Premium Arrival Services

[gasbroker 0]

Gents,

Any opinions about using one of these Arrival services that promise to meet you at the plane and get you through Immigration and Customs quickly?
BFS offer it for 850 Bht without the Golf cart.. wondered if anyone had used 'em and what you thought?

Thanks in advance.

[PigBoy#1 28]

Gents,

Any opinions about using one of these Arrival services that promise to meet you at the plane and get you through Immigration and Customs quickly?

BFS offer it for 850 Bht without the Golf cart.. wondered if anyone had used 'em and what you thought?

Thanks in advance.

 

It works really well, probably better for me on departure vs. arrival. I will definately use them in the future. BTW all my arriving flights land around noon. Seems to be always busy at that time.

 

PB#1

[Thegolfer 1]

Great I use them all the time, with a cart as I am lazy

 

Well worth the money

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

I've used them a number of times because I loathe waiting in line and am happy to pay to avoid doing so. Nowadays I get Premium Lane vouchers from United, but since there's not always a line at Immigration Control when I arrive/depart, I have extras to use when not flying with United or Thai.

 

When I arrived on the Thai flight from Frankfurt on Dec. 15 at 6.30 a.m., there was a massive queue at IC. The feeder snake was totally full and the queue minders were attempting to extend it, but that was like herding cats. I'm sure it would have taken an hour to clear IC that morning. Even the Premium Lanes had lines, but a lot of them were people who weren't entitled to the Premium Lane but had chanced it since the ordinary line was so long.

 

Luckily, I had flown in First Class with Thai, so I had a "personal assistant" who took me through the diplomatic channel where there was no line.

 

Evil

[Grandpollo 366]

Gents,

Any opinions about using one of these Arrival services that promise to meet you at the plane and get you through Immigration and Customs quickly?

BFS offer it for 850 Bht without the Golf cart.. wondered if anyone had used 'em and what you thought?

Thanks in advance.

I get the card from Cathay en route and when checking in to leave.

 

If it is only 850 Baht I would not hesitate. Unless you are disabled the cart seems like fluff since you will ultimately beat your luggage by 15 minutes so what's the rush? Even priority luggage on CX takes 15 minutes from arrival.

 

I've never entered or left via the non premium channel. Leaving is extremely fast. Security usually only 1 or 2 people ahead or often, zero.

[short 215]

 

Last year I did the arrival cart but the effort was completely wasted when Eva Air made me check my one piece light luggage even though I was traveling premium.

 

 

This year the luggage fee was wasted because the plane landed away from a terminal and a bus carried us directly to immigration.

[aguy2006 34]

Is there any option to purchase this once you are at the BKK airport? I would get this, but sometimes the lines are not that long and it would be wasted. I don't need the cart or anything, just fast passing through immigration would be cool.

[bernienumnums 1]

I used BFS last July and paid 850 baht. The girl who met me jumped on the cart and said "I no like walk" and off we went. Literally 5 mins later I was through customs (diplomatic gate). She took me to get some cash, a SIM card and didn't leave my side until we found my driver from Queen VIC. Gave her 100B tip.

 

Best 30 bucks I have ever spent. Will use them again in April.

Edited January 3, 2014 by wozzlegummich

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

Is there any option to purchase this once you are at the BKK airport? I would get this, but sometimes the lines are not that long and it would be wasted. I don't need the cart or anything, just fast passing through immigration would be cool.

 

No, there is no "on arrival" option to buy a Premium Lane voucher. What you order via the Internet from BFS and similar companies is "meet and greet" service, of which Premium Lane access is only a part. It used to be possible to buy vouchers from certain travel agencies in Bangkok, but I believe that has been stopped. Premium Lane immigration control is intended mainly as a benefit for airline passengers who pay business and first-class fares.

 

Evil

Edited January 3, 2014 by Evil Penevil

[Fondles 94]

What does the service do to get you through customs quicker ?

[BeerBelly 1,026]

What does the service do to get you through customs quicker ?

 

Customs, or immigration? Customs has never been more than ten seconds, just walk through the nothing to declare line. It appears that they use the priority or diplomatic lane for immigration.

[Fondles 94]

 

Customs, or immigration? Customs has never been more than ten seconds, just walk through the nothing to declare line. It appears that they use the priority or diplomatic lane for immigration.

 

 

Well the OP said immigration and customs and like yourself Ive never experienced it to take more than a handful of seconds so Iam wondering what this service does to assist getting through customs.

[Greg_B 306]

Gents,

Any opinions about using one of these Arrival services that promise to meet you at the plane and get you through Immigration and Customs quickly?

BFS offer it for 850 Bht without the Golf cart.. wondered if anyone had used 'em and what you thought?

Thanks in advance.

Some variables to consider

 

1. Do you have luggage...?

2. Time of Day when you arrive..?

3. I loved the golf cart pickup, it does speed things up

 

The biggest issue is luggage, as if you are in economy, you will wait for it, as you will be there way before it is

But if you "do not hab" luggage, this is a fast service if combined with a taxi arranged prior

 

http://www.limousine.in.th/fast-track-immigration.html

Edited January 3, 2014 by Greg_B

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

The main benefit of the "meet and greet" services is that you get to use the Premium Lane to go through immigration control, which saves you a lot of time if there are big lines at IC or you end up behind a long string of passengers from China, Russia or the Middle East. It takes those passengers much longer per person to clear IC than plain vanilla farangs. The benefit in clearing customs is minimal, but I doubt very much Customs officers would ever pull you over for inspection if a "meet and greet" staffer were pushing your cart.

 

It's true that the "meet and greet" service is a bit like fire insurance - you don't need it most of the time, but you're damn glad you have it when you do.

 

Evil

Edited January 3, 2014 by Evil Penevil

[jacko 8,815]

What does the service do to get you through customs quicker ?

Nothing whatsoever, but customs has only bothered me once in many many trips.