We have recently travelled in and out of Bangkok airport four times. Each time the queues at passport control were awful.There are not enough kiosks ( or at least not enough were open ) and it seemed to take ages to ';process'; each person.
We allowed 2.5 hours between arriving in BKK and flying out again.We only just had time to make our next flight.
If, like us, you are arriving in BKK and have another flight, allow plenty of time.
On a good point, the new airport is much much nicer than the old one!
Bangkk airport - passport control - a nightmare!
Hi;
I agree the airport needs additional custom officers.
However, it is more of a luck of time when you arrive at the same time with 4 other B474 from aboards and also, who are in front of you . That wasn%26#39;t the case for me . In my last 2trips check in and out both times , it only took 30minutes at the line to clear the counter . I think with the USA passport it may have add to speed up the process in here. Nobody asked me anything . I shall be back Bangkok and this new airport this spring 2008.
BTW, I like the new airport design archtitural with open high ceiling contemporary . The LAX is just an old fashion airport buildings with real boring look.
Bangkk airport - passport control - a nightmare!
We have had a slow time with passport control and collecting baggage but no worse that in Sydney. Ariving late at night we have found customs was easy - they has all gone home!
cheers
Freddy
About a month or so ago the government said there was a shortage of customs officers and they were looking for more, so the Thai authorities are aware of the problem. You%26#39;ll just have to allow plenty of time to be processed. Three hours is the generally-recognized time.
Yes it is slow and tedious! Leaving BKK, early morning last August, I never saw anything like the queues! Some of the desks were really slow.
I agree about allowing plenty of time; I had to queue for well over an hour.
It would be very easy to get caught out!
Joe
Apart from a shortage of immigration officers as noted above, the authorities here in recent times have tightened up on immigration controls due to abuse of the visa rules.
At certain hours of the day it can be very slow due to the high numbers of landings and departures.
This is one of the reasons that airlines ask for passengers on international flights to check in 3 hours before the flight and 2 hours for domestic.
They certainly do need more staff
it%26#39;s not necessarily the lack of immigration officers that cause the problem. immigration still have to enter passport details on their computers by hand and also many many people fail to fill out there immigration cards properly.
in many other countries your passport gets swiped and your details are logged on the computer immediately. thai immigration are in the process of tendering for such a system. factor in also you have to get your phot taken then it%26#39;s no wonder each person takes nearly 4/5 minutes.
with the new swipe system and hopefully more people filling in their cards properly, processing should take about 2 minutes. here%26#39;s hoping.
bkk3
Give me Don Muang back anyday!
I used Bangkok immigration three times in the last four months. 7 AM and it was no problem at all. The other times were midday and early afternoon and both times there must have been a thousand people waiting there for a long, long time. Even though all my details were correct and my passport was swiped, it still took the officer several minutes to process me.
I%26#39;ve been going to Bangkok for 22 years and immigration has never been easy.
Hi;
Just a small note comparasion BKK new airport to the LAX here. You are better off going through the Thai%26#39;s
custom counter than our LAX. The queu line is unbearable and your waiting time for Non Citizen just 200 meters long. Even with USA citizen lines
are just taking over 30minutes for me to clear .
And that is over 10 open counters at anytime of the day . So, I don%26#39;t have much to complain the Thai%26#39;s
immigrations here.
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