After returning from England via Doha,I entered the arrivals hall expecting to be greeted by the missus.I was surprised to find it virtually deserted except for a few hotel reps. behind a barricade with the wife nowhere in sight.I eventually telephoned her to find that she was forced by airport security to wait on level 4 outside the terminal.The reason behind this was that the authorities were reacting to complaints by international visitors to the constant hassling of taxi touts and they were barring all visitors.

Fair enough,if this is what it takes but the annoying part was;

a)There was no annoucement on the plane explaining the situation.

b)There was no announcements entering the arrivals hall.

c)There were no signs to this effect.

It dawned on me afterwards because the taxi touts were positioned on level 3 above the arrivals hall calling and shouting to the visitors below.The hassling continues.How long has this situation been going

on?

Not sure how long it has been like this.

From my understanding, there is a "Meeting Area" by Gate 3 where friends/family/etc are supposed to wait to meet arrivals. I don't recall ever getting an announcement on a plane (going anywhere) telling me this, but the info may be in one of the flight magazines on the plane.

Signs in the arrivals areas would be a good idea. If I had been expecting to meet someone when I arrived, I would have had no idea where to look for them (until reading a thread about it here).

So what happens to inbound business travellers who have arranged to be met at the airport? If they cannot be met at arrivals signs would be almost essential.

Sounds like a typical Thai overkill, instead of controlling the unwanted touts they sweep everybody out.

This arrangement has been in place since about July. previously greeters could wait outside either gates A B or C. No longer as the areas outside of the gates have become "sterile" areas and all incoming passengers are directed to the new meeting area at entrance door number 3.

For the original poster there are adequate signs directing people. A side effect of this is the fact that escalators/lifts etc in a number of areas have been suspended so as not allow people to get down to the sterile area.

As for your wife not being allowed to the arrivals level i cannot explain, but would suggest it was a misunderstandig and she couldnt find the escalator to get down to arrivals level.

This arrangement has certainly made the arrival level a lot less congested but has the effect of spreading the taxi touts all over the upper floors

This arrangement has been in place since about July. previously greeters could wait outside either gates A B or C. No longer as the areas outside of the gates have become "sterile" areas and all incoming passengers are directed to the new meeting area at entrance door number 3.

For the original poster there are adequate signs directing people. A side effect of this is the fact that escalators/lifts etc in a number of areas have been suspended so as not allow people to get down to the sterile area.

As for your wife not being allowed to the arrivals level i cannot explain, but would suggest it was a misunderstandig and she couldnt find the escalator to get down to arrivals level.

This arrangement has certainly made the arrival level a lot less congested but has the effect of spreading the taxi touts all over the upper floors

After an 11 hour flight and your eyelids ready to drop,information via word of mouth would be so much better than hunting around for signs.

Well, you did find your way to the immigration area and found your luggage isn't?

I arrived last week and did notice the signs directing arriving passengers to the meeting point whilst I was heading to level 3 for a well deserved coffee

I had no problem neither to get down to arrivals level with my luggage caddie to catch a cab at the middle official taxi desk, only hindered by a pursuing taxi tout to which I showed the waiting taxis and taxi desk.

Well, you did find your way to the immigration area and found your luggage isn't?

I arrived last week and did notice the signs directing arriving passengers to the meeting point whilst I was heading to level 3 for a well deserved coffee

I had no problem neither to get down to arrivals level with my luggage caddie to catch a cab at the middle official taxi desk, only hindered by a pursuing taxi tout to which I showed the waiting taxis and taxi desk.

Well,I EXPECTED to find the immigration area where it was as did I expect to find my luggage in the normal area.