Heading to my gate g4 and saw the signs for the smoking room at gate 1a. Went down the stairs to find 6 airport employees with hand held scanners checking passports and boarding passes and of course scanning people for i don't know what since everyone has already been through security. The staff were refusing people who were not on the flight into the gate where the smoking room is. They just pointed to the luxury lounge where they charge. I just walked through the commotion without getting scanned and went straight to the smoking room. Was not arrested. My gate is g4 and there is no staff scanning here. Smoking room scam???!!!!

Doesn't sound like a scam to me.

Sounds like proper security in not allowing people who are not passengers into a gate they shouldn't be at.

Doesn't sound like a scam to me.

Sounds like proper security in not allowing people who are not passengers into a gate they shouldn't be at.

Exactly.

If not checked how would they KNOW for certain that a person in that smoking area had not somehow evaded security checks and somehow got there.

At least in theory, a would-be terrorist or hijacker could have gone through security with no weapons.

Then, if an accompliss was somehow not checked and able to evade security, he or she might meet the hijacker there in the smoking area and pass a weapon to that hijacker or terrorist.

Then the <deleted> hits the fan,

That;s precisely why everyone has to be re-checked and verified. Okay, it might be unlikely....but the possibility has to be cosidered...otherwise the consequences could be disasterous.

That's what security is all about.

guess you guys came thailand over land. Fyi , the airport screens passengers before the gates. Their bags go through x ray machines that can actually see what is inside them. In addition, passengers walk through metal detectors. I know it sounds very sci fi and futuristic but it has been going for years even here in Thailand!

also, airports all over the world, in Hong kong too, have public smoking rooms where people go and wait for it , smoke!

Sometimes countries ask for additional security measures for their national carrieers and/or flights to their countries.

Fly for exapmple with ELAL and you wil have a whole different securtity then flying with Airasia.

Smoking room scam???

Not unless Sri Lanka Tony was spotted blowing smoke rings behind the metal detector.

Sounds like normal passenger management to me too. If you aren't on the flight, you don't get let into the gate area. Doesn't matter if you have been checked somewhere else.

Why is it always a scam at the airport, been flying in and out of Thailand for years and have never been asked for extra money, never robbed, or arrested. Probably a one off security check and if you go back today more than likely not there.

Gate D4 (?) does have the same lay-out.

Went there last time, passed the boarding-pass check without any hassle and smoked my last fag for 14 hours.

Why is it always a scam at the airport, been flying in and out of Thailand for years and have never been asked for extra money, never robbed, or arrested. Probably a one off security check and if you go back today more than likely not there.

Bingo.

Have flown in and out of Swampy perhaps a hundred times since it opened and never had a bad experience once. I simply can't tally my experience of the airport with those expressed so often here.

No, that is definetely not a scam.

Sent from iPhone; please forgive any typos or violations of forum rules

No, that is definetely not a scam.

Sent from iPhone; please forgive any typos or violations of forum rules

But it was in Thailand brit.

And at the airport.

It MUST be a scam.

If we ever added the words "scam", "crackdown", and "mafia" to the censored word list the forum would grind to a stop.

If we ever added the words "scam", "crackdown", and "mafia" to the censored word list the forum would grind to a stop.

No worries, the hubs would keep it running forever.

smoked my last fag for 14 hours.

Hopefully in the British context as opposed to the American mate.

Why is it always a scam at the airport, been flying in and out of Thailand for years and have never been asked for extra money, never robbed, or arrested. Probably a one off security check and if you go back today more than likely not there.

Bingo.

Have flown in and out of Swampy perhaps a hundred times since it opened and never had a bad experience once. I simply can't tally my experience of the airport with those expressed so often here.

2 years ago, the Bangkok Post reported the airport security levied 14,500 fines to airport scammers in the first 6 months of the year. Nice chunk of change.

Thats how the security make money.

All security guards, police etc exploit their position.

Thats just the way it is.

If we ever added the words "scam", "crackdown", and "mafia" to the censored word list the forum would grind to a stop.

Well where is one supposed to report these things if not for TVF vic? Which other website does such a good job of embracing the care in the community paranoid loons among us?

Why only the other day I drove to Bangkok and joined the elevated expressway. Every few kilometres there were these kiosks where I had to hand over amounts ranging from 25 to 85 baht. This certainly doesn't happen at ground level. Where can I report this blatant scam? No wonder not many people were using it if the scammers are extorting money every few minutes. They even had the audacity to be wearing a uniform as if it lent some credibility to their thievery.

If we ever added the words "scam", "crackdown", and "mafia" to the censored word list the forum would grind to a stop.

Well where is one supposed to report these things if not for TVF vic? Which other website does such a good job of embracing the care in the community paranoid loons among us?

Why only the other day I drove to Bangkok and joined the elevated expressway. Every few kilometres there were these kiosks where I had to hand over amounts ranging from 25 to 85 baht. This certainly doesn't happen at ground level. Where can I report this blatant scam? No wonder not many people were using it if the scammers are extorting money every few minutes. They even had the audacity to be wearing a uniform as if it lent some credibility to their thievery.

The toll fees are a scam.

The cash gets pocketed. Big story in the Bangkok Post some time ago.

If we ever added the words "scam", "crackdown", and "mafia" to the censored word list the forum would grind to a stop.

Well where is one supposed to report these things if not for TVF vic? Which other website does such a good job of embracing the care in the community paranoid loons among us?

Why only the other day I drove to Bangkok and joined the elevated expressway. Every few kilometres there were these kiosks where I had to hand over amounts ranging from 25 to 85 baht. This certainly doesn't happen at ground level. Where can I report this blatant scam? No wonder not many people were using it if the scammers are extorting money every few minutes. They even had the audacity to be wearing a uniform as if it lent some credibility to their thievery.

The toll fees are a scam.

The cash gets pocketed. Big story in the Bangkok Post some time ago.

How is it a scam?

If we ever added the words "scam", "crackdown", and "mafia" to the censored word list the forum would grind to a stop.

Well where is one supposed to report these things if not for TVF vic? Which other website does such a good job of embracing the care in the community paranoid loons among us?

Why only the other day I drove to Bangkok and joined the elevated expressway. Every few kilometres there were these kiosks where I had to hand over amounts ranging from 25 to 85 baht. This certainly doesn't happen at ground level. Where can I report this blatant scam? No wonder not many people were using it if the scammers are extorting money every few minutes. They even had the audacity to be wearing a uniform as if it lent some credibility to their thievery.

The toll fees are a scam.

The cash gets pocketed. Big story in the Bangkok Post some time ago.

How is it a scam?

The Bangkok Post reported the administrators disabled the counting devices and stole the fares.

Then, 'investigators' made an order to place army soldiers at each expressway ramp and count the cars to estimate the daily losses.

Here is where it gets interesting....

Someone created a press release that went front page and announced the army counting the fares....."was going to create a traffic nitemare!...STAY OFF THE FREEWAY tomorrow! they said.

So the day of the counting exercise, there were far fewer cars going thru the tolls.

Edited June 22, 201214 yr by pauljones

cheers

Doesn't sound like a scam to me.

Sounds like proper security in not allowing people who are not passengers into a gate they shouldn't be at.

Correct.

Unless you happen to be one of C-LEVEL above A Holier than thou... don't need it.

If we ever added the words "scam", "crackdown", and "mafia" to the censored word list the forum would grind to a stop.

Well where is one supposed to report these things if not for TVF vic? Which other website does such a good job of embracing the care in the community paranoid loons among us?

Why only the other day I drove to Bangkok and joined the elevated expressway. Every few kilometres there were these kiosks where I had to hand over amounts ranging from 25 to 85 baht. This certainly doesn't happen at ground level. Where can I report this blatant scam? No wonder not many people were using it if the scammers are extorting money every few minutes. They even had the audacity to be wearing a uniform as if it lent some credibility to their thievery.

The toll fees are a scam.

The cash gets pocketed. Big story in the Bangkok Post some time ago.

How is it a scam?

It's not a scam, the employees are stealing from their employer.

It is quite obvious that no one posting on this thread is a smoker besides the OP and me.

Swampy does not have a smoking lounge per gate on airside. You HAVE to go to where ever the smoking rooms are. You have to go to alternate gates to use the smoking rooms. I have never been stopped before but will follow the OPs advice.