Are You A C.I.Q. Passenger?

[Maestro]

I wonder just how many passengers arriving at Suvarnabhumi airport know what a C.I.Q. passenger is and whether they fall into that category.

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Maestro

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I wonder just how many passengers arriving at Suvarnabhumi airport know what a C.I.Q. passenger is and whether they fall into that category.

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Maestro

I give up Maestro

[kayo]

I just googled it, and it stands for Customs, Immigration & Quarantine.

CIQ Passengers are (among other things) eligible for>

(Quote is One example of a CIQ passenger, copied from a poster called Jamie on the Sawadee forum) A recently introduced service provided by Bangkok Air & participating international airlines is the option of checking your bags through to your next destination when leaving Koh Samui.

There is a sign next to the check in desk listing particapating airlines, most times Bangkok Air staff will offer you this option but if they don`t, ask them. Then you are given a sticker & you become a CIQ passenger which means that you go through customs at Samui instead of BKK , it also means that you only have to pay the one departure tax, 500THB same as you would in BKK this saves you having to pay that lovely? 300 THB Samui departure tax.

You then proceed to the international terminal (NO 2 it`s called ) check your bags through customs & wait till your picked up seperate from the other people not using this option.When your plane lands in Bkk you are taken to a seperate bus and ferried to the international terminal for check in to your next destination,the only requirement is that you have to stay in the transit area as you have already cleared & been stamped by customs in Samui.

This option is excellant as you don`t see your main luggage till your at your next destination (very handy after a holiday of shopping ).

[Maestro]

I attach update #3 which the THAI office in Switzerland sent to travel agents. (Earlier updates were about the move to Don Muang and the flight numbering)

Like this, if any passenger should get lost, THAI can say: “It’s not our fault. We told the travel agents to inform their clients”.

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Maestro

[ovenman]

I attach update #3 which the THAI office in Switzerland sent to travel agents. (Earlier updates were about the move to Don Muang and the flight numbering)

It appears that immigrations for people transferring to such domestic TG flights is being handled at Suvarnabhumi as it is done at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. If you arrive at KLIA on an international flight and are transferring to a domestic MAS flight, when you arrive at the main terminal building on the train from the satellite building, you follow the sign for Domestic Transfers rather than that for Arrivals. This leads you downstairs, through a separate immigrations queue (that's never busy), and afterwards straight into the domestic gate area of the terminal where you pick up your boarding pass at the MAS transfer desk. Sounds like the procedure is now similar at Suvarnabhumi. They should consider changing these signs to Domestic Transfers or something similar as "C.I.Q. Passengers" is not commonly understood terminology.

[PeaceBlondie]

I think they had the same thing when Don Muang was an international airport. Coming from London, Vienna, or Tokyo, I would arrive in BKK, get a white oval sticker for my lapel that said something like CIQ, and I was transit. I did not go through Customs or Immigration in Bangkok, but in Chiang Mai. Same thing, going the return route, in reverse. I seldom saw Immigration in Bangkok.

[ovenman]

I think they had the same thing when Don Muang was an international airport. Coming from London, Vienna, or Tokyo, I would arrive in BKK, get a white oval sticker for my lapel that said something like CIQ, and I was transit. I did not go through Customs or Immigration in Bangkok, but in Chiang Mai. Same thing, going the return route, in reverse. I seldom saw Immigration in Bangkok.

They did use the same C.I.Q. terminology at Don Muang, but now the procedure is completely different as you will clear immigrations in Bangkok rather than Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai etc.

[Maestro]

They did use the same C.I.Q. terminology at Don Muang, but now the procedure is completely different as you will clear immigrations in Bangkok rather than Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai etc.

That’s right. Immigration clearance at Suvarnabhumi (BKK), customs clearance at final destination.

I find two things worrisome:

1. Will the C.I.Q. passenger know that he is a C.I.Q. passenger and that he has to follow that sign?

2. Does this C.I.Q. procedure apply only to passengers arriving on a flight from abroad at Suvarnabhumi (BKK) and transferring to a domestic flight at BKK? Or does it apply also to passengers arriving at BKK and transferring to a domestic flight departing from Don Muang (DMK)? How will these different categories of transfer passengers know?

I see potential for some confusion.

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Maestro

[astral]

C*nt In a Queue

came to mind.