Thanks for a great report.
Originally Posted by
haydensydney
It is a little bit posh isn't it? :P
Exactly what we think. I did a bit of research after the Fast track saga and there are reports of people paying for the service, but not getting the service. In fact, whilst we were waiting in the immigration line, a French girl said that the Fast track guy did a runner with her passport and she couldn't find him... she looked extremely stressed.
It does not bode well having such a corrupt first impression with tourists. Further, it looked like these gentlemen were sanctioned by the airport (probably throwing a kick back to the airport manager, for example) - they all had ID's. It was such a bad experience.... I was probably the most stressed I have ever been in a travel related context.
[EDIT] To rub salt in the wounds, when we were in the immigration lines he came up to us with a massive grin on his face saying "You wait now in long line - haha" - this was the precise moment that I wanted to punch him in the head.
Huh.
I went to
Bali in late May of this year (Saturday night) on the last SQ flight of the night (SQ 948), gets in around 9:30 pm.
Immigration was deserted, couldn't have been easier, and made me quite glad I didn't spring for anything... but that's not particularly peak season and Saturday night arrivals aren't typical either. I think that if I was doing it again (and I may), based on your story and my experience, I'd be trying to avoid peak season/peak travel times.