Bkk Airport Immigration Deploys 70 Female Riot Police To Help Speed Up Lines

[monty1412]

Actually first and business class passengers do pay for fast track - it forms part of the ticket price. The airline pays the Thai Government. And I think it highly unlikely that the airlines will allow the Thais to do away with fast track on a whim, even if it's just at peak times. And to those who want equal treatment for all, well life just isn't like that. Especially in Thailand. I don't pay for a business class ticket because I want a bigger seat and better food - I pay because I don't want to check in with sex tourists, I don't want to sit crammed in with dozens of fat farangs with their ugly Thai wives and I don't want to stand in an immigration queue with fat bastards in flip flops and wife-beaters. I have never waited more than five minutes at immigration in or out and I doubt that will change. And for the idiot who thinks that you should dress up to avoid the touts when you do arrive - what???? Not everyone wants to sit in a public taxi, I actually prefer to pay for a limo.

What airline does that passenger mix happen on. Is it the offshoot of Virgin airlines that went bad and is now called Slut Airways..

[khunkeith]

Here is a solution: check out the arrival and departure schedule. Estimate the number of passengers. MAN ALL AVAILABLE BOOTHS!

Did that help?

DocN.. Ive never heard such rubbish in my life. Don't you realise what you have written would involve planning and execution . It would involve someone somewhere actually doing something proactively..... cmon Doc N get real.. we all know no-one anywhere is going to do anything unless there is a monetary award involved. Hang on.. hang on.... by George I think Ive got it.

What about reduce all the immigration officers pay and then give them a bonus for each passenger processed.. bet you they would be fighting each other to get the busy periods . Go one step further... if they process passengers within a certain average time and maintain that average they get a bonus. Performance based pay.... there would a revolution at immigration... the call NEXT would be ringing loud and clear from the previously sour, surly immigration officers.

Monty, it's a good idea but, aren't lines at major airports a problem world wide? Ever flow into Heathrow? that's a night mare, worse then BKK. Then, you have the backwards EU that requires a passenger that is just making an international connection (BKK-Vienna-JFK for example) to have a airport visa? WHen my wife (Thai) and I lived in Germany, I always had to book her flights non stop, she could not connect via Vienna, Rome, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, etc because she only had a visa that was good in Germany only. SO, if she had a connection, she had to pay a fee and go to the embassy, just to make a change of planes, not even going through immigration but staying in the international boarding area. and, no, she did not have a schengen visa, it was a visa for Germany only. One of my colleagues had a FIlipina wife and he booked her a flight from Manila to Stuttgart, changing in Vienna. When she got to the airport in BKK they would not let her on the plane because she did not have a visa to change planes.

[khunkeith]

I don't know why people jump on the Thai's about this problem. It's a problem in every major airport world wide.

[CHANGOVER]

Monty, it's a good idea but, aren't lines at major airports a problem world wide? Ever flow into Heathrow? that's a night mare, worse then BKK. Then, you have the backwards EU that requires a passenger that is just making an international connection (BKK-Vienna-JFK for example) to have a airport visa? WHen my wife (Thai) and I lived in Germany, I always had to book her flights non stop, she could not connect via Vienna, Rome, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, etc because she only had a visa that was good in Germany only. SO, if she had a connection, she had to pay a fee and go to the embassy, just to make a change of planes, not even going through immigration but staying in the international boarding area. and, no, she did not have a schengen visa, it was a visa for Germany only. One of my colleagues had a FIlipina wife and he booked her a flight from Manila to Stuttgart, changing in Vienna. When she got to the airport in BKK they would not let her on the plane because she did not have a visa to change planes.

Never had that problem at BKK LHR via Amsterdam with my Thai wife when she had a visa for UK.

[Puccini]

Actually, 300 km/year is only 5.8 km/week, or about 9 miles/week. Not that much really.

Or was that: 300k m/year ?!

There is no " k m". k stands for kilo and can be used only as a prefix, eg in kilobyte (1,000 bytes), kilogram (1,000 grams), etc. m stands for metre or meter.

1 mile = 1.609344 km

300 km = 186.4 miles

Source: International System of Units (SI)

There is no uniform or internationally recognised abbreviation for "mile". wiki.answers.com gives it as "Mi", englishplus.com as "mi.", and if you search the web some more you will probably find a few more variations.

[Puccini]

...The airport receives a larger sum per passenger for travellers in business and first from the airlines over passengers in economy...

I'd like to see a source for the above statement. My sources, the cost statement on electronic tickets, shows the same THB 700 international airport departure tax for all fare classes. The information on the website of Suvarnabhumi airport does not give different departure taxes for different fare classes.

[khunkeith]

Monty, it's a good idea but, aren't lines at major airports a problem world wide? Ever flow into Heathrow? that's a night mare, worse then BKK. Then, you have the backwards EU that requires a passenger that is just making an international connection (BKK-Vienna-JFK for example) to have a airport visa? WHen my wife (Thai) and I lived in Germany, I always had to book her flights non stop, she could not connect via Vienna, Rome, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, etc because she only had a visa that was good in Germany only. SO, if she had a connection, she had to pay a fee and go to the embassy, just to make a change of planes, not even going through immigration but staying in the international boarding area. and, no, she did not have a schengen visa, it was a visa for Germany only. One of my colleagues had a FIlipina wife and he booked her a flight from Manila to Stuttgart, changing in Vienna. When she got to the airport in BKK they would not let her on the plane because she did not have a visa to change planes.

Never had that problem at BKK LHR via Amsterdam with my Thai wife when she had a visa for UK.

possibly there were rule changes. WHen we went to the travel agent in Germany, that is what were were advised. We were booking a flight from BKK to STR and changing planes in Vienna (flying Austrian air as they had the best prices). We were advised to fly to Frankfort or Munchen and either change planes there or, take the train to Stuttgart. I did not check into Amsterdam but, I assumed it was the case in all the EU as that is what we were told. But, a quick google told me that Amsterdam does not require an airport visa. thanks for the information. When we wanted to book a flight through LHR to the states, we were told "maybe" she needs an airport visa. When I inquired about why "maybe" the travel agent said that, though the flight was currently booked to arrive and depart at the same terminal, it was possible that we would have to change terminals an depart from a different gate and, in that case, my wife would need an airport visa so it's better to be safe and get one. Now that sounds like something in the 3rd world, not a first world country like that UK.

lets face it, airports suck and, flying sucks. it does not matter what country you are in.

[Puccini]

The last couple of times I have departed Thailand, the immigration officer(whether male or female) decides it would be fun to look at my complete passport-I have lived here over 4 years, have had a work permits and multiple re-entries every year.

I believe that on departure the immigration officer only looks for the last arrival stamp in your passport. It is possible, though, that the officer also double-checks whether you were granted the correct period of permission to stay on your last arrival. With lots of pages filled in your passport, this does indeed require leafing through your whole passport.

[khunkeith]

The last couple of times I have departed Thailand, the immigration officer(whether male or female) decides it would be fun to look at my complete passport-I have lived here over 4 years, have had a work permits and multiple re-entries every year.

I believe that on departure the immigration officer only looks for the last arrival stamp in your passport. It is possible, though, that the officer also double-checks whether you were granted the correct period of permission to stay on your last arrival. With lots of pages filled in your passport, this does indeed require leafing through your whole passport.

when I flew into Kenya many years ago. the immigration officer was taking a lot of time with my passport, carefully looking at every page with visa stamps. I have done a lot of international travel and have had to have pages added to my passport. I was getting a bit worried about what he might be looking for but, then I realized that he was holding my passport upside down. I think he was actually illiterate and was trying to hide it. There was a sign that said "visa fee 10". I asked a Brit in line "10 what?". he told me that, if you are from England, they will ask for 10 pounds, the US, 10 dollars, Germany, 10 marks and from pretty much anywhere else, 10 dollars or 10 pounds. but, the reality of the situation was the visa fee was 10 Kenyan Shillings.

[bryanlunadelacruz]

question: Do these riot police woman know what to look in a passport or are they just going to straighten the line ease the mess of people lining in 2's or 3's..just asking..

[bryanlunadelacruz]

The last couple of times I have departed Thailand, the immigration officer(whether male or female) decides it would be fun to look at my complete passport-I have lived here over 4 years, have had a work permits and multiple re-entries every year.

I believe that on departure the immigration officer only looks for the last arrival stamp in your passport. It is possible, though, that the officer also double-checks whether you were granted the correct period of permission to stay on your last arrival. With lots of pages filled in your passport, this does indeed require leafing through your whole passport.

when I flew into Kenya many years ago. the immigration officer was taking a lot of time with my passport, carefully looking at every page with visa stamps. I have done a lot of international travel and have had to have pages added to my passport. I was getting a bit worried about what he might be looking for but, then I realized that he was holding my passport upside down. I think he was actually illiterate and was trying to hide it. There was a sign that said "visa fee 10". I asked a Brit in line "10 what?". he told me that, if you are from England, they will ask for 10 pounds, the US, 10 dollars, Germany, 10 marks and from pretty much anywhere else, 10 dollars or 10 pounds. but, the reality of the situation was the visa fee was 10 Kenyan Shillings.

so will that be 10 baht in Thailand and for me 10 pesos as im from the phils.

[exalll]

Heathrow is bad, though not as bad as BKK. I have now given up flying into the UK through Heathrow. Luckily there are plenty of other options where immigration lines are negligible and connections to my ultimate destination are readily available. Not so easy in Thailand - flying to Chiang Mai first is not (yet!) practical.

To those who suggest that long lines are a problem at every international airport ... ever visited Singapore?

[khunkeith]

The last couple of times I have departed Thailand, the immigration officer(whether male or female) decides it would be fun to look at my complete passport-I have lived here over 4 years, have had a work permits and multiple re-entries every year.

I believe that on departure the immigration officer only looks for the last arrival stamp in your passport. It is possible, though, that the officer also double-checks whether you were granted the correct period of permission to stay on your last arrival. With lots of pages filled in your passport, this does indeed require leafing through your whole passport.

when I flew into Kenya many years ago. the immigration officer was taking a lot of time with my passport, carefully looking at every page with visa stamps. I have done a lot of international travel and have had to have pages added to my passport. I was getting a bit worried about what he might be looking for but, then I realized that he was holding my passport upside down. I think he was actually illiterate and was trying to hide it. There was a sign that said "visa fee 10". I asked a Brit in line "10 what?". he told me that, if you are from England, they will ask for 10 pounds, the US, 10 dollars, Germany, 10 marks and from pretty much anywhere else, 10 dollars or 10 pounds. but, the reality of the situation was the visa fee was 10 Kenyan Shillings.

so will that be 10 baht in Thailand and for me 10 pesos as im from the phils.

lol, I wish. but, they only wanted hard currency. it was a money making scheme for immigration. they would pocket the hard currency. I think, at the time, the only hard currencies were dollars, pounds, marks, japanese yen and both swiss and french francs. but the real fee was supposed to be in kenyan Shillings. it was a long time ago, but, I think 10 shillings was about 1 US dollar back then but, I could be mistaken. it was certainly less than 10 dollars and a LOT less then 10 british pounds.

[kangeroo]

can just ask ? what are the immigration people looking for when they check every passport ?.

cheers

Edited March 13, 2012 by metisdead
No need to post using bold font, bold font removed.

[samui1]

The number of passengers passing through the airport every day has risen while the number of immigration officers has dropped as some have been promoted or sought transfers to other organisations to avoid the heavy work load.

My God how hard is it to sit there and look at a photo, then stamp your passport. Maybe they would prefer to sit and eat som tum

[khunkeith]

Heathrow is bad, though not as bad as BKK. I have now given up flying into the UK through Heathrow. Luckily there are plenty of other options where immigration lines are negligible and connections to my ultimate destination are readily available. Not so easy in Thailand - flying to Chiang Mai first is not (yet!) practical.

To those who suggest that long lines are a problem at every international airport ... ever visited Singapore?

As with most rules there are acceptations, and Changi is definitely a great airport. But again, it's not as big as BKK or LHR or FRA either. I think LHR is up there with Atlanta as being one of the worst major airports of the world. BK has it problems but, so does every major airport. But, it's a long way from really sucking like Atlanta and LHR. Manila is like the 4th worst airport in the world but, it does not have near the volume of planes and passengers that other airports have. My favorite airport I have even been in has to be Koh Samui though.

[midasthailand]

Well in my experience the officers there are pretty efficient. What generally holds up the line are the idiots that have not filled in their departure cards and the immigration officer allows them to fill it in at the counter, they then have to rifle through their multiple carry on bags to find their passport, boarding pass and half of them probably need to look up where they come from or where they are going.

I cannot imagine a more mind numbing job that the one those poor immigration officers have!

[khunkeith]

can just ask ? what are the immigration people looking for when they check every passport ?.

cheers

inconsistencies, forgeries, missing pages, checking to see if your passport is flagged on the computer. There was a story in the Pattaya Mail a dozen or so years ago about someone that had been deported from Thailand for breaking some law and he tried to get back into Thailand and was caught at the airport. his name and passport number were in the computer as being an undesirable alien and was denied entry into the Kingdom. I think he owned a bar or had a wife in Pattaya.

[trainman34014]

I'm still trying to get my head around why the Goons in charge of this rabble would allow 387 Non-Commissioned Officers to all take leave on THE SAME DAY to take an exam? Are the people who are at the top of this mess recruited through Walt Disney or what?

[Kan Win]

So does it mean there wont be any more fast track for Biz and 1st class passenger during rush hours ? but all planes from Europe usually arrived at the same period of time from 6 to 7am .... so , you pay your ticket more than double and you have to queue like anyone else ? how nice is that ..... <snip>

Did you paid for your Air-Flight ? (1st or Biz Calss) and then.........................................post the above?

If, Yes, then it is about time that you queue the same as everyone else in the "Economy class" and why not................may one ask????????

Does your ticket say that you can jump the queue?? If is does then get a refund from the Airline that you travelled on and leave us poor folks in "Economy class" alone.

Win

[ALFREDO]

i go through the Thai side with the wife, they always let me do that and its always quick

Yes, with my Thai children, no problem, but I do not have them always with me!

Maybe install Immigration volunteers next to the officers, who can help out in their Native language or English, for in small numbers coming languages.

Make special Rows for Russians, Germans, Italiens, French ect. would speed up things a lot, special for not Native speaking English visitors.

Lot time lost for these people until they understand what the Immigration officer wants to know!

Edited March 13, 2012 by ALFREDO

[Kan Win]

The airport plan was somehow identified with Thaksin, and therefore *bad*.

Cheers

But, it was then the Prime Minister "Anand Panyarachun" back in 1991-1992 who signed off to build this airport and then ..nothing happened until .......history came to pass.

Win

[maprao]

So does it mean there wont be any more fast track for Biz and 1st class passenger during rush hours ? but all planes from Europe usually arrived at the same period of time from 6 to 7am .... so , you pay your ticket more than double and you have to queue like anyone else ?

You paid for a nicer seat on the plane and better food. No reason you should get preferential treatment from immigration at the airport.

Well you buy the more expensive biz class tickets it is not just a bigger seat and nicer food. On good airlines it includes a limo with driver to and from the airport. Premium lounges at the airport with free food and drink and an "overall better" travel experience! They even wake you up and prompt you to head to the gate so that there is no extra waiting time.

[ParadiseLost]

i go through the Thai side with the wife, they always let me do that and its always quick

Is this expressly permitted or is it a loophole?

They should open up an express lane where you can speed-through by paying 100 baht, just like the amusement parks do.

You mean have a line where the bibs are in charge?

[pipo1000]

Well, you have a terminal that is now handling it's total planned capacity, and the immigration desks have been reduced by 33% because of building works. It is to be expected, and you could not blame anyone.

The second terminal would have been completed this year - except all work was stopped after the coup. The airport plan was somehow identified with Thaksin, and therefore *bad*. After going though several renamings, AOT has managed to get the original plan re-approved again, but unfortunately it will be another 5 years before it's finished.

Cheers

Not entirely true. The desks have been reduced by 33% (your figure) but last month when I went through only 50% of the available desks were staffed. Clearly a staff shortage.

Just another trick to make the airport look busy.

[ParadiseLost]

I'd say half the problem is poor planning and lack of interest from the officers who see the job as a stepping stone to promotion (hence the huge number taking off to write test), while the other half is more serious - this obsession with the government that all foreigners are criminals and they must be scrutinised thoroughly else they will escape without penalty for such serious crimes as overstay and erm, what else?

Perhaps they should stop judging people by their own morally bankrupt standards.

[TAWP]

Did anyone else out there get stamped 60 days for some odd reason coming into the country? It happened to me last month, and while I'm very happy about this, I am wondering why. I'm usually stamped 30 days upon a return flight from Cambodia. I even double checked with a different officer at the luggage carousel. She looked at the passport and said, "It's for 60 days. Is that enough for you?" I nearly peed in my pants with happiness. "Yes, kap!"

If you are stamped wrong you still need to pay overstay.

[Jayman]

sorry to hear they will close the "Premier" lines. I upgraded to business the last time through and there was nobody in line. They didn't bother to charge the $200 USD overstay fee that was owed either!

Oh well that's good to know.. the ones that can afford the overstay fine no longer are asked to pay it. TIT indeed.

[Jayman]

Did anyone else out there get stamped 60 days for some odd reason coming into the country? It happened to me last month, and while I'm very happy about this, I am wondering why. I'm usually stamped 30 days upon a return flight from Cambodia. I even double checked with a different officer at the luggage carousel. She looked at the passport and said, "It's for 60 days. Is that enough for you?" I nearly peed in my pants with happiness. "Yes, kap!"

If you are stamped wrong you still need to pay overstay.

I'm not so sure you are giving correct information. What makes the stamp incorrect? If you have a stamp in your passport from an immigration officer and they initialed it then it's correct. It's up to them if they chose to give you more or less days. I would hardly go telling folks they have to pay over stay cause their stamp is wrong.

[Tonawatchee]

Don't remove the fast track immigration booths, just make them all fast track. Silly idea, I know.