Utapao: The new terminal, the old immigration

[prospero]

Arrived through the new terminal at U-Tapao. 

 

Confronted with huge immigration lines, mostly Chinese tourists.

 

Eight passport lanes. Only three open. No express lane for Thais. 

 

The same inefficiency and indifference in new surroundings.

 

Welcome to Thailand.

[NanLaew]

You gets what you pays for.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

OK, now I can add another airport to my "avoid list": DMK and U-Tapao. It's worth the extra 1000 baht/flight to fly international via Swampy then. Thanks. :-) 

[sanuk711]

Your a bit tough guys....this has only just open..(on this scale ) .

looking at the pic... I have seen much longer queues going into Hanoi/PP/Bali,

(and of Course Heathrow London.)

 

Probably high Tec KL/Sing is the only Asian places to breeze through.

-------------

Not sure what you refer to as old immigration prospero--? I do you mean the nearest Immigration (Maptaput ) has moved in there--is there an immigration office in the airport... or are these  just immigration guys for the Airport.

[prospero]

I think it's quite clear what I was referring to, Sanuk. When you enter a country you pass through immigration. There are officers who stamp your passport. We call them immigration officers. They man booths. You wait to approach a booth, sometimes for a long time. Once you're at the booth the officer checks your passport and other travel documents. He or she takes a photograph of your face and stamps your passport, after which you can pick up your luggage, pass through customs and leave the airport.

 

There is a small immigration office in the new U-Tapao terminal. You'll see it on your right as you wait in line. 

[BsBs]

And the car park is a dump !

No real security, no real ticket machine, just handwritten paper.

Road signage has also not been done.

 

[MyFriend You]

9 hours ago, NanLaew said:

You gets what you pays for.

Exactly, I always pay for the VIP line, when not flying Business class ...........what is it??  $25.00???  Breeze right thru.

[jacko45k]

18 hours ago, sanuk711 said:

Your a bit tough guys....this has only just open..(on this scale ) .

looking at the pic... I have seen much longer queues going into Hanoi/PP/Bali,

(and of Course Heathrow London.)

 

Probably high Tec KL/Sing is the only Asian places to breeze through.

-------------

Not sure what you refer to as old immigration prospero--? I do you mean the nearest Immigration (Maptaput ) has moved in there--is there an immigration office in the airport... or are these  just immigration guys for the Airport.

Comparing it to other bad incidences elsewhere serves no purpose.

Having only 3 IO on duty sounds like the crux of the problem, and a disregard for people and passengers.

 

[steve187]

op where had you flown from.

always a lottery at immigration, wherever it is

[sanuk711]

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Comparing it to other bad incidences elsewhere serves no purpose.

Often there is no way of judging any situation in life unless by comparison--- i.e if everywhere is worse... how can this be bad---compared to what in Asia.

I have flown in there from Issan and the place has been empty. I would get more upset at an establish Airport Don Muang , that doesn't seem to be improving.Heathrow can not handle the traffic at times--- I have sat on the floor of many airports in Europe wondering just ..what is "Schengen"  all about.

[NanLaew]

On 12/4/2017 at 3:57 PM, BsBs said:

And the car park is a dump !

No real security, no real ticket machine, just handwritten paper.

Road signage has also not been done.

 

The new car park is great. Plenty of spaces and you can drive straight across it, no need for lanes and enter/leave anywhere you want. Beats the heck out of the 'old' parking.

[BsBs]

28 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

The new car park is great. Plenty of spaces and you can drive straight across it, no need for lanes and enter/leave anywhere you want. Beats the heck out of the 'old' parking.

 

Yes, cars also like to rot under the tropic sun.

 

 

[NanLaew]

9 hours ago, BsBs said:

 

Yes, cars also like to rot under the tropic sun.

 

 

Strewth! How long are you leaving it there for? All winter?

 

If this is a major concern, you can still turn up early and grab one of the few covered spaces at the old car park.

[BsBs]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

Strewth! How long are you leaving it there for? All winter?

 

If this is a major concern, you can still turn up early and grab one of the few covered spaces at the old car park.

 

Always full, thank you to stop talking about what you have no idea at all.

 

 

 

 

[LennyW]

On 12/4/2017 at 3:57 PM, BsBs said:

And the car park is a dump !

No real security, no real ticket machine, just handwritten paper.

Road signage has also not been done.

 

No Security??? It's in the middle of a military airbase.....armed security everywhere!!

 

[NanLaew]

9 hours ago, BsBs said:

 

Always full, thank you to stop talking about what you have no idea at all.

 

 

I parked several times under cover at the old parking lot when I arrived early enough to catch a 'red-eye' flight. That's before 6 in the morning BTW.

 

Look, the new terminal and new parking facilities are a work in progress, if you want cover, a real ticket machine and 'security', you can use another airport until this one is ready.

 

I mean if they hadn't opened the new parking lot, you would (still) be whining about the old one.

[craigt3365]

Just came through DMK.  Walked right up to immigration.  Not a soul in line.

[NanLaew]

9 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

Just came through DMK.  Walked right up to immigration.  Not a soul in line.

...and only about 2.5 hours from Pattaya on a good day.

[craigt3365]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

...and only about 2.5 hours from Pattaya on a good day.

No other options.

[jacko45k]

On 12/5/2017 at 8:24 AM, sanuk711 said:

Often there is no way of judging any situation in life unless by comparison--- i.e if everywhere is worse... how can this be bad---compared to what in Asia.

I have flown in there from Issan and the place has been empty. I would get more upset at an establish Airport Don Muang , that doesn't seem to be improving.Heathrow can not handle the traffic at times--- I have sat on the floor of many airports in Europe wondering just ..what is "Schengen"  all about.

Then I might compare to Singapore and Hong Kong and say why can Thailand not achieve similar standards. There are only 17 flights a day to handle and no heavy aircraft.

[sanuk711]

On 12/5/2017 at 5:37 AM, jacko45k said:

Comparing it to other bad incidences elsewhere serves no purpose.

You would like to Compare Utapoa with Hong Kong--not some of the many like sized secondary  Airports  in Asia........OK

Were you in Asia 19 years ago when  Chek Lap Kok opened --I was living HK then, I thought they did a great job in moving it--but teething problems, yer they went on for quite some months and had the usual whining & complaining........Oh maybe you were around then......

 

[jacko45k]

32 minutes ago, sanuk711 said:

You would like to Compare Utapoa with Hong Kong--not some of the many like sized secondary  Airports  in Asia........OK

Were you in Asia 19 years ago when  Chek Lap Kok opened --I was living HK then, I thought they did a great job in moving it--but teething problems, yer they went on for quite some months and had the usual whining & complaining........Oh maybe you were around then......

 

U-Tapao has been there since 1965, teething problems should be behind them by now. Were you around then?

[torrzent]

1 hour ago, sanuk711 said:

You would like to Compare Utapoa with Hong Kong--not some of the many like sized secondary  Airports  in Asia........OK

Were you in Asia 19 years ago when  Chek Lap Kok opened --I was living HK then, I thought they did a great job in moving it--but teething problems, yer they went on for quite some months and had the usual whining & complaining........Oh maybe you were around then......

 

Just a few more letter changes in your creative spelling and you have  "Utopia"

[sanuk711]

19 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

U-Tapao has been there since 1965,

Yes Jacko....and all the planes that were leaving were full of bombs....1/

If you really want to do an honest comparison--Take any country in Asia--and give a Secondary Airport that is great to land at.

 

A shortage of manpower when more than a few planes arrive--sure  that can happen at the main airports--will & can U-Tapao handle great numbers---yes of course it will--it was the only "Bangkok" airport operating at one time---2/ 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-Tapao_International_Airport

1/---In 1965 the US government gained the assent of the Thai government to allow US to upgrade the airfield and use it to support combat operations in Vietnam.

2/ With the temporary closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport and Don Mueang Airport in late November 2008 because they had been occupied by anti-government protestors, U-Tapao became for a time Thailand's main supplementary international gateway.

[Rimmer]

Some off topic posts also posts using weird fonts in a replying,   leading bickering and flaming have been removed

[zoza]

I am flying out of U-Tapao to Udon Thani in a few weeks and to be honest

I was thinking of between 45- 30 mins before my flight as it has been quite empty on my last few trips (last date September) and  we normally spend most of the time

waiting in an empty departure hall for the '' gate'' to open, but maybe keep to the report one hour before take off for domestic flights rule, as do not want to come undone....or is international in another separate terminal.   

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, zoza said:

I am flying out of U-Tapao to Udon Thani in a few weeks and to be honest

I was thinking of between 45- 30 mins before my flight as it has been quite empty on my last few trips (last date September) and  we normally spend most of the time

waiting in an empty departure hall for the '' gate'' to open, but maybe keep to the report one hour before take off for domestic flights rule, as do not want to come undone....or is international in another separate terminal.   

I flew that route in October and the security, check-in and lounge was quite busy due to other flights. That was the afternoon flight but past experience on their morning flights has been as you describe it, pretty quiet. Since 'in a few weeks' sounds like Christmas holiday time, I would take the extra 30-minutes, just to be safe. Also keep in mind that AirAsia are pretty hard on their "check-in 1-hour before departure" rule and gate closing times.

[Eff1n2ret]

1 hour ago, zoza said:

I am flying out of U-Tapao to Udon Thani in a few weeks and to be honest

I was thinking of between 45- 30 mins before my flight as it has been quite empty on my last few trips (last date September) and  we normally spend most of the time

waiting in an empty departure hall for the '' gate'' to open, but maybe keep to the report one hour before take off for domestic flights rule, as do not want to come undone....or is international in another separate terminal.   

We've used the Udon Thani flight several times since Air Asia started the route, most recently my wife's mother flew there and back a couple of months ago. We dropped her at the door about one hour before scheduled take-off time, no problems. You'll see people queueing outside the terminal door, but that's because of baggage security, once you're inside the lines aren't too bad.

As far as I'm aware the old terminal is still used for all departures. I can't remember if it was this year at Songkran, the last time I went, or last year, when we were sat in the departure lounge amongst a crowd of Russians awaiting their charter flight back to the steppes, so unless it's changed, domestic and international are mixed up together. I didn't notice how the imternationals check out with Immigration.

[JoePai]

2 hours ago, Eff1n2ret said:

We've used the Udon Thani flight several times since Air Asia started the route, most recently my wife's mother flew there and back a couple of months ago. We dropped her at the door about one hour before scheduled take-off time, no problems. You'll see people queueing outside the terminal door, but that's because of baggage security, once you're inside the lines aren't too bad.

As far as I'm aware the old terminal is still used for all departures. I can't remember if it was this year at Songkran, the last time I went, or last year, when we were sat in the departure lounge amongst a crowd of Russians awaiting their charter flight back to the steppes, so unless it's changed, domestic and international are mixed up together. I didn't notice how the imternationals check out with Immigration.

I have to do that route twice a month, sometimes a few on the plane and sometimes packed, one cannot say but you can tell if full when they start to seat people in the 'Red' seats.

Have only encountered mixing it with Charter flights 3 times (Chinese), each time queuing out into the road to try and get in BUT the staff ask all non Chinese in the queue going to Udon to go straight to the door, not stand in line.

Inside the Chinese are kept separate thankfully

 

[thaiclan]

It amazes me how you can be in business (and yes airport immigration is a business) and you have a rare luxury of knowing EXACTLY how many customers are coming and at what time they will be there.
Yet so many immigration halls act swamped, surprised and overwhelmed with the numbers.  It not like its a secret when these planes are landing!
Also when sitting on a 12+ hour flight you arrive at your destination immigration and are processed one by one as if they had no clue you were on your way.  Surely the 12 hour or more flight time could have given them a heads up who is coming in and who may need to be flagged?
I can forgive Utapo as its such a small regional airport.  Heathrow however no excuses!
Suvarnhabhumi is pretty good, I especially like seeing them pick out old people or people with kids to go through fast track when the lines get long.  Not such personal service at Changi.
I still find it funny and incredulous that in 2017 we travel around with little cardboard books with our details on to be stamped with ink when crossing a border.  Sounds like its 1940 or something! :-)