Thailand's Suvarnabhumi Airport Ready For High Tourist Season

[webfact]

Thailand's Suvarnabhumi Airport Ready For High Tourist Season

BANGKOK, Oct 31 (Bernama) -- Thailand's Suvarnabhumi International Airport is ready to serve a surge of global visitors during the current high tourist season, set from Oct 28-March 30, 2013, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

The new Thai Permanent Secretary for Transport Wichean Potephosree told reporters that the International Airport is expected to cater up to 23 million tourists during the five-month high tourism season, or 150,000 foreign visitors daily on average via some 800 flights a day.

Wichean noted that the relocation of AirAsia, a fast-growing low-cost airline in the region, to Bangkok's Don Muang Airport since Oct 1, has resulted in less congestion at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

The international flights have now dropped by more than 134 daily and the number of passengers has fallen by 20,000 a day or about eight million annually.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), meanwhile, has also prepared for the growing number of tourist arrivals during the ongoing high season, by moving check-points to a wider space, installing more body scanning machines and setting up 16 additional automatic passport checking systems, to reduce the international passengers' check-in time from 45 to 20 seconds each, enabling the airport to serve some 7,200 passengers per hour from 2,800 previously.

The Suvarnabhumi International Airport is now foreseen to cater up to some 44.45 million international passengers in the present 2013 fiscal year, from Oct 1-Sept 30, 2013.

Source: http://www.bernama.c...d.php?id=705822

-- BERNAMA 2012-10-31

[weescotsguy66]

Will they ever rid the corruption within the airport with the rogue taxi drivers, fax customs officials etc etc

[Katipo]

Suvanabhumi was not so bad last time, but then they had just moved Air Asia's 99 flights per day (+Nok etc) to Don Muang.

Arriving back from Myanmar via. Don Muang was a total disgrace however. Over 50 minutes in the immigration queue! They haven't eliminated the problem, just shuffled it around.

[osiboy]

"ready for high season ",..............does that mean the staff have all learned how to speak russian, be rude to customers and allow not having to wait your turn in line ??

[drdoom6996]

Will they ever rid the corruption within the airport with the rogue taxi drivers, fax customs officials etc etc

Hell no, Them and the BIB are licking their chops!

[Payboy]

Thailand's Suvarnabhumi Airport Ready For High Tourist Season

Now, only need to find high tourists.

[smutcakes]

Maybe i have been lucky, but I have never had any problems at Swampy, immigration has always been efficient, and never been questioned, stopped or had any issues with taxis.

[crazykopite]

I would live to know where all these tourists are coming fron is Thailand not aware of a world wide recession !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ketje]

Ready ???

I was there 4 days ago ( still low season ) coming back from Europe; there was a 1 hour queue in front of each immigration desk.

Me and my wife went through the Thai Passport section but they really are NOT ready to welcome properly high amount of tourists !

[atyclb]

Recent low season immigration queu in Poipet entering Thailand Three hours. Not even that many people in line. Timed average immigration time each person about 2:40 seconds, some reaching 4 minutes, some about 2 minutes.

Immigration official complaining about passport readers not reading passports. Seems they have to manually enter the info. This is nothing new at Poipet.

I recall Kual Lumpur airport immigration; about 20 seconds. Very organized and smooth, and a smile to boot, albeit a competent smile.

Edited October 31, 2012 by atyclb

[Basil B]

So what are the improvements besides moving Air Asia?

Have they recruited a large number of "Highly Motivated" immigration staff so they can open every available desk at peek times or have Red Cross feeding stations to look after passengers waiting in the very long queues???

[mikebell]

If you've ever been to LA airport, all the moans about BKK would be silenced. There may be no corruption there but the queues are endless; the Immigration officers are very rude; the system a disgrace to a 'civilised' country.

I walk quickly from the plane at BKK and the most time I have ever waited is under 20 minutes in seven years of travelling to Thailand. Compare this to LA where it took my wife & I two hours of being bullied; having to collect our luggage for extra security check despite flying on to Vegas. This caused a missed connection resulting in an unscheduled extra night in a hotel.

It's my last visit to USA, particularly when you throw in the difficulty of obtaining a visa through an incompetent on-line system that necessitates a night in a hotel in BKK because the only appointments are only for early morning.

[theblether]

Went through last week, the transfer from international to domestic flight cannot, and I mean cannot be easier.............I love walking past the the Immigration hall down to the domestic transfer desk and I highly recommend it. It takes me a maximum of two minutes every time I go through that area.

On the way out on Sunday, once again easy......up the new elevator, clear security first, then I was straight through emigration. Could not be easier......however!! I do everything in my power to avoid the Immigration Hall at Swampy, I quite believe the horror stories coming from there and I haven't seen anything to suggest it's going to get any better.

[RogueLeader]

I would live to know where all these tourists are coming fron is Thailand not aware of a world wide recession !!!!!!!!!!!!

China, India, Russia. No recession there. Yet.

[BuddhaMind]

If you've ever been to LA airport, all the moans about BKK would be silenced. There may be no corruption there but the queues are endless; the Immigration officers are very rude; the system a disgrace to a 'civilised' country.

I walk quickly from the plane at BKK and the most time I have ever waited is under 20 minutes in seven years of travelling to Thailand. Compare this to LA where it took my wife & I two hours of being bullied; having to collect our luggage for extra security check despite flying on to Vegas. This caused a missed connection resulting in an unscheduled extra night in a hotel.

It's my last visit to USA, particularly when you throw in the difficulty of obtaining a visa through an incompetent on-line system that necessitates a night in a hotel in BKK because the only appointments are only for early morning.

I'm American, born in Los Angeles, and find LAX International appalling. I guess maybe because I've traveled quite a bit internationally and think we could do a hell of a lot better. One to two hour waits in line are common. Then it's a free-for-all in the baggage claim area and getting out the door through another round of checks. Just an awful way to greet visitors coming to this "great land" for the first time. My 2 cents.

[georgey]

Suvanabhumi was not so bad last time, but then they had just moved Air Asia's 99 flights per day (+Nok etc) to Don Muang.

Arriving back from Myanmar via. Don Muang was a total disgrace however. Over 50 minutes in the immigration queue! They haven't eliminated the problem, just shuffled it around.

I came back from HKT 2 days ago, & while (obviously) there was no need to deal with immigration, the rest of the experience was horrific - v long & completely disorganised taxi queues - an absolute disgrace, as you say. Any unfortunate first-time visitor coming in by this route will wonder what hell-hole he has reached.....

Like most others, I find Suvarnabhumi, usually at least (with the exception of the time when they totally messed up immigration maybe 6 mths ago), to be quite decent relative to most large international airports (SIN being the clear exception).

[Soi Dog]

I'd be happy if they could process passengers in the 45 seconds they say they take now. Getting down to 20 seconds is a dream. WHile things have improved slightly recently in the past I have had to wait almost two hours for entrance immigration. Exit immigration remains a disgrace with long waits for a process that should be simple. I went through recently and it took a half hour while half the stations were unmanned (or unwomanned). There is no excuse for that. In Singapore it is rare to even have one person ahead of you in exit immigration.

[joseph49]

Will they ever rid the corruption within the airport with the rogue taxi drivers, fax customs officials etc etc

Will they ever rid the corruption within the airport with the rogue taxi drivers, fax customs officials etc etc

Hi, best place to get a taxi please from swampy?, you would know I think.

[delh]

If you've ever been to LA airport, all the moans about BKK would be silenced. There may be no corruption there but the queues are endless; the Immigration officers are very rude; the system a disgrace to a 'civilised' country.

I walk quickly from the plane at BKK and the most time I have ever waited is under 20 minutes in seven years of travelling to Thailand. Compare this to LA where it took my wife & I two hours of being bullied; having to collect our luggage for extra security check despite flying on to Vegas. This caused a missed connection resulting in an unscheduled extra night in a hotel.

It's my last visit to USA, particularly when you throw in the difficulty of obtaining a visa through an incompetent on-line system that necessitates a night in a hotel in BKK because the only appointments are only for early morning.

Well said, LAX is a disgrace. The attitude is shocking.

[mrtoad]

Last month, flying back from Germany, it was a one hour wait at immigration, will be interesting to see next week when I fly back in. Exiting has improved somewhat.

As a modern airport though, it is a joke.

[xtof2]

TAT and the figures:

BANGKOK, Oct 15 – Thailand will achieve its target 20 million tourist arrival by year end, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

Ministry permanent-secretary Suwat Sidthilaw said 15 million tourists entered Thailand from January through September

So, that meant 5 million more tourists for Q4 , so roughly 2 millions for November and 2 for December.

And now:

The new Thai Permanent Secretary for Transport Wichean Potephosree told reporters that the International Airport is expected to cater up to 23 million tourists during the five-month high tourism season (November till end of March)

...Meaning 19 million from January till March... just 6 million per month

Waouh. Do the maths, Mr. Thai permanent secretary. Go figure out.

I guess as the NEW secretary, he is thinking: " let's triple the previous figures" !

Edited October 31, 2012 by xtof2

[Baerboxer]

I'd be happy if they could process passengers in the 45 seconds they say they take now. Getting down to 20 seconds is a dream. WHile things have improved slightly recently in the past I have had to wait almost two hours for entrance immigration. Exit immigration remains a disgrace with long waits for a process that should be simple. I went through recently and it took a half hour while half the stations were unmanned (or unwomanned). There is no excuse for that. In Singapore it is rare to even have one person ahead of you in exit immigration.

I travel regularly and the average time from exiting the plane (economy ticket) to being in the taxi on the way home is 50 minutes. This compares favourably with the "Heathrow experience" believe me. I've only experienced delays here on 2 occasions. These were both due to my flight arriving late and landing just after flights from India and China instead of before. The delays were due to the Indian and Chinese either not bothering or not being able to complete the landing cards. I saw one Australian family arrive at the counter and then start trying to argue that they only needed to fill one card in for a family of 4! They were on my flight and the husband sat next to me. I advised him to fill 4 in but he said no way. Then their queue had to wait while he slowly filled 4 in correctly. Ridiculous attitude,

Having someone pre-check the arrivals cards have been completed, and sending those that haven't out of the queue speeds things up enormously. I've also been on many flights where I've had to chase the attendants for the landing cards as they leave it too late, just before landing. In buisness class the landing cards are usually given out prior to take off.

Everyone has the own experiences, but with many years of travel around Europe, Asia and Noth America, my experience is that Suvarnabhumi is one of the better ones.

Singpore airport is very nice, so is KL and both usually efficent going in. I've had some delays going out of KL though. Worst experiences - LA, Newark NJ, Heathrow, and Charles De Gaul.

Edited October 31, 2012 by Baerboxer

[bridge2bridge]

Will they ever rid the corruption within the airport with the rogue taxi drivers, fax customs officials etc etc

Will they ever rid the corruption within the airport with the rogue taxi drivers, fax customs officials etc etc

Hi, best place to get a taxi please from swampy?, you would know I think.

When you arrive go upstairs and get a taxi from departure area, no fee to pay.

But make sure you ask for the meter on, or negotiate a good price.

[SeaVisionBurma]

When you arrive go upstairs and get a taxi from departure area, no fee to pay.

But make sure you ask for the meter on, or negotiate a good price.

Meter, yes. Negotiate a good price? Never.

Post was good until you added the 'negotiate' bit. Completely negated the earlier 'no fee to pay' part.

Never take a taxi if they won't put the meter on. Very simple.

[osiboy]

I'd be happy if they could process passengers in the 45 seconds they say they take now. Getting down to 20 seconds is a dream. WHile things have improved slightly recently in the past I have had to wait almost two hours for entrance immigration. Exit immigration remains a disgrace with long waits for a process that should be simple. I went through recently and it took a half hour while half the stations were unmanned (or unwomanned). There is no excuse for that. In Singapore it is rare to even have one person ahead of you in exit immigration.

I travel regularly and the average time from exiting the plane (economy ticket) to being in the taxi on the way home is 50 minutes. This compares favourably with the "Heathrow experience" believe me. I've only experienced delays here on 2 occasions. These were both due to my flight arriving late and landing just after flights from India and China instead of before. The delays were due to the Indian and Chinese either not bothering or not being able to complete the landing cards. I saw one Australian family arrive at the counter and then start trying to argue that they only needed to fill one card in for a family of 4! They were on my flight and the husband sat next to me. I advised him to fill 4 in but he said no way. Then their queue had to wait while he slowly filled 4 in correctly. Ridiculous attitude,

Having someone pre-check the arrivals cards have been completed, and sending those that haven't out of the queue speeds things up enormously. I've also been on many flights where I've had to chase the attendants for the landing cards as they leave it too late, just before landing. In buisness class the landing cards are usually given out prior to take off.

Everyone has the own experiences, but with many years of travel around Europe, Asia and Noth America, my experience is that Suvarnabhumi is one of the better ones.

Singpore airport is very nice, so is KL and both usually efficent going in. I've had some delays going out of KL though. Worst experiences - LA, Newark NJ, Heathrow, and Charles De Gaul.

have to agree with everything you've said, but the long queues at the airports you named is probs because they would be/are prime targets for the muslim terrorists , better safe ...............eh ?

[asiawatcher]

Swampy is a crap shoot. If you get a decent flight arrival time it can be a breeze and the longest wait is for baggage. Hit a peak time and a dozen flights it can take ages. It is not the 45 seconds getting a stamp - it is the hour in the queue to get to the blue suit with fried eggs or gold bars.

Finding an exit - one that is not blocked - can also be a challenge - they never learned from Don Muang days and most likely never will.

[osiboy]

as many have said already , heathrow is one of the worst culprits , makes you laugh when we know there are around 1 million illegal immigrants there in the UK, ...... so what exactly are LHR immigration for ?,...........make sure you look the same as the photo maybe , or to catch you with the extra 200 cigs ?, ...............shock horror..........just open the gates its cheaper !

[scotto]

This is Thailand what do you expect?

its just part of going in and out of here better not toleave i reckon

but if you have to go try and get a early morning flight coming back

seems to work for me only wait half hour instead of the normal hour

[aussiep]

Will they ever rid the corruption within the airport with the rogue taxi drivers, fax customs officials etc etc

Will they ever rid the corruption within the airport with the rogue taxi drivers, fax customs officials etc etc

Hi, best place to get a taxi please from swampy?, you would know I think.

When you arrive go upstairs and get a taxi from departure area, no fee to pay.

But make sure you ask for the meter on, or negotiate a good price.

Go to the end of the line as all the mates of the police (airport workers) are at the top of the que waiting for the first timers.

Never had a problem as the taxis are very happy to get a trip back into BKK

Did hear they were going to stop people with bags going back up to level 1

To stop the taxi marfia....They want you to go down stairs to the airport taxi marfia.

aussiep

[MichaelJohn]

I was there 2 weeks ago - waited over 1 hour at immigration :-(

The queue was longer than the "snake" and hence chaos just to join the queue!

Despite it being peak time only half the immigration desk were open.

Of course the few Thai Passport desk were all fully manned with no passengers waiting - couldn't they use these trained staff to assist in processing foreign passports?