My ticket was with EVA Airlines, but Asiana Airlines was the ground crew for EVA Airlines. Me and my family member finally received our boarding passes after waiting to check-in, which took over 30 minutes. I had never done a tax refund before, so I crossed immigration without going to customs to receive a stamp for my tax refund. When I went to the tax kiosk on the other side of the immigration gate, NICE Tax Refund asked me to talk to an airline staff member. I could not find any airline staff member, so I went to the Information Desk. The woman at the Information Desk told me and showed me a sign that read that I needed an airline staff member to accompany me to cross immigration again. The woman at the Information Desk phoned EVA Airlines and Asiana Airlines. I also phoned, but there was no answer. There was still 80 minutes before my flight would leave. I waited for 45 minutes. I spoke to Information, not one time, but two times and the woman assured me that this situation happens often and it is nothing to worry about as the airport is small and once the airline staff arrives, it would only take 10 minutes to go get the stamp and I would be able to make my flight. Then, 35 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave an Asiana Airline employee, accompanied by the woman from the Information Desk came. Asiana asked me to confirm whether I wanted the customs declaration stamp. I answered yes. Then, she said she would like to state that I should take full responsibility if I could not make my flight. She asked whether I wanted her to proceed to contact a staff member to take me to get the stamp. This was very suspicious as there was still 35 minutes remaining until the flight took off. I directly said to her that the question was very strange, but as there was enough time remaining, I did not see a problem and wanted a staff member to accompany me to get the stamp. She went away and came back 5 minutes later and asked me whether I had the item I wanted to declare on me and how many people were traveling with me. I told her I had the item with me and I was here with a family member. She then went away again for another 5 minutes. When she came back she asked whether all members would not be traveling as well. I stated that I am not sure why me or my family member should not board the airplane. At this point, it became apparent that she was not helpful, so I tried to talk to other airline staff. I also talked to a woman wearing a reflective safety vest, who was organizing the gate bollards for boarding and she said she would take me after boarding. When I asked, how I would board the plane, she then said, you will not be able to. I then talked to a man, who spoke Mandarin and appeared to work for EVA Airlines. He told me it was my fault and not his and tried to re-direct me to another person. He was not busy at all. At this point, it became apparent that, Asiana Airlines and EVA Airlines, were more interested in delaying and preventing me from boarding the airplane. In the time the airline staff wasted arguing with me, they could have just brought me to receive the stamp. It seemed apparent that I was not going to receive the stamp or the tax refund, so I stepped into the boarding queue line. Again, the airline staff, the woman in the reflective safety vest asked me to confirm that I would not be getting on the airplane. I was already boarding! There was written signage of the procedure at your airport’s Information Desk. Then, I was passed to multiple airline staff that were not willing to assist accordingly. There was no one at the customs declaration counter and no one else from the airport to assist me. EVA and Asiana Airlines both avoided responsibility and delayed the procedure. They were rude and indirect about the situation with every attempt to prevent me from boarding. Deterring foreigners to depart from a foreign country over tax refund issues is unlawful.
