No Relief in sight for Airport Immigration Staff

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No Relief in sight for Airport Immigration Staff

BANGKOK: -- After the floods last year forced airlines to move services to Suvarnabhumi … this month sees Bangkok’s second airport, Don Mueang return to service after massive renovations.

Billions of baht has been invested in the duty free and passenger areas as flights are once again transferred back to, what was, the original airport for the capital.  10 year contracts have been agreed with the tax free shops and the lights are back on, waiting for the airlines to come home.

Weary passenger standing in  queues at either airport, passport in hand, hand luggage at their feet wishing  the immigration officer to speed up and get through the line of people ahead,  will be unaware of the struggle faced by the, perhaps cute,  uniformed officer who appears to take an eternity to check passports, before finally stamping the visa and offering a weary and repetitive smile to the next in line.

As new runways are planned for the already overloaded International hub, and Don Mueang reopens for business,  so the plight of the Immigration officer becomes regular headline news.   

According to sources, the job isn’t as simple as checking the expiry dates of the visa and passport of every single passenger, in fact that is just the tip of the iceberg.

A dozen passengers during any day are removed from the line as they show up on the internationally updated computer system as having outstanding warrants.

Hundreds arrive with expired visas, passports that are not actually their own or with other complications that mean they are not qualified to enter or leave the kingdom. 

And then there are thousands  of passengers who have either not completed their boarding cards or have filled them out incorrectly (bring your own Pen!!).

In each case the officer has to bring the line to a halt and review the case with a superior.

pattaya103.com 2012-09-26