Airport Queues

[blue1878]

I'm flying to Thailand on Saturday and I always fly early in the morning, so I will arrive at Suvarnabhumi airport at 07:35 on Sunday morning.  At that time of the morning there are always immigration and I always used to queue.  And to be fair I didnt have to queue for to long.  Anyway 2 years ago I decided to try the fast track and I was made up with it.  As I got off the plane I was met by a friendly thai lady who walked with me to Immigration and at immigration it was great.  I got through very quickly and was one of the first at the carousel. So now I will always pay to be fast tracked.  After a long journey its great not having to queue at immigration.

[LeoTex]

3 hours ago, blue1878 said:

I'm flying to Thailand on Saturday and I always fly early in the morning, so I will arrive at Suvarnabhumi airport at 07:35 on Sunday morning.  At that time of the morning there are always immigration and I always used to queue.  And to be fair I didnt have to queue for to long.  Anyway 2 years ago I decided to try the fast track and I was made up with it.  As I got off the plane I was met by a friendly thai lady who walked with me to Immigration and at immigration it was great.  I got through very quickly and was one of the first at the carousel. So now I will always pay to be fast tracked.  After a long journey its great not having to queue at immigration.

That happens to me each trip, but I don't have someone meeting/walking me and it doesn't cost me a thing.

I will say its nice getting to the luggage carousel before the luggage arrives.

LeoTex

[gazman]

I arrived at the airport 9pm on Friday night for departure, it took ~40 mins to get through immigration.

Huge numbers of Chinese in the lines, never seen so many.

[Terryofcrete]

On 08/12/2019 at 13:29, gazman said:

I arrived at the airport 9pm on Friday night for departure, it took ~40 mins to get through immigration.

Huge numbers of Chinese in the lines, never seen so many.

Left yesterday and it was bad . As you said Chinese ..  but lots of Indian too. Of course there were empty booths and the  usual immigration  guys and gals with the more important uniforms walking up and down observing.. but not helping .
now-its not a week ago that Immigration denied that this was their fault and blamed it on delays upstairs in security.. which I could not make sense of . Yesterday it was entirely due to the absence of  staff manning the booths. And yet they say millions more will come next year.... lol....  

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by Terryofcrete

[Terryofcrete]

Sorry about the photo .. but it’s an empty double booth ..

[Luv2Phuket]

I also have an APEC Business Traveler Card but never tried using it when entering LOS.  

I used my APEC Business Travel card for Singapore, Bangkok & Tokyo in November & December (last week), and it worked great for all 3!

At BKK, you basically use the Diplomat lane.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ludwighigh]

4 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

 

I used my APEC Business Travel card for Singapore, Bangkok & Tokyo in November & December (last week), and it worked great for all 3!

At BKK, you basically use the Diplomat lane.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

In most airports in China it is the same, just find the diplomat lane and have the card out - the airport staff recognize it right away.  In TPE it's the same lane for diplomats and APEC holders.  In HKG it seems that APEC holders get lumped in with people on work permits or something.

I am just concerned in BKK that you need to fill out that TM6 paper form indicating you are there on business, or else you shouldn't be using the APEC card to enter the country.  And if you indicate you are there on business, you need to be prepared to answer a question or two on who you are visiting. 

I have more recently been flying to BKK in business class so I never need to use the card anyway, but one of these days I will be going back there on premium economy, so I need to figure this out. 

[Encora]

On 28/07/2019 at 11:40, Taa_Saparot said:

Other measures are being implemented to speed things up. Those with permanent residency can go through the automatic gates reserved for Thais, though we have to register at the airport.

That was a quote  from Andrew Briggs in July.
Has anything been done about it?  Was that idea implemented?

[Luv2Phuket]

15 hours ago, ludwighigh said:

In most airports in China it is the same, just find the diplomat lane and have the card out - the airport staff recognize it right away.  In TPE it's the same lane for diplomats and APEC holders.  In HKG it seems that APEC holders get lumped in with people on work permits or something.

I am just concerned in BKK that you need to fill out that TM6 paper form indicating you are there on business, or else you shouldn't be using the APEC card to enter the country.  And if you indicate you are there on business, you need to be prepared to answer a question or two on who you are visiting. 

I have more recently been flying to BKK in business class so I never need to use the card anyway, but one of these days I will be going back there on premium economy, so I need to figure this out. 

I didn't have to fill out any special from - just the one they pass out on the plane.

Checked the box for "holiday" and didn't have any issues.

Of course, it may vary widely from immigration agent to immigration agent!  55555

[ludwighigh]

5 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

I didn't have to fill out any special from - just the one they pass out on the plane.

Checked the box for "holiday" and didn't have any issues.

Of course, it may vary widely from immigration agent to immigration agent!  55555

As I understand it, you are only supposed to use the APEC card to enter a country if you are there on business travel (or at least a component of the trip is business).  So it seems to not be a good idea to fill out the form on the plane stating an intention to come for a holiday and use the card at the same time.  Of course, maybe they don't care.

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, ludwighigh said:

As I understand it, you are only supposed to use the APEC card to enter a country if you are there on business travel (or at least a component of the trip is business).  So it seems to not be a good idea to fill out the form on the plane stating an intention to come for a holiday and use the card at the same time.  Of course, maybe they don't care.

I was leery of that very issue, but the times that I have used it, I just flash the card, and they pointed me to the correct line.

I was really concerned going into Japan, because I have heard that it is a pain in the ass if you are there for business.  Even though I technically WAS there for business meetings (convention), I checked the box for holiday/vacation.

Fingers crossed my luck continues!  5555

[Bonkabit]

Tip re queues at Immigration. Never get into a queue with Indians in it, especially an Indian family.

Even if there are only two or three Indians in a short queue and another queue has twenty Europeans you can be confident that the latter queue will get you through Immigration faster.

A Norwegian fellow guest in a hotel in Pattaya gave me this advice years ago. Experience shows it is correct.

I ignored it once at Munich airport and lined up behind one Indian family. Timed them: fourteen and a half minutes to be processed. Me, less than one minute!

[Taa_Saparot]

Today ..

 

 

[striderman]

1 hour ago, Taa_Saparot said:

Today ..

 

 

don't look like swampy

[daytripperz]

I arrived Thursday 12th at just before 6pm. There were no more than 10 people in each queue. For the first time I wish I hadn't booked fast track 

[Taa_Saparot]

19 minutes ago, striderman said:

don't look like swampy

Hmmm? .... it does look like Suwanapooms Security area for Departures to me ..?

[Taa_Saparot]

11 minutes ago, daytripperz said:

I arrived Thursday 12th at just before 6pm. There were no more than 10 people in each queue. For the first time I wish I hadn't booked fast track 

Arrivals do not seem to be a problem at the moment, its Departures where the queues are.

[Mr Wombat]

6 minutes ago, Taa_Saparot said:

Arrivals do not seem to be a problem at the moment, its Departures where the queues are.

It must be the high baht.... Everyone is leaving.

But I can only see 2 farangs

[Taa_Saparot]

33 minutes ago, Mr Wombat said:

It must be the high baht.... Everyone is leaving.

The baht is high? .... who knew?

[striderman]

48 minutes ago, Taa_Saparot said:

Hmmm? .... it does look like Suwanapooms Security area for Departures to me ..?

yeah your right. i only been through that area twice. once 5 min and the last one 45 which was late november

[oschkosch]

I had literally zero waiting time this morning.

Gesendet von meinem SM-G950F mit Tapatalk

[striderman]

On 17/12/2019 at 17:54, oschkosch said:

I had literally zero waiting time this morning.

Gesendet von meinem SM-G950F mit Tapatalk
 

it is the luck of the draw. spoke to a guy who flew into swampy sunday22nd at around 13 30 and he used the second immigration set of lines as the first was very busy. he reckoned almost an hour wait. 

he mentioned there was a problem getting a reading off the fingerprint machine as his fingers were dry. if this happens wiping them behind each ear is supposed to help.

[Leo_Bia]

Taxi queues are back.

[Luv2Phuket]

Crap!

Assuming my November trip comes off, I'll be starting in Bangkok, so expect me to be at the back of that queue! 555

[geezerrb]

51 minutes ago, Leo_Bia said:

Taxi queues are back.

 

24 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Crap!

Assuming my November trip comes off, I'll be starting in Bangkok, so expect me to be at the back of that queue! 555

When I arrive as I am now over 70 I hope to use the fast track through immigration and have booked Nams taxi to meet me hopefully no problems.