Surly immigration officers and long waits at the airport? : Region 2 IB chief faces investigation

[rose33]

13 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Apart from Nth Korea, is there any other country in the world, that hotels must report foreigners staying there to immigration? or even ones Family members staying with you on holiday? 

Another reason for us all to vote with our feet. 

[rose33]

11 hours ago, geisha said:

Suvarnabhumi is the absolute worst tourist country airport where delays for entering, and departing are concerned !

i have met many Thai travelers who are absolutely disgusted by the welcome queue they  get when arriving after a 12 to 18 hour journey. 
 What I really don’t  understand is the departure queues.  I have lately been warned it can take hours, with passengers running to get to their far off gates.  For gods sake, a look at passport , stamp out, should take a minute and problem travelers set aside . And the baggage check, leaving ? Cant they open more counters, they don’t look at the screens anyway, I’ve watched them many times. 

I heard directly from a couple who were at Suvarnabhumi on a day it was taking FIVE HOURS to get thru Departures. 

[rose33]

7 hours ago, Purdey said:

Why is Singapore's Changi airport so good at handling visitors? They sit at their counters and process passports swiftly. It seems that staff appear just as the contents of a plane is unloading and then disappear until the next plane. Why is the system so different and efficient?

Because Singapore is the Switzerland of Asia.

[still kicking]

11 hours ago, geisha said:

Suvarnabhumi is the absolute worst tourist country airport where delays for entering, and departing are concerned !

i have met many Thai travelers who are absolutely disgusted by the welcome queue they  get when arriving after a 12 to 18 hour journey. 
 What I really don’t  understand is the departure queues.  I have lately been warned it can take hours, with passengers running to get to their far off gates.  For gods sake, a look at passport , stamp out, should take a minute and problem travelers set aside . And the baggage check, leaving ? Cant they open more counters, they don’t look at the screens anyway, I’ve watched them many times. 

I left BKK a few months ago they had 2 counters staffed with hundreds of people trying to book in and of course I missed my flight had to re-book it and paid for an extra 2 nights in a hotel

[josephbloggs]

8 minutes ago, still kicking said:

I left BKK a few months ago they had 2 counters staffed with hundreds of people trying to book in and of course I missed my flight had to re-book it and paid for an extra 2 nights in a hotel

Which airline?

[still kicking]

1 minute ago, josephbloggs said:

Which airline?

Thai and I got the last flight to Perth Australia 2 days later since they cancelled direct flights to Perth 

[proton]

4 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

 

I doubt very much if any immigration officers in the uk at airports etc  speak any  foreign language,  For investigative purposes the relevant departments  would be generally be  using hired in translators   as and when required.  Understandable really when you consider the number of languages concerned.  I recently read a report about one street in the UK where 70 different languages are being spoken

Of course they can have you not heard of diversity, they are often Asian or African

[MrJ2U]

15 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

less administration?

Agree. 

Way over the top in some cases. 

[proton]

1 hour ago, rose33 said:

I heard directly from a couple who were at Suvarnabhumi on a day it was taking FIVE HOURS to get thru Departures. 

So if they could not check in until 3 hours before departure they must have missed the flight before they got through

[Andrew65]

9 hours ago, Boyn said:

Doing whatever the hell you want is a Thai thing anyway, i include my wife in this.

You need to let her know who the boss is!????

[Enzian]

10 hours ago, Doctor Tom said:

unacceptable attitudes displayed by US, IOs, who are the World's worst.

Idk but when I entered SFO a week ago from BKK the IO thought I was interesting and started rapping and told a joke about foreigners falling off balconies in Pattaya, with people waiting behind me to get out, and I had to say "Bad joke haha, Thank you!" and rush away.

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, proton said:

Of course they can have you not heard of diversity, they are often Asian or African

Australian immigration etc., staff at airports use a 24/7 phone translator service. Severalother gov'r agencies use the same service.

 

I know one farang in Oz speaks reads writes perfect Thai and he's got the certificates to prove it. Also speaks English and German at native speaker level

 

He gets good rates but must be available 24/7. 

[Phil1964]

Looks like there's a lot better choices of places to visit and spend your mullah in these days compared to Thailand.

Anywhere that hasn't opened it's arm, (and legs), to Chinese and Soviet hordes for example.

Anywhere that isn't so blatantly corrupt and contemptible towards the foreign visitors coming to spend their hard earned.

 

 

 

 

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, proton said:

Of course they can have you not heard of diversity, they are often Asian or African

Australian immigration etc., staff at airports use a 24/7 phone translator service. Severalother gov'r agencies use the same service.

 

I know one farang in Oz speaks reads writes perfect Thai and he's got the certificates to prove it. Also speaks English and German at native speaker level

 

He gets good rates but must be available 24/7. 

[scorecard]

The immigration officer said online that there were an ever increasing number of tourists coming into Thailand and leaving but there was not enough officers manning the booths.

 

So 120 officers from the north and south were brought in to handle the extra work.

 

The obvious question, why are they not already well prepared for the workload?

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

The immigration officer said online that there were an ever increasing number of tourists coming into Thailand and leaving but there was not enough officers manning the booths.

 

So 120 officers from the north and south were brought in to handle the extra work.

 

The obvious question, why are they not already well prepared for the workload?

Maybe the masses of IO's working in an inactive post are an issue......that's what my dogs fleas told me . .  

[jacko45k]

Perhaps they will cheer up (and speed up) when they can collect 300 baht from everyone!

Edited March 29, 2023 by jacko45k

[Smokey and the Bandit]

12 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

 

I doubt very much if any immigration officers in the uk at airports etc  speak any  foreign language,  For investigative purposes the relevant departments  would be generally be  using hired in translators   as and when required.  Understandable really when you consider the number of languages concerned.  I recently read a report about one street in the UK where 70 different languages are being spoken

You may well be correct about the UK IO's not speaking foreign languages, but I am sure they can all speak English, the most widely spoken language in the world and is still the accepted language in England. Most Thai IO's at the airport can speak some English, not fluent but enough, most army guys (Thai) cannot?

[ChipButty]

3 minutes ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

You may well be correct about the UK IO's not speaking foreign languages, but I am sure they can all speak English, the most widely spoken language in the world and is still the accepted language in England. Most Thai IO's at the airport can speak some English, not fluent but enough, most army guys (Thai) cannot?

I thought all the IO in the UK can speak Urdu 

[Smokey and the Bandit]

13 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

I thought all the IO in the UK can speak Urdu 

Your right they probably can?????

But maybe also English as a backup?

[jacko45k]

18 minutes ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

You may well be correct about the UK IO's not speaking foreign languages, but I am sure they can all speak English, the most widely spoken language in the world and is still the accepted language in England. Most Thai IO's at the airport can speak some English, not fluent but enough, most army guys (Thai) cannot?

There are signs in Welsh and Urdu, and I bet you a Hindi, Urdu or Punjabi speaker could be produced. Maybe Polish too.

[Smokey and the Bandit]

10 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

There are signs in Welsh and Urdu, and I bet you a Hindi, Urdu or Punjabi speaker could be produced. Maybe Polish too.

Haven't been to the UK for a while, but I am sure you are correct.

The signs at any international airport are always in the local language and English, at a minimum,  they obviously have to limit the number of languages. Same for IO's at international airports, most can speak some English?

[sandyf]

19 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Not if you have a uk passport and no going through immigration on departure either.

Isn't the OP about immigration dealing with people holding foreign passports.

One can only assume you haven't been through Heathrow on a foreign passport. A couple of years ago were held up for over 2 hours, they were calling people to the immigration desk based on how long to the onward flight.

[geisha]

20 hours ago, Wake Up said:

My vote for the worst tourist immigration service is Heathrow. Many officers but few doing any work. 

Never had a problem myself, or heard of one. Except during strikes and after’covid.,

[brianthainess]

17 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Isn't the OP about immigration dealing with people holding foreign passports.

One can only assume you haven't been through Heathrow on a foreign passport. A couple of years ago were held up for over 2 hours, they were calling people to the immigration desk based on how long to the onward flight.

No but I left on one.

[Jiggo]

On 3/29/2023 at 8:27 AM, soi3eddie said:

Bring in the army to staff the immigration points just as was done in the UK during recent border force strikes there. In the UK, the army did a much better job and got people through a lot faster. Or, they could develop e-gate for foreigners to use, just as is done in Singapore.

 

The British Army and an Army of Thai conscripted personnel who don't really want to serve, but where Black Balled  are quite different.  

[patman30]

but but but
big queues make the airport look busy like tourism is booming
120 (additional) staff should have 40 boothed manned 24/7
immigration here is bad
i have missed a flight at Don Muang due to immigration being so slow (month after reopen)
was well over an hour to get through PP control
many in line frantically looking at the time
many asking to go to front of queue as flight departing, all ignored as too many asking
chief IO came out to shout at IO's
when we got to go sign the missed flight log
it was already half way down page 5, this was 7am when we signed, a while after flight left

[hotandsticky]

7 minutes ago, patman30 said:

but but but
big queues make the airport look busy like tourism is booming
120 (additional) staff should have 40 boothed manned 24/7
immigration here is bad
i have missed a flight at Don Muang due to immigration being so slow (month after reopen)
was well over an hour to get through PP control
many in line frantically looking at the time
many asking to go to front of queue as flight departing, all ignored as too many asking
chief IO came out to shout at IO's
when we got to go sign the missed flight log
it was already half way down page 5, this was 7am when we signed, a while after flight left

 

So you missed an international flight because you did not allow enough time. 

 

3 hours before your flight is the minimum recommended time. Even an  hours queueing at Air Asia + an hour at immigration would still leave you enough time to get a Burger King before boarding.

 

 

[thaitom]

On 3/29/2023 at 8:56 AM, brianthainess said:

Apart from Nth Korea, is there any other country in the world, that hotels must report foreigners staying there to immigration? or even ones Family members staying with you on holiday? 

China hotels must report foreigners to the local PSB.  Foreigners are also not allowed to stay in any hotel, and yes, it is posted where foreigners are not allowed to stay.     I know this from living there for 6 years.

[Bday Prang]

18 minutes ago, thaitom said:

China hotels must report foreigners to the local PSB.  Foreigners are also not allowed to stay in any hotel, and yes, it is posted where foreigners are not allowed to stay.     I know this from living there for 6 years.

Probably one of many reasons why china is not exactly renowned as a tourist hot spot