Bangkok Airport Problems Threaten Tourist-Friendly Image

[MEL1]

Immigration is certainly a problem for tourists and businessmen arriving in Bangkok.

But Thailand is not the only country with these problems.

Read today's IHT, where the situation in US is described as "disgraceful".

Now I don't say, Thailand does not have a serious problem, indeed they have, but is not a problem unique to Thailand.

Just a few ideas on how to improve the immigration problem:

- at least the long distance flight by THAI could put an immigration officer in the plane. If he has up-to-date equipment, he could finalize the immigration procedure in the plane, otherwise at least check if the arrival cards are correctly filled in.

- I don't uderstand why Thailand makes such a big fuzz when leaving the kingdom. Why not just ask at check-in to give back the arrival/departure card and skip the lenghty check at immigration, at least for non-Thai-citizen.

Someone has other ideas?

I've never spent more than 5 mins at immigration. I don't understand the problem, unless TV members are just writing for fun. ???

Please enlighten me to these major problems.

Thanks in advance.

-mel.

[anterian]

I can still remember the good old days when the longest delay was waiting for you luggage to appear on the carousel.

[apyale]

I would bet that this has something to do with this Peuah thai government promoting their own stupid people (red shirts) and displacing experienced staff. How long this immigration officer in charge was there? This is going all over Thailand.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

If you have been thru immigration entering the US, you would see it makes a really bad first impression of the country, and tinges the rest of the experience. Ignorant, aggressive, supercilious gun-toting immigration staff sneering at the stupidity of new arrivals who dare to think they are worthy enough to visit doesn't create a positive impression, I'm afraid.

The difference is that Thailand actually seems to give a stuff what the rest of the world thinks.

[mrdome]

While the issue of long arrival queues is not limited to Thailand - let me mention IAH (Houston) in the U.S., for example - it simply will not work to not come up with a Plan B when removing 2/3s of capacity from the immigration screening process and to state that one has no idea when the renovation work will be finished is just unacceptable.

[hellodolly]

Funny that they are worried the airport threatens to tarnish their tourist friendly image...how about the daily assault, intimidation and robbing of tourists in scam after scam such as on the beaches of Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Samui with the jet ski gangs?

You are forgetting that almost all tourists come through swampy and only a small percentage of them are scammed on the beaches some never even go to a beach they go to a bar or take tours. Their is far more to Thailand than just bars and beaches. The few times I have been on beaches in Phuket, Hui Hen, Pattaya and Koran I was not scammed. It is just a small percentage of the ones who do go to the beaches that get scammed. Next time you go to a beach look at the number of tourists on the beach and then look at the number on jet skies a very small percentage of them and they are not all being scammed.

Funny how people can look at a few cases of wrong and say the whole country is doing it.

[grmgunn]

Every country has its faults. Thailand is great place to live. If I was a Thai reading all these rants and raves I'd be somewhat amused and think to myself is Thailand really that bad that the falangs are not happy here .. but then why do they stay here ? Lets be a bit more positive in general about the LOS.

[WackySomchai]

The fugitive and his cronies pocketed billions from this project making shortcuts and using second class materials. Now he is back launching new mega projects to fill up his bank accounts.

[MEL1]

Funny that they are worried the airport threatens to tarnish their tourist friendly image...how about the daily assault, intimidation and robbing of tourists in scam after scam such as on the beaches of Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Samui with the jet ski gangs?

You are forgetting that almost all tourists come through swampy and only a small percentage of them are scammed on the beaches some never even go to a beach they go to a bar or take tours. Their is far more to Thailand than just bars and beaches. The few times I have been on beaches in Phuket, Hui Hen, Pattaya and Koran I was not scammed. It is just a small percentage of the ones who do go to the beaches that get scammed. Next time you go to a beach look at the number of tourists on the beach and then look at the number on jet skies a very small percentage of them and they are not all being scammed.

Funny how people can look at a few cases of wrong and say the whole country is doing it.

Totally agree. It is the mentally retarded visitors who are gullible and open to scamming, same as any website or stupid e-mail received online. If you're that stupid just don't come, or go to Anon country and get scammed. If you can't be bothered to read up on where you are going then more fool you.

I've been here 8 years, speak the lingo, cos I was bothered to, and I have never been duped nor attempted to be. Personal attitude counts a lot, and if you are a weakling/weaklink, then you are so in your own country. It's about time people stopped knocking Thailand for its dupers, as they exist in EVERY country of the world, and they prey upon the weak and stupid. If you're stupid, don't come. Simple as that!

If you're here and stupid, then go home and be duped there, and stop complaining about your own losses wherever you are!

-mel.

Edit: Oh and by the way, I just got offered 30M US$ from a Nigerian banker who is ready to use my details to transfer 60% of it to me, as it was left by my poor Aunt. Any stupid farang visitors to Thailand interested in this, as opposed to paying 4,000 baht for a jet-ski scratch?

Edited March 17, 2012 by MEL1

[mikecwm]

a Thai-built and operated nuclear power plant would ... now THAT is something about which to be very, very concerned.

If Homer Simpson can run a nuclear power station I fail to see why Thailand should have any trouble doing so.

A little off topic here - but if there was one place in the world where no one should ever build a nuclear power station it would have to be the NE coast of Japan. Huge Tsunamis have been recorded there at least a couple per century.

So I am not surprised when Fukushima gets rolled over by a 50ft wave - they have been twice that height before.

Ok, back to Swampy.

[connda]

"Tourist Friendly Image???"

That should be dispelled the moment a newbie tourist meets their first Thai immigration official: unsmiling on a good day; grumpy and non-so-subtlety aggressive on a bad (overworked) day. LMFAO

[pdrhan]

I fly frequently between Changi and Swarmy. Even the ladies toilet in Swarmy is disgusting! The quality of the toilet is what I would find in a hawker centre in Singapore!

Couldn´t agree more,well i did not have a look at the ladies room inSwarmy but the mens room is probably alike, i remember my first time in SIN back in 1988

i was eating in a little restaurant and was forced to go to the room , it was at that time more clean than in Swampy.....

[MEL1]

"Tourist Friendly Image???"

That should be dispelled the moment a newbie tourist meets their first Thai immigration official: unsmiling on a good day; grumpy and non-so-subtlety aggressive on a bad (overworked) day. LMFAO

if your paperwork is in order, what's your prob? If your paperwork was in order, what was your prob?

If you don't like it, go back to your own immigration department, and get a life!

-mel.

[Reasonableman]

Hahaha, Mel1, nice client-friendly response! 55555

[Reasonableman]

Where are all these scam-free places? ;-)

"The few times I have been on beaches in Phuket, Hui Hen, Pattaya and Koran I was not scammed."

Edited March 17, 2012 by Reasonableman

[khunkeith]

at a flight change (international to domestic)in Frankfort a couple years ago, I had a 3+ hour layover. But, after going through the slow immigration and, then security once again, I missed my connection and ended up taking the train to my destination. At Heathrow, I almost missed a connection on to Germany because of slow security and immigration. The same in Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. Bangkok is not alone with it's problems.

[khunkeith]

Immigration is certainly a problem for tourists and businessmen arriving in Bangkok.

But Thailand is not the only country with these problems.

Read today's IHT, where the situation in US is described as "disgraceful".

Now I don't say, Thailand does not have a serious problem, indeed they have, but is not a problem unique to Thailand.

Just a few ideas on how to improve the immigration problem:

- at least the long distance flight by THAI could put an immigration officer in the plane. If he has up-to-date equipment, he could finalize the immigration procedure in the plane, otherwise at least check if the arrival cards are correctly filled in.

- I don't uderstand why Thailand makes such a big fuzz when leaving the kingdom. Why not just ask at check-in to give back the arrival/departure card and skip the lenghty check at immigration, at least for non-Thai-citizen.

Someone has other ideas?

I've never spent more than 5 mins at immigration. I don't understand the problem, unless TV members are just writing for fun. ???

Please enlighten me to these major problems.

Thanks in advance.

-mel.

most of the time, I also just spend a few minutes at immigration incoming. Outgoing is a different story. But, security can be a longer wait. But, I can't blame that on the Thai's as it's mostly tourists that don't take off their belts, have questionable items in their bags, women or men that are wearing to much jewelery or don't take off their watches, people that don't removed their laptop from their carry on bag, having big bottles of water, etc etc. These morons had to take a plane to get here didn't they? Or, maybe they read these posts and think Thai's are stupid and their security lax so they don't follow the rules that are in every airport in the world these days.

[witsawakorn]

Funny that they are worried the airport threatens to tarnish their tourist friendly image...how about the daily assault, intimidation and robbing of tourists in scam after scam such as on the beaches of Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Samui with the jet ski gangs?

Why? Aren't they allowed to be concerned about more than one thing?

[blazes]

I fly frequently between Changi and Swarmy. Even the ladies toilet in Swarmy is disgusting! The quality of the toilet is what I would find in a hawker centre in Singapore!

"Chengi" and "Swarmy".....are you a bespectacled little lad in short trousers from some English boarding school....?

[witsawakorn]

"Tourist Friendly Image???"

That should be dispelled the moment a newbie tourist meets their first Thai immigration official: unsmiling on a good day; grumpy and non-so-subtlety aggressive on a bad (overworked) day. LMFAO

Rubbish. Choose a line with one of the attractive female officers. An excellent wecome home as far as I am concerned. Once you've visited Thailand a few more times you will realise that people are a lot friendlier if you greet them properly and with a smile. If you want to meet really unfriendly immigration and Customs officials try transitting through the US. with a passport full of Asian stamps

[hbullinger]

I read somewhere that an arriving passenger got through immigration in the morning of the 15.3. in 20 minutes. I had friends arriving on the same day at BKK on TG917 (2 hours late at 6pm) who also walked through immigration in a very short time.

Was this due to the assistance of the 90 female riot police officers they talked about a few days beforehand?

Thai planning can't indeed extend to more than 30 minutes before starting consruction. When did the Airport Link start running after completion of Suvarnabumi? After some more years it suddenly occurs to them that they need a connection tunnel between the so-called city terminal Makasan and MRT Petchbury station.

Did the BTS prepare for the sudden influx uf passengers with bulky luggage on their Phyathai station by modifying their cattle transport trains or extend the number of carriages from 3 to 6 to use the full length of their platforms? Of course not. The list of other examples of failed or non-existing planning is endless.

Logistics will forever remain a foreign word in Thailand.

[khunkeith]

I read somewhere that an arriving passenger got through immigration in the morning of the 15.3. in 20 minutes. I had friends arriving on the same day at BKK on TG917 (2 hours late at 6pm) who also walked through immigration in a very short time.

Was this due to the assistance of the 90 female riot police officers they talked about a few days beforehand?

Thai planning can't indeed extend to more than 30 minutes before starting consruction. When did the Airport Link start running after completion of Suvarnabumi? After some more years it suddenly occurs to them that they need a connection tunnel between the so-called city terminal Makasan and MRT Petchbury station.

Did the BTS prepare for the sudden influx uf passengers with bulky luggage on their Phyathai station by modifying their cattle transport trains or extend the number of carriages from 3 to 6 to use the full length of their platforms? Of course not. The list of other examples of failed or non-existing planning is endless.

Logistics will forever remain a foreign word in Thailand.

Maybe the short wait was because the plane was late. On a recent arrival from Manila, there were 2 planes also just arriving from China that were delayed. it was 3AM and skeleton staff at immigration. the lines were long and slow. If those 2 flights from China had arrived on time (1AM) I am sure I would have breezed through.

[newjobs61]

well they didnt have this problem when the entry visa was longer but now its only 15 days people leave and move on to a better holiday without the worrie of visa runs

get the longer visa back into thailand this would help the airport cope

[user82374298374]

The reason the queues are longer now is because the purpose of all the construction is to set aside a significant proportion of the lanes for paid fast-track immigration (business-class and first-class passengers get free passes).

The really stupid part is that you can't buy a fast-track immigration pass *at the airport itself* - you have to buy it online/via telephone at least 24 hours before your flight.

[kevjohn]

I am in Sydney.

Spoke to my wife at 13:15 hrs Thailand time and she said that she was 15 minutes from the Airport.

She phoned again at 15:00 hrs Thailand time and said that she was booked in and through immigration

So things must be running a little smother today.

[Soutpeel]

well they didnt have this problem when the entry visa was longer but now its only 15 days people leave and move on to a better holiday without the worrie of visa runs

get the longer visa back into thailand this would help the airport cope

15 days is for crossing a land border...if you come in through the airport you would get 30 days....that hasnt changed

[khunkeith]

well they didnt have this problem when the entry visa was longer but now its only 15 days people leave and move on to a better holiday without the worrie of visa runs

get the longer visa back into thailand this would help the airport cope

You can go to the Thai embassy and get a longer visa before you go. I have done that on occasion before I moved here and wanted to stay longer than the allocated time. But, that takes a bit of effort on your part.

[khunkeith]

well they didnt have this problem when the entry visa was longer but now its only 15 days people leave and move on to a better holiday without the worrie of visa runs

get the longer visa back into thailand this would help the airport cope

15 days is for crossing a land border...if you come in through the airport you would get 30 days....that hasnt changed

doesn't that depend on where your country of citizen ship is? some countries get longer visa on arrival than other countries.

[ALFREDO]

I've never spent more than 5 mins at immigration. I don't understand the problem, unless TV members are just writing for fun. ???

Please enlighten me to these major problems.

Thanks in advance.

-mel.

-Mel-

Last time, I arrived from Europe in Oct. 2010 in the morning, with many other Airlines,who arrive at that time from Europe and the Middle east.

I had a huge queue, spilling out all the way to the People movers!

I could come around that situation, as I walked to the next Immigration checkpoint, 150 m? away, which was much less crowded

If there is now a bottleneck to, with Immigration checkpoints closed for renovation, I can believe, there is a problem.

Since than I used Suvarnabhumi only with my Thai children-I go to Thai Immi counters or for Domestic flights.

[Soutpeel]

well they didnt have this problem when the entry visa was longer but now its only 15 days people leave and move on to a better holiday without the worrie of visa runs

get the longer visa back into thailand this would help the airport cope

15 days is for crossing a land border...if you come in through the airport you would get 30 days....that hasnt changed

doesn't that depend on where your country of citizen ship is? some countries get longer visa on arrival than other countries.

Of course, but dont think this is what the OP meant