Must Read Crazy queue at Suvarnabhumi Airport’s immigration causes travelers to miss flights

[Anthony Loh]

Yes you can..I have a Thai wife and have gone through the Thai counter everytime

Me too! I always can go through the Thai counter with my Thai wife, Thai kids and also my Thai baby. AhAh! But if I fly alone, I can't and I make myself to be there 3 or 4 hours early......


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[fruitman]

It's the same on Don Muang last weeks.

 

But why is it?? Are there so many more travellers now or is there few personell?

 

My wife also went in the very long qeueu with me, while it was her turn after 2 hours the officer asked her why she didn't use the Thai counter, because she wanted to be with me she replied. The officer didn't tell her that we both could go to that automated one which is for thai.

 

I won't fly there anymore, will try a trip over land next time. So sad to be in a qeueu for nothing hours long.

[darksidedog]

3 hours ago, quadperfect said:

Its because tourism is booming.

Long lines are a sign of that.

 

Hmm! This was a queue for people leaving, not arriving.

[Jeremy50]

16 minutes ago, Anthony Loh said:

There is a lot of different types of non immigrant visa etc "B", so why he can't get married with a Thai ?


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You can marry anytime anywhere to a Thai,  tourist visa , O visa or no visa.  The type of visa you have is likely be the least of your worries. Act in haste repent at your leisure. 

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, rkidlad said:

It's worked for me every time. The last time I did it was the beginning of January. Maybe that's changed, but I hope not. My missus always informs them and asks politely. They always say it's fine. 

 

Immigration seems to prefer foreigners with PR status to use the Thai line.

 

Twenty plus years ago I was in the farang line and an immigration officer walking amongst the crowd spotted my PR book and he took me to the Thai line and explained in English, many of the officers working the farang lines don't know how to process folks with PR but officers on the Thai lines have been trained how to do this.

 

I've joined the Thai line ever since. On 2 occasions Thai folks on the Thai line have told me 'con thani deow' (Thai people only). I showed my PR book with my photo, none the Thai passengers knew what the book indicates, but no further comments. 

 

But can I guarantee this works every time for all PR holders? No!

[bangkok101]

5 hours ago, rkidlad said:

So strange. Go into a shop in a department store and you can see an overkill of staff. Go through immigration at Swampy and you can see unmanned immigration counters that could be used. I'm lucky as I always travel with the missus and can go through the Thai only immigration, but you can see the confusion and frustration on travellers faces when they're in a huge queue with about 6 immigration officials stamping passports. 

 

Sort it out. 

the counters are staffed, manned, whatever...they are just invisible.

[tukkytuktuk]

And another thing. Why do they insist on taking some many blinking photographs? Apart from the cost, this is mostly a complete waste of time, especially on the way out. They have 10 photos of me from the last six months, I haven't aged that badly.

 

[robin33]

I'm surprised that flights left without the passengers still waiting in immigration lines...The attendants collecting boarding passes at the gate have the ability..and are supposed to check...that everyone scheduled to leave on that flight has passed through the gate...They can obviously look to see that the passengers already checked in at the counter with their baggage...so if they haven't come to the gate yet then they must be held up somewhere...am I wronfgt o assume this?

With. The right system in place they can also see who has or has not gone to security/ imigration


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[dcnx]

4 hours ago, darksidedog said:

 

They know how many planes are landing, with X amount of people.

It shouldn't be that hard to work out how many staff are needed.

 

 

You're right, it's not hard to work out.

 

So that leaves the reason for such a thing being either absolute incompetence at every level, or they simply don't care. My guess is a mix of the two.

[dcnx]

1 hour ago, tukkytuktuk said:

If only Thailand would follow the lead from their friends in Malaysia.
Going into and out of Malaysia is the most painless and efficient anywhere.
They scan your passport and place a small computer generated strip sticker with a 90 day entry. When you leave they retreive the little strip. No filling out stupid arrival and departure cards.
The Thais waste so muchs time mucking about with the stupid 30 and 15 visas on arrival.
One really wishes they would get a clue.

 

You can breeze through security and immigration at any of China's enormous airports, filled to capacity with people, in a fraction of the time it takes to do it in Bangkok with 95% less people.

 

Thais have low efficiency. 

Edited February 27, 2017 by dcnx

[tukkytuktuk]

6 minutes ago, dcnx said:

 

You're right, it's not hard to work out.

 

So that leaves the reason for such a thing being either absolute incompetence at every level, or they simply don't care. My guess is a mix of the two.

The typical Thai response, "arrive early so the long queues will not cause them to miss their flights." Never mind you already have to be there 2 hours early, no they don't care, you're right. Just add another hour to your waiting time. Very typical of the Thai way of taking care of a problem.
 

[wreckingcountry]

If you read a certain newspaper report it says Immigration officers are told not to leave their counters between 6-9am during busiest period of departures. So there isn't an officer supervising these "passport stampers" ? Come and go as they please? Typical Thailand


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[tukkytuktuk]

11 minutes ago, dcnx said:

 

You can breeze through security and immigration at any of China's enormous airports, filled to capacity with people, in a fraction of the time it takes to do it in Bangkok with 95% less people.

 

Thais have low efficiency. It's that simple. 

Maybe they should relax the security checks and upgrade their passport scanners and troublesome database that keeps getting leaked by hackers.

[Cuchulainn]

5 hours ago, docphil said:

Yes you cannot you can prove that you're family. Bring a copy of your marriage certificate

 

Out of curiosity how did you get married to a Thai with a non immigrant visa?

Non Immigrant 'O' type visa. Had Non 'B' & Non 'O' for near on 20 years now.

[nisakiman]

34 minutes ago, Cuchulainn said:

Non Immigrant 'O' type visa. Had Non 'B' & Non 'O' for near on 20 years now.

I went through a Thai marriage ceremony on a visa exemption. I got officially married in Greece (I'm English).

 

Visas have absolutely no connection with getting married per se , although certain types of visa may be required if you get married officially in Thailand; of that I can't be sure.

 

Re immigration queues, when we arrived last week. I went through the Thai immigration with my wife (thankfully, as the queues were horrendous for non-Thais). What the situation is on departures, I will doubtless find out at the end of March when we leave.

 

Inbound, there were both automated immigration machines and a couple of manned desks for the incoming Thais. We went through the manned desk, and the guy didn't blink at seeing a farang in the line. Just checked and stamped. And my wife hasn't changed her name, even (too much hassle with passport, ID card, Driving licence, professional association card etc etc.), and although I had the marriage cert to hand, it wasn't even asked for.

[Rhys]

7 hours ago, rkidlad said:

So strange. Go into a shop in a department store and you can see an overkill of staff. Go through immigration at Swampy and you can see unmanned immigration counters that could be used. I'm lucky as I always travel with the missus and can go through the Thai only immigration, but you can see the confusion and frustration on travellers faces when they're in a huge queue with about 6 immigration officials stamping passports. 

 

Sort it out. 

 

 

Why are you able to go through the line with your wife for Thais only...?  A policy?  Where if it is so.. or is up to the circumstances..and officer?

[Lannig]

Last time I've been through the immigration on my wait out, they were letting anyone use the "ASEAN Only" lanes because it was such a huge mess. They couldn't even let people go down the stairs because the immigration hall was packed.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Perhaps the same officials managing the Immigration staffing assignments at the airport are also those responsible for the dead (or almost dead) online 90-day reporting system. Both together, real top caliber operations.

[Enzian]

I've gone thru the Thai side arriving a year ago with my Thai gf in front of me but without telling them directly we were together. IO stamped me thru but gave me a very hard time about arriving without a visa and expecting yet another exemption on arrival. That's when I resolved to finally get my retirement visa which I now have.

When I left on Feb. 2 the stamp out line to the gates was so bad that people were cutting in and fights almost starting. As per this thread, it must be getting worse, so we must give ourselves plenty of time.

I suspect you are all correct that the arrival line for Thais is now automated and effectively closed to foreigners.

[bangkok101]

visa exempt and business class travel ....never an issue. enjoy your life.

Edited February 27, 2017 by bangkok101

[Litlos]

I regularly go through Ben Gurion in Israel, which has to be one of the most security conscious places in the world.  As a non citizen and holding an Australian passport I am allowed to use the automated immigration system when leaving, generally about thirty seconds in total.  Sadly I have to queue to get in which can take half an hour.

 

Imagine if Thailand used a similar system, then the spare people not required for departure could be utilised in arrivals.  Sorry just dreaming.  I am really looking forward to spending an hour in arrivals next week, not.

 

Cheers

[bangkok101]

13 minutes ago, Litlos said:

I regularly go through Ben Gurion in Israel, which has to be one of the most security conscious places in the world.  As a non citizen and holding an Australian passport I am allowed to use the automated immigration system when leaving, generally about thirty seconds in total.  Sadly I have to queue to get in which can take half an hour.

 

Imagine if Thailand used a similar system, then the spare people not required for departure could be utilised in arrivals.  Sorry just dreaming.  I am really looking forward to spending an hour in arrivals next week, not.

 

Cheers

well, i guess you should go to ben gurion, or whatever it is then.

[maewang99]

nothing is more important than aviation, not just in Thailand. 

not anything.  

a long line of people? at an airport? that is horrific.  terrible.  terrifying. 

 

this is major major mega news.

  

 

 

[55Jay]

7 hours ago, Kasset Tak said:

I know, but if you have checked-in your luggage then you hopefully have time to pass the immigration...
AOT isn't really working that well, I tried to get a job there in the past but I only got a "Sorry, we only hire Thai people!"... at our 2^nd IRL meeting and after first being offered the job in e-mail and everything worked out thru e-mail/phone and that's before I even came to Thailand!?!?
G4S Thailand had the same answer "Only Thai people!" and didn't even recognize a letter of recommendation signed by the CEO/President of G4S as something of value for securing a job there!

G4S bid and won the contract at a certain manpower/labor rate (Thai).  They're not going to add a white face and bust the budget and margin, which is most likely razor thin already.

[chickenslegs]

For my friends and family visiting Thailand I always book the arrivals service with BFS.

 

For 1,600 THB (2,000 for a couple) they get met off the plane, golf cart to immigration, fast track avoiding the queues, help with luggage collection, then brought to meet us at the pick-up point. Without the golf cart it's 850 THB (1,450 for a couple).

 

They also have a departures service, which I have never used, so I'm not sure whether they can help avoid the queues.

[Thechook]

10 hours ago, rkidlad said:

So strange. Go into a shop in a department store and you can see an overkill of staff. Go through immigration at Swampy and you can see unmanned immigration counters that could be used. I'm lucky as I always travel with the missus and can go through the Thai only immigration, but you can see the confusion and frustration on travellers faces when they're in a huge queue with about 6 immigration officials stamping passports. 

 

Sort it out. 

I travel with the missus and son also and tried going through the thai area and wasn't allowed, was told thai only and sent to the back of the lowlifes line.  Two immigration officers sitting there doing nothing.

[Thechook]

Every 6 months they go on about how tourism numbers are skyrocketing and records are being smashed but not once in the last ten years have any of these numnuts thought they may need an extra immigration officer. It's like you have 10 people coming over for dinner and no one can work out how many plates you need.

Edited February 27, 2017 by Thechook

[Lannig]

Used to enjoy my Etihad Gold card giving me a pass to the business class line even while traveling in eco... unfortunately I've been downgraded to silver now, so I'm back with the cattle. That's what you get for catching opportunities to fly the wonderful A380 with Emirates.

Anyway, I will seriously consider Chickenleg's advice. After a long and exhausting trip, it might be worth the 850B.

 

Edited February 27, 2017 by Lannig
Typo

[kannot]

11 hours ago, darksidedog said:

My son has a Thai and European passport, but whenever we go through Suvarnabhumi, he uses his Thai one and we can go through the often almost empty Thai Queue.

Saved me a good 2 hours last time we came back in as the queues were out of the hall, down into the corridor.

I don't understand hwhy sometimes it is okay and many counters open and sometimes not.

They know how many planes are landing, with X amount of people.

It shouldn't be that hard to work out how many staff are needed.

 

any shop in   Thailand  can  only  give  u  change  using  a  calculator

[kannot]

7 hours ago, dcnx said:

 

You're right, it's not hard to work out.

 

So that leaves the reason for such a thing being either absolute incompetence at every level, or they simply don't care. My guess is a mix of the two.

3..........lazy