For those visiting Thailand, please remember that the standard of service at the 'new' airport in my and other travellers views has gone downhill. What happened to the land of smiles?
I had visited there twice this year and want to infom you that the speed for which you now get your passport stamped is awful.
After a long haul trip my wife and I were so tired.
Having to stand in an extra long line for over an hour and half or what seemd like hours is terrible!
There were families with young children and also disabled, some began to sleep! God help you if you want to go to the toliet! Its a trek back.
I felt sorry for the families with young kids or those who cannot stand long periods for medical reasons. This is gonna be a shock to you!
Add to this the fact that your baggage comes off the aircraft quicker than you will ever get through the immigration. The bags are left going around on the carousel and oten can get lost.
Don't believe me? If you go you will see -unless you are one of the lucky ones.
I am not sure if the immigration staff have been reduced in numbers or they are on a "go slow attitude" or just overworked? Also there didnt seem to be anyone around to help those or attend to the never-ending lines of disembarking passengers on arrival.
Reply to this I have been going through Suvarnabhumi a handful of times this year and can count myself among the lucky ones since I never had to wait for more than say 15-30 minutes. Several times additional lines were opened to shorten the queues. However, if your flight arrives during peak hour, the staff is stretched thin and enough travellers haven't prepared their documents I can imagine these sorts of delays are not that rare of a sight.
Reply to this Greetings-
I have just a little trouble believing the author. I really do not believe that anyone has stood in line for one and a half hours for immigration at the airport. Maybe thirty minutes, maybe fourty five, but certainly not more then that.
Scheduled flighs into Suvarnabhumi arrive at the same time every day and there are certain times of the day when several large planes hit at once. This is certainly not th fault of the immgration officers, as they do not schedule the flights. However, there are TWO immigration check points, both of which feed into the same baggage area. There are, during busy times, Immigration commanders who stand at the first entry point and try to inform passengers to go to the other entry point, which they are usually ignored, If you do not follow their advise and enter into the busy arrival area, you certainly deserve to be left standing for half an hour. Moreover, if you do have young childern or are an older adult, they also have two or three other immigration commanders in the arrival area which will escort these passengers into the "Thai" passport lines, which are quicker. Maybe the author was thinking about these older passengers standing in line, but did not see any, because they are usually escorted away. Look for the officers in the Brown uniforms, not the blue ones, or in Thai cultural clothes who will assist these types of passengers next time.
Going to the toilet should not take God's help either. It is located at the bottom of the ramp at each entry point. A mere 30 feet away. I do not see the need for devine intervention to walk 30 feet.
Finaly, let's not go to this old story about Federal Immigration Officers and the land of smiles. They are not there to welcome you, they are their to protect thier Kingdom's boarders. It has nothing to do with being "overworked". Please tell me one airport where the airport immigration officers give you a big, warm, welcome smile? This is just non-sensical. The Land of Smiles starts on the other side of the checkpoint, until you have been properly admitted into the Kingdom, do not expect that you aready are in it.
Thailand is the Land of Smiles, but it is in the real world, please have some real world expectations.
Reply to this grantcorp - when you say that travellers not having prepared documents creates delays, what type of documents do you mean? what do i need to bring with me when flying into bangkok? thanks!!
Reply to this It is nothing to worry about. On all international flights you will be handed an arrival card which needs to be filled out properly (i.e. fill out all the required fields). Handing over your passport, boarding pass (visa if required) and said arrival card will ensure a smooth arrival procedure.
Reply to this Actually, I do have to say that I also experienced great delays at the new airport in Bangkok.
There was one occasion when one of the immigration staff suddenly closed the line and maybe went off shift? -the other line which was originally two now became an enormous one line with several irate passengers. I did not see anyone helping out except behind the check points who may have other duties not associated with helping.
And I did have a bit of a probelm trying to locate my bags later but I did eventaully get a membe of staff to 'point me in the direction' as to where they may be.
I seem to remember that at the old airport -Don Muang? the speed and service by staff was more efficient although I am sure the facilities are better at SUvanrbumi.
However, I think the new airport at least looks good and is quite spacious so be prepapred for a long hike!
Reply to this I agree about the issues of the new airport.
The structure itself look horrendous ... no matter how the architect claims that the "unfinished" look is to give the airport a futuristic feeling ... I still think the bare cemented walls look ugly and unwelcoming.
The queuing for immigration clearance can get really horrendous ... becoming akin to Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport's immigration clearance process. I remember during a trip there (outbound from BKK), the queues exceeded the entrance "gate" and spilled over to the non-restricted area!!!
Perhaps the Thai government should allow some international flights to re-use Don Muang Airport. Thai Air Asia (FD) has been pressing the Thai govt to allow them to shift all their operations to Don Muang but the authority has only given the green light for domestic operations. Henceforth, FD has chosen to stay put in Suvarnabhumi.
Reply to this Words spoken by someone who has never tried to clear immigration at Narita. 2-2 1/2 hours is the norm. Next up would be Bhutan. Try these places for horrible service and you will be happy to stand in line 15-30 at Bangkok.
Reply to this I got through Narita in about 20 minutes, but then again, that was after we spent 40 minutes circling in the air, because the runway was full!
Reply to this FIFTEEN MINUTES AT BANGKOK IN A LINE AT IMMIGRATION? THAT'S A JOKE!
You must have been one of the lucky ones then.
Let's hope things get better for the future there.
Reply to this I have to say i was in Thailand in jan this year and i do not think i had to wait more than 15 mins so maybe i was lucky aswell
Thx Mike😊
Reply to this I guess I was lucky too. 5 Minutes.
Have you bee to the airport in Kathmandu? That's way worse.
Reply to this There seems to be a lot of "lucky ones" here, Maybe all the hype about BKK is not all that true. Remember to use the other immigration check point if yours is full.
Ailie, in all fairness, most of that was visa on arrival time.
Reply to this Hmmm...I would seriously doubt the authenticity of this blogger! Five minutes? or even 15 minutes to get through immigration? Must have been sleep walking, I should imagine.
Unless things have changed in the last two weeks regarding the increasing delays at Bangkok airport then I also remain skeptical.
I do hope things will get more comfortable for travellers, especially for families with kids when they arrive. I have never seen such long queues -Anywhere else in Asia -however, point it out if you can beat BKK.
Meanwhile, If they can increase the amount of immigration posts/staff then that will help us all and then give TAT (Tourist authority Thailand) something to be positive about.
Hope they can work it out with the airport authority in time for Christmas and the New year!
Reply to this Hmmm...Shane... I'm real. I don't work for the Thai board of tourism or anything. I like Thailand a lot though. My wife and I have travelled here 3 times in the last 5 years and we seem to always want to come back. Did you encountered problems with the visa on arrival BS. I didn't have to bother with any of that. I'm flying out through Bangkok today. Maybe, I'll have to wait for hours on the way out. I kind of doubt it. It seems to be just like anything else one encounters while travelling: There are good and bad days and good and bad experiences. I met a lot of people who loved India...ugh.
Reply to this Ok. what about India. The experience there I mean.
Actually i did find Sri Lanka aiport (Columbo) a bit disorganised but not yet been to India.
Can you highlight or update?
Thanks
Reply to this The airport in India (New Delhi) was fine. It was when I stepped out into the jungle that is India that things got weird. Back to airports, New Delhi's airport was ok. I think it took about 15minutes to get through immigration...nothing spectacular.
Reply to this ok. I quite fancy Nepal (Pokara) and sometime the SHANGHAI to Tibet passage.
NOt sure what the security situation is in Nepal yet -will have to check the gov. websites.
Reply to this I'm a big Pokhara fan too. I was lucky enough to spend about a week there during September. While I was there, Nepal was having problems with a gas shortage. It didn't really effect travellers, but the taxis and motorcycles were lined up every where. One taxi driver told me he'd been there for two days. At first, I thought it was some kind of huge rally.
I know that there is a big vote of some sort going on in Nepal in the next few weeks. The vibe I got when I was there was that the Maoists were planning to cause problems again if the vote didn't go there way. When I was there though, it seemed peaceful enough. But as you know Nepal its security changes from day to day. If you get to Pokhara I highly recommend the 'Laxman' restaurant. It's one of the many on the lakeside strip, but it's food and service are top notch. The manager at Laxman an make a mean cocktail. Have fun.
Reply to this The NY Times wrote an article about the problems at the airport about a year or so ago. My niece was in Bangkok at the time, so I remember seeing it and telling her about it. Google the article if you want details.
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