pampal

Thanks for everyone's input.

Duty Free allowances exist so that you know how much you may import duty free. There is no limitation on passengers importation of tobacco/alcohol. There are only duty free limits. Anything more than the limit is subject to duty(Baht),hence not duty free. Some people on this thread insist on making their own laws through somekind of flawed logic. The monopoly on tobacco exists for commercial enterprises who wish to import commercial amounts of tobacco. So please don't invent your own laws/limits as to what is allowed and what is not because you are distorting the truth. If the amounts in my possesion were illegal, why were they not confiscated and I fined?  Because the laws allow you to bring in more than the allowance as long as the duty is paid and customs had every opportunity, at least 3 times, to collect duty or confiscate. So why didn't they do so? Because they felt that the amounts in my possesion were

 reasonable for a short stay.

Outside the terminal,at no point was Identifaction offered and when I inquired, they became very shy. So that led me to believe they were disgenuine. Also, who said I went into the red line and loudly declared my cigs. I went into the red line and very courteously declared my cigs. As the customs officers working the red line saw I only had a small amount over the limit, they told me to go into the green line, so please don't add adjectives of your own making into my predicament. Axel,you may be loud and obnoxious, but I am not. And to thaigoon, dont' hate-appreciate.

BTW, when are you gonna start your thread on toilet size at Suvarnabhumi. After all, that's what one's experience at an airport is limited to.

I guess I didn't make myself clear enough to a "genius" like you. My point was that it's not fair to complain that the whole new airport sucks just because you ran into some incompetent custom officers. When I went to school and had a bad teacher or had a runin with an incompetent janitor, I was sensible enough to not conclude that the entire school sucked.

thaigoon,

Let me make it crystal clear for you, any place that you visit (church,school,airport) is only as good as the people operating it. You might arrive at an architecturally perfect airport manned by complete idiots who are ignorant of their own laws. Your experience of that airport will not be limited to how many toilets there  are

in the terminal, it will also involve the human factor.

How you were treated by (airline personnel, airport workers, immigration officers, customs, touts in arrival, taxis,) will make up the majority of your interaction at your chosen venue. Although the artwork in the terminal or the position of the toilets  have some effect on your experience at Suvarnabhumi, the human element will have the most impact. I hope I have made things more clear for you.

And no this doesn't involve the physical structure of the airport.

as far as duty free allowances go, customs regulations state that you can bring anything into customs at a port of entry and declare them, if entry is forbidden, you may send the prohibited items out or surrender them to customs for destruction. As I clearly declared my extra cigs, the thai customs had the option of forbidding their entry, as they did not, there is no problem even if I had a container full of cigs. They were legally declared and customs had every opportunity to tax, or confiscate my cigs, as they did not, then my importation of said items was completely legal.

There's a bit more to it then that and you should consider yourself lucky that this didn't happen to you > Hugh Fines on Arrival

I can see your point but if you read the article pertaining to the link, you would see that these lads never declared their cigs, that was their mistake. If customs has to search your bags (ie: they were not declared) then you are in big trouble. that's why there is a red line, for people who have something to declare as in extra cigs. The people in the article took the green lane which is for people who don't have anything to declare. so the situation is not the same.I declared my cigs where as they tried to hide theirs. They were actually smuggling whereas I was dealing with the situation according to the law. which says you should declare anything more than your duty free allowance and pay duty. so it's not the same situation or circumstances. Which means the two are unrelated, but thanks for reading the thread and putting in your two cents worth.

Thai goon,

for some unknown reason you think that everything is related to the physical structure of the new airport.

I have passed through don meuang for many years and never saw customs acting in the manner that they are at Suvarnabhumi, and I was never accosted outside Don Meuang by pseudo customs agents, so what does the physical structure have to do with it, I don't know but maybe you do. So let us know please.

Also soowanpoom sucks because of the new attitude which didn't exist at the old airport. Like being accosted by questionable people inside and outside of the physical structure of the airport. since the new airport is bigger than the old one(ie:designed for more passengers), the AOT have had to employ new people and they are not properly trained or experienced(ie:problems for passengers). as far as duty free allowances go, customs regulations state that you can bring anything into customs at a port of entry and declare them, if entry is forbidden, you may send the prohibited items out or surrender them to customs for destruction. As I clearly declared my extra cigs, the thai customs had the option of forbidding their entry, as they did not, there is no problem even if I had a container full of cigs. They were legally declared and customs had every opportunity to tax, or

confiscate my cigs, as they did not, then my importation of said items was completely legal. Duty free allowances are in place so you know if you have more than allowed, you pay duty, hence they are not duty free. By the way, duty means taxes as in Baht.

So again, we are discussing why customs and free lance customs don't abide by their own regulations, and what we are not discussing in this thread is the physical structure of suvarnabhumi. You can start a thread on the toilets and really get a good discussion of the physical structure on a different thread.

I have had suits made by 5 different tailors in bangkok.

The only one that is any good is James Fashion. they are located in Dusit District. I'm still wearing their suits after 4 years without any problems. I also had 5 shirts made there, and they have all stood the test of time, re: bangkok dry cleaners.

thaigoon you may ask anything you like, but if you check the name of this forum, this is the Suvarnabhumi airport forum and it's not limited to discussions on the building or the physical structure of the airport. It's a forum for the discussion on anything relate to the aforementioned airport, including problems,taxi fares, limousines, hotels etc...

So what is your question really, or haven't you looked at the name of the forum you are posting in.

Read before you write, genius

 As I was stepping off my Doha-Bkk flight, I was accosted at the gate by what seemed to be Customs officers who were talking to people who had duty free bags with them. They looked inside mine and found two cartons(400 total) of cigs. I was shouted at in broken english and thai and was told I had too many cigs. I was followed the entire way by 4 customs officers and after passport control and luggage, I went to the red customs line and declared I had two cartons(400 total) of cigs. They replied the smoking area is outside, I again told them I had two cartons of cigs and they ignored me. So I went into the green line and I was again accosted by 6 customs officers who x-rayed my bags and then told me to go on my way. I left customs and emerged into the human maelstrom known as the arrivals hall. I made my way outside to smoke a cig.

I noticed two men with customs jackets were watching and following me. After I smoked my cig, I was on my way to the metered taxi area when I was again accosted by semi-official customs jacket wearing people who told me the police wanted to see me. I asked why and they replied too many cigs. I told them I went through customs and declared my cigs, but they said we still want to talk to you. I agreed to go inside the terminal as we were outside at this time, and as soon I got inside the terminal they told me everything is OK and that I can go. What is going ON?

Give me Don Meuang any day of the week.

Soowanapoom Sucks