Help! I'm stuck in Phnom Penh!
 

Help! I'm in a bad predicament that hopefully revscene can advise or help me on.

I booked a flight through China Southern Airlines to go from Phnom Penh to Guangzhou with a 4 hour layover before my next connection with Air China that takes me from Guangzhou to Beijing. At Beijing, I have another layover 4.5 hours before flying back to Vancouver with Air China. In total, I am in China for less than a little under 12 hours but I never leave the airports in China. Would I still need any sort of transit visa for this? From what I've read around the internet, they say that i dont. "if however you are a transit passenger and have more than one stopover in china, you must exit the transit lounge at the first stop to apply for an endorsement in your passport that permits multiple stops in China. As long as you have a ticket that continues on to an international destination, the endorsement should be routine". This excerpt was taken from an american government site for travel through china.

Anyways, my flight was this morning and they didnt give me my boarding pass because they say that I needed a visa, which from what I understand you dont. I feel absolutely robbed. What is the real answer here? Do i need a visa if I enter into guangzhou? Can the airline just deny my boarding pass? And what are my chances of getting a new ticket issued to me at the expense of China Southern and Air China or even getting these guys to refund me my full fare, even though I purchased it from my TD Travel Rewards agent. What are my options now? How can I get a return ticket to Canada from these guys, and if i cant get them to issue me a new ticket, what are my chances of getting a full fare refund from them? I'm stuck here in Phnom Penh without a ticket home!

I called the Guangzhou and Beijing airport and both of their immigration departments confirmed that I do not need a visa to transit through their cities as long as i stay less than 24 hours, which I would have anyways.

I plan on heading over to the china southern airlines office tmrw here in Phnom Penh and explain to them the whole situation + try to get them to issue a new ticket on their dime, but i dont really like my chances.

What Can I do?? Who can I talk to about my situation?? Local Police? HELP!!

TIA

You need to get your ass here:

http://projectvisa.com/embassydetail.asp?seednum=3786

Perhaps they can help you out.

They should see that your destination is Vancouver

so , you don't need a visa. China immigration can allow you to go out of the airport for 24hr with a stamp. I had to do this when I was in Shanghai, because my luggage was stored outside of the airport. You do need to show your Canadian passport and boarding pass to Vancouver of the same day or flight.