webfact Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 Don Mueang Airport: 20 more immigration counters to open this week Daily News reported that PM Prayut Chan-Ocha had ordered his transport minister to go to Don Mueang to see what was wrong with crowding at immigration both inbound and outbound. Saksayam Chidchob found that the airport couldn't cope with the overcrowding and has ordered immediate measures to overcome the problem. However, no mention was made of the problems experienced by travelers at Bangkok's main airport, Suvarnabhumi. Saksayam said that the the Visa on Arrival section will be moved so that it does not interfere with other counters. This section is very busy now because of the waiver for Chinese and Indians in particular that has been extended to the end of April next year. At the moment the airport can cope with 1,600 outbound passengers an hour yet the average is 2,000. Inbound can cope with 1,700 but there are 2,024 per hour. With the tourist high season looming in October he ordered immediate measures at the airport to be undertaken by the airport authority. Inbound the number of counters will be increased by 12 from 39 to 51. Outbound it will be increased by 8 from 36 to 44. He also ordered the Airport Authority of Thailand to report to ministers every month about the situation - something that Daily News called "homework" in their story. Saksayam added that the Immigration Bureau have the manpower and the counters in place. They were clearly not being manned in sufficient numbers to cope with the traffic. In addition check-in is being extended from three hours to four. The story concentrated solely on Bangkok's second largest airport Don Mueang - no mention was made of Suvarnabhumi where social media posts have told of long queues in recent weeks. Source: Daily News -- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-08-22 Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crealy22 Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 20 counters open this week. 25 close next week TIT Sent from my SM-A700FD using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatOngo Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 7 minutes ago, crealy22 said: 20 counters open this week. I hope they can find 3 IO's to man them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunderhill Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 They only have 3 immigration officers total and they cant do the sums 1700 to cope with yet 2000+ out well it sure take a genius to "order" this to be fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunderhill Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 1 minute ago, PatOngo said: I hope they can find 3 IO's to man them! or woman them???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mango Bob Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 Wrong airport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo2014 Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 Great 20 new counters next week.... all likely to be unmanned by the following week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inactiveposter Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 Why does it take the PM to get this moving? They already knew of the problem and the numbers - “At the moment the airport can cope with 1,600 outbound passengers an hour yet the average is 2,000.” Why did they not address it once the numbers were known? (Yes, I know the answer.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkok Barry Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 8 hours ago, webfact said: Saksayam added that the Immigration Bureau have the manpower and the counters in place. They were clearly not being manned in sufficient numbers to cope with the traffic. Tell us something we don't already know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlylekan Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 I live in the Netherlands and I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, USA. I travel often, leaving both airports often and both of these airports supposedly have a lot more traffic than airports in Bangkok, yet they have less stations at the AMS and ATL and IAD airports and I never have long waits at those airports for immigration. I just don't understand this reoccurring problem and how the authorities always think that the amount of booths will matter. Personally, I think there is another, better solution, though I'm not sure what that is since I'm not on the opposite end at any of the aforementioned airports. I'm very curious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caldera Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 "Saksayam added that the Immigration Bureau have the manpower and the counters in place. They were clearly not being manned in sufficient numbers to cope with the traffic." Exactly. That could and really should have been fixed a long time ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadbury Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 Does this mean that less Chinese will p!ss their pants while waiting in the immigration queue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HLover Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 39 minutes ago, Cadbury said: Does this mean that less Chinese will p!ss their pants while waiting in the immigration queue? Hope not, it's free entertainment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotchilli Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 21 hours ago, webfact said: Saksayam added that the Immigration Bureau have the manpower and the counters in place. They were clearly not being manned in sufficient numbers to cope with the traffic. Which everyone except the airport seems to understand ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac98 Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 All they need to do is divert one inbound plane from PEK per hour over to Cambodia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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