Travel Chaos: Bangkok Airport Ordered To Get Its Act Together

[webfact]

Travel chaos: Bangkok airport ordered to get its act together

Overcrowding, long lines and missed flights add to airport's woes. Government officials and industry experts say it needs to shape up. Quickly

By CNNGo staff

BANGKOK: -- Airport officials are working to solve issues of overcrowding and painfully long immigration lines that are causing many passengers to miss flights at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Immigration troubles have been acute for nearly a month according to various reports, with some travelers complaining of wait times of more than two hours at both departure and arrival immigration checkpoints last week.

Depending on the time of day, international fliers either breeze through or get stuck in travel gridlock. [more...]

Full story: http://www.cnngo.com...-airport-060746

-- CNNgo 2012-03-22

[Buchholz]

From the linked article:

This isn't the first time Suvarnabhumi has dealt with bad press

.

Congratulations, CNN.

Understatement of the Month

.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Buchholz

[smg]

I just sent through today it took 10 min.

[saengsureeya]

As stated earlier:

Monday 19-3-2012 7 a.m. outbound: 10 seconds

Tuesday 20-3-2012 8 p.m. inbound: 1.5 minute

Edited March 22, 2012 by saengsureeya

[hellodolly]

Well I am not saying the air port is lily white but

Why blame the air port. It is the government's job to hire the immigration and customs officers. If they fail to hire enough naturally there will be long delays.

[andrew55]

As stated earlier:

Monday 19-3-2012 7 a.m. outbound: 10 seconds

Tuesday 20-3-2012 8 p.m. inbound: 1.5 minute

Great to hear.

The problem that I find as a 6-10 times per month flyer is the inconsistency. You just never know when the hour or 2 queues are happening.

Despite the encouraging reports from posts #3 and #4 I'd suggest still being early and taking a good book

Edited March 22, 2012 by andrew55

[noitom]

Too bad the press reported and focused on the Thai security official slapping the worker on surveillance cam because he was "too big" to be checked. The press should have been facilitating the improvement of visitor traffic flow by doing its share of investigative journalism and exposing the inefficiencies and bureaucracy so as to perform a real service rather than sensationalizing. Whatever happened to the follow up on that official who did the slapping and the security breach? No sign of any follow up on that. He must have been too big after all.

[geriatrickid]

I flew in the other day and was able to do the immigration on airside via transfer desk. 2 minutes. 1 person in line ahead of me.

Flew TG all the way and had my bag tagged to HKT. I never knew I could do the immigration trnsfer airside, going from International to domestic A&B gates without having to go outside. 5 years of commuting and this is a new discovery for me.

[andrew55]

I flew in the other day and was able to do the immigration on airside via transfer desk. 2 minutes. 1 person in line ahead of me.

Flew TG all the way and had my bag tagged to HKT. I never knew I could do the immigration trnsfer airside, going from International to domestic A&B gates without having to go outside. 5 years of commuting and this is a new discovery for me.

Good to learn. Thanks for sharing.

[webfact]

Measures Set in Place to Ease Congestion at Suvarnabhumi Airport

The Trasport Ministry has applied many measures to tackle congestion at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Deputy Transport Minister Chatchart Sittiphan unveiled the progress in easing congestion at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, insisting that the problem has now been lessened.

He said that the airlines have been asked for cooperation in opening check-in counters for passengers one hour earlier. In addition, more immigration staff are stationed at the port of entry to shorten the passport check processing time.

Moreover, automatic gates will be resume their operation from April 11 to ease congestion. Regarding a policy to relocate domestic flights of low-cost airlines to Don Muang Airport, he said that there are no more airlines willing to relocate.

In the meantime, Suvarnabhumi Airport Director Somchai Sawasdipol, reported that the airport is handling an increasing number of passengers. The number of passengers has increased averagely by 150,000 people a day.

International passengers are accounted for 70 percent or 115,000 people. There are around 56,000 International outbound passengers daily, while international inbound passengers were recorded at 55,000 people a day, a 5.14 percent increase on a yearly basis.

Moreover, the airport in cooperation with the Royal Thai Police and the Immigration Bureau to bring 80 to 90 percent more staff to man the immigration booth.

-- Tan Network 2012-03-22

[Gone]

Every time I have gone through I find myself racing from the airplane to get to the Immigration check in booths and when I get there there is maybe 1 or 2 people working in them. The crowd starts to get bigger and bigger then you see a few Officers stroll up to the booths leaving a slug trail behind them and then proceed to start doing there job also at slug speed.

90% of them look at you like they don't want you in 'their' country and are definetly in no hurray to get you through. At the same time you look over at all the "Thai Nationals Only" booths and all the Thai's have gone through already but do you think they open it to foreigners? Not a chance in yell. Not to mention all the un-manned booths.

They just hate giving more "government" jobs out because then they will have to pay them pensions, health insurance etc.

It's such an easy issue to solve if they only gave a dam_n.

[moe666]

I flew in the other day and was able to do the immigration on airside via transfer desk. 2 minutes. 1 person in line ahead of me.

Flew TG all the way and had my bag tagged to HKT. I never knew I could do the immigration trnsfer airside, going from International to domestic A&B gates without having to go outside. 5 years of commuting and this is a new discovery for me.

You can also do domestic to international, went to Siem Reap 2 weeks ago from Chiang Mai, on Bangkok Airlines. Never saw the main immigration lines always the back way. If you are going to depart on regular domestic there are glass walls they you will see people walking on the other side these are the people transfering to international or to domestic depending on there destination.

[moe666]

Every time I have gone through I find myself racing from the airplane to get to the Immigration check in booths and when I get there there is maybe 1 or 2 people working in them. The crowd starts to get bigger and bigger then you see a few Officers stroll up to the booths leaving a slug trail behind them and then proceed to start doing there job also at slug speed.

90% of them look at you like they don't want you in 'their' country and are definetly in no hurray to get you through. At the same time you look over at all the "Thai Nationals Only" booths and all the Thai's have gone through already but do you think they open it to foreigners? Not a chance in yell. Not to mention all the un-manned booths.

They just hate giving more "government" jobs out because then they will have to pay them pensions, health insurance etc.

It's such an easy issue to solve if they only gave a dam_n.

I have seen them open the Thai only and diplomat lines a few times.

[tonititan]

The problem that I find as a 6-10 times per month flyer is the inconsistency. You just never know when the hour or 2 queues are happening.

I think that's the key - the inconsistency. I travel a lot for work. Some people have reported very short lines in immigration in the past week, while on the same days, I waited 1-2 hours each time. As has been stated, you never know what to expect. We don't want to have to show up 3 hours early every time JUST in case it happens to be one of those times when there's a long line.

[x5david]

Too bad the press reported and focused on the Thai security official slapping the worker on surveillance cam because he was "too big" to be checked. The press should have been facilitating the improvement of visitor traffic flow by doing its share of investigative journalism and exposing the inefficiencies and bureaucracy so as to perform a real service rather than sensationalizing. Whatever happened to the follow up on that official who did the slapping and the security breach? No sign of any follow up on that. He must have been too big after all.

Seems you are expecting allot from the Thai press. That type of reporting requires investigation and actual work. Doubt the Thai media goes to those lengths in most cases. Easier to write a sensational story as you put it and let the chips fall where they may.

[tfc]

The problem that I find as a 6-10 times per month flyer is the inconsistency. You just never know when the hour or 2 queues are happening.

I think that's the key - the inconsistency. I travel a lot for work. Some people have reported very short lines in immigration in the past week, while on the same days, I waited 1-2 hours each time. As has been stated, you never know what to expect. We don't want to have to show up 3 hours early every time JUST in case it happens to be one of those times when there's a long line.

I agree. If there is a chance that there may be a 2 hour wait then I'm going to get there with time to spare even if it is only 20 minutes. The only reason that I prepare for the worst is because I have experienced it before and missing flights is not something that I want to go through.

[daninthai]

"It also stated on Wednesday that additional staff have been added to man immigration booths at 80 to 90 percent of capacity, up from the previous 50 to 60 percent. "

Last week the guy in charge of Immigration at the airport (I think it was him) said the booths were fully manned, and the number of staff wasn't an issue. Instead they should get incentives to work more efficiently. Obviously a face-saving lie coupled with a grab for money. In a well-run country, he would be fired immediately.

[daninthai]

Too bad the press reported and focused on the Thai security official slapping the worker on surveillance cam because he was "too big" to be checked. The press should have been facilitating the improvement of visitor traffic flow by doing its share of investigative journalism and exposing the inefficiencies and bureaucracy so as to perform a real service rather than sensationalizing. Whatever happened to the follow up on that official who did the slapping and the security breach? No sign of any follow up on that. He must have been too big after all.

There was follow up the other week on TV. Can't remember the exact result but the slapper received a tiny punishment.

[ralphlsasser]

Every time I have gone through I find myself racing from the airplane to get to the Immigration check in booths and when I get there there is maybe 1 or 2 people working in them. The crowd starts to get bigger and bigger then you see a few Officers stroll up to the booths leaving a slug trail behind them and then proceed to start doing there job also at slug speed.

90% of them look at you like they don't want you in 'their' country and are definetly in no hurray to get you through. At the same time you look over at all the "Thai Nationals Only" booths and all the Thai's have gone through already but do you think they open it to foreigners? Not a chance in yell. Not to mention all the un-manned booths.

They just hate giving more "government" jobs out because then they will have to pay them pensions, health insurance etc.

It's such an easy issue to solve if they only gave a dam_n.

That's the problem in a nut shell. The Thai way; don't give a dame about anything except them selves. That alone is 60% of the problem.

[warfie]

Many years ago, I was in a very long immigration queue (no, I don't remember what airport) and security personnel started wandering down the lines and seemingly at random leading people away, I thought "<deleted>?" looked at my watch knowing I already had a chance of missing my flight.

My turn, the officer came to me and asked to see my ticket, he saw that the departure time was near and escorted me to the very short queue at the diplomat booth... problem solved, simple...

[anterian]

Many years ago, I was in a very long immigration queue (no, I don't remember what airport) and security personnel started wandering down the lines and seemingly at random leading people away, I thought "<deleted>?" looked at my watch knowing I already had a chance of missing my flight.

My turn, the officer came to me and asked to see my ticket, he saw that the departure time was near and escorted me to the very short queue at the diplomat booth... problem solved, simple...

I had a similar experience in Manila a few years back.

[Deaw]

From the linked article:

This isn't the first time Suvarnabhumi has dealt with bad press

.

Congratulations, CNN.

Understatement of the Month

.

They deserve the bad press.....the place is a hellhole of epic proportions [even and especially the over-priced corridors filled with "duty-free" smelly garbage from brand name fragrance and handbag designers] and has been plagued with problems since the start.

It's like, jeeesh guys, you are making a new airport to be the hub of travel in Southeast Asia and you have unlimited funds to do it and you even screw THAT up??

TIT per usual

[Sing_Sling]

you are making a new airport to be the hub of travel in Southeast Asia

[david555]

It could also help to let one officer checking in the queuing lines giving quick eye if arrival / departure cards are filled correctly are filled in ..... as especially some nationality's doesn't care about that , creating delays

[Buchholz]

From the linked article:

This isn't the first time Suvarnabhumi has dealt with bad press

Congratulations, CNN.

Understatement of the Month

They deserve the bad press.....the place is a hellhole of epic proportions

That's reflected by garnering enough traffic to have its own forum on Thaivisa devoted to it

.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Buchholz

[mrdome]

Now here's a new helpful service for ThaiVisa: Swampy wait times for departing & arriiving passengers & recommendations of where to queue delievered via email/mobile/Twitter

Pay someone to watch the queues for you, George.

Edited March 22, 2012 by mrdome

[Garry]

Every time I have gone through I find myself racing from the airplane to get to the Immigration check in booths and when I get there there is maybe 1 or 2 people working in them. The crowd starts to get bigger and bigger then you see a few Officers stroll up to the booths leaving a slug trail behind them and then proceed to start doing there job also at slug speed.

90% of them look at you like they don't want you in 'their' country and are definetly in no hurray to get you through. At the same time you look over at all the "Thai Nationals Only" booths and all the Thai's have gone through already but do you think they open it to foreigners? Not a chance in yell. Not to mention all the un-manned booths.

They just hate giving more "government" jobs out because then they will have to pay them pensions, health insurance etc.

It's such an easy issue to solve if they only gave a dam_n.

Thai immigratiion has opened up Thai desks plenty of times for non-Thai's in my travels. Sounds like you're just been unlucky

[Garry]

It could also help to let one officer checking in the queuing lines giving quick eye if arrival / departure cards are filled correctly are filled in ..... as especially some nationality's doesn't care about that , creating delays

They do this already, though you may not have seen it. Seen it many a time, but agreed, it annoys the hell out of me that people won't even attempt to do their arrival cards. I have seen immigartion help people in ques fill their cards out.

[mikebell]

As stated earlier:

Monday 19-3-2012 7 a.m. outbound: 10 seconds

Tuesday 20-3-2012 8 p.m. inbound: 1.5 minute

Great to hear.

The problem that I find as a 6-10 times per month flyer is the inconsistency. You just never know when the hour or 2 queues are happening.

Despite the encouraging reports from posts #3 and #4 I'd suggest still being early and taking a good book

May I recommend 'Amusing Thailand' or 'Thai Tales' both by Mike Bell

[warfie]

It could also help to let one officer checking in the queuing lines giving quick eye if arrival / departure cards are filled correctly are filled in ..... as especially some nationality's doesn't care about that , creating delays

On my first journey O/S I didn't have the card filled out.... I was simply sent away, told to fill-in the card and rejoin the end of the queue... last time I ever did that!

Again... simple!