[kiffguy]

Had an interesting experience today. I was in Singapore for business and returned this afternoon. Our meetings finished earlier than anticipated so we got our agent to get us on earlier flights. The most convenient flight was on Singapore Airlines but we had CX tickets. So we re-endorsed to SQ.

At the check-in counter, the clerk suddenly asked us all for our "Hong Kong visas". I enquired why they were looking for visas as all of our passports qualified for visa-free entry anyway. So she said that since our tickets really constituted as one-way tickets into Hong Kong, the system asked her to verify that we had valid visas.

So this is new to me. I have flown into Hong Kong before on a one-way ticket when I didn't have a work-visa and didn't have the same thing.

Is this unique to SQ's check-in system, or is Hong Kong tightening up on its entries? Is this Olympics related?

[leghk]

If I understand you correctly, this is nothing new. It happened to me twelve years ago on a trip to Thailand and a trip to HK a couple of years ago (flying from london both times)

Airlines are responsible for all repatriation costs should you not be granted permission to enter the country.

One of the conditions of visa free access is that you have a valid return ticket out of the country.

[lowlight]

Many of the airlines are ignorant about visas, which countries need them and which don't. I had Cathay not let me go to Taiwan because I didn't have my return ticket with me. Another time, coming from Japan, they asked if I had a visa to get into HK. I just told them that I didn't need one, that they grant it at the border, and she believed me. So you really never know how they are going to react...