Swampy queue's

[Baxidar ba]

I've been reading on PA a lot about the Chinese invasion & yet more & more flag lemmings visiting Thailand. I arrive in a week on Monday 8am anyone know what the situation is at arrivals? I'm usually heading for the bell bus within 30mins of landing.

[One hung low]

It's getting worse and worse, depending how many flights arrive at the same time or shortly thereafter it has gotten to be horrendous .

Maybe u will get lucky, I was 2-3 hours last arrival. Unacceptable.

[geezerrb]

It just highlights it depends on your landing time and luck, my last 3 trips Nov 14, Feb 15 and June 15 have been the quickest in all of my 18 trips but admit I have learned to walk past the first immigration hall if there is massive queues and go to the next. The only problem with that its a bit of a trek before immigration and on the other side as luggage is usually way back at the other end but the time it takes usually for the luggage to appear, the exercise is good after the flight and before my 1.5 hour taxi ride to Pattaya.

[QuotaMan]

Two words: business class (if you can do it)

[Baxidar ba]

Thanks guys, it sounds like it'll be a fair wait then. Nothing I can do about it, it's just good to be prepared. I'm anticipating a good 2 hours then.

[Luv2Phuket]

Thanks guys, it sounds like it'll be a fair wait then. Nothing I can do about it, it's just good to be prepared. I'm anticipating a good 2 hours then.

 

No, there IS something you can do about it

 

Bangkok Flight Services will enable you to go through Premium arrival/immigration line (same as business & first class passengers) for 850 baht.  

 

Link:  https://www.bangkokflightservices.com/PremiumAirportServices.php?our_menu=pr1

 

The Chinese tour groups do NOT head through these lines, so they are generally MUCH shorter.

 

Now....is it WORTH 850 baht?  That depends entirely upon you.

 

I usually arrive in business class (using airline miles), but came in on economy on a recent flight, since it was such a short flight.  Paid BFS 850 baht (didn't pay for the cart, but the girl showed up with it any way).  I was through immigration within minutes, but must have arrived at a "slow time" for arrivals, because virtually everyone from my plane was at the baggage carousel with me by the time the bags started coming out.

 

My thoughts/impressions:

 - good service for someone like me who is incredibly impatient and hates waiting in long lines

 - if you check bags, it may not actually save you much time, because it does NOTHING to speed up the bags coming off of the plane

 - if you carry-on, it could be a God-send, as you're out the door in minutes, as opposed to possibly being stuck behind a Chinese tour group

 

It's a crap shoot on when those tour planes arrive.  I tried to search via a website and it looked like a bunch of planes were arriving the same time as mine, but -- as I said -- the immigration lines obviously weren't that bad.  

 

Would I use it again?  Probably.  Even though it didn't end up saving me much, if any, time, I HATE waiting in long lines with a passion, and starting my vacation off by being stuck behind hundreds of people in an immigration line would be excruciating to me.  Plus, I consider myself jinxed, so, if I didn't pay, I'm sure I would be stuck behind TWO Chinese tour groups!  555

[iluvasians/latins]

Can't predict arrivals or ques at both entry locations.

[momo5]

Can't predict arrivals or ques at both entry locations.

Sure you can. Familiarize yourself with the arrivals at the airport and the type of aircraft arriving at those times. It will provide a good idea of total number of passengers arriving within a given hour. Queues are longest when passenger load is highest.

 

What you can't predict are things like early/late arrivals, unforeseen staffing shortages at immigration, some fucktard setting off a bomb or something, all of which can have an impact on passenger throughout through immigration.

[Ru4Real]

Nothing I can do about it, it's just good to be prepared. I'm anticipating a good 2 hours then.

 

Never taken me 2 hours and I've arrived at various times. I'd say over the past decade it would average out at about 45 minutes from aircraft door opening to getting in the taxi.

[tt2008]

Never ever taken 2 hours. If the first immigration section looks full, just walk on about 25-50m to the second one, it may be less busy.

[iluvasians/latins]

Sure you can. Familiarize yourself with the arrivals at the airport and the type of aircraft arriving at those times. It will provide a good idea of total number of passengers arriving within a given hour. Queues are longest when passenger load is highest.

 

What you can't predict are things like early/late arrivals, unforeseen staffing shortages at immigration, some fucktard setting off a bomb or something, all of which can have an impact on passenger throughout through immigration.

Like I said, unless you are an airport troll, ques cannot be predicted.

[momo5]

Like I said, unless you are an airport troll, ques cannot be predicted.

Like I said, if you're a savvy traveler then you understand enough about your destination to be able to manage anticipated hassels.

 

But I recognize that some BMs don't travel that much - and for ya'll, you're right, it's a crap shoot, so just put up with it.

[iluvasians/latins]

No, I don't travel very much, I guess. You win big boy.

[baddog666]

Put in BKK ... choose your arrival time , see how many flights arrive in that parameter

 

http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByAirport.do

[Mongster]

I have never had to wait at immigration. Now part of this could be that coming from the east coast of US I either arrive late evening 10-11pm or early 6-7a. I always fly coach, but request a seat in the front of the plane. I never check baggage, so I just grab my two carry ons and power walk my narrow ass through the terminal to immigration. I actually make a game of it as every time I pass some jack off walking like they have a broom stick up their ass I mentally subtract 5 minutes from my wait time.

 

I am usually out the door in under 20 minutes.

[Buddy Edgewood]

Don't forget to write a phone number on your arrivals card - that's a new requirement and one possible contributor to longer lines.

[jerry]

Never had a problem om Swampy , lot of them on Don Muang the last few times i came in through there . 

[Fibonacci]

Yep coming back from Chiang Mai into Don Muang was a nightmare... Chinese tours groups straight off the plane blocking access and oblivious to the chaos they were causing!

[Harvey707]

Never ever been more than 30 minutes and that Late December periods.  

[par47]

I arrived at 09:50 on 30 august. There were no queues whatsoever. Maybe I got lucky but was at the baggage belt within about 15 minutes of landing. Only downside was I'm sure my bag was the very last one out, had to wait 45 minutes for it.

 

I guess with previous experience of long queues at Immigration we never noticed how slow the baggage system is. But last two trips the long wait for bag was the only hold up.

[One hung low]

Two words: business class (if you can do it)

2 words, 2 expensive

[Harvey707]

2 words, 2 expensive

 

I agree. Out of UK typical its £2000 instead of £500. (give or take)

Unless money was totally of no importance would never waste £1500 or 82,500 Baht !!   That's 3 months worth of average hotel in Pattaya instead of having a bigger seat for 12 Hours and a slippery pass through immigration !!

[taylor1975]

If you sit near the front of the plane in economy, you are not far behind biz class passengers anyway.

 

Plus I can run faster than all of them anyway.

 

Always go for the second immigration area!

[Harvey707]

If you sit near the front of the plane in economy, you are not far behind biz class passengers anyway.

 

Plus I can run faster than all of them anyway.

 

Always go for the second immigration area!

 

I can come off last on the Plane and nearly always can overtake virtually everyone unless parked very close to Immigration.  Genuinely as I posted earlier I cant ever remember more than 30 Minutes and on average 10 Minutes I'd say tops.

Invariably I'm through before Bags are on the Carousel anyway where I stand right beside the shoot they exit !!   Seen tooooooo many people pick up wrong bags over the years and then drag them back to Carousels in Bangkok and London or no doubt half the time not realising until way too late

[LTGTR]

I've been reading on PA a lot about the Chinese invasion & yet more & more flag lemmings visiting Thailand. I arrive in a week on Monday 8am anyone know what the situation is at arrivals? I'm usually heading for the bell bus within 30mins of landing.

 

WTF is a "flag lemming"?