Long lines & delays at Suvarnabhumi immigration: Seat leaving ban

With lines stretching back to check-in area on Sunday morning, bathroom breaks may explain why immigration officers not present. Ban on leaving seats ordered by top officials.

AIR TRAVEL& GOVERNMENT

Long lines & delays at Suvarnabhumi immmigration: Seat leaving for officers prohibited

27/02/2017
Sutthiwit Chayutvorakan

After complaints about long waits from air travellers waiting to have their passports stamped, airport immigration officials have been ordered to not leave their seats.

Foreign tourists at Suvarnabhumi International Airport say they were delayed in a long line stretching from the immigration checkpoint all the way back to the check-in area at around 8am Sunday morning with at least 13 people allegedly missing their flight (see video here & social media here, here & here).

That only six out of eighteen immigration counters were allegedly open for service was cited as the cause of the back up.

This is not the first time the immigration checkpoints at Suvarnabhumi have suffered from long lines and delays. In 2012 an even larger problem was eventually solved (see here & here).

BATHROOM BREAKS ALLEGED CAUSE OF LONG LINES: BAN ON LEAVING SEATS

Some officials had allegedly taken bathroom breaks which might explain their absence.

To solve the problem, Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn said he had ordered all on duty officers to never leave their desks from 6am to 9am.

Morning hours are a peak period at Suvarnabhumi, when more flights leave the airport.

The bureau chief also promised to transfer more officials to work under his supervision from other immigration posts to reduce the workload of existing officers at Suvarnabhumi.

The big boss at the bureau Immigration Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn said up to 14 officers, or about 80% of the workforce at the airport, had already been deployed to the immigration checkpoint in the morning.

URGENT MEETING CALLED & INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED

An urgent meeting was called at the airport after social media showed foreign passengers thronged the area waiting for their documents to be processed on Sunday morning while some immigration counters were empty.

Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn claimed a check with all airlines leaving Bangkok during that period found only four Bangkok Airways passengers had missed their flights to Phnom Penh.

There were other possible reasons the four passengers had missed their flights -- they might have spent too much time shopping, had a long meal or could not find the gates, he added.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1205864/suvarnabhumi-immigration-officials-told-to-sit-tight

https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/crazy-queue-suvarnabhumi-airports-immigration-causes-travelers-miss-flights/
 
http://morning-news.bectero.com/social-crime/26-Feb-2017/97671
https://twitter.com/js100radio/status/835656006554132480/photo/1
https://twitter.com/ARMdhiravath/status/835701238234669057
https://twitter.com/ARMdhiravath/status/835747984780382208

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/971120-immigration-chief-hits-back-sunday-missed-flight-claims-are-rubbish/

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