Suvarnabhumi Airport To Get Automatic Passport Check System

[wlcart]

From my experience, aren't most the travelers non-nationals?

My wife and daughter are Thai and we always use the Thai passport line and I have never waited.

When I use to travel alone and used the foreign passport line, then I waited.

so the real question for me is, can tourist use it? if not, seems like a hefty price tag

[pac4155]

I haven't been to the new airport yet, so please excuse this question: Will this be 'installation' or 'replacement' ?

Replacing some of the Immigration Officers with machines.

Will the machines demand tea money as well? If they do, will they become tea machines?

As far as the installation of air-conditioning is concerned, why wasn't it fitted when they first built the terminal building?

[dominique355]

If I remember correctly the following information was needed (and put in the arrival card) for obtaining a visa on arrival:

- Full name

- Gender

- Nationality

- Date of Birth

- Passport No

Not sure but I think also:

- Date of issue of passport

- Valid until

- Place of issue of passport

This information can be read form a biometric passport

- Flight No

- Address in Thailand

- Visa no. (for those living in Thailand)

- Length of stay

Where does that come form?

Then a stamp in the passport and a Departure card is issued.

I wonder how they will automate this.

If we have learned anything form experience such as Easy Pass, I expect the system to crash after 3 days and then suspension for an undetermined time.

[dumpling]

Whilst this is good news for everybody I'm not very confident that "the system will go live at the end of the year" is a very realistic time scale. They are only just drawing up the terms of reference and Technical specifications for the bidding process, the prospective bidders have then got to put together their bids, a bid team will need to assess the bids, looking out for such things as competence and reliability, cost of installation and running costs and tea money, a preferred bidder will need to be selected and then further negotiations will take place. No way is all that going to happen in seven months, that said, I wish them well.

I suspect this will mainly benefit Thai passport holders, though his should free up more Immigration Officers to deal with none Thai passport holders.

Other countries have automatic passport controls which foreigners can register for, lets hope they go down this route, though there would be many hurdles.

This is one of the Thai announcements that I hope will actually come to fruition.

sorry could not resist , so a Thai company then

[pacovl46]

She believes that the winning contractor will be able to start the installation later this year.

we all know what that means. at least a year of bidding wars, just like with the sky train that goes out to the airport which had been finished over a year until it was finally opened because they were waiting for the right amount of money to flow into the right pockets. and now that the rest of the world has 4G thailand will finally get 3G nationwide by mid 2012. it's ridiculous!!!

Edited May 25, 2011 by pacovl46

[theoldgit]

^^^^

Indeed, same same, and some people wonder why there are a sprinkling of negative comments.

[pacovl46]

In the last two months, I have been through incoming immigration almost 10 times, at all hours of the day and have not had to wait more than 10 minutes any one of those times to get stamped through. On the other hand, I never waited less than 20 minutes in Singapore, Korea, Japan, USA,(never less than 50 minutes: LAX and ATL) Germany, Mexico, UK and Canada.

The Thais have opened many more lanes to foreigners and the improvement over earlier this year has been dramatic. They deserve positive recognition for the improvement, not the mindless sniping from the "nattering nabobs of negativism" who populate this forum.

The US has also instituted a self-checkin system called GOES but the online application was so arcane and contradictory that I gave up after several unsuccessful tries.

i waited 3 minutes in singapore. the airport has so many lanes that it seemed empty. and as far as i know singapore has a no-more-than-5minute policy.

Edited May 25, 2011 by pacovl46

[sirchai]

A quick search of "automatic passport inspection systems" brings up this link which gives a good indication how the system will work.

Basically, it needs biometric passports. Thailand has issued biometric passports since 2005, but I don't think to everyone.

Passengers will be able to check themselves in and out without the need for immigration officials.

Can I overstay longer now?:jap:

[sirchai]

From my experience, aren't most the travelers non-nationals?

My wife and daughter are Thai and we always use the Thai passport line and I have never waited.

When I use to travel alone and used the foreign passport line, then I waited.

so the real question for me is, can tourist use it? if not, seems like a hefty price tag

I guess it's time for an Archa Beer now...........

[swerver]

A quick search of "automatic passport inspection systems" brings up this link which gives a good indication how the system will work.

Basically, it needs biometric passports. Thailand has issued biometric passports since 2005, but I don't think to everyone.

Marvelous, biometric passports machine checking

I think there are a lot of foreigners 5 year (minimum requirement for issue) and more years permanently living in Thailand who would be happier to see a wallet size laminated card to do away with the yearly rig moral of applying for a new yearly retirement visa. All that is needed is a yearly reporting card showing: Name, PP # and country, residence address, signature. Many retirees are living year-after-year at the same address because they own the place. If immigration is worried about loosing the 1900 baht, they can charge that for issuing the reporting card. These reporting cards can be made available at all Thai Main Post offices were the person can fill in the card and hand the card back to the postal officer to send to immigration department. This will free up a good number of immigration officers who can be put on duty at the Thai International Airports because the checking machines are not going to be what they are made out to be for capability of biometric reading and reliability of operation. Remember PM (Preventative Maintenance) is farang in Thailand.

Credit card machines and the machines at Banks seem to be reliable, not due to Thai PM they receive, but because these machines only have to read one or two items, not like a biometric passport reading machine which has to read many items, with input from many countries in the world.

[Willeyeam]

I'm amazed that a country with some of the lowest salaries in the world is bothered to spend that kind of money on a computer system that probably won't work in the foreseeable future anyway.

Kreng Jai mate...Kreng Jai! As usual.

It is like letting mental retards play with atomic power, consequences will always materialize, but for some reason, Thais, consequence and responsibility never seem to go hand in hand!

[petedk]

"Automatic passport inspection" sounds good but if the "automatic parking ticket dispensers" are anything to go by it will be a complete waste of money.

Thais don't seem to trust automation too much.

Go into a car park where they have these machines and there is a guy standing there pressing the button for you, taking out the ticket and handing it to you.

Buy clothes in a store and the whole transaction is scanned in but they still write details in a book.

At the university library when we borrow books the bar code is sent through a scanner and the loan is registered. A small receipt is printed out. Still the books are stamped in 2 places with a return date.

When I ask why the need for double control all I can get is " helps employment".

So I can imagine that you'll have to hand the passport to some guy who will browse through every page of the passport (that's what happens when I ask someone to copy a page from my passport), turn it upside down and eventually process the passport.

[hbullinger]

I am not familiar with automatic passport control equipment, but I am interested to see how it will work.

As far as a new Airconditioning system is concerned it confirms that the existing one was designed by people who are entirely ignorant of elementary mechanical engineering. To believe that you can cool a large area with a few scattered around floor level air supply units is simply idiotic. All these little steel towers achieved were some small islands of cool air. So I trust that they will finally install a high level air supply system allowing the air to sink slowly and much more evenly to the ground of the concourse.

While they are at it they could blank out most of the glass panels in the roof which were meant to save energy costs by reducing the need for artificial lighting. The costs for that are however only a fraction of the additional energy needed for more cooling power due to the unnecessary heat gain created by glass roofs.

I can't help feeling that Suvarnabhumi must have been the first airport contract for both the architects and the mechanical and electrical engineering designers.

[asdecas]

Whilst this is good news for everybody I'm not very confident that "the system will go live at the end of the year" is a very realistic time scale. They are only just drawing up the terms of reference and Technical specifications for the bidding process, the prospective bidders have then got to put together their bids, a bid team will need to assess the bids, looking out for such things as competence and reliability, cost of installation and running costs and tea money, a preferred bidder will need to be selected and then further negotiations will take place. No way is all that going to happen in seven months, that said, I wish them well.

I suspect this will mainly benefit Thai passport holders, though his should free up more Immigration Officers to deal with none Thai passport holders.

Other countries have automatic passport controls which foreigners can register for, lets hope they go down this route, though there would be many hurdles.

This is one of the Thai announcements that I hope will actually come to fruition.

I would not call the most crucial step "tea money" - more like "division of the spoils".

[Johpa]

From my experience, aren't most the travelers non-nationals?

My wife and daughter are Thai and we always use the Thai passport line and I have never waited.

When I use to travel alone and used the foreign passport line, then I waited.

My family also follows my wife through the "Thai National" line and there is rarely much of a line, if any. This is not about wait times that do not exist but only about the ability of a few to skim off the top of a large contract ably assisted with the connivance of the manufacturer of the system as well as the connivance of the international banking system. It is about as good as it gets for immigration officials and is rather paltry compared to their peers in the Thai military.

[surangw]

saves a whole 20 seconds?

[Just1Voice]

As far as the installation of air-conditioning is concerned, why wasn't it fitted when they first built the terminal building?

Ahhh, just a wild guess here, but maybe because it would have actually Made Sense!

Either that, or someone just didn't come up with enough tea money.

Take your pick.

:jap:

[Maeklong]

Here's a video showing how it works in Finland

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=75GnjzOjdX8

I saw a few of them installed in the airport in the arrivals section for Thai Passports, where they were being tested.

Since many Thais have e-passports, they can use these machines when they come into service.

However, for anyone who is not using a Thai passport, for anyone who requires a visa to enter Thailand, the chances are pretty slim that we can use these machines any time soon. I suppose people who are using foreign biometric passports from countries that get an automatic visa on arrival could be possible though

Edited May 25, 2011 by Maeklong

[Amras]

Don't know what all your complainers are whinning about.

Never thought BKK Airport was overly hot (maybe just a little too warm, but still ok considering the openness of it).

Only once was I annoyed that I had to line up for 45 mins to get through passport control leaving Bangkok airport. The other times it has been 5-10 mins.

They have definitely increased the number of immigration staff. Hardly different to any other airport. Seen the line for non nationals at Melbourne airport? Same same...long lines.

Stop bashing just because you can. Every post on TV about something that comes up in the news, someone or many people HAVE to say something negative (in a non-constructive way). I'd hate to meet some of you guys in real life, you must be really negative individuals.

You act like Thailand is the ONLY place in the world with corruption, infrastructure issues etc. Wake up. It's not. It's just more blatant to everyone in Thailand and the media does a much better job of covering it up and brain washing the masses in the West to make them believe the same 'shyt' doesn't go on.

[bangon04]

I'm amazed that a country with some of the lowest salaries in the world is bothered to spend that kind of money on a computer system that probably won't work in the foreseeable future anyway.

It depends on the definition of "spend"

The word I read was "invest" 76 million baht - doesn't necessarily mean that anything concrete has been done - it could mean that a relative of the senior officer at immigration has been commissioned to undertake a study on the subject, and 76 million baht has been used to finance this....

[rubl]

Here's a video showing how it works in Finland

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=75GnjzOjdX8

I saw a few of them installed in the airport in the arrivals section for Thai Passports, where they were being tested.

Since many Thais have e-passports, they can use these machines when they come into service.

However, for anyone who is not using a Thai passport, for anyone who requires a visa to enter Thailand, the chances are pretty slim that we can use these machines any time soon. I suppose people who are using foreign biometric passports from countries that get an automatic visa on arrival could be possible though

Thanks, Maeklong. This answers some questions I've seen here.

[EyesWideOpen]

Am always amazed when I enter Malaysia from Thailand. You hand over your passport, the guy puts it in a scanner machine, and he hands it back in 10 seconds and says welcome to Malaysia. There are no silly little pieces of paper to fill out, it is all done in the computer.

[finnomick1]

I'm amazed that a country with some of the lowest salaries in the world is bothered to spend that kind of money on a computer system that probably won't work in the foreseeable future anyway.

This is so they can continue paying some of the lowest salaries in the world. You want a payrise ? Mai mee tang !!!

[naboo]

saves a whole 20 seconds?

20 seconds per person = 2000 seconds/100 persons in the line in front of you = more than 30 minutes saving if there are 100 people in line in front of you.

Not forgetting that this could then prevent lines building up at all.

[Garry]

My having a currently registered Non Imm 'O' and a biometric passport, I will hopefully have smooth sailing in the future through the airport.. Fingers crossed

[whybother]

My having a currently registered Non Imm 'O' and a biometric passport, I will hopefully have smooth sailing in the future through the airport.. Fingers crossed

...... waaayyy "in the future" ....

[Garry]

My having a currently registered Non Imm 'O' and a biometric passport, I will hopefully have smooth sailing in the future through the airport.. Fingers crossed

...... waaayyy "in the future" ....

Nahh, I don't think so. If the authorities in Oman can get the biometric labour cards working fine at the airport in just over a year, then I can't see why the Thai authorities can't do the same with biometric passports.

[cobra]

Automation invariably will save time in a complete digital world,

As expiring paper passports get replaced with chip'ed biometric replacements this will be as common as the ATM replacing bank tellers,

Of course, a CRT will be installed with a default scowlling image to welcome entrants with the familiar distain and apathy they have grown accustomed to.

For a small surcharge the image can be ungraded to a ingenious smile.

[aquaman670]

The airport expects the system to go online at the end of the year.

And then be offline and out of service within a couple months thereafter either because of faulty contracting and acquisition practices and/or the inability of local staff to service and maintain the equipment.

Krup. But the huge kickbacks will have already been doled out. Won't matter for me, I'm outta here.

[moe666]

A waste of time and money. There are somethings that still require people. The socalled automatic check in kisok at airports. if you have a bag you still need a employee to attach the baggage stcker. I fly Southwest in the states I asked one of the ticket counter people if it helps and she just laffs and says actually more work to fix the passenger screw ups.

You syill need the stamp requires a person just hire more people and man all of the desks.