Cambodia e-Arrival After a Flight Change: When to Edit, When to Re-fill

Scenario one: airline rebooks you onto a different flight

This is the most common case we see for Aussies in 2026. You booked a Singapore Airlines or Vietnam Airlines code-share into KTI, filed the e-Arrival five days out, and then 36 hours before departure you get an email saying the airline has consolidated you onto a different flight. The new flight has a different number, possibly a different stopover, but lands at the same Cambodian airport, on the same calendar day, within a few hours of the original.

What to check first

Open the new itinerary and confirm three things. First, the arrival airport code — KTI, SAI, or KOS — matches the one on your Card. Second, the arrival date in local Cambodian time (not your phone's home time-zone) is the same date you wrote on the Card. Third, the routing has not changed your landing time to past midnight Cambodia-time on the next day. If all three line up, your existing Card is fine. The flight number on the Card is now stale, but the officer at the kiosk reads the QR code, not the flight number printed on the boarding pass.

When to re-file anyway

Some Aussies prefer the peace of mind of re-filing with the new flight number even when the date and airport are unchanged. That is fine — the portal accepts a fresh submission against the same passport, the new submission supersedes the old one in the immigration database, and the kiosk reads the most recent Card. The trade-off is one more form-fill (12 minutes solo, 5–7 minutes if you reuse the shared accommodation strings) for the tidiness of having the boarding pass and Card show the same flight number.

If you used our verified e-Arrival service, the re-file is free and we keep the original submission on record so the Aussie-timezone team can confirm exactly which Card is active by the time you fly. The Cambodia e-Arrival when-to-fill guide covers the broader timing question for first-time filers.

Scenario two: long delay or overnight push

A flight delay is only a problem for the e-Arrival if it pushes your arrival across a calendar boundary in local Cambodian time. A six-hour delay on a flight that was meant to land at 5 PM Cambodia-time still lands the same calendar day — Card is fine. A nine-hour delay that pushes a midnight arrival into 3 AM the next morning Cambodia-time is a date mismatch — re-file the Card with the new arrival date before you fly, or as soon as you have WiFi en route.

Checking the date in Cambodian time

Cambodia runs on ICT (Indochina Time, UTC+7), which is three hours behind Sydney AEST in winter and four hours behind during Aussie daylight saving. A flight that lands at 1 AM AEST on a Wednesday lands at 10 PM Cambodia-time on Tuesday — different calendar day. Always check the arrival time on your boarding pass against the local Cambodian date before deciding whether a delay has crossed the boundary. The simplest sanity check is to look at the boarding pass: it shows the arrival time in destination local time.

Cancelled flight, same-day rebooking

If the airline cancels the original flight and rebooks you onto a same-day replacement landing at the same airport, treat it as a minor change — your existing Card is fine. If the rebooking is onto a next-day flight, treat it as a major change and re-file. Cancellations rebooked onto a different Cambodian airport (e.g. KTI to SAI because of weather) are also major changes — re-file with the new airport.

Scenario three: rerouted via a different stopover

Aussies flying to Cambodia in 2026 typically stop in Singapore, Bangkok (still as a transit), Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, or occasionally Hong Kong. When the airline changes the stopover — say, from Singapore via SQ to Bangkok via TG — the e-Arrival Card stays clean as long as the final arrival airport and arrival date are unchanged. The stopover itself does not appear on the Card. The Card asks where you are coming from on the final inbound leg, and the answer is whichever airport the final leg departs from.

When the reroute changes the final leg origin

If the reroute changes which airport your final leg departs from — for example, Singapore to KTI becomes Bangkok to KTI — that field on the Card is technically out of date. In practice the kiosk does not check this against the boarding pass; the officer reads the QR, sees the date and airport match, and waves you through. If you want to be tidy, re-file with the new origin airport, but it is not strictly required for entry.

Reroute that changes the destination airport

Less common but it happens: a weather diversion sends a KTI flight to SAI, or vice versa. This is a major change — the kiosk you arrive at expects a Card filed against that airport. If you can re-file from the air or on the airport WiFi before clearing Immigration, do so. If the reroute is so last-minute that you do not have connectivity, you will be diverted to the manual desk on landing; the officers there process the new Card on the spot. Carry the original Card as well so they can see the prior submission.

For the airport-specific context, the Cambodia airports KTI, SAI, and KOS guide covers each entry point. If you have already arrived without a working Card and need to know what happens at the manual desk, the Cambodia e-Arrival rejection fixes guide is the right reference.

What the Immigration officer actually does with a stale QR

The mechanics at the Cambodian Immigration kiosk are worth understanding because they shape what you need to bring. The officer (or the e-gate, depending on the lane) scans the QR code from your phone or paper printout. The scan returns the Card on file in the immigration database, which the officer compares against your physical passport and the boarding pass you hand over. If the airport and date on the Card match where you are and what day it is, the rest of the Card is treated as supporting context, not a blocking field.

If your saved Wallet pass or printed PDF is the stale version (the original Card from before the rebooking), and you have since re-filed a fresh Card, you have two choices at the kiosk. Show the new QR off your phone — the officer scans the new one and the most recent submission is what matters. Or show the stale printed copy first; if the airport and date still match, the officer accepts it. Either way works. Aussies sometimes worry about needing to delete the old QR; you do not. The kiosk reads what you present.

Carrying both versions, just in case

If you have re-filed and you also have the original PDF or Wallet pass, carry both. Keep them in the same Apple Wallet or Google Wallet folder, labelled so the most recent one is obvious. At the kiosk, present the newer QR first. If the kiosk pauses for any reason, the officer can pull up your passport record and see both submissions — having the prior one handy makes the explanation easier.

The Cambodia e-Arrival QR code saving tips guide covers the full Wallet workflow for keeping multiple passes organised on one phone, and the Cambodia KTI airport guide for Phnom Penh covers what the arrivals hall actually looks like for first-timers.

The summary for Aussies whose flight just changed

Check three things: arrival airport, arrival date (in local Cambodia time), and passport number. If all three still match the Card you submitted, you are fine — fly with what you have, present the QR at the kiosk, and the flight-number drift is informational. If the airport changed, the date changed, or both, re-file the Card with the new details before clearing Immigration. The portal does not edit confirmed submissions — every fix is a fresh submission. If you re-file through our verified e-Arrival, it is $5 USD (~$7.50 AUD), delivered as a printable PDF by email, with free resubmission if Immigration flags a correction and Aussie-timezone support if the schedule shifts again. If you have not yet filed at all, the how-to-apply Cambodia eVisa from Australia walkthrough is the broader trip-prep reference and the do-Australians-need-Cambodia-visa pillar covers the policy framing for anyone planning a first trip.

Next steps and related reading for Australians: apply for your Cambodia eVisa when you are ready to lodge, bookmark our Cambodia visa hub for Australian citizens as the single canonical reference, skim the FAQ on Cambodia visa e arrival for quick answers, and use our glossary of Cambodia visa terms to decode any acronym in this guide.