NanLaew

You were there to witness what happened? You didn't read the OP? She was checking in for a departing flight. The US does not do face-to-face outbound immigration checks. That duty is served either by the airline's check-in staff or an Immigration self-service kiosk once you are airside (after check in). US citizens don't have a separate bag drop and check-in option.

She didn't jump US Immigration, she was checking in and was simply boosted into a priority check-in by a airport staffer who liked her attire. The assertion that they then sent her back to the plebs check in because she wasn't a US citizen is just so much more nonsense. I hope my lunch is better than this.

English language media is a small and fiercely competitive market in Thailand but in common with Thai media, bad news sells. In this instance (5 pages later) it's farangs that are upset. If pattayanews.com allowed readers comments, it would be 100% foreigners making the same noises as the 100% foreigners on here.

No, I can't concede to what you think bothers the locals. Xenophobes exist as a minority in many cultures but in my worldly travels, I don't see the locals here being worse than say the Japanese or the Koreans. I get up early and watch the early morning local news on the telly with Yai and believe me, the locals are quite preoccupied with their own ne'erdowells and delinquents. In the grand scheme of things in Thailand, the farangs are quite insignificant.

I say they don't make a hill of somtam to the average Thai. At this precise moment in time, there's probably well over 70 million Thai people that are blissfully unaware of this incident and any others like it.

There's nothing unique about 'Thai business practices' when it come to downstream oil and gas. PTT, the Thai state oil company, has the lion's share in Thailand. Petronas, the Malaysian state oil company, has the monopoly in Malaysia. Etc., etc..

Caltex, like Shell, have no Thailand offshore operations, only gas stations and (possibly) some partnerships in refineries.

If I get inside the viewfinder of anyone obviously live-streaming or recording, they'll get the Ronaldo smartphone slapdown. And I won't apologize.

Why do so many members repeatedly take such acts of stupidity and belligerence so deeply personally?

We implemented it on our 'mules' coming in from the US with various stuff for the expat buddies here in Thailand. This was after one of them got stopped and assessed great gobs of duty on a box of cigars that were inside a fancy box that Customs included in the duty assessment. We told him to dump the cigar boxes next time as they're only supposed to assess on actual tobacco weight ONLY. He got to keep the cigars but one of the expats was SOL on his long-overdue packets of Dunkin Donuts coffee as Customs insisted they were totally illegal and confiscated both packets.

For the OP, if everything is in suitcases, it shouldn't draw too much attention. However, the Green channel does get all investigative at random intervals for indeterminate times where they actively pull certain (random?) pax aside to place their kit on the x-ray scanner. I have noticed in the past they tend to cherry-pick locals and other Asiatics who can arguably be shaken down more easily for the fake Gucci "gifts" and the like. Since the OP will probably have at least 15 minutes between clearing immigration and his bags popping out on the carousel, he should check on how busy his chosen Green channel will be (there are two). Once the bags are on the trolley, don't rush but watch if they have some active scanning going on. If it looks busy that way, go off an check on some duty free stuff or the other Green channel or until the heat dies down. Good luck.

Incredible things those cylindrical things with wings that take you places..... Exactly. I use to leave my skis at the bungalow in Dharan, Saudi Arabia. Absolutely no point in lugging them all the way over here unless I was heading for Japan in winter.

So NOT January 14th this year which is the relevant date in the OP? I rest my case M'lud.

Know what? How much it is? Probably.

So you believe something you saw on YouTube? I see.

Ahhh, grasshopper...

If you need to ask.

Good catch on the subtle nuance of Thailands' social policing where prostitution isn't openly being conducted. There's no pimps and there's no ho's. However, solicitation is a completely different bowl of somtam but that's not what Pattaya's finest were looking for.

I evicted the third-generation squatter. Now I'm working on the hangers-on from tier 2.

We're professionals. Hang in there and you'll get the hang of it too.

Sorry, apart from rubbish grammar, I should have said, "If one is familiar with women who like 'bad boys', then one's social circle is all a bit suss from the get go." See? Not an 'ad-hom' bone in my body.

Our Yai up here in Oodorn hasn't needed to do this for almost 18 years of her farang son-in-law squatter's global wandering. Most provincial hotels, away from the tourist trails, don't bother asking for the farang's passport if he's with his Thai spouse or if she made the reservation. But I'm happy that someone has at least read the regulation.

What's so complicated about signing an affidavit stating that any and all funds your Thai spouse is using that may have come from you was a gift? Divorce and remarry to avoid "complications" at the land office? Someone's pulling someone else's leg.

If one is familiar with women who like 'bad boys', you're social circle is all a bit suss from the get go.

Good grief, you've had more personal knife drama than a Friday night in Croydon.