Departing passengers at Suvarnabhumi - automated passport checks

[Gaybutton]

Auto checkout at Suvarnabhumi for foreigners from Friday

by Wassayos Ngamkham

December 11, 2023

Automatic channels for passport checks for out-bound foreign passengers at Suvarnabhumi airport will be available from Dec 15, to speed up boarding of departure flights, Immigration Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Itthipol Itthisanronnachai said on Monday.

He said Suvarnabhumi airport started using 16 automatic channels for passport checks for out-bound travellers from 2012, but only for Thai nationals. It takes only about 20 seconds to scan the face and fingerprints of each passenger. A channel manned by an immigration officer normally takes about 45 seconds.

At present Suvarnabhumi airport handles 50,000-60,000 out-bound passengers per day. Congestion is high when there are more than 20 departure flights per hour. If the immigration and security screening process is slow, passengers can miss their flights.

The Immigration Police Bureau was improving the process so passengers could be processed more quickly, he said. This was in line with government policy to promote tourism.

Pol Lt Gen Itthipol said Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin spoke to him at the airport before leaving for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in mid-November.

The prime minister expressed concern over the slow outflow of passengers and asked him to look into installing automatic channels to check the passports of out-bound foreigners.

Action had been taken.

New automatic channels for checking the passports of departing foreigners had been installed at Suvarnabhumi airport and would be open for use from Dec 15.

Immigration Police Division 2 (international airports) commander Pol Gen Choengron Rimphadee said the new automatic channels were for passengers carrying e-passports, and complied with standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Foreigners with ordinary passports, and children and the disabled, although holding e-passports, would stil be required to go through the ordinary channels manned by officials.

Outflow of passengers at Suvarnabhumi airport was expected to improve from about 5,000 to 12,000 per hour. Despite the faster immigration process, the machines could still detect people wanted under arrest warrants, those banned from traveling abroad, and those who had overstayed their visas, he said.

Arriving passengers would still have to be checked by immigration officers, for security reasons. As more automatic channels were installed for departures, more immigration staff could be moved to the arrival channels to more effectively cope with the inflow of passengers during peak times, Pol Maj Gen Choengron said.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... rom-friday

See also: viewtopic.php?p=112206#p112206

[Jun]

Outbound passport control was a disaster the last time I used it.
The queue filled the room and went most of the way along the corridor to security. And it was slow moving.

Then people started jumping the queue and a riot was narrowly prevented, when a North American demanded they put some security on the queue, loudly backed up by a few other people, including myself.

Improving that would be welcome.

Incidentally, immigration have plenty of staff. However they're based in the wrong place, such as Jomtien and they're doing work that's either pointless or should be done by a computer.

[Gaybutton]

a North American demanded they put some security on the queue, loudly backed up by a few other people, including myself.

Did you get it? Did they provide security after that? If they did, should I even bother to ask if they explained why there wasn't sufficient security in the first place?

Did any line jumpers try to explain or justify why they did that? Did any try to deny they had jumped the line?

[Jun]

Did you get it? Did they provide security after that? If they did, should I even bother to ask if they explained why there wasn't sufficient security in the first place?

Did any line jumpers try to explain or justify why they did that? Did any try to deny they had jumped the line?

They put on additional security, which was effective.

The queue jumpers were claiming they would miss flights, but when you get enough of those, the queue stops moving and those of us who turned up in good time would be at risk of missing flights.
We were at that stage and I wanted some action.

[Montree]

I used the new Automated Passport machines at Suvarnabhumi and it was very quick. There were the ordinary queues off to the side which you could join if you wanted an exit stamp or if your Passport didn’t work in the machine.

My old Passport always gave trouble in such machines but my new Passport triggered the gate immediately and I was through with no queuing at all.

[Gaybutton]

Whoops! Anyone surprised?
____________________________

Airport chaos as passenger checkout system fails

by Wassayos Ngamkham

January 24, 2024

Long queues formed at Suvarnabhumi airport on Wednesday morning after the biometric blacklist system used by the Immigration Bureau broke down.

Pol Maj Gen Choengron Rimpadee said the probklem began at 4.30am, when the biometric blacklist system malfunctioned. This meant a process that normally took 45 seconds took more than one minute. The automatic passport check channels at the airport also stalled, adding to the problem.

The congestion mainly affected outbound travellers. Queues built up, stretching back to the luggage examination areas, Pol Maj Gen Choengron said.

Immigration officers had to check all travellers through manually and use the Advance Passenger Processing System (APPS) at Suvarnabhumi airport to assist them with the checks.

After talks with the biometric system vendor, the service was restored about 1.30pm.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... stem-fails