Hi all,

We'll be in Phuket in December for the first time since January 2015, and my understanding is that a new international terminal has opened at HKT since we were there last. Last time we were there we arrived on a Dragonair flight from HKG and the immigration experience was...not the best. I seem to recall we were in a dark, dingy, HOT room with long, disorganized lines and a lot of confusion. Did I mention HOT? Is the international arrival experience significantly improved with the new terminal? We'll be coming in on AirAsia from SIN this time.

As for the departure, we've got a single ticket HKT-BKK-HKG. HKT-BKK is on Thai, and BKK-HKG is on Ethiopian. I've been told that even though the HKT-BKK segment is domestic, we will actually check in at the international terminal at HKT and clear customs/passport control/etc in HKT? Is this true? So then at BKK are we basically considered transiting international passengers? Do we go through security, through a passport check, or what at BKK? What is this CIQ I keep hearing about? The info on the BKK airport website is a little vague IMO.

Last question, since our departing flight from HKT is a Thai Airways domestic flight to BKK, I guess we'll be in the domestic terminal, which will be the same terminal we were in back in 2015 when there was only one terminal, correct? So we'll check in at the international terminal but then walk to the domestic terminal?

Thanks for any advice! Last time we were there we loved everything about Phuket except the airport experience, and it was really only the arrival that was unpleasant. The departure experience was fine.