Are the queues at Immigration getting better or worse? And if worse how long to wait?

It depends, what time of day, what day, time of year, did 3 or 4 747s land from China.

Let us know how it goes when you go thru

it's really a lottery game. I came back from Myanmar in mid of August, 7 p.m., and walked straight to the immigration officer's desk without a single soul in sight.

but it can be 45 minutes as well, if 5 Jumbo's arrive within 10 minutes.

rather worse is LEAVING. there are now horrendous queues at any give hour of the day. waiting time 30-75 minutes, that is my experience in the past months

I've flown in and out of SVP 6 times in the last month and half and my personal experiences have been good:

Arriving at about 7 pm on Friday evenings there has been no-one in the arrival immigration lines. Departing on Sunday afternoon's / evenings has been busy with queues back to the entrance of the immigration areas, however wating time has been 10-15 mins in practise.

I left at 6 am this morning and although the check-in area seemed busy, there were zero queues at the immigration desks.

I keep on expecting an immigration nightmare but it has not (yet) happened to me :jap:

Next week arrive earlier, at about 4 pm on Wednesday so here's hoping my luck continues.

Simon

Arrived at SV at 10 AM Monday expecting long que but was through immigration in 10 minutes. Returned Thursday at 8:30 PM and had three in line ahead at immigration. This is not my usual experience as I usually depart and return late in the evening and have huge ques (45 minutes.)

My latest experience was 1hr in and out.

Usually get through in 10-15 minutes, using the Thai queue as I am entitled to as a PR.

They don't care because the queues don't inconvenience Thai travellers. Got it?

My latest was 20 mins outbound TG Biz Class at 10pm and 40 mins inbound KL Coach Class at 1pm.

it's really a lottery game. I came back from Myanmar in mid of August, 7 p.m., and walked straight to the immigration officer's desk without a single soul in sight.

but it can be 45 minutes as well, if 5 Jumbo's arrive within 10 minutes.

rather worse is LEAVING. there are now horrendous queues at any give hour of the day. waiting time 30-75 minutes, that is my experience in the past months

3 weeks ago, Sat afternoon 3pm walked straight through - no queus. Return - I landed 12.02 noon. Was at the bus stop complete with luggage at 12.30.

Usually get through in 10-15 minutes, using the Thai queue as I am entitled to as a PR.

They don't care because the queues don't inconvenience Thai travellers. Got it?

Whats a PR?

PR probably means Permanent Resident in this case?

I have not had any noticable wait at all on any of my trips. 8 of last trips have all left at about the same time: 1700. That is the typical departure from BKK to LAX via Taipei on EVA or china air. I don't recall anything other than walking on through. Arrivals have been about the same. Typically I arrive at about 1100. Passport stamp line had about 10 people in front of me. Nothing horrible. Maybe 20 minute wait. I have a carry on bag only so my arrival and departure is pretty straightforward.

Passed through at about 10pm on Sept 11th and it took 2 minutes one person ahead of me in the line. I were surprised since there were tons of people at the airport.

Edited September 12, 201114 yr by spacemand

Passed through at about 10pm on Sept 11th and it took 2 minutes one person ahead of me in the line. I were surprised since there were tons of people at the airport.

I was in Arrivals last Wednesday afternoon at about 4 pm. I agree the airport seemed very busy but didn't have to wait too long - perhaps 2 people in front of me in the queue and only 10 mins for the bags to arrive.

What I did notice was that one arrival hall was pretty quiet, whereas the other had queues of perhaps 15-20 people at each immigration booth. The level of queuing can be easily guaged from those screens they have above the entrance to the immigration area, but perhaps not all passengers are aware of what these screens are for ?

Simon

it's really a lottery game. I came back from Myanmar in mid of August, 7 p.m., and walked straight to the immigration officer's desk without a single soul in sight.

but it can be 45 minutes as well, if 5 Jumbo's arrive within 10 minutes.

rather worse is LEAVING. there are now horrendous queues at any give hour of the day. waiting time 30-75 minutes, that is my experience in the past months

I went out last month for a week on business. First thing I noticed was the large number of people LEAVING Thailand. Took about 45 minutes start to finish in the queue (mainly due to stupid people not having their departure cards!).

Re-entry was delayed by lack of organization on the part of Thai immigration not having queues identified but only took 15 minutes despite several large planes arriving almost simultaneously.

One year ago, i arrived at about 8 am and nobody was there, I was the first one. When I left the situation was completely different, the queue lasted almost 2 hours...

Arrived the 15th at 11pm from plane to pick up at door 3 was approx. 30min.

Came in from SIN on Monday evening. From runway touchdown to out the front doors was 25 mins and that included waiting for luggage!!

One year ago, i arrived at about 8 am and nobody was there, I was the first one. When I left the situation was completely different, the queue lasted almost 2 hours...

Thanks for the up to date information.

Regards

I left on the 19th at 23:45. It was dead.

Just come through immigration (21.30 hrs on 22nd Sept) , waited about twenty minutes with about 9 people in front of me, as always choose the slowest queue.

I was in the hall behind check-in desks S and T.

Regards

I flew in yesterday afternoon, just after 16.00, one person in front of me in the queue and through in about five minutes. The Indian guy in front of me was leaning on the desk and the IO took an age to process him, suspect I would have done the same.

Flying out mid morning on Monday took about 10 minutes to clear Immigration, I did notice that all the desks were marked for Thai or foreigners, that certainly helped.

Came back yesterday 2:40pm and 2-3 people in front of me and they were opening more booths.

It's not the time of day, the arrival of jumbos or a lottery game. It's all in the hands of immigration. They know the exact numbers of arrivals and departures at any moment, and so there is no reason ever for queues of more than a handful of people. Civilized airports function this way.

Apparently not in Thailand. The chaos here seems to be intended. The only question is what's the purpose.

My first guess was: Immigration makes money selling fast track cards, and these will only sell if they bring a benefit to the buyer. But why is this game driven it to the point of making people miss their flights? And why do the airlines accept having their whole schedules screwed up?

Who has a better idea?

It's not the time of day, the arrival of jumbos or a lottery game. It's all in the hands of immigration. They know the exact numbers of arrivals and departures at any moment, and so there is no reason ever for queues of more than a handful of people. Civilized airports function this way.

Apparently not in Thailand. The chaos here seems to be intended. The only question is what's the purpose.

My first guess was: Immigration makes money selling fast track cards, and these will only sell if they bring a benefit to the buyer. But why is this game driven it to the point of making people miss their flights? And why do the airlines accept having their whole schedules screwed up?

Who has a better idea?

Yes they do know when planes arrive but planes get delayed all the time. Coming and going from BKK 3 times this year I never waited more than 20 minutes, so no complaints from me.

I arrived at LAX luckily I flew business class if not I would still be waiting in lane 7 months later, I arrived on a fully packed 747 and were first off but still had to wait 30+ minutes to get through immigration and it appeared that another plane or two landed right after us meaning the arrival hall were packed and with 5-6 immigration booths opened for non-US people must have waited hours to get through. BKK can have a bad reputation but I have not seen a bad report in the last few months seems like they got things under control but LAX is ALWAYS a nightmare.

Yes they do know when planes arrive but planes get delayed all the time. Coming and going from BKK 3 times this year I never waited more than 20 minutes, so no complaints from me.

I arrived at LAX luckily I flew business class if not I would still be waiting in lane 7 months later, I arrived on a fully packed 747 and were first off but still had to wait 30+ minutes to get through immigration and it appeared that another plane or two landed right after us meaning the arrival hall were packed and with 5-6 immigration booths opened for non-US people must have waited hours to get through. BKK can have a bad reputation but I have not seen a bad report in the last few months seems like they got things under control but LAX is ALWAYS a nightmare.

LAX can depend a bit on what airline you use. I regularly use UA and they have their own Customs/Immigrations area in Terminal 6. The only other international arrival I've seen on the monitors when the NRT-LAX flight arrives (in the morning) is from SYD, and it has never been there the same time as our NRT arrival.

When only one flight is being processed, it's pretty quick, especially for returning US citizens.

It has been years since I passed through Bradley International Terminal, but I hear that that place can be an absolute zoo and a nightmare.