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Warning on current immigration clearance time

Warning on current immigration clearance time

Old Mar 7, 2012, 9:43 am
  #331  
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Originally Posted by fdflys
I'm 1k on UA so have *A Gold but have no status on ANA. It's a connecting flight back to the states and I'm in economy. ANA has a joint venture with UA so I'm hoping they might see the 1K and point me towards the better exit option.
Plan for this absolutely not to be he case. It costs them money.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 10:10 am
  #332  
 
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Originally Posted by yosithezet
On what are you basing this?
.
Obviously English is not your first language, the poster wrote about going to the airport early evening for a midnight flight. The question should be, why do you insist that posters ask the same question twice, are you hard of hearing or maybe it is true
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 12:50 pm
  #333  
 
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Originally Posted by BKKROP
Obviously English is not your first language, the poster wrote about going to the airport early evening for a midnight flight. The question should be, why do you insist that posters ask the same question twice, are you hard of hearing or maybe it is true
English is neither my first nor my second language, so maybe I'm getting this all completely wrong, but I think there's no need at all to have a go at Yoshithezet.

I understood that fdflys asked about the immigration & security situation in the early evening.

You made a comment about BKK late at night and said that since Fdflys had lounge access, ANA would help him thru (I assume you meant thru immigration/security).

When Yoshithezet then asked on what assumption this was based, he likely meant you, i.e. why you expected ANA to help fdflys going thru immigration.
I think he did not mean to ask fdflys to repeat his question.

The question if status pax in coach get fast-track in and out of BKK seems to be very valid to me and I'm sure many readers will be more than happy to get clarity on this.

There were a few threads about who's giving fast track cards for whom, but I'm not aware of an up-to-date source to verify this anymore.

Please help to clarify.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 1:31 pm
  #334  
 
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Thanks Lounge Lizzard for bringing the peace. I was indeed thinking that it would be nice if the ANA people pointed me toward the faster immigration lane. I've had this happen in other airports (based on my UA/*A status) but I can't remember if it happened on my last visit to BKK because it was a few years ago. I'm coming up from Cha'am so it seemed best to go to the airport early and cool out from the roadtrip back to the city before my flight (hence the early arrival at the airport).
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 2:18 pm
  #335  
 
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Originally Posted by LoungeLizzard
English is neither my first nor my second language, so maybe I'm getting this all completely wrong, but I think there's no need at all to have a go at Yoshithezet.

.
He is a big blighter and perfectly able to look after himself, but it is charming that you should come to his aid

It would seem that air passengers in Europe and North Americawho travel economy get fast tracked through their airports, OMG how wonderful must it be, but here in Asia, if you're finances resemble Greece's and you are in the back of the bus, tough luck. Having said that, at some Asian ports if you know how the system works for the First and business traveller, and you tag along, nobody is going to say much to you. The problem is that by the time you find out where the fast track line is, over to one side and nis it open, in most cases it would have been quicker had you joined the first line as you arrived. I laugh when people complain about BKK, they should go to CDG or London or even Hong Kong, better still try the border across to Shenzhen wow. regards don't weaken, regards
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 5:14 pm
  #336  
 
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I am a *G (TG) and when flying economy class out of BKK on any airline, have NEVER been given Fast Track privileges, and that includes on TG itself.

Bottom line: if you are flying Y regardless of your status, do not expect any help from any airline on Fast Tracking you through immigration. Of course it's worth asking politely when you check-in, but don't expect it to happen. Plan your timing to complete immigration and security per worst case scenario.

If you are flying J/F, it depends on your airline policy and definitely worth asking about Fast track if they don't automatically offer up this option. If you are flying J/F on TG, head for your dedicated immigration and security at end of check-in Aisle A.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 5:33 pm
  #337  
 
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Originally Posted by jiejie
I am a *G (TG) and when flying economy class out of BKK on any airline, have NEVER been given Fast Track privileges, and that includes on TG itself.

Bottom line: if you are flying Y regardless of your status, do not expect any help from any airline on Fast Tracking you through immigration. Of course it's worth asking politely when you check-in, but don't expect it to happen. Plan your timing to complete immigration and security per worst case scenario.

If you are flying J/F, it depends on your airline policy and definitely worth asking about Fast track if they don't automatically offer up this option. If you are flying J/F on TG, head for your dedicated immigration and security at end of check-in Aisle A.
+1, this has also been my experience. Previously when I was *G with UA I got noting when departing BKK in UA or LH Y although that was some years ago now.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 6:25 pm
  #338  
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Originally Posted by LoungeLizzard
When Yoshithezet then asked on what assumption this was based, he likely meant you, i.e. why you expected ANA to help fdflys going thru immigration.
I think he did not mean to ask fdflys to repeat his question.
Thanks LoungeLizzard. You are correct that I didn't understand why BKKROP would think that fdflys would be helped through immigration. There was no clue that he had super status with ANA or that he was flying F. I actually looked through the thread looking for that information to see if I'd missed it. I hadn't.

When giving advice it is important that the advice be actionable. Making vague statements which are not based on the reality of a specific situation and don't provide a poster with specific information as to how to act on the claims really don't serve anyone. In this case, now that we have the actual details of the class of service and status, we, as a community, are able to actually assist the poster. Had they followed the previously provided vague advice they likely would have been in for a very rude surprise upon reaching the airport.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 6:59 pm
  #339  
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Originally Posted by yosithezet
Thanks LoungeLizzard. You are correct that I didn't understand why BKKROP would think that _______ [insert any topic].
There, fixed it for ya.

Originally Posted by yosithezet
When giving advice it is important that the advice be actionable. Making vague statements which are not based on the reality of a specific situation and don't provide a poster with specific information as to how to act on the claims really don't serve anyone..
I'm still trying to get my hands around the relevance of 'movements to Europe' and an ANA flight to TYO.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 8:45 pm
  #340  
 
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Originally Posted by jiejie
Bottom line: if you are flying Y regardless of your status, do not expect any help from any airline on Fast Tracking you through immigration. Of course it's worth asking politely when you check-in, but don't expect it to happen. Plan your timing to complete immigration and security per worst case scenario.
I'm 1K with UA. On the 2 times I was flying out of BKK on UA in Y last year, I was automatically given a FastTrack pass (didn't ask for it).

Instead, I fly NH quite a bit into/out of BKK (better timings: earlier arrival/later departure). I too have no status with NH. They have never done anything special for me beyond basic *G recognition. Nor do I expect them to (what's 1K to them?)

Question: I'm left with one leftover Gold Fast Track pass. I have a trip in NH Y to BKK coming up. Upon the suggestion of another forum poster, I whited-out the pre-written dates, which I will fill-in with my impending date of travel. I should be able to use pass inbound, correct? Where is the Fast Track lane again? IIRC, in between the two inbound immigration arrival halls, correct?
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 9:36 pm
  #341  
 
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Outbound / Inbound data points

Outbound - Monday, 5 March, 0600am

Heading outbound on TG620 to MNL in Y. The line at immigration (I guess this would be the middle of the three sections) was very long, snaking quite far out into the ticketing area. I stood in the line for 10-15 minutes, continuously but slowing moving forward / making progress. About the time I reached the little entry-way to actually go into the "room" where the immigration officers are, I was waved to a small Fast Track area where we actually went through security before approaching immigration officers. Spent about another 10-15 minutes here.

So in a nutshell, it took just shy of 30 minutes to make it all the way through.

Inbound - Wednesday, 7 March, 2220pm

Came in on TG625 from MNL. We were bussed from the plane to the terminal (which I found quite strange, given it is TG, did they forget to pay landing fees this month?). In any case, there were 3-4 buses at the door to the terminal before us, so we sat on the bus for 5-10 minutes before we were let off.

Once I got up to immigration (forget which one it was), the hall was completely full. There were at least a 20 lines open with 25-30 people in each (see pic below). Despite the crowd, it took me about 20 minutes to clear the queue.



In a nutshell, in my recent experience, Suvarnibhumi is the least pax-friendly airport from an immigration standpoint in the region (compared with HKG, SIN, SGN, HAN, MNL, SYD, etc) with the exception of CAN which I think should be burned to the ground.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 9:40 pm
  #342  
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Originally Posted by tide
I'm 1K with UA. On the 2 times I was flying out of BKK on UA in Y last year, I was automatically given a FastTrack pass (didn't ask for it).

Instead, I fly NH quite a bit into/out of BKK (better timings: earlier arrival/later departure). I too have no status with NH. They have never done anything special for me beyond basic *G recognition. Nor do I expect them to (what's 1K to them?)

Question: I'm left with one leftover Gold Fast Track pass. I have a trip in NH Y to BKK coming up. Upon the suggestion of another forum poster, I whited-out the pre-written dates, which I will fill-in with my impending date of travel. I should be able to use pass inbound, correct? Where is the Fast Track lane again? IIRC, in between the two inbound immigration arrival halls, correct?
Correct, but many of the passes that were formerly being honored are no longer being honored. I have some blue passes that don't match the new one and don't have the same letter stamped on them. My gold pass has a different letter stamped on it than the ones they are looking for now. None of these were honored. YMMV.
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Old Mar 8, 2012, 1:16 am
  #343  
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FWIW, flew into Bangkok at 11 p.m. on UA last night from NRT, in J, not fast trak card offered and I didn't bother asking. About a 15-minute wait at immigration.

Left this morning on TG in J, so it was fast trak and a real breeze, including special section A for getting my boarding pass.
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Old Mar 9, 2012, 8:50 pm
  #344  
 
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Originally Posted by BKKROP
It would seem that air passengers in Europe and North Americawho travel economy get fast tracked through their airports, OMG how wonderful must it be, but here in Asia, if you're finances resemble Greece's and you are in the back of the bus, tough luck.

The tone on this board is deteriorating.

May BKKROP consider that a) immigration in almost all Schengen countries is quick and painless and no stupid paperwork has to be filled in and b) most European countries rely on real work and not commodities which can be mined (by destroying the environment).
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Old Mar 10, 2012, 12:23 am
  #345  
 
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I am at BKK at the moment and I am pleasantly surprised: I made it from the Royal Silk Checkin to the first drink at the TG Lounge at D in less than 5 Minutes including security and passport comtrol. This time, the term 'fast track' really has a meaning. ^
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