BKK airport: Thais invited to skip the queue

[Falconator]

This was in May 2016, but chances are this may still be happening.

 

I flew from India into BKK Suvarnabhumi airport on a morning.

I am a young guy who looks kind of Southeast Asian, and I was with a Thai woman that I had befriended on my flight.

 

We were approached by a Thai immigration trainee who asked us in Thai, "Are you Thais?" (pen khon thai reu plao?)

I replied, I have an American passport, and she has a Thai passport.

The trainee said, "Come with me," and we were taken to the shortest queue.

Got stamped right away, no questions.

 

Meanwhile, all the Caucasians, Chinese and Indians were having a long wait.

 

Has anyone else seen preferential treatment for Thais happen at airports and immigration queues?

 

[DrJack54]

She took you to Thai only pp line. Happens all the time.

[Falconator]

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

She took you to Thai only pp line. Happens all the time.

Have any Farang (non-Asian) husbands been invited to join the Thai only line with their Thai wives?

 

I was wondering if my case is more of an anomaly, or if it's normal.

[Thaidream]

7 minutes ago, Falconator said:

I was wondering if my case is more of an anomaly, or if it's normal.

It has happened to me  at least 10 times when travelling with my Thai wife-  I am a white Westerner/   

[Blue Muton]

8 minutes ago, Falconator said:

Have any Farang (non-Asian) husbands been invited to join the Thai only line with their Thai wives?

 

I was wondering if my case is more of an anomaly, or if it's normal.

Yes, and I'm not the only one. It's quite normal.

[overherebc]

8 minutes ago, Falconator said:

Have any Farang (non-Asian) husbands been invited to join the Thai only line with their Thai wives?

 

I was wondering if my case is more of an anomaly, or if it's normal.

Yesterday at DMK had no problem going through with my wife. They do sometimes check family names in PP's

At SUV and DMK there are also electronic gates that Thais can go to to avoid waiting in a long queue.

[55Jay]

14 minutes ago, Falconator said:

Have any Farang (non-Asian) husbands been invited to join the Thai only line with their Thai wives?

 

I was wondering if my case is more of an anomaly, or if it's normal.

We flew in to Swampy last week.  Long queues to the left, and it had been a year or so since our last return, so the wife asked the young guy minding the approach to the hall if I could go through the Thai passport line with her.  He smiled, yes of course, and herded us forward and slightly to the right where we had only 3 or 4 people ahead of us.  

 

Apart from one entry a number of years ago when I was told "No, can not", I've always stayed with the wife through Immigration.  Same when we arrive at Los Angeles.

[rkidlad]

Whenever I'm with my missus, we always go though the Thai line. Staff around have no problem with me joining her. 

[jackdd]

58 minutes ago, Falconator said:

Have any Farang (non-Asian) husbands been invited to join the Thai only line with their Thai wives?

 

I was wondering if my case is more of an anomaly, or if it's normal.

We just had a topic about this last week

 

[david143]

Foreigners having Thai Family members can Join quick que reserved for Thais , Senior Thai Citizen , wheel chairs, Having Kids,
i always travel on Quick Exit and Exter through Thai que.
its normal.
if you were without Her , may wait long long que. good luck to you for this time.
But for us we always sabai sabai

[10years]

Seems to me that the question is can a non-thai, non-husband visitor get in the Thai line with any Thai woman?

 

If so, a strategy to avoid long lines is to ask a Thai lady if you can join her.

[55Jay]

15 minutes ago, 10years said:

Seems to me that the question is can a non-thai, non-husband visitor get in the Thai line with any Thai woman?

 

If so, a strategy to avoid long lines is to ask a Thai lady if you can join her.

With the amusing idea that TI keeps tabs on the trending discussions on TVF, FB, etc., if they get wind of a creeping exploit in weak policy enforcement, and we chuckle on-line about getting one over on them, they might bring the hammer down for a while, just to keep the cheeky farangs in their place. ????

 

Some years ago, in the Thai line at Swampy with the Mrs., noticed one of the minders looking over at me.  Oh gawd, here he comes...... pointed to the blue PP in my hand and asked to see it, which was amusing but I appreciated the effort to avoid the appearance of the obvious assumption.  Sure enough, he escorted me to the nearest Foreigner line.  Wife began to protest, I just waved it off, see you on the other side in baggage claim, no big deal. 

 

I figured somebody in TI at Swampy had a weed up their nose about it.  The guy was "right", no point in arguing, and ironic (and fortunate) that the foreign line he desposited me in, wasn't that much longer than the one I had been in. 

 

Hadn't happened before, or since, just that one time.

[Nong Khai Man]

4 hours ago, Falconator said:

Have any Farang (non-Asian) husbands been invited to join the Thai only line with their Thai wives?

 

I was wondering if my case is more of an anomaly, or if it's normal.

Yes I Have, A Few Times.....