How to find the shortest Immigration Queue

[JAS21]

My family will land arrive on 23rd around 5:45PM ...( son/wife and two children aged 9 and 11)  I dread ro think how long they will take to get through Immigration.

 

I recall in the past that there is another Hall on the left and it can be quicker ... is this still the case ... if so can anyone give me a sketch of where they should head to ... thanks

Edited June 9, 2018 by JAS21

[chickenslegs]

Whenever I have family or friends coming over I book the arrivals service with BFS ...

https://www.bangkokflightservices.com/home/bfs-services/premium-airport-services/

 

They are met off the plane and driven by golf cart to immigration, fast tracked, helped with luggage collection, and escorted to the meeting point or taxi rank.

 

Or, save quite a bit by not using golf carts.

 

IMO it's a great service and worth the money.

 

 

[wpcoe]

There used to be monitors by the ramp leading into the immigration lobbies showing you which might have shorter lines.  Are those monitors still there (and in use)?

[josephbloggs]

5 hours ago, wpcoe said:

There used to be monitors by the ramp leading into the immigration lobbies showing you which might have shorter lines.  Are those monitors still there (and in use)?

Yes they are.

[josephbloggs]

Hi JAS21,

 

Whether the other immigration hall is to the left or the right depends on which gate you are coming from.  Basically whatever the first one you come to is - if it looks busy - you carry on in the same direction and you'll get to the second one.  There are monitors showing you how busy the other one is.

 

I come in and out twice a month on average.  I've only had one bad one where the queue went all the way through the "snake" and back down the concourse (same at both halls) but it moved quickly and only took 40 minutes which is acceptable considering how busy it was.  Most desks were manned.  Came in on Thursday last week at 2pm and there was literally no queue at all.  Plenty of manned desks and you could choose one to walk straight up to.  The days of long two hour queues and closed desks is long gone (in reality that only happened on a couple of occasions).  You can still get a lot of people but they tend to have a lot of desks open so it moves. In my experience - and I travel a lot - 10-15 minutes is the norm.

 

Of course there are occasional exceptions, so for peace of mind book the fast track service as linked above - it is excellent.

Edited June 10, 2018 by josephbloggs

[phkauf]

Where are the monitors? I have looked and never seen them.

I have made the observation that you pick a line staffed by a middle age to younger man, they tend to work faster. Avoid at all costs the older females - they are the absolute slowest workers and I think many don't even know what's going on. The younger females are 50/50 some fast and efficient others playing with their phones between people. Not being sexist - but this is what I've noticed after many trips in and out. 

[pfunk]

The monitors are at the bottom of both ramps leading up to the immigration desks. They're very handy. They were taken down for about a year but are back up. I've noticed recently that staff are now actively encouraging passengers to use the other immigration hall when one is busy.

I travel in and out of Suvarnabhumi almost weekly and I haven't noticed any long lines at both immigration queues in months - though most flights I've been on have arrived in the early hours. When I flew back in last week it was around the time that you mentioned and the queue took about 15 minutes (though the other hall was busier - so glad to have the monitors).

 

I've never noticed any difference whatsoever between male/female immigration officers. They seem to have equally good/poor motivation regardless of their gender.

[Stocky]

They commonly have airport staff redirecting you to the alternate immigration hall if one hall is more crowded than the other.

[thai006]

last year with my bro come out with emirates on 380 , the first immigration  was so  crowd   but we walk to the second and  nobody there  ahahah ?

[Kadilo]

Must admit I come and go regularly but have never seen the monitors so thanks for the tip. I arrived early Friday morning queue 45 mins. 

[JAS21]

On 6/10/2018 at 8:28 PM, josephbloggs said:

Hi JAS21,

 

Whether the other immigration hall is to the left or the right depends on which gate you are coming from.  Basically whatever the first one you come to is - if it looks busy - you carry on in the same direction and you'll get to the second one.  There are monitors showing you how busy the other one is.

 

I come in and out twice a month on average.  I've only had one bad one where the queue went all the way through the "snake" and back down the concourse (same at both halls) but it moved quickly and only took 40 minutes which is acceptable considering how busy it was.  Most desks were manned.  Came in on Thursday last week at 2pm and there was literally no queue at all.  Plenty of manned desks and you could choose one to walk straight up to.  The days of long two hour queues and closed desks is long gone (in reality that only happened on a couple of occasions).  You can still get a lot of people but they tend to have a lot of desks open so it moves. In my experience - and I travel a lot - 10-15 minutes is the norm.

 

Of course there are occasional exceptions, so for peace of mind book the fast track service as linked above - it is excellent.

Took your advice ...am now 2700thb lighter ☹️

[Bankokbob59]

On 6/9/2018 at 8:36 PM, chickenslegs said:

Whenever I have family or friends coming over I book the arrivals service with BFS ...

https://www.bangkokflightservices.com/home/bfs-services/premium-airport-services/

 

They are met off the plane and driven by golf cart to immigration, fast tracked, helped with luggage collection, and escorted to the meeting point or taxi rank.

 

Or, save quite a bit by not using golf carts.

 

IMO it's a great service and worth the money.

 

 

I really appreciate this info and have already sent them an email for my next trip there.(I have a bad knee and this type of service would be fantastic) Thx! 

Edited June 28, 2018 by Bankokbob59

[sfokevin]

You can purchase Fast Track service that puts you in the fast lane no waiting immigration line...

(They can also provide a golf cart fro the gate to immigration...

https://www.limousine.in.th/fasttrack.php

[gk10002000]

On 6/10/2018 at 9:28 AM, josephbloggs said:

Hi JAS21,

 

Whether the other immigration hall is to the left or the right depends on which gate you are coming from.  Basically whatever the first one you come to is - if it looks busy - you carry on in the same direction and you'll get to the second one.  There are monitors showing you how busy the other one is.

 

I come in and out twice a month on average.  I've only had one bad one where the queue went all the way through the "snake" and back down the concourse (same at both halls) but it moved quickly and only took 40 minutes which is acceptable considering how busy it was.  Most desks were manned.  Came in on Thursday last week at 2pm and there was literally no queue at all.  Plenty of manned desks and you could choose one to walk straight up to.  The days of long two hour queues and closed desks is long gone (in reality that only happened on a couple of occasions).  You can still get a lot of people but they tend to have a lot of desks open so it moves. In my experience - and I travel a lot - 10-15 minutes is the norm.

 

Of course there are occasional exceptions, so for peace of mind book the fast track service as linked above - it is excellent.

After 10 trips I still didn't know and was not aware there was the other queue just a bit further on!  Only one trip had a queue that almost got down to the concourse so it wouldn't have made much of a difference, but still, it was a good thing to know abou.!

[gk10002000]

On 6/9/2018 at 8:36 AM, chickenslegs said:

Whenever I have family or friends coming over I book the arrivals service with BFS ...

https://www.bangkokflightservices.com/home/bfs-services/premium-airport-services/

 

They are met off the plane and driven by golf cart to immigration, fast tracked, helped with luggage collection, and escorted to the meeting point or taxi rank.

 

Or, save quite a bit by not using golf carts.

 

IMO it's a great service and worth the money.

 

 

I looked them up on their web site.  Not unreasonable prices.  I don't think I need that fast trak, but for some people it can be a nice thing to have available.  Might be a nice touch after a long flight, give somebody a touch of a VIP welcome, help out somebody who is new to the airport, etc.Thanks for the post

[chickenslegs]

On 6/19/2018 at 11:36 AM, JAS21 said:

Took your advice ...am now 2700thb lighter ☹️

Hi JAS21,

How did your family go on with the BFS service? I read in another thread that BFS can no longer use the priority (fast track) lane at immigration.

[JAS21]

Yes ... very quick they said ...also the airline had lost a suitcase and the 'helper' sorted things for them.  As it happened the normal queue was short.

 

Suitcase was deliver to our house much later the same evening.

[NanLaew]

On 8/5/2018 at 1:38 PM, JAS21 said:

Yes ... very quick they said ...also the airline had lost a suitcase and the 'helper' sorted things for them.  As it happened the normal queue was short.

 

Suitcase was deliver to our house much later the same evening.

Good job they arrived a couple of months ago. Looks like Suvarnabhumi and 4 other airports are dedicating immigration desks exclusively for Chinese travelers.

 

It says up to 18 dedicated lines at Suvarnabhumi... sometimes they have less IO's on duty than that!

 

https://thethaiger.com/news/bangkok/new-vip-lane-at-suvarnabhumi-as-long-as-youre-chinese

 

 

[wpcoe]

On 8/6/2018 at 10:47 PM, NanLaew said:

It says up to 18 dedicated lines at Suvarnabhumi... sometimes they have less IO's on duty than that!

That's the key:  how many IO's will actually staff those 18 dedicated lines.  

[NanLaew]

On 8/10/2018 at 7:49 AM, wpcoe said:

That's the key:  how many IO's will actually staff those 18 dedicated lines.  

With the new-fangled 'be nice to the Chinese' rules, I would assume all 18 IO's on duty will be working all 18 dedicated Chinese desks.