Leaving Thailand carries a charge you already pay and a tax the government is asking the public about. News reports often mix them up. The figures below come from the airport operator, the aviation regulator and the Revenue Department, checked at source on 9 October 2026.
Quick answers
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What do I pay to fly out of Bangkok, Phuket or Chiang Mai? | 1,120 baht per person on an international departure. |
| Since when? | Tickets issued from 20 June 2026. The rate before that was 730 baht. |
| Do I pay it at the airport? | No. The airline collects it in the fare when you buy the ticket. |
| Does nationality matter? | No. Thai and foreign passengers pay the same. |
| Domestic flights? | 130 baht at the same six airports, unchanged. |
| Is there a 1,000 baht departure tax? | Proposed, not enacted. Public comment closes 29 October 2026. |
The passenger service charge
Airports of Thailand (AOT), the listed company that runs six of the country’s airports, told the Stock Exchange of Thailand on 20 February 2026 that it would raise the Passenger Service Charge (PSC) for outbound international passengers to 1,120 baht per person from 20 June 2026. The six airports are Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Mae Fah Luang Chiang Rai, Phuket and Hat Yai.
The legal basis is a regulator’s notice. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand’s Notification No. 3 B.E. 2569, signed on 14 May 2026, records that the Minister of Transport approved the increase from 730 baht to 1,120 baht on 9 February 2026, on the advice the Civil Aviation Board gave at its meeting of 3 December 2025. The approval required AOT to tell passengers four months ahead, and its notice went out exactly four months before the start date. The aviation authority’s aeronautical information circular 04/26 gives the precise moment: 19 June 2026 at 1700 UTC, which is midnight in Thailand.
AOT’s notice says the PSC “is neither a tax nor revenue generated for profit-seeking purposes”. It names where the money goes: the Midfield Satellite 1 building at Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang’s passenger terminal, and common-use check-in systems.
How it is collected
The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s release of 18 May 2026 states that the PSC is included in the airfare at the time of ticket purchase, and that travellers are not required to make any separate payment at the airport.
Tickets issued from 20 June 2026 carry the new rate, and tickets purchased before that date are not affected. A ticket bought in May for a December flight was priced with 730 baht in it, and nobody will ask you for the difference.
Under the regulator’s rules in AIP Thailand GEN 4.1, the airline takes the charge from boarding passengers and hands it to the airport manager within seven days of departure, with a passenger list certified by an immigration officer.
Who does not pay it
The same section of the AIP lists the exemptions. Most are for royalty, heads of state and official guests. Two apply to ordinary travellers:
- Children two years of age and under.
- International transit passengers who do not leave the transit area, or who leave it only to rest because their flight is delayed.
A connection that keeps you airside is exempt. A self-transfer on separate tickets, where you pass immigration, collect bags and check in again, takes you out of the transit area, and the exemption is written for passengers who stay in it.
Other Thai airports charge less
The 1,120 baht rate belongs to AOT’s six airports only. GEN 4.1 sets lower ceilings for the rest of the country:
| Departure airport | International | Domestic |
|---|---|---|
| Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Mae Fah Luang Chiang Rai | 1,120 baht | 130 baht |
| Samui | 700 baht | 400 baht |
| Krabi, Surat Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phitsanulok | 425 baht | 75 baht |
| Other airports | 400 baht | 50 baht |
Each figure is a maximum (“not exceeding” in the AIP). The 425 and 75 baht rates at the six regional airports apply to tickets bought from 1 July 2025 for departures from 1 October 2025. Sukhothai’s domestic charge is 400 baht and Trat’s is 200 baht.
An international flight from Krabi has 425 baht in the fare, against 1,120 baht from Phuket.
The 1,000 baht departure tax
Two versions of this story are in circulation. One says a 1,000 baht levy will apply to all travellers from 2027. The other says it applies only to Thai citizens and residents, with 500 baht for leaving by land or sea, and that the government may drop it. Neither matches the document the Revenue Department has published.
On 30 September 2026 the Revenue Department opened a public consultation on the principles of a draft Departure Tax Act, running until 29 October 2026. Its consultation paper proposes:
- A tax on every person departing Thailand, regardless of nationality. Crew travelling for their airline without paying a fare are excluded.
- In the first phase, 1,000 baht per departure by air, with departures by land and sea exempt.
- A legal ceiling of 5,000 baht per departure, with the actual rate set by ministerial regulation.
- Exemptions for air travellers aligned with the passenger service charge list, including children aged two and under and international transit passengers who stay in the transit area.
- Collection by the airline or ticketing agent together with the fare.
- Commencement 180 days after the Act is published in the Royal Gazette, and no tax on a ticket bought before that date.
The “Thai citizens only, 500 baht by land or sea” version describes the old law. Thailand’s Emergency Decree on Departure Tax of 1983 taxed Thai nationals and foreign permanent residents at 1,000 baht by air and 500 baht by land or sea. The consultation paper records that land and sea departures were exempted from 1 May 1986 and air departures from 1 July 1991, and says the new principle “differs” from that decree because it covers all nationalities.
The “from 2027” version has no date behind it, and no official document we read sets one. The paper covers principles for a draft Act at the public comment stage, so the earliest the tax could take effect is 180 days after an Act is passed and published in the Royal Gazette. Neither the paper nor any official statement we found says whether the government will proceed.
If the proposal went ahead as written, an international departure from Suvarnabhumi would carry 1,120 baht of airport charge plus 1,000 baht of tax, both inside the fare. Today it carries the first only.
Checking your fare
Both charges are, or would be, taken when the ticket is issued, so check them at booking. An infant aged two or under should not carry the PSC in their fare. The proposed tax repeats the PSC’s timing rule: if it is enacted, the date you buy the ticket decides whether it applies, not the date you fly.
For the paperwork on the way in, Thailand’s online arrival card, and when to file it covers the form every non-Thai visitor submits before landing.