of e-tickets--- not to carry stuff like that anymore. Anyway, he was kind enough to check the system... and tadaaaa there it was....the magic word to clear the sky :)
My boarding pass was printed, suitcase taken in... and there were the words: enjoy your flight!
