Aot Beefs Up Security At Suvarnabhumi Airport

[crazyswede]

everybody needs his cut right, and they forgot the luggage thieves...

ur last surprise when you come home... if you did not end up in one of the other thai scemes to get rid of your useless baht's outside thailand...

so for tourists who plan to come here :

ripped on arrival

ripped with taxi fares

prepare to pay double in hotels, restaurants, shops ...

watch out for security that might accuse you with dropping a sigarette bud even you do not smoke ...

carefull when shopping in duty free, might end up in jail

what out of buying stuff or doing business with thais as you might fly out of a window (famous in pattaya)

watch out not to get robbed, shot, stabbed

watch out for ladyboys, aids, veneral deseases

etc...

Stop whining or stay in your Falang country!

[hansnl]

I've actually never heard that this is much of a problem. I'd much rather have them get rid of the touts in the lobby.

Are you happy for the stealing from luggage to proceed ? as long as they get rid of touts.

I have flown into Bangkok airport appx 10 times every year since 1972, never lost any baggage.

Good show!

What about all the other scams, farang prices, etc, etc, etc, etc?

[bobo42]

Wait, a thief gets two free passes before they are fired on the third botched attempt to rip us off?!? What kinda crazy rule is that out. This is not baseball, it's crime. We always wonder why when we go to tland we always come home with more things missing then travels elsewhere, remarkably so. Now we know. Cheers.

Did anyone notice the comment lower in the Post article that the employee would get fired after he had stolen gear from bags 3 times!!??

C'mon guys, that's not what they state. The article is pretty clear on this point.

AoT will act swiftly against staff caught stealing.

They will be fired and the contracted company that hired them will face legal consequences.

"They" (the staff member) will be fired if caught stealing. Period. I read this as one time.

A firm whose staff steal from passengers' bags more than three times will have its contract terminated, Mr Piyaphan said.

A contracted firm, which has three incidents of stealing occur involving any of their employees will be terminated. The firm. Not the single employee. That seems very harsh to me (and rightly so).

I am very skeptical of the enforcement as well, but the measures outlined here seem pretty strict to me. At least they are doing something, trying and failing is better than not trying at all. At least give them the chance to fail before you jump all over them (don't worry, you probably won't have long to wait). At least the guy who wrote these measures has his heart in the right place, even if they are never implimented properly...

[cocopops]

Did anyone notice the comment lower in the Post article that the employee would get fired after he had stolen gear from bags 3 times!!??

Yes, I missed that initially. I wonder how many times someone has actually stolen something before they get caught 3 times. What a joke.

It does not say that. But let's pretend it does, since it facilitates Thai-bashing. I'm off to another thread to pretend I've been discriminated against in some manner.

[ThaiRack]

This 'news story' says nothing, except for the fact that the authorities in Thailand have finally (belatedly) employed a PR firm in an attempt to manage the image crisis that's already left Thailand's reputation in tatters.

Crackdown after crackdown on things that just shouldn't be happening in an allegedly increasingly 'civilised' society anyway. They expect us to believe that the police and other authorities are all going to be turning over a new non-corrupt leaf to haul Thailand's reputation back up from the new lows it's sunk to. Introducing new laws, toughening up existing laws and installing new practices and procedures for things like the illegal airport taxis (I loved that news story, by the way - it basically said 'if you're an unauthorised taxi driver, go crazy in the next 2 weeks - you know, the peak holiday season - because we'll be actively turning a blind eye until the new crackdown deadline') means one thing and one thing only in Thailand: more police corruption. Give a load of bent police officers a rake of new laws to enforce, and all it does is allow them to exercise their own spin on law (i.e. bribes) to a load of new victims. Will unauthorised taxi drivers actually be caught and prosecuted, or will they be caught and relieved of a few hundred baht and then sent on their way? You decide.

Toughening up this kind of thing in Thailand merely means that a new plaster will be out over the old one. Purely cosmetic. Fundamental institutional reform and professional, effective and non-corrupt law enforcement are all still as remote to Thailand as they've always been. It's all just propaganda and spin. Same same.

Thailand's rapidly deteriorating reputation is reaching new audiences now, courtesy of more exposure in mainstream western media. As one slightly trivial example, my dear old mother now no longer says "ooh, they eat dogs over there" now whenever I call her to say I'm going to or passing through Thailand, but instead she says "watch out - they're all bloody scammers out there - even the police".

A rubbish example, yeah, but it still shows you how my Mum sat in her house in the midlands (UK), watching the telly and listening to Radio 2 all day is hearing about what a shady place Thailand is turning into. "More fool her and others for believeing the media", some may say. But this time, the media are right. Thailand's dodgier than ever. I speak as someone with more experience of visiting, living in and working in Thailand than most folks you meet (except on here, of course). I love Thailand, but the corruption, scams and other deviant shit has started to permeate my every day existance there on recent trips like it never has before. It's going to shit.

Edited July 31, 2009 by ThaiRack

[bajajvivek]

"A firm whose staff steal from passengers' bags more than three times will have its contract terminated" It doesn't mean that the staff stealing will get 3 chances, it means the contract firm whose 3 staff get caught stealing will have its contract terminated.

Is it that hard to understand? and we complain that the Thai's have horrible english.

[Paddleshifter]

They will be fired and the contracted company that hired them will face legal consequences.

A firm whose staff steal from passengers' bags more than three times will have its contract terminated, Mr Piyaphan said.

-- Bangkok Post 2009-07-31

What about; they will be fired, taken to court, sentenced and the contracted company that hired them will face legal consequences.

Its not a companys fault if an employee choose to steal.

Thailand sure has strange ways of dealing with its problem inhabitants.. Maybe there is no need to go through the legal system as they only stole form farang..

[noahvail]

I am wondering what sort of things are getting stolen from the bags. Are people really silly enough to put valuables inside their checked baggage. I travel often out of Thailand and my bag has clothing in it, possibly a pair of shoes and towel or two. I would imagine that its not clothing that they are after.

Are people really silly enuf to put their handy cams,the cameras, ipods, jewellery etc in the bag? What do they carry onto the plane, invaluables?

Hey Neverdie,

I don't travel as light as I used to. Recently got back from a trip to the US.

My carry-on has my laptop, dslr camera, vid camera, gps, chargers for all those, meds, Ipod, and important papers. That made it twice as heavy as the airlines allow for carry-ons, but I've been lucky so far and not had to transfer stuff to my bags. Anyway, brought to bags for in the belly - one had clothes, the other had all sorts of stuff that cannot be bought here - about 15kgs worth - all of it fairly valuable.

Yellow cable-ties worked a treat. Including first and last airports, went through five and nothing gone. But yeah, people do put valuables in the cargo section. Scary, but what else can you do?

[AsiaCheese]

Wait, a thief gets two free passes before they are fired on the third botched attempt to rip us off?!? What kinda crazy rule is that out. This is not baseball, it's crime. We always wonder why when we go to tland we always come home with more things missing then travels elsewhere, remarkably so. Now we know. Cheers.

Read the lines, not between them...

It's the thieves' employer that loses its contract when 3 thieves working for it are caught. A well-functioning measure to make everyone in the chain a bit more nervous.

[hansnl]

everybody needs his cut right, and they forgot the luggage thieves...

ur last surprise when you come home... if you did not end up in one of the other thai scemes to get rid of your useless baht's outside thailand...

so for tourists who plan to come here :

ripped on arrival

ripped with taxi fares

prepare to pay double in hotels, restaurants, shops ...

watch out for security that might accuse you with dropping a sigarette bud even you do not smoke ...

carefull when shopping in duty free, might end up in jail

what out of buying stuff or doing business with thais as you might fly out of a window (famous in pattaya)

watch out not to get robbed, shot, stabbed

watch out for ladyboys, aids, veneral deseases

etc...

Stop whining or stay in your Falang country!

You will find out soon enough why so many of us are, as you call it, whining.

Or, maybe you did already experience the less finer points of Thailand, and due to one of them you are now imitating the three monkey's

You know, the handicapped ones.

But never mind, living in Thailand and loving the country and (most) people, does not take away the feeling that somewhere are a few minor (?) points.

Like the beautifully painted nails of a girl.

Later you find out the nails are artificial.

The original ones are bitten off to the quick, or have black dirt under them.

But you still cannot escape liking the girl or her other parts & qualities.

[Phuket_Brad]

everybody needs his cut right, and they forgot the luggage thieves...

ur last surprise when you come home... if you did not end up in one of the other thai scemes to get rid of your useless baht's outside thailand...

so for tourists who plan to come here :

ripped on arrival

ripped with taxi fares

prepare to pay double in hotels, restaurants, shops ...

watch out for security that might accuse you with dropping a sigarette bud even you do not smoke ...

carefull when shopping in duty free, might end up in jail

what out of buying stuff or doing business with thais as you might fly out of a window (famous in pattaya)

watch out not to get robbed, shot, stabbed

watch out for ladyboys, aids, veneral deseases

etc...

CLASSIC POST.....So true. Thailand the land of lies and deception!

Why don't you guys leave THailand and find a better place since it is so bad here? we would be better off with out your comments in the mean time!

[Nacho]

Did anyone notice the comment lower in the Post article that the employee would get fired after he had stolen gear from bags 3 times!!??

This is not what the artical says. It says the employee will be fired imediately, it is the contracted company that has 3 chances. If one employee steals today, a different employee next week, and another employee the week after the company will lose their contract with the AOT and they will find another company to pick up the contract. I would guess this would be to encourage the contracted companies to do a better screening of their employees. This sounds pretty normal to me. I know in the oil buisness the oil companies will pull the contracts of companies if their safty record gets too poor. Similar idea.

The one thing I am wondering though is if all these crackdowns would still be taking place if it wasn't for bad press with the King Power scams, or if this is just a way of trying to divert the bad press the AOT has been getting?

[Jonathanpattaya]

If it's not one thing, it's another. The trouble is it will never end because the corruption goes from top to bottom

[neverdie]

everybody needs his cut right, and they forgot the luggage thieves...

ur last surprise when you come home... if you did not end up in one of the other thai scemes to get rid of your useless baht's outside thailand...

so for tourists who plan to come here :

ripped on arrival

ripped with taxi fares

prepare to pay double in hotels, restaurants, shops ...

watch out for security that might accuse you with dropping a sigarette bud even you do not smoke ...

carefull when shopping in duty free, might end up in jail

what out of buying stuff or doing business with thais as you might fly out of a window (famous in pattaya)

watch out not to get robbed, shot, stabbed

watch out for ladyboys, aids, veneral deseases

etc...

Stop whining or stay in your Falang country!

Very Good !!!

Scams happen everywhere in the world

Luggage is stolen at all airports

LHR busted a ring not too long ago

Toronto Pearson busted large gang last year

If you are fed u with scam and fees and rates ... go home already ...

Need some cheese with your whine?

People here are kept down by big wig corruption so they find

other ways to put food on table.

If you do not like it go to KL and Penang ... night life there is crazy wild, lol

Obviously two very experienced punters.....we must be wrong. Perhaps someone else reinventing themselves on the thread .

We have made an aweful mistake, theres no dishonesty here

[kraxlhuber]

everybody needs his cut right, and they forgot the luggage thieves...

ur last surprise when you come home... if you did not end up in one of the other thai scemes to get rid of your useless baht's outside thailand...

so for tourists who plan to come here :

ripped on arrival

ripped with taxi fares

prepare to pay double in hotels, restaurants, shops ...

watch out for security that might accuse you with dropping a sigarette bud even you do not smoke ...

carefull when shopping in duty free, might end up in jail

what out of buying stuff or doing business with thais as you might fly out of a window (famous in pattaya)

watch out not to get robbed, shot, stabbed

watch out for ladyboys, aids, veneral deseases

etc...

CLASSIC POST.....So true. Thailand the land of lies and deception!

So true, so true... This is the unfortunate reality. As a friend once said, Thailand is a country full of con men.

not only men,if your own wife here rips you aff thats the top of it,let your wife to see the house/car papers and you might discover they are flogged in the pawn shop

thank you no thanks

[Pui]

Apparently this has been a problem since the new airport opened. Lots of stories in the Thai newspapers don't always make there way to the foreign papers. The Thai's are very aware of the airport luggage thefts.

When the airport opened there was a shortage of baggage handlers and temporary staff where hired. It was reported that organized gangs where involved and hundreds of suitcases going missing. They where targeting expensive luggage especially brand name luggage and those with locks on.

The controversial x-ray machines (Thailand has state-of-the-art x-ray machines which where incredibly and suspiciously expensive) means that luggage can be scanned more easily and valuables identified.

This is how it was translated to me. I don't actually read Thai news papers.

The x-ray machine stories can be found online. Counter terrorism my foot

Edited July 31, 2009 by Pui

[wrecker]

Let's be clear that theft is not a problem limited to Thailand. In all major airports from the US to Australia and from Hong Kong to Europe people get robbed. It is good that the Thai authorities have recognized the problem and seem to work on it. All these negative comments make Suvanabhumi look bad. All frequent travellers know that on all airports worldwide the same problems exists. You get robbed by illegal taxi drivers anywhere, drugs are smuggled by crooked cleaners (who seem to make too little money anyhow, anywhere, luggage get stolen, valuables disappear and scams are in progress. Customs and immigration officers are bought in each and every country too. But as the Germans like to say: By uns zum hause is alles viel besser, which is obviously nonsense.

It would be a good thing to recognize that the airports in the countries where we come from are often less customer friendly and that authorities are surely often rude. I dare to say that Suvanbhumi is much better than stated in this forum.

[hardy1943]

Did anyone notice the comment lower in the Post article that the employee would get fired after he had stolen gear from bags 3 times!!??

Yup three times is the charm and with 200 Baht in your hand you get another 3 tries.

[beerchang]

1. 
   

   I've actually never heard that this is much of a problem. I'd much rather have them get rid of the touts in the lobby.

   If you follow/search some of the posts here, you'll discover that this happens on a fairly regular basis. I've taken the advice of some of the posters and now secure my luggage not with locks, but with coloured cable ties. Seems to work just fine...no more broken locks, for a start.

   But agreed about the touts in the lobby, too

[edit] noah's quote above hasn't come out in the quote box. Don't know why?

Mypost:

Noah, you must be a really nice bloke. (And I mean it.) You don't think at all like a thief. If they break locks to get to your stuff do you think they'll look at cable ties and just scratch their heads? Mate, if they want something, a cable tie won't get in their way.

Anyway, crackdown schmackdown. Does someone at the post get paid to write this nonsense? Do they think it's going help Thailand's rapidly declining image...hardly. Bet this wont make international news.

[2nd edit] I don't what is going on with my trying to do a simple reply! Apologies

Edited July 31, 2009 by beerchang

[Paddleshifter]

Woow.. what a place..

Police scams farang in King power. Kingpower scams AOT by using more area than they have the right to do and will get a bill of 989 million baht. Airport staff steal from farangs luggage. Taxi guys and transport service scammers wants to rip off and scam everybody.

Welcome to Thailand... Now I understand so very well why every thai put on a big smile.

[MongerSEA]

Thailand's rapidly deteriorating reputation is reaching new audiences now, courtesy of more exposure in mainstream western media. As one slightly trivial example, my dear old mother now no longer says "ooh, they eat dogs over there" now whenever I call her to say I'm going to or passing through Thailand, but instead she says "watch out - they're all bloody scammers out there - even the police".

A rubbish example, yeah, but it still shows you how my Mum sat in her house in the midlands (UK), watching the telly and listening to Radio 2 all day is hearing about what a shady place Thailand is turning into. "More fool her and others for believeing the media", some may say. But this time, the media are right. Thailand's dodgier than ever. I speak as someone with more experience of visiting, living in and working in Thailand than most folks you meet (except on here, of course). I love Thailand, but the corruption, scams and other deviant shit has started to permeate my every day existance there on recent trips like it never has before. It's going to shit.

Your example is neither trivial nor rubbish. Thanks for posting it because it does accurately reflect a rapidly growing worldwide sentiment towards Thailand even among people who've never traveled here and have no plans to do so. Thailand has lost the international media and consequently it's losing the middle class who make up the vast majority of international tourists.

Som naam na meuang thai, but you brought it on yourselves. Will the last farang tourist out please remember to close the lights...

[sunnymarky]

It pisses me off when they break padlocks on the suitcase when I only have clothes and liquids ,gels over 100ml inside. If they scanned they would see. I guess its being suspicious when you put a lock on the case , maybe something to hide.

But back to the main point. It is incredible that staff who work at baggage handling are so dishonest to open up a case (I may be naive) and surely chances are it's the baggage which is stored because of not claimed or late etc? Thats why I had things stolen .. in Tel Aviv airport of all places, a transit flight, baggage lost , get it 48 hours later and opened (for the tight security Israel has) and a pack of Mach 3 razor blades and Perfume goes missing.

Edited July 31, 2009 by sunnymarky

[rajuismythainame]

yeas its true misshandling is also thearein bangkok airport,,

they through the luggae like any think

many passanger complain abt this but no action....

[ericthai]

Wait, a thief gets two free passes before they are fired on the third botched attempt to rip us off?!? What kinda crazy rule is that out. This is not baseball, it's crime. We always wonder why when we go to tland we always come home with more things missing then travels elsewhere, remarkably so. Now we know. Cheers.

No they said the employee would be fired and the company get a hit with a fee. Also if a any company is found that 3 times one of their employees are caught then they will loose the contract with the airport.

[hardy1943]

Let's be clear that theft is not a problem limited to Thailand. In all major airports from the US to Australia and from Hong Kong to Europe people get robbed. It is good that the Thai authorities have recognized the problem and seem to work on it. All these negative comments make Suvanabhumi look bad. All frequent travellers know that on all airports worldwide the same problems exists. You get robbed by illegal taxi drivers anywhere, drugs are smuggled by crooked cleaners (who seem to make too little money anyhow, anywhere, luggage get stolen, valuables disappear and scams are in progress. Customs and immigration officers are bought in each and every country too. But as the Germans like to say: By uns zum hause is alles viel besser, which is obviously nonsense.

It would be a good thing to recognize that the airports in the countries where we come from are often less customer friendly and that authorities are surely often rude. I dare to say that Suvanbhumi is much better than stated in this forum.

True, but in the Western everyone seem to have certain right, what bothers me most for us that live here

that have wives, families and houses we are at their mercy to get kick out anytime.

[chiangmaibruce]

I am wondering what sort of things are getting stolen from the bags. Are people really silly enough to put valuables inside their checked baggage.

Well in our case (travelling Phuket to chiang mai via BKK) they stole our child's teddy bear, most of his (good quality) clothing and some of mine too. So they will take whatever they can re-sell.

To those who say it's not common - you're dreaming! Spend some time online in TV and other thailand or travel-related web sites and you will find untold dozens of reports of goods stolen at the airport. I know because i researched it at the time it happened to us. We aren't ones to take things lying down so we took it up with the airline, with AOT, the Police, TAT and the Ministry of Tourism. And guess what? No-one gives a dam_n. AOT were the worst of the lot - you are lucky if you can get a phone number or email for anyone who works in the place. Then when you do, they don't answer anyway.

Just to make a point I sent an email (with detailed complaint) once a week for over two months just to see if I EVER got a response. Lo and behold I got an email back eventually saying that they had referred my email to the lost property section. Ha ha, they're a funny lot

[pacovl46]

Wait, a thief gets two free passes before they are fired on the third botched attempt to rip us off?!? What kinda crazy rule is that out. This is not baseball, it's crime. We always wonder why when we go to tland we always come home with more things missing then travels elsewhere, remarkably so. Now we know. Cheers.

you didn't read it properly. anyone who gets caught stealing will be fired immediately. if three different workers of the same company get caught on three different occasions the company will lose its contract.

[Serpico]

The problem with Thai security is they all will exploit their position for personal gains.

More rules = more exploitation.

[aylo]

You guys want some cheese with that.......?

everybody needs his cut right, and they forgot the luggage thieves...

ur last surprise when you come home... if you did not end up in one of the other thai scemes to get rid of your useless baht's outside thailand...

so for tourists who plan to come here :

ripped on arrival

ripped with taxi fares

prepare to pay double in hotels, restaurants, shops ...

watch out for security that might accuse you with dropping a sigarette bud even you do not smoke ...

carefull when shopping in duty free, might end up in jail

what out of buying stuff or doing business with thais as you might fly out of a window (famous in pattaya)

watch out not to get robbed, shot, stabbed

watch out for ladyboys, aids, veneral deseases

etc...

Stop whining or stay in your Falang country!

Thank you, exactly my thoughts. I really can't see why this would be a negative thing, but it doesn't really matter. any news that comes out here have to be bad news?

I log in to read the news, and maybe some more info about this, but all i see is whining...go home then if everything is that bad....or if you can't stick to topic, go post in SA instead.

Like most of you guys i choose to come here, why try to change this place then? Remember, you are all guests...

[neverdie]

Wait, a thief gets two free passes before they are fired on the third botched attempt to rip us off?!? What kinda crazy rule is that out. This is not baseball, it's crime. We always wonder why when we go to tland we always come home with more things missing then travels elsewhere, remarkably so. Now we know. Cheers.

No they said the employee would be fired and the company get a hit with a fee. Also if a any company is found that 3 times one of their employees are caught then they will loose the contract with the airport.

Yes they did say exactly that ericthai....it certainly pays to read carefully.

No doubt when the contractor gets his contract cancelled after 3 strikes, he will rapidly set up a new company name & proceed with the exact same staff, without missing a shift , then he gets another whole 3 strikes and he doesnt even need to get out of his seat.