Phuket airport immigration deny ‘B100 fast track through Ebola line’

[AdrianMatthews]

They are so good at coming up with new ways to make a quick buck 555555555

[IamNoone88]

Trust me, its THB 100 well spent.

[prakhonchai nick]

Mr Whoever you are, by paying them the 100Baht, you are an accomplice to corruption as they are.

And by grassing them to the newspaper did nothing to improve your wrongdoings.

o please with the cooruption it is what makes this country work I would pay the 100 in a heart beat not to stand in a line over an hour, I bet you would too.

Why not just open another booth and get the visitors through quickly, politely and without charge?

[EnglishJohn]

Thai officials need to learn that when they publicly declare something like this to be false when it is so obviously true, they make themselves and, more importantly, the whole of Thailand look like lying scammers who can officially do whatever they like.

If the PM was serious about corruption and the image of the country, he would set an independent force to investigate things like this and that official would lose his job if he was lying. These people will only learn when examples are set.

[technologybytes]

I don't see that offering a fast-track service is necessarily wrong, or corrupt. Most countries offer fast-track immigration services, this definitely has included the USA and the UK to my certain knowledge.

[prakhonchai nick]

I don't see that offering a fast-track service is necessarily wrong, or corrupt. Most countries offer fast-track immigration services, this definitely has included the USA and the UK to my certain knowledge.

Not wrong, if it's official. But there is no fast track system at Phuket.....the boss said so!

But why should fast track be necessary. Just use more of the idle officers to open the requisite number of booths to turn round passengers in the fastest time possible.

[reggaebkk]

When there will be an ebola epidemic in Thailand, they airport staff will probably propose passengers from the quarantine "ebola" line to skip the medical and go faster by using the "non-infected" line... for a 100 baht... only...

The best deals are always done with a Thai uniform.

[RigPig]

Mr Whoever you are, by paying them the 100Baht, you are an accomplice to corruption as they are.

And by grassing them to the newspaper did nothing to improve your wrongdoings.

o please with the cooruption it is what makes this country work I would pay the 100 in a heart beat not to stand in a line over an hour, I bet you would too.

Why not just open another booth and get the visitors through quickly, politely and without charge?

ERRRR because no one would make any tea money....... DUH

[RigPig]

Thai officials need to learn that when they publicly declare something like this to be false when it is so obviously true, they make themselves and, more importantly, the whole of Thailand look like lying scammers who can officially do whatever they like.

If the PM was serious about corruption and the image of the country, he would set an independent force to investigate things like this and that official would lose his job if he was lying. These people will only learn when examples are set.

It starts in the schools and they don't understand it only works with Thais. If the teacher says " 2+2=5", then it must be so!!

[rasmus5150]

 

This deputy chief should be sent to the deep south and busted down to a regular immigration <removed>.

Just about everyone in Thailand knows he is lying.

Why would any tourist coming here deliberately lie about something like this?

As for

'Mr Whoever you are, by paying them the 100Baht, you are an accomplice to corruption as they are.

And by grassing them to the newspaper did nothing to improve your wrongdoings.'

What a load of twoddle.

3 officers waiting at the cash earning counter instead of in the other booths, so basically the problem was deliberately engineered to promote the corruption. You can't blame people for not waiting an hour in a queue when they can pay 100 baht to sail through.... I would have paid, but been pissed off that I was set up for the bribe.

I would have 'grassed them up' too.

But this is Thailand..... corruption is totally legal here when you are ripping off tourists.

Nothing has changed, and nothing will EVER change.

I pray for the day Thailand loses all its tourists. It won't affect me personally and I don't care about the thousands of people who have been scamming tourists for years.

 

What about all the thousands of honest people who are working in the tourist industry? Not everybody is crooked and corrupt........ Could you please save a prayer for them?

What do you think is going to happen, when all these thousands of people who work in the service industry lose their job job because the lack of tourists? Crime will rise significantly and could also pose a risk to people who is not involved in the tourist industry - like you.... So be careful what you wish for.

Edited November 6, 2014 by rasmus5150

[KamalaRider]

Mr Whoever you are, by paying them the 100Baht, you are an accomplice to corruption as they are.

And by grassing them to the newspaper did nothing to improve your wrongdoings.

Still, someone has to do it in order to be able to testify about this practice.

[Krataiboy]

If Ebola breaks out on the island and starts killing people, the boss of Phuket immigration should be the first of the criminal scamsters to be hauled before a military tribunal and charged with culpable mass homicide.

[darhut]

They are catching up to Cambodia with their go slow processing in immigration so you pay a fee to get fast tracked. Cambo has been doing it for years at Poipet.

[stevehaigh]

Mr Whoever you are, by paying them the 100Baht, you are an accomplice to corruption as they are.

And by grassing them to the newspaper did nothing to improve your wrongdoings.

i'd pay in a heart beat if it saved me 1 hour of queing

i think the bigger story here is you have to queue 1 hour after a long international flight and the are only 3 desks open out of 8. Thailand is really trying to end tourism and it seems its just about the only thing they can do well

Edited November 6, 2014 by stevehaigh

[stevehaigh]

They are catching up to Cambodia with their go slow processing in immigration so you pay a fee to get fast tracked. Cambo has been doing it for years at Poipet.

yep and they charge 200b so 100b in Phuket is a bargain

[MediaWatcher]

Costas2008, on 05 Nov 2014 - 21:39, said:

Mr Whoever you are, by paying them the 100Baht, you are an accomplice to corruption as they are.

And by grassing them to the newspaper did nothing to improve your wrongdoings.

But it does highlight that there is still corruption and a lack of "will power" to properly investigate...always a denial. Oh, and let's not forget, it also gives you a chance to whinge about someone reporting corruption.

[slipperx]

Thai officials need to learn that when they publicly declare something like this to be false when it is so obviously true, they make themselves and, more importantly, the whole of Thailand look like lying scammers who can officially do whatever they like.

If the PM was serious about corruption and the image of the country, he would set an independent force to investigate things like this and that official would lose his job if he was lying. These people will only learn when examples are set.

Don't you mean expose (as opposed to make it look like) Thailand for all the lying scammers that operate daily under the watchful eyes of whatever government in power?

[Sayonarax]

I'm inclined to believe the tourist.

[Lupatria]

Amazing Thailand - It all (the problems) starts with the wrong people at the immigration.

How is that TAT?

[petercool]

Post mentioning Royalty removed along with an empty post

[MediaWatcher]

ezzra, on 06 Nov 2014 - 09:03, said:ezzra, on 06 Nov 2014 - 09:03, said:

Why would I want to stand in line next to someone who might have Ebola AND pay

B. 100 for it ??

Is that worse than being on the same plane for hours... your logic is flawed.

Edited November 6, 2014 by MediaWatcher

[MediaWatcher]

schlog, on 06 Nov 2014 - 09:31, said:

I would not call it a scam. You have the choice pay and use the service, don't pay or use it with a Thai for free.

A scam is when your homecountry takes 80% of your income away with taxation and the press clap enthusiastically new record tax revenues.

On monday all counters were manned and the service lane was open.

Guys living in the north of phuket only have to pay 50 if they want to use this service.

80%, really, I must ask, just how much income did you have, in this very "scamming" country, that allowed you to live, I assume comfortably, in Thailand.

[diehard60]

This is good. The new PM wants to stop corruption but I guess he has no idea how to do it.

[Katipo]

So, what to believe.... that some random British stories would make up this colourful story, or that the local officials would deny it. This is a tough one

[Sviss Geez]

I would not call it a scam. You have the choice pay and use the service, don't pay or use it with a Thai for free.

A scam is when your homecountry takes 80% of your income away with taxation and the press clap enthusiastically new record tax revenues.

On monday all counters were manned and the service lane was open.

Guys living in the north of phuket only have to pay 50 if they want to use this service.

If it's not an official service it's a scam, especially when the top immigration guy says it doesn't exist!

It is not a scam if you pay a fee for an additional service and then receive that service. If you paid for something you didn't get, that would be a scam.

[MediaWatcher]

diehard60, on 06 Nov 2014 - 12:38, said:

This is good. The new PM wants to stop corruption but I guess he has no idea how to do it.

Then he could show the way by allowing himself to be investigated first.

[A1Str8]

I believe it's possible that someone was collecting bribes but sure as hell he wasn't Thai. More like someone from Myanmar if you ask them.

[Larry001]

Haed of Immigration said the British are liars. End of story.LOS

[Asheron]

This is the very reason why i audio record any and all interactions i have with thai officials.

[FiestyFarang]

Hopefully there will be less time in a queue when the new airport opens, be fair Thailand is planning ahead. Heathrow is meant to be one of the best airports in the world, last time I was there a guy lost his cool and was shouting at the toilet attendant and then apologised. I could not even consider using the toilets even though I had a long trip to Australia. UK you pay huge amounts of tax even increasing on the greater distance you are flying out and they still can't provide clean toilets. The best run airport in Singapore's Changi been there 20 or 3o times and every time it is clean even though they are a very busy airport. Well done Singapore.