Land Bangkok 9:50am, fast-track worth it?

[sandancer]

As above,  I want to maximise my time in Pattaya so was wondering how much time fast-track will save me.  I will probably need to check in luggage and am just looking for some confirmation as to how busy the airport will be at that time of the morning.

 

Thanks in advance. 

[fostraswift]

theres no way of predicting how busy immigration will be..

in my experience, 30 minutes from plane to taxi is the norm..

fast track makes very little differance.. maybe 5 minutes

[Ru4Real]

With checked in luggage not worth it IMHO.

[sandancer]

Thanks for the info guys, guess I will save the money for other activities.

[davidge]

I used it when I arrived in June. Buggy from gate but had to stop halfway due to construction. The 2 pretty girls did insist on carrying my luggage though :-)

 

Straight through fast track channel. Had to wait about 10 minutes for bags - mine were about the first off. When I left baggage reclaim there were only about a dozen people from my flight waiting for their bags. No sign of most of the passengers.

 

Lost any time I gained there by having to wait ages for True to sort out a SIM for me. They were very busy!

[Harvey707]

Be unlikely if you were in Pattaya later than midday if flights on time

[davidge]

In June, plane touched down 1520. Taxi pulled out of airport car park 1620. Arrived at Condo in Jomtien at 1835.

BUT idiot driver took 35 minutes to queue and fill up with petrol just outside Pattaya!!!

[striderman]

don't think it's worth it.

you could end up paying and then waiting instead in pattaya for hotel check in if u arrive too early

[Sarse500]

In the morning I think it's questionable - you'll be out within a hour or so and in Pattaya for some Soi 6 action in the afternoon.

 

In the afternoon/evening then you're on a critical path and need to be thorough ASAP.

 

I always book the buggy and fast-track as I don't like hanging around in queues.  Most times I don't have luggage, so no delays waiting for a bag and I never get a SIM.  I have to warn taxi drivers that I will be out within minutes of wheels down.

[iluvasians/latins]

What's the hurry? Cock itch?

[Luv2Phuket]

Here's a recap of my experience using BFS earlier this year:

 - paid 850 baht (or possibly 800 back then) to get Premium line access

 - girl met me at the gate with a cart -- even though I had not requested or paid for that service -- and drove me to CLOSE to the Premium entrance.  Due to construction, they couldn't drive right up to the entrance, but, as I said, I didn't request or pay for cart, so no big deal

 - flew through immigration; maybe 1 or 2 people ahead of me

 - went to baggage claim carousel for my flight

 - waited....watched other passengers from my flight walk up....waited some more....more passengers from my flight were getting there....waited some more....

 - by the time the bags started coming off of the carousel, I'm pretty sure that my entire flight was there waiting for them!

 

I usually fly biz class using miles, and that has been my experience on every flight that I can recall - I am waiting at the carousel for my bags to arrive (but if you're in biz or first class, they should come out first)

 

Simply put, premium lane access will do nothing to speed up how long it takes your bags to arrive on the carousel.  

 

BUT....I HATE waiting in long lines, and if I got stuck behind a Chinese tour group and had to wait an hour to clear immigration, it would REALLY start my trip off on a shitty note!  Given my paranoia about being jinxed, I would probably pay it again and sit by the baggage carousel watching everyone else from the plane walk up, as opposed to risk standing in a massive immigration line.

[likeaking]

I usually arrive 10:30 a.m. economy class with checked bag and get to bus <50 minutes. 

[combovan]

I flew business class for the first time back in June and got the fast track pass for immigration. Somehow I managed to walk past the fast track point and ended up at the regular desks which were very quiet with only one person in the queue in front of me. I was through in a couple of minutes and waiting at the carousel before any bags arrived so I did not see any benefit with fast tracking. In fairness the airport was pretty quiet

[Digsy]

I've never done fast track but I'd say it's pointless if it just means your waiting for your bags longer. I believe it's just pot luck how quickly you get through. there are times I've stopped to go for a dump before immigration, found it wasn't busy and was still waiting my bags. Other times I've got to a busy immigration and when I got through it my bags were taken off the belt and very few people about.

 

It's handy the way they have the two girls at the start of the line to check your card as it usually means no dicks at the desk filling it in. Although still need to do something about the chinese queue jumpers lol