let us say I am departing bkk , get to airport 4 hours early and check in 3 hours early, and somehow still can't get through immigration timely

and i miss a flight

is anyone reponsible to help me, or does the airline just plead its not their fault etc ?

in my case were talking $700 + for an international flight .......

If you have checked in outside of immigration the airline will normally page you twice before releasing your seat assignment, rarely do the go and check the queues anymore. If you are that concerned you can always ask very nicely to jump the queue but show your boarding pass to fellow passengers as proof. Depending if the airline is an IATA participant or not normally the will offer you next flight availibility on as a stand-by passenger. If your ederly request wheelchair assistance as they are given priority.

You can always check flightstats.com >Bangkok Departures to see if the time you are travelling is heavy or not with departures.

Friday a mate flew to Hong Kong, from check in all the way past security was 52 minutes-flew TG economy class.

Yes usually Airlines will have reps calling out up coming flights so if you are running close they will usually let you queue jump.

If you have checked in outside of immigration the airline will normally page you twice before releasing your seat assignment, rarely do the go and check the queues anymore. If you are that concerned you can always ask very nicely to jump the queue but show your boarding pass to fellow passengers as proof. Depending if the airline is an IATA participant or not normally the will offer you next flight availibility on as a stand-by passenger. If your ederly request wheelchair assistance as they are given priority.

You can always check flightstats.com >Bangkok Departures to see if the time you are travelling is heavy or not with departures.

Friday a mate flew to Hong Kong, from check in all the way past security was 52 minutes-flew TG economy class.

.......thanks so how many flights total would you consider heavy in a ? 30-45 minute window around my likely arrival/ departure? at 1am ; this is china eastern which seems to have a pretty lousy on-time record it seems, guess you get what you pay for

If you have checked in outside of immigration the airline will normally page you twice before releasing your seat assignment, rarely do the go and check the queues anymore. If you are that concerned you can always ask very nicely to jump the queue but show your boarding pass to fellow passengers as proof. Depending if the airline is an IATA participant or not normally the will offer you next flight availibility on as a stand-by passenger. If your ederly request wheelchair assistance as they are given priority.

You can always check flightstats.com >Bangkok Departures to see if the time you are travelling is heavy or not with departures.

Friday a mate flew to Hong Kong, from check in all the way past security was 52 minutes-flew TG economy class.

.......thanks so how many flights total would you consider heavy in a ? 30-45 minute window around my likely arrival/ departure? at 1am ; this is china eastern which seems to have a pretty lousy on-time record it seems, guess you get what you pay for

That is a peak time, lots of widebody flights leaving for Europe from 2300-0100. China Eastern use an Airbus A330 and 737 so checkin shouldn't be a problem it will be your immigration hall time, my mate I mentioned flew out at 2100 and had less than an hour.

Don't stress yourself, when you check in ask if they will come to the immigration hall and assist you or if it is getting close jump the queue.

I fly internationally out of Suvarnabhumi usually two, sometimes three times a month. In more than 40 trips over the last year, I have NEVER waited more than 30 minutes at passport control exiting and not more than 25 minutes entering.

REUTERS just carried a story making it sound like two hour waits are the norm; that is just so untrue and inaccurate. Yes, occasionally several high volume flights will coincide due to flight delays and long back ups can ensue but that also happens at every major international airport in the world. For instance, I have had hour long lines in Hong Kong and Atlanta.

I fly internationally out of Suvarnabhumi usually two, sometimes three times a month. In more than 40 trips over the last year, I have NEVER waited more than 30 minutes at passport control exiting and not more than 25 minutes entering.

REUTERS just carried a story making it sound like two hour waits are the norm; that is just so untrue and inaccurate. Yes, occasionally several high volume flights will coincide due to flight delays and long back ups can ensue but that also happens at every major international airport in the world. For instance, I have had hour long lines in Hong Kong and Atlanta.

5:15am in the morning, last wednesday, 90 minutes to get through immigration (outbound), 2 months ago, business trip to KL, 1 hour and 10 mins to get out, yes we have all experienced delays in immigration, but I can't recall any airport that I have travelled through in 30 years where it takes over an hour to leave the country.

Moved to Suvarnabhumi Airport forum.

I checked in at Suvarnabhumi on the 20th March 3 hours before my flight at about 10am.

The check in lady told me to go straight to Immigration as they were very busy.

Thought it a bit odd as I was one of the first 10 or so peason to check in and wondered about the couple of hundred people or so behind me on my flight, but went as fast as I could to security.

Need not have rushed as I was through into the departure loung in about 15 mins.