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Snake Line At Suvarnabhumi


Horneytorney

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Bangkok Post:

 

Relief for immigration headaches at BKK?

Shift in overtime pay may ease gripes

 

Authorities are seeking a change in regulations so that the service charges levied on airlines and passengers for passport screening during off-official hours at the airport are passed on to the onsite officers, sources with knowledge of the issue said yesterday.

 

The collection of overtime charges _ 200 baht per flight imposed on airlines and 10 baht for each passenger _ has gone to the Finance Ministry's Treasury before the amount is distributed equally to all units of the Immigration Bureau.

 

Officers at Suvarnabhumi's immigration branch, many of whom screen 1,000 passports a day, feel the distribution is grossly unfair to them as they face a bigger workload than those working at other airports.

 

For that reason, 267 Suvarnabhumi officers have moved to other units within the bureau while others were promoted and released from their duties.

 

Their departure created a shortage of passport screeners and left their 1,045 remaining colleagues to cope with surging passenger traffic at Bangkok's main air hub. It also explains why just 60% of passport control counters are manned.

 

The current immigration staff is capable of handling 80,000 passengers a day, while actual passenger volume passing through Suvarnabhumi has soared to 160,000 a day, resulting in long lines both at departure and arrival.

 

Airports of Thailand Plc, the Suvarnabhumi operator that has borne the brunt of criticism, on Monday agreed to provide a monetary dose of 100,000 baht a day to the airport immigration branch over the next two months.

 

This supplementary payment, in the form of overtime, will be used to ensure that the bureau enhances its efficiency at passport checkpoints.

 

A number of short-term solutions to the long immigration lines are also being introduced.

 

After resisting the idea for some time, the Immigration Bureau's Suvarnabhumi branch this week finally adopted a new "snake line" queueing system for checking passports.

 

Used widely in many airports around the world, the snake line _ formed by a small line passing around or between two ropes in a spiral or zigzag _ is regarded as a more efficient and fair way to run a queue.

 

Each passenger in the snake line is directed to the available counter by an usher.

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/print/284418/

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"provide a monetary dose of 100,000 baht a day to the airport immigration branch"

If money will make them work faster, then they understand that the officers are not working fast enough now.

 

They should work at exactly the same pace! To go faster would confirm they didn't work hard enough before. Actually they should work slower to prove they need MORE incentive.

 

Or just do what I do and book a day in advance to use the VIP queue for a very small fee.

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 At Don Muang I noticed most people gathered at the closest immigration booths. I would walk a little further, where you'd find more booths almost unused. (They weren't easy to see, if you didn't know they were there.) Since I always had a visa anyway, I'd zip right through. Haven't tried Swampypoom lately, but I've never really liked that airport. Too big and too damned far away. 

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Agree with Flash, it's too big and the gates are too far away. First used Swampy two days after it opened, it felt incomplete as there was no paint (still no paint!) and the smell of construction still hung in the air. Toilets were not signposted so it was rather hit or miss that you were actually in the right one (i,e. not the 'ladies' :)) The trolley wheels got lodged in the aerobridge 'planks' and they still have only that aerobridge to serve the multistorey carpark. I take a taxi these days.

 

Re the snake line. The line Friday before last was three times as long, but it was moving at a decent pace. Perhaps it does work. The immigration officials were seen to be trying as well. Have missed a flight before as some queues tended to be a lot slower than others though they may look shorter. (Note to self: Never stand in a queue with an Indian in front. It took 15 minutes just to process that one guy!)

 

Coming back I just joined the Thai Immigration queue. Some muttering by two women behind me (Does he know? I don't see it written anywhere. Maybe he doesn't - not realising I understood every single word.) Yes, I knew. But as I have PR it is one of the perks that I can actually use the Thai immigration line. Surprising though that no officials came to shoo me out. Also interesting to see some rather scruffy hippie-type individual being escorted back out again (much to the consternation of the person she was with).

 

I liked Don Meung, was sorry to see it put out of action. Remember it from the time they only had one terminal and the road in front still had the wide drain down the middle (if you go down to Hua Hin you'll know what I mean).

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Hopefully, re-opening DM per the other News item will alleviate some of the madness. I've been there when it seems like half of southern China just landed and its no fun at all - same at KLCCT. We are told that Chinese tourist numbers are up 20% in Oz, so clearly they arent afraid to get on a plane and explore the region. Wait till their domestic economy really takes off ......

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I liked Don Meung, was sorry to see it put out of action. Remember it from the time they only had one terminal and the road in front still had the wide drain down the middle (if you go down to Hua Hin you'll know what I mean).

If you want to see the old Don Muang Airport, watch the airport scene in "The Killing Fields". It was shot at the old terminal, the one I landed at in 1973. The old terminal was used for domestic flights in the 1980s, but later was torn down and replaced.

 

 

 

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