Pm Yingluck Orders All Budget Airlines To Fly From Don Mueang Airport

[khunron13]

Simply stupid idea. By sending budget/domestic airlines to DM the immigration traffic at Swampy will INCREASE, as passengers who would normally be in transit at Swampy will now need to clear immigration there before going to DM. Currently they clear immigration in Chiang Mai, Phuket etc. (and vice versa) Doh!!

Great point! Moving the domestic operations back to DM will actually increase the amount of passengers going through Immigrations.

[sprq]

Explain to me how Thai Immigration has control over a 747 load of Chinese tourist arriving and none read or write Thai or English, good luck having your arrival card filled out and ready when you step in front of the officer. No matter how much the, all things Thai or wrong brigade complains there are just a few things that are beyond the control of immigration.

Ohh really.. beyond their control is it? They don't have Chinese fonts in their computers? Can't add some Chinese cards to the mix? After all, they are catering to the Chinese tourists right? Even in Pattaya they have enough sense to put up signs in Chinese to attract them as visitors.

The people who design the immigration cards have always been senseless. The current cards are difficult to read and difficult to fill in, have mistakes in English, and above all -- duh -- are the wrong size to fit in passports, having to be folded!

These cards were evidently designed internally by immigration staff not competent in the job, instead of by an outside agency who could have done a much better job. The cards issued by the Gulf countries, for example, were clearly designed by outside agencies, probably in the West, and are consequently clear, efficient and passport-sized.

To ask the immigration department to produce cards in Chinese when they cannot produce decent cards in Thai and English is way too big an ask! It's another case of nationalist sentiment outweighing efficiency and logic. We can do it ourselves, they say, when they can't.

[nonresident]

Airports are everybody's pet hate. I arrived at LAX 2 1/2 hours b4 a domestic flight and still missed it! 1 hour for check in and 2 hours for security. Interestingly, the flight departed with my checked bags on board. The country that has suffered the most from aviation terrorism is the only country that allows this.

On topic: I flew out of Swampy last month with Thai and the check-in line ran all the way out into the corridor. They had to call us out for our flight. (after 45 mins). Shame on Thai Airways.

As for immigration, Do we recall the pre camera days? It was quicker then. What's the camera for anyway? Only country I know that uses them. That may be what's slowing things down. If they want to take a picture it can be done by a camera mounted behind the officer, surely! Surely we have the technology for a camera to automatically zoom in and take a face shot.

As for the immigration card, I used to take a ferry from Singapore to Batam (Indonesia) and the ferry operator used a printer to fill it in b4 boarding!! I just signed it.

What about a pre immigration counter to assist people in need to fill in the form?

As for e-passport systems: my experience is that it only works for nationals and expats not others.

Singapore nationals and expats can get a card which they swipe on entry and exit (with thumb print recognition). I had one. Fantastic!

[henryalleman]

IMHO it has nothing to do with the so called congestion at the immigration booths

They just throw the competitors of Thai Airways for much cheaper domestic flight and to neighbouring countries out.

The same time they teach some political adversaries a lesson. Just look who owns Bangkok air and the Bangkok hospital group and who owns Rama 9 hospital group. BTW Bangkok air always home base was always Swampy.

And is it not rather strange that not yet one month ago they were talking about finaly complete the BTS coming from DM who already for decades is incomplete.

Its all about big bucks.

Never forget TIT.

Edited March 16, 2012 by henryalleman

[Rosco911]

Once again a fine example of perfect planing.

[Buchholz]

No word yet on whether departing passengers not wearing a motorcycle helmet will be subject to a 200 baht fine when leaving.

.

[Buchholz]

Police helps out long-line problem at Suvarnabhumi

BANGKOK, 16 March 2012 (NNT) – National Police Chief Priewpan Damapong has assigned 50 police officers to help check travel documents of passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport to ease the long queue problem.

In light of several complaints over the long lines of the immigration check-in counters at the airport, Police General Priewpan has discussed ways to ease congestion with the Immigration Bureau. Initially 50 police officers have been assigned to help with the works of the Bureau.

As lack of personnel has been the main reason of the long queue, the Immigration Bureau chief has revealed that now officers have been assigned to man all of the check-in counters. He added that the queue up system on the east side of the terminal has also been changed to a snake line for all the six counters. However, the line on the west side remains the same as the equipment is not suitable for snake-line.

Besides, officers will from April 11th onwards not take pictures of Thai passengers-- only those of foreigners. The Bureau has admitted that over 40% of passengers who missed the flights got stuck at the long check-in counters.

Meanwhile, the government has also planned to move low-cost airlines to Don Muaeng Airport to reduce the congestion at the Suvarnabhumi.

-- NNT 2012-03-16

[notime]

"major low-cost airlines .. Bangkok Airways" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAAAA

[Payboy]

National Police Chief Priewpan Damapong has assigned 50 police officers to help check travel documents of passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport to ease the long queue problem.

Do I now need to keep a 100 Baht bill in my passport as I do with my driving license.

Edited March 16, 2012 by Payboy

[animatic]

Bangkok Airways A low cost airline????

Funniest thing I have heard in ages. It is the most expensive run in Thailand.

Now it only goes to Don Muang. So fliers from Samui must pay the highest faire

to Bangkok And then pay to go cross Bangkok in a Taxi to Swampy to catch their flights home.

Real budget savings there.

And 2/3 of the immigration counters are being renovated??

Why not only do 1/3 at a time and leave the others open till the first third is finished...

Oh wait that woud be logical.

When not

[LTGTR]

Talk about screwing Air Asia.

[LTGTR]

LOL-15 minutes.Fly into a REAL airport Stateside and see that 15 minutes is nothing.

That's all not the problem,if I travel to other countries like UAE,Malaysia,Singapore or back to Europe,the passport control takes 1-2minutes per person,sometimes less than that,here in Thailand it takes 3-5 min.i think Thai immigration officers are afraid to make a mistake,or maybe their computer is outdated

Never flown into a major airport in the US, have you? I waited for at least 15 minutes in the US citizens queue at San Francisco recently

[marstons]

If you like to wait at immigration, I recommend arriving at Terminal 4 Heathrow. An hour and a half for non-EU passport holders. I was utterly ashamed that the service travellers pay through the nose for was so bad and that my country expects people to visit in their droves for the Olympic Games, whilst putting on an inferior immigration service. BKK is much more efficient in comparison.

one good thing about UK immigration every language under the sun is spoken by the immigration officers as they come from every corner of the globe.

For me they can take all the time in the world, if you watch the reality tv shows about the immigration officers you will see why they have to be so diligant. and if you watch the UK border agency shows you will see hundreds of thousands still get through the net, suprisingly enough most illegal brothel raids always produced a stream of Thai Nationals.

[rheinwiese]

On Tuesday March 13th I flew to Hong Kong by Air Asia on their 6.30 am flight. I arrived at the airport at 4.00 am.

Some observations:

1 Air Asia check in is a horrendous experience in Bangkok even if you use their web check in service. You still have to queue.

2 Check in took 40 minutes even though I had no bags.

3 Presented myself at Immigration to find 2 Booths open - that is correct 2 Booths. The line queue was long and some Indian passengers - who are never known for their timeliness (lived there for 3 years) - were threatening a riot as I guess they were going to miss their flight.

4 After 20 minutes and a load of grumbling from other passengers, 2 more Booths were opened. I cleared Immigration in 40 minutes, one of the longest waits I have experienced. All I know that if you started grumbling at Heathrow, you would get a very firm reprimand from stern faced apparatnik.

Now I do not criticize Thailand. I like living here. I left England for other reasons in how Britain is governed which are far worse than the problems that I experience here so I am grateful, believe me. However, moving AirAsia from Suvarnabhum is extremely unhelpful given the relative lack of transport links at DM.

This may be the final push to get me to relocate to Hong Kong (sighs) as travelling from and to the SAR is a delight as everything works smoothly. As a frequent traveller, using the overpriced services of the other airlines on offer is not an attractive proposition.

Seems that they have started to do something or perhaps I was just lucky:

Flew Air Asia to Singapore yesterday.

Checked in 8:15am, no bags, drop-off counter. Time 2min

Immigration: new queuing procedure (like KL and SIN), all booth staffed, through in 10min

Came back at 7pm:

same new queuing procedure, only 30% of the booths staffed, but very lucky to get through in 15 min before some wide bodies landed.

All in all a smooth sail.

[WackySomchai]

Great move by the Puea Thaksin government, order transfer to Don Mueang to make sure their cronies can stuff their pockets. It must have been the same government's decision to shut down a third of the immigration during the high season.

[TantraMantra]

That's all not the problem,if I travel to other countries like UAE,Malaysia,Singapore or back to Europe,the passport control takes 1-2minutes per person,sometimes less than that,here in Thailand it takes 3-5 min.i think Thai immigration officers are afraid to make a mistake,or maybe their computer is outdated

Never flown into a major airport in the US, have you? I waited for at least 15 minutes in the US citizens queue at San Francisco recently

It takes well over an hour for foreigners to clear immigration at JFK.

[maccaroni man]

the immigration counters may be full but that does not mean they are manned by people who know what they are doing, i stood in a line where the guy had to ask another person for advice six consecutive times!!!! it took me 45 minutes to clear and I was the 7th guy in line.

[ALFREDO]

If its possible, I pass by Bangkok and arrive from overseas at Kuala Lumpur or Singapore much more convenient Airports there..

Phuket, Koh Samui, Chiang Mai, Phnom Penh can be reached easy.

Edited March 16, 2012 by ALFREDO

[Tanaka]

If they could mann all the counters, I`m sure it would help.

I cannot understand how in the lords name they could close down two of the gates for renovation works at the same time. It has to be a drunk mans decision.

Not at all. Just ordinary "as far as the noselength" Thai planning.

[Soboringtochooseaname]

When you open a business or offer any service in Thailand you should plan double staff than what is really needed, because Thai are SABAI and this is why we love them !

[khunron13]

Police helps out long-line problem at Suvarnabhumi

In light of several complaints over the long lines of the immigration check-in counters at the airport, ...

-- NNT 2012-03-16

LMAO!

[3sky]

That's all not the problem,if I travel to other countries like UAE,Malaysia,Singapore or back to Europe,the passport control takes 1-2minutes per person,sometimes less than that,here in Thailand it takes 3-5 min.i think Thai immigration officers are afraid to make a mistake,or maybe their computer is outdated

my experience going through outbound immigration 5-6 times these past 4 months or so... on monday mornings around 7am, the fast officers have been doing about 40seconds per passenger and the slow ones around a minute, and rarely beyond 2 minutes. yes, i did time these and no, i didn't have anything better to do in the line

i agree it can feel like 3-5min per passenger or maybe officers are actually slower later in the day...

[Tanaka]

The solution is to send Immigration Police and AoT officials to a major international airport like Doha or JFK, or Joburg to understand the work ethic required to process passengers in 1 to 2 min. Why cant Suwannaphum handle the current volume of passenger traffic! It was designed to.

Incompetence at all levels. And send officials to other countries to learn? Nice idea but you forget that foreigners cannot teach Thais anything. Every Thai knows they are superior.

[cheekyweasel]

Anyone got any knowledge on when this will come into effect or it is immediate? Couldnt see in the article - due to fly next week on "Budget" (don't make me laugh) airline Bangkok Air and then connecting to an international flight to the UK..

[thaigold]

Los Angeles, with a population equal to Bangkok has at least four regional and one international airport operating in the greater LA area, and this doesn't include the international airport at Palm Springs. It is the height of folly to believe one airport can service Thailand - especially if it wants to continue its position as the major aviation hub for South East Asia.

[OzMick]

If heading for the south, the obvious solution is to fly via KL. AA has flights to Phuket, Krabi, Had Yai and now Surat Thani. No congestion and much cheaper than "economy/budget" Bankok Air - should be renamed Ali Baba Air.

Don Muang is easy to get to/away from by train, dozen or so each day. There is a bridge over the highway from the mezzanine level. Coming from the south, get off at Bang Sue Junction and walk 50-60m to the other station. Too easy.

It sounds easy to you because you live here. What about the poor soul that has never been to Thailand. Not so easy for them.

Once I was a poor soul that has never been to Thailand. On my first departure, from the cab I saw the walkway from the station and thought to myself.................................

[harleyclarkey]

That's all not the problem,if I travel to other countries like UAE,Malaysia,Singapore or back to Europe,the passport control takes 1-2minutes per person,sometimes less than that,here in Thailand it takes 3-5 min.i think Thai immigration officers are afraid to make a mistake,or maybe their computer is outdated

Yes...I actual;l;t timed 2 officers recently as my queue was seriously slow.

My guy took around 1 minute to screen each passenger. The woman ion the next booth about 35 seconds! What is there for goodness sake to the check? The scan shows if a visa is needed, within date, etc.

Reminds me of airline check ins...why can I check in at home in under a minute when it takes forever at the airport counter?? The only difference is labelling a bag or two.

[toenail]

I remember before swampy land opened how there was talk by the govenment how the new airport would become a major hub for south east Asia. It is already having problems of not being large enough (poor planning...no pro-activeness) among other "issues". Now, the officials want the budget carriers to be at the old airport???? Nothing is worse than landing at an international airport then taking a taxi or bus to a domestic airport with your 'friken luggage and worrying about traffic. Bad decission PM.

[uptheos]

Singapore nationals and expats can get a card which they swipe on entry and exit (with thumb print recognition). I had one. Fantastic!

Yes, but Singapore is a developed country.

Soon Thailand will catch up with Malaysia, Cambodia et al.

[harleyclarkey]

Yes...I actually timed 2 officers recently. My guy took just over a minute per passenger while the woman next door did it in just over 30 seconds.

What's in it for goodness sake? The scan tells him everyhting he needs to know and so it should be fast.

By the way...how come I can check in at home for a flight in under a minute when the check in desk can take 5 minutes? The only difference is to label a bag or two.