Improvements at Don Mueang

[Bangkok Barry]

 

I flew out of and into Don Mueang this week, using Thai Lion to Singapore. It appears that the authorities have made some improvements to negate the chaos caused largely by masses of Chinese who have been clogging up the international terminal.

 

There is, at least for the airline I used, a separate check-in area for groups (read Chinese) in a part of the terminal some distance away from the 'ordinary' passenger check-in desks. Signed above the desks as International Flights, I had no waiting time at all to check in. Amazing. Stunning, even. Then to Immigration, where there was no separate area for the Chinese as far as I could see with a brief glance. Brief, because I spotted the Priority Lane which as an old fart I was eligible to use. As far as I could make out, it is in the middle of the Immigration area, to the extreme left of the right-hand section. A girl was there to control the barrier that allowed people into the hallowed area. I asked her if I could enter, she very obviously didn't understand a word of English (why should she, in an international airport), but she looked at my passport and let me through anyway. Result.

 

On the way back in there are now three sections, Thai Passports, Foreign Passports and - deep joy - Chinese Passports. This meant that there were only four or five people in each line of the Foreign Passport sections  where all the desks were manned!! There was even a supervisor on hand to deal with any problems. I didn't even need to seek out the Priority area. In the few minutes I was waiting I did observe that every passenger was being asked to show their travel itinerary and their flight details. "Welcome to Thailand, sir. When are you leaving?" Nice welcome, hmm?

 

I had to do the fingerprint thing, which went smoothly. But why does Thailand require all 10 digits to be scanned, when Malaysia and Singapore to name but two need just the thumbs? Do they think our fingers and thumbs all have different prints? Thai logic in operation. To cap it off, there are now four bus routes from the airport, not just two, which relieves some of the crush that the A1 and A2 used to have. Regarding the buses, I am baffled how buses from the airport are always packed, while when I return to the airport from Mor Chit I have only once seen more than five people on it, no matter what the time of day in perhaps 30 trips. Very odd. The Mystery of the Disappearing Passengers.

 

My airport experience was in the afternoon, and others may experience a very different situation at other times. But the chronic problems there do appear to have been addressed and as a result my experience was smooth and swift.