Phuket airport immigration delay blamed on system fault, paid fast lane denied
Immigration police have denied claims that Phuket International Airport opened a paid “special lane” for passengers, saying recent queues were caused by a temporary system slowdown during an unusually busy flight…
Phuket airport immigration officials have attributed Friday’s lengthy passenger queues to a temporary system fault, not a paid fast lane, after reports circulated online questioning operations at Phuket International Airport. On Saturday, March 29, Police Colonel Phongthon Phongrattanant, spokesperson for Immigration Division 2, said the disruption occurred between 8.55am and 1.40pm on March 28, affecting thousands of outbound travelers.
System Disruption and Passenger Volume
Immigration Division 2 reported that the airport processed 52 outbound flights and approximately 8,500 passengers during the nearly five-hour system slowdown. The immigration hall, designed to hold around 600 people, quickly became congested, with lines extending beyond its capacity.
Officials said that during the fault, officers switched to offline procedures and reduced some outbound checks to clear the backlog under close supervision. The system returned to normal at 2pm, and operations stabilised soon after.
Response Measures and Fast Lane Denial
Police Colonel Rasarin Theeraphatthanakun, superintendent of the Phuket airport checkpoint, deployed staff at full capacity and opened all 18 available counters during the disruption. Some equipment remained out of service due to maintenance, but officers reportedly processed passengers at an average of 33 seconds each during peak congestion.
Immigration police denied claims of a 200-baht “special lane,” stating no fast-track channel was offered for payment. Division 2 apologised for the inconvenience and said the incident would be used to review queue management, system coordination, and equipment readiness. Plans are underway to install Automated Border Control gates to improve processing speed for future arrivals and departures.
Source: https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/phuket-airport-immigration-delay-system-fault
