Immigration says “fast-track service at Bangkok airports” are fakes

[Ralf001]

No fast track lane ?

 

The BOI one I use is imaginary ?

 

https://www.boi.go.th/upload/fast_track_lane_93062.pdf

 

 

[Celsius]

14 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

Why not simply enroll in the Thailand Elite programme?

 

Or buy a business class ticket. Much cheaper.

[cdnvic]

Removed post quoting the Bangkok Post.

[quake]

The Hub of Fakes.

[Captain Monday]

23 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

Or buy a business class ticket. Much cheaper.

When you fly in and out of Thailand almost monthly?

-Captain Monday
”Constant international travel”

 

 

[Celsius]

22 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

When you fly in and out of Thailand almost monthly?

-Captain Monday
”Constant international travel”

 

 

 

I hate flying 

[khunjeff]

14 hours ago, Cabradelmar said:

I don't know what this immigration official is talking about... and while it might not be fast, it surely exist (they even call it fast track)... 😂

 

 

12 hours ago, claffey said:

Yes this is at the very end of check in near the tourist customs claim desks and the China Air check in counters. Over 70s and young families can use it. It's free from what I observed. 

 

8 hours ago, DavidH51 said:

When we arrive at BKK after after flying business class, they allow us to use a special immigration line but I don't know if it called fast track.
Also my wife and I are in our 70's and I think we would go to the special line if we flew economy.

 

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

No fast track lane ?

 

The BOI one I use is imaginary ?

 

https://www.boi.go.th/upload/fast_track_lane_93062.pdf

 

 

 

Again, they are not saying that Fast Track doesn't exist, and are not saying that authorized passengers are being charged for the service. Fast Track obviously is real, and anyone in one of the permitted categories can use it for free.

 

What they are claiming - absurdly - is that Fast Track service isn't being corruptly sold to unauthorized pax, even though exactly that type of sale is widely advertised and has been used by commenters on this thread.

[Mike Teavee]

34 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

When you fly in and out of Thailand almost monthly?

-Captain Monday
”Constant international travel”

 

 

Pre-Covid, I used to fly SIN-BKK every other weekend so bought an annual pass with TLM (Thailand Long Stay Management) for 20K which gave me meet & greet service from Plane/Check-In through Fast Track immigration & as I never had check-in luggage it was a real timesaver for me, can't find the service listed on their Website anymore so can only assume they no longer offer it. 

 

Before that I had also used "The Limo Pattaya" (IIRC 1,200B) but again, I can't find this service on offer on their Website anymore so can only assume that they've cracked down on companies offering Fast Track Services. 

 

 

 

 

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, Celsius said:

 

Or buy a business class ticket. Much cheaper.

Well you might be buying several over 10 years and have you seen the price of them lately? UK just slapped more tax on them. 

[Captain Monday]

19 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

Pre-Covid, I used to fly SIN-BKK every other weekend so bought an annual pass with TLM (Thailand Long Stay Management) for 20K which gave me meet & greet service from Plane/Check-In through Fast Track immigration & as I never had check-in luggage it was a real timesaver for me, can't find the service listed on their Website anymore so can only assume they no longer offer it. 

 

Before that I had also used "The Limo Pattaya" (IIRC 1,200B) but again, I can't find this service on offer on their Website anymore so can only assume that they've cracked down on companies offering Fast Track Services. 

 

 

 

 

After one is a Thailand Elite member for a while one figures out that the Immigration Officers at airports don’t care for it much.

Guessing they got no kickback 

A programme that was pushed on them from above from other Ministry. 

[NanLaew]

21 hours ago, JoePai said:

21 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Ah, so those golf carts from two different companies that I observed whisking passengers from their international arrival gates to immigration yesterday are fakes and don't exist.

 

I see.

Thai Elite maybe

 

The gold/bronze Thai Elite ones were parked up, charging. These white ones with blue-uniformed female operators were NOT Thai Elite. I recall one's signage may have been something like "A-Plus" ?

 

Found it!

 

https://web.facebook.com/aplusclassthailand/

[paulikens]

In other words..... they're under scrutiny atm so have had to put that on a back burner.   the little brown envelopes are on hold atm.

[Letseng]

On 3/28/2024 at 11:48 AM, proton said:

Been going on for years, tried it once about 4 years ago. Straight through a gate right at the end, then waited 2.5 hours for bags to appear, solly belt broken!

Never had a 2h bag wait in 20 years in Thailand.

[Letseng]

11 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Well you might be buying several over 10 years and have you seen the price of them lately? UK just slapped more tax on them. 

Yes, but a business ticket gives more than just fasttrack in Bangkok. 

[proton]

2 hours ago, Letseng said:

Never had a 2h bag wait in 20 years in Thailand.

 

Lucky you, it was confirmed by somebody else on here, would you like the photos of the wait?

[jacko45k]

13 hours ago, Letseng said:

Yes, but a business ticket gives more than just fasttrack in Bangkok. 

I have had flights were I did not get that though, one example was a large Chinese tour group being given Fast Track Immigration use ahead of me. 

[UbonEagle]

Of course it’ll still be going on unofficially with said spokesperson getting their little cut of the cream

[cjinchiangrai]

On 3/28/2024 at 4:45 PM, Mr Dome said:

Most folks on this forum wouldn't qualify for one:

 

"To be eligible to apply for an ABTC you must hold a valid passport from an APEC economy (or be a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong, China), engage in regular business travel throughout the APEC region and have no criminal conviction."

Sad for you, mine works just fine. Not everyone is from the UK.

[lapamita]

 Choengron Rimphadee says the service, advertised at a cost of 2,900 baht per flight, doesn’t exist.

 

maybe ,the only truth is the price gone up

 

before covid i used it sometime and the price was  1,200 thb , a lot of services in net you can buy the service before

[2008bangkok]

The bigger picture is if it's a scam then who is scamming and who can just wander through arrivals

[Will B Good]

So far, got away with flashing my visa extension and holding on tightly to the wife......straight through the Thai passport gates.

[Dmitry2222]

is there an official site where "Fast Track" is selling?

[Patong2021]

On 3/28/2024 at 2:12 AM, cjinchiangrai said:

Get an APEC card, then you can use fast track all over Asia and get extended visas as well.

 

Why recommend something that almost no one will qualify for?

To be eligible to apply for an ABTC you must hold a valid passport from an APEC economy (or be a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong, China), engage in regular business travel throughout the APEC region and have no criminal conviction. Each economy has the discretion to impose additional eligibility criteria on their applicants.

 

Most of the people on this forum are elderly retirees, or who do not have regular business travel in the region, or who do not live in one of the designated countries.

 

Participating ABTC countries:  Canada and the United States are transitional members and have additional requirements (e.g. Nexus membership). The other full ABTC members are: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia.

 

 

[cjinchiangrai]

34 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

 

Why recommend something that almost no one will qualify for?

To be eligible to apply for an ABTC you must hold a valid passport from an APEC economy (or be a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong, China), engage in regular business travel throughout the APEC region and have no criminal conviction. Each economy has the discretion to impose additional eligibility criteria on their applicants.

 

Most of the people on this forum are elderly retirees, or who do not have regular business travel in the region, or who do not live in one of the designated countries.

 

Participating ABTC countries:  Canada and the United States are transitional members and have additional requirements (e.g. Nexus membership). The other full ABTC members are: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia.

Because I used it for years and it works. If you don't qualify, sad for you but I do not care.

[Rolo89]

23 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

 

Why recommend something that almost no one will qualify for?

To be eligible to apply for an ABTC you must hold a valid passport from an APEC economy (or be a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong, China), engage in regular business travel throughout the APEC region and have no criminal conviction. Each economy has the discretion to impose additional eligibility criteria on their applicants.

 

Most of the people on this forum are elderly retirees, or who do not have regular business travel in the region, or who do not live in one of the designated countries.

 

Participating ABTC countries:  Canada and the United States are transitional members and have additional requirements (e.g. Nexus membership). The other full ABTC members are: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia.

 

 

Yeah and it's a lot of work to get it (from people I know). 

 

Plus it's only to be used for 100% business reasons so while many get away with using it for tourism, it's probably not worth the risk of being hulled into an interrogation room if you flag up using it too much for certain places.

 

Many countries have a scanning machine now so it doesn't save any time there and more are getting rolled out each year. BKK has them for exit now and probably will for entry next year.