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Biometric Fingerprint Scanners at the Airport

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At Suvarnabhumi airport they now have biometric fingerprint scanners in operation.

You first have to put four fingers of your right hand on the scanner then wait for the green light and then the display tells you to put four fingers of the left hand on the scanner. It's important that you don't put your fingers all the way to the top of the scanner as the system then will not be able to recognize the fingerprints...

Finally the display tells you to put both thumbs on the scanner - and then you're done. The whole process took about 2 minutes...

I think the scanner also automatically takes a picture of your face for use in their facial recognition system - at least I didn't have to stand in front of the old "webcam" type of camera at the immigration booth as I used to have to do...

When leaving Suvarnabhumi one has to scan only four fingers of one hand. Don't know if one has to scan all ten fingers again the next time one arrives at BKK airport or just the fingers of one hand...

Edited by Thanks

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Hey there Thanks

I also had to register for this process, as you described, on my last visit to BKK in May. I'll find out in July if I have to go through the whole process again, which wouldn't make sense, but then again TIT (This Is Thailand).

It's definitely a combination of fingerprints and facial recognition software, but it seems that they have opted for the cheaper solution, as a retina scan is a lot more accurate and produces far less false-negatives.

It's a good initial step forward, but its unknown what their plan is, if there is indeed even a plan for progressing this to full automation.

I just landed back in the UAE this morning and entry takes less than 90 seconds, using a single thumb reader and retina scan, with no passport involved, if you have an Emirates ID card. Even for those passport holders of 37 countries that can use the biometric devices, its very fast and doesn't require any stamps in the passports, just a read of the barcode. This obviously has great advantages for the frequent travellers, as it means that your passport doesn't get used up as fast as before.

What the Thai's appear to have done is a halfway house, where they have the basic biometrics in place, but still require the passport officers and the passport stamps, as they haven't installed the self-serve barcode readers yet.

The advantages of a fully automated system really are significant, and in the very first year of installing this, the UAE picked up approx. 250,000 travellers attempting to re-enter the country on new or false passports, after they had been listed as 'persona non grata'. I guess that the days of being on an overstay and then returning to the LOS on a new passport are probably nearing an end, if they ever actually implement the full end to end system!

Cheers

SAG

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Thanks for the additional insight, SAG!

If I may add my own two cents: I think the gradual approach the Thais apparently take here is not sooo bad...

Perhaps they don't have a retina scanner (yet) but at least it looks better than the old webcam thingy...

In Dubai the retina scanners can be a real pain in the a.. . Last time it took I think three attempts before my retina could be scanned at DXB. The immigration inspector became impatient and shouted at me: Open your eyes! More! More!! More!!! And I must have looked already like Kermit the frog watching Miss Piggy doing a striptease in front of Waldorf and Statler...

At Suvarnabhumi I used the regular track on arrival and fast track on departure and in both cases the process didn't take much longer than in the past. I cannot confirm initial reports on Thai Visa for example that it takes now more time to go through immigration. As usual I arrived at the baggage carousel before my bag came out...
 

Edited by Thanks

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14 minutes ago, Thanks said:

Thanks for the additional insight, SAG!

If I may add my own two cents: I think the gradual approach the Thais apparently take here is not sooo bad...

Perhaps they don't have a retina scanner (yet) but at least it looks better than the old webcam thingy...

In Dubai the retina scanners can be a real pain in the a.. . Last time it took I think three attempts before my retina could be scanned at DXB. The immigration inspector became impatient and shouted at me: Open your eyes! More! More!! More!!! And I must have looked already like Kermit the frog watching Miss Piggy doing a striptease in front of Waldorf and Statler...

At Suvarnabhumi I used the regular track on arrival and fast track on departure and in both cases the process didn't take much longer than in the past. I cannot confirm initial reports on Thai Visa for example that it takes now more time to go through immigration. As usual I arrived at the baggage carousel before my bag had come out of there...
 

Hey there Thanks

Yes I agree, if it is a gradual approach, then that's all fine, but my spider sense tells me its not a plan, but rather a 'tick of the box'. We shall see...

Regarding the initial retina scans in DXB, I share your pain! My first one was 10+ years ago and very stupidly I had my eyes lasered 3 days before I first got there. They became so impatient with me, as it wasn't registering, that they were threatening to turn me back after the 5th failed attempt. Luckily, with the aid of copious amounts of saline solution, the sixth attempt worked. Moral of the story is don't get your eyes lasered so close to the retina scan!

Planning and technology roll outs don't tend to go hand in hand in emerging countries, as witnessed by the UAE constantly digging up new roads over and and over again, as they forgot something. In BKK my favourite example is the fact that you have to have separate stored-value cards to ride the underground, skytrain and airport express. Logically, just one card across all 3 transport modes would make sense,. But then I guess that would mean only 1 billing system and 1 set of hardware, which then cuts down the number of RFPs that they can issue, with all of the associated 'leakage' that goes on with the RFP process in some countries...

Cheers

SAG

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15 minutes ago, SAGuy said:

 

Planning and technology roll outs don't tend to go hand in hand in emerging countries, as witnessed by the UAE constantly digging up new roads over and and over again, as they forgot something. In BKK my favourite example is the fact that you have to have separate stored-value cards to ride the underground, skytrain and airport express. Logically, just one card across all 3 transport modes would make sense,. But then I guess that would mean only 1 billing system and 1 set of hardware, which then cuts down the number of RFPs that they can issue, with all of the associated 'leakage' that goes on with the RFP process in some countries...

From what I understand about this, is that they are three different companies who run these services, hence why there's no unity. The reason there isn't a combined payment structure yet, is that they each want their own payment card to be the one that rules them all. Govt intervention has taken place, but afaik is still undecided on whose card will take over and when. 

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Three different entities all providing the same form of service!

Sounds like a typical emerging market 'strategy' to share the wealth to me.

Logic would dictate that there would be just 1 common payment card, but when there's money and spoils to be had, all logic goes out of the window and customer convenience becomes non-existent!

My favourite story about the three transport modes is now that you have to use a passport if you want to top up credit on the BTS, but no passport is still OK with the MRT.

The mind boggles, but you just smile and repeat "TIT".

In SA the phrase you use is "TAB" (That's Africa Baby.")

Cheers

SAG

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32 minutes ago, SAGuy said:

My favourite story about the three transport modes is now that you have to use a passport if you want to top up credit on the BTS, but no passport is still OK with the MRT.

This is because the BTS rabbit card is (as of this year) now able to be used as a payment card for other goods and services, therefore is treated like a bank debit card and comes under anti money laundering legislation, while the MRT doesnt have this capability so doesn't require the ID by law. 

Edited by Ropey

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Ah ha. Thanks for the explanation Ropey. That all makes sense now.

But what would make the most sense is if you could use the 1 card across all 3 networks!

Cheers and thanks for the in-country intel, much appreciated.

SAG

 

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On 6/18/2019 at 11:38 AM, Thanks said:

At Suvarnabhumi airport they now have biometric fingerprint scanners in operation.

You first have to put four fingers of your right hand on the scanner then wait for the green light and then the display tells you to put four fingers of the left hand on the scanner. It's important that you don't put your fingers all the way to the top of the scanner as the system then will not be able to recognize the fingerprints...

Finally the display tells you to put both thumbs on the scanner - and then you're done. The whole process took about 2 minutes...

I think the scanner also automatically takes a picture of your face for use in their facial recognition system - at least I didn't have to stand in front of the old "webcam" type of camera at the immigration booth as I used to have to do...

When leaving Suvarnabhumi one has to scan only four fingers of one hand. Don't know if one has to scan all ten fingers again the next time one arrives at BKK airport or just the fingers of one hand...

thanks for information.

did you fill " arrival card " form ?

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Hey there sincity

Yes they still also use the landing card and you have to make sure that you keep the stub with your passport, as they collect that when you exit.

So to sumnarise, it's a dogs breakfast of low tech and medium tech...

Cheers 

SAG

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1 hour ago, SAGuy said:

Hey there sincity

Yes they still also use the landing card and you have to make sure that you keep the stub with your passport, as they collect that when you exit.

So to sumnarise, it's a dogs breakfast of low tech and medium tech...

Cheers 

SAG

SAG...Since when did a Dogs dinner become a Dogs breakfast? 

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3 minutes ago, taaseesanuk said:

SAG...Since when did a Dogs dinner become a Dogs breakfast? 

Hey Taas. That's very interesting, so I consulted the urban dictionary:

"dog's breakfast," which has been British slang for "a complete mess" since at least the 1930s. While no one took the time to write down the exact origin of the phrase, the allusion involved seems to be to a failed culinary effort, perhaps a burned or botched omelet, fit only for consumption by the mouth of last resort, Fido. As a vivid figure of speech meaning something so fouled up as to be utterly useless, "dog's breakfast" can cover anything from a play plagued by collapsing scenery to a space mission ruined by a mathematical error. "Dog's dinner," which seems to have appeared around the same time, means exactly the same sort of disaster, but has the advantage of being attractively alliterative. Both phrases are heard occasionally in the U.S., but are more common in the U.K. and Commonwealth countries.

Dogs Dinner:

British expression: 
1) a mess; a clusterfuck; synonymous with dog's breakfast 
2) dressed up, usually excessively; gussied up. Usually derogatory.

1) The wedding, despite months of preparations, disintegrated into a dog's dinner.

2) The cook asked the skullery maid, "Where are you going, dressed up like a dog'sdinner?"
 
Interestingly my own usage of dogs dinner is around the "dressed up like a dog's dinner" usage. Whereas I would only ever use a dog's breakfast to describe a botch job or a mess.
 
I guess the usage may be different between the motherland and the colonies?
 
Case in point - Brits will say: "its like Fred Carno's Circus", whereas we say "its like Boswell Wilkie's Circus" - the same meaning but different circus names!
 
Cheers
 
SAG

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5 minutes ago, SAGuy said:

Hey Taas. That's very interesting, so I consulted the urban dictionary:

"dog's breakfast," which has been British slang for "a complete mess" since at least the 1930s. While no one took the time to write down the exact origin of the phrase, the allusion involved seems to be to a failed culinary effort, perhaps a burned or botched omelet, fit only for consumption by the mouth of last resort, Fido. As a vivid figure of speech meaning something so fouled up as to be utterly useless, "dog's breakfast" can cover anything from a play plagued by collapsing scenery to a space mission ruined by a mathematical error. "Dog's dinner," which seems to have appeared around the same time, means exactly the same sort of disaster, but has the advantage of being attractively alliterative. Both phrases are heard occasionally in the U.S., but are more common in the U.K. and Commonwealth countries.

Dogs Dinner:

British expression: 
1) a mess; a clusterfuck; synonymous with dog's breakfast 
2) dressed up, usually excessively; gussied up. Usually derogatory.

1) The wedding, despite months of preparations, disintegrated into a dog's dinner.

2) The cook asked the skullery maid, "Where are you going, dressed up like a dog'sdinner?"
 
Interestingly my own usage of dogs dinner is around the "dressed up like a dog's dinner" usage. Whereas I would only ever use a dog's breakfast to describe a botch job or a mess.
 
I guess the usage may be different between the motherland and the colonies?
 
Case in point - Brits will say: "its like Fred Carno's Circus", whereas we say "its like Boswell Wilkie's Circus" - the same meaning but different circus names!
 
Cheers
 
SAG

Appreciate the clarification SAG...I shall sleep easy!

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1 hour ago, SAGuy said:

Hey Taas. That's very interesting, so I consulted the urban dictionary:

"dog's breakfast," which has been British slang for "a complete mess" since at least the 1930s. While no one took the time to write down the exact origin of the phrase, the allusion involved seems to be to a failed culinary effort, perhaps a burned or botched omelet, fit only for consumption by the mouth of last resort, Fido. As a vivid figure of speech meaning something so fouled up as to be utterly useless, "dog's breakfast" can cover anything from a play plagued by collapsing scenery to a space mission ruined by a mathematical error. "Dog's dinner," which seems to have appeared around the same time, means exactly the same sort of disaster, but has the advantage of being attractively alliterative. Both phrases are heard occasionally in the U.S., but are more common in the U.K. and Commonwealth countries.

Dogs Dinner:

British expression: 
1) a mess; a clusterfuck; synonymous with dog's breakfast 
2) dressed up, usually excessively; gussied up. Usually derogatory.

1) The wedding, despite months of preparations, disintegrated into a dog's dinner.

2) The cook asked the skullery maid, "Where are you going, dressed up like a dog'sdinner?"
 
Interestingly my own usage of dogs dinner is around the "dressed up like a dog's dinner" usage. Whereas I would only ever use a dog's breakfast to describe a botch job or a mess.
 
I guess the usage may be different between the motherland and the colonies?
 
Case in point - Brits will say: "its like Fred Carno's Circus", whereas we say "its like Boswell Wilkie's Circus" - the same meaning but different circus names!
 
Cheers
 
SAG

As someone who grew up in England I've never heard of Fred Camo or his circus nor the phrase.

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11 hours ago, mikel said:

As someone who grew up in England I've never heard of Fred Camo or his circus nor the phrase.

Hi Mikel

Its something that my grandfather used to say, so probably pre-dates you!

www.khaotic.co.uk gives Fred Karnos story - he is credited as being the one who discovered Charlie Chaplin!

You live and learn!

SAG

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On 6/19/2019 at 4:52 AM, SAGuy said:

What the Thai's appear to have done is a halfway house, where they have the basic biometrics in place, but still require the passport officers and the passport stamps, as they haven't installed the self-serve barcode readers yet.

"Suvarnabhumi is hell" wrote the - apparently - famous Aussie English teacher Andrew Biggs in a Twitter post after he was faced with a long queue on arrival recently:

D-EkBb2U0AA6qQO?format=jpg&name=900x900

Twitter replies from some Thais were a bit unsympathetic it seems: "That's OTT - Thailand has given you a good living now you call us hell" said one person...

And a spokesperson for the Thai immigration service explained:

"Immigration officers have to do 8 things in 50 seconds," he said. These are passport check, visa check, face recognition, blacklist check, scan, interview, take a picture and stamp."

Full story on TV (Thai Visa).

So despite the new fingerprint scanners there's obviously still a chance you have to wait a hellish long time until it's your turn to give the immigration officer your passport...

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53 minutes ago, Thanks said:

"Suvarnabhumi is hell" wrote the - apparently - famous Aussie English teacher Andrew Biggs in a Twitter post after he was faced with a long queue on arrival recently:

D-EkBb2U0AA6qQO?format=jpg&name=900x900

Twitter replies from some Thais were a bit unsympathetic it seems: "That's OTT - Thailand has given you a good living now you call us hell" said one person...

And a spokesperson for the Thai immigration service explained:

"Immigration officers have to do 8 things in 50 seconds," he said. These are passport check, visa check, face recognition, blacklist check, scan, interview, take a picture and stamp."

Full story on TV (Thai Visa).

So despite the new fingerprint scanners there's obviously still a chance you have to wait a hellish long time until it's your turn to give the immigration officer your passport...

In truth, the immigration queue is probably not so bad...however, as I am standing there every single ounce of my being wants to be through customs, in the taxi, checking in the hotel and then finally getting some long awaited mongering action!

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Here's a solution: Anyone (read: Chinese tourists) who hasn't bothered to fill out their arrival cards and / or doesn't have their passport in hand prior to seeing the immigration officer must go to the back of the line immediately.  Problem solved. 

 

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24 minutes ago, oliver17 said:

Here's a solution: Anyone (read: Chinese tourists) who hasn't bothered to fill out their arrival cards and / or doesn't have their passport in hand prior to seeing the immigration officer must go to the back of the line immediately.  Problem solved. 

 

The problem is, for the average Chinese tourist, a line is an alien concept...

SAG

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1 hour ago, Thanks said:

"Suvarnabhumi is hell" wrote the - apparently - famous Aussie English teacher Andrew Biggs in a Twitter post after he was faced with a long queue on arrival recently:

D-EkBb2U0AA6qQO?format=jpg&name=900x900

Twitter replies from some Thais were a bit unsympathetic it seems: "That's OTT - Thailand has given you a good living now you call us hell" said one person...

And a spokesperson for the Thai immigration service explained:

"Immigration officers have to do 8 things in 50 seconds," he said. These are passport check, visa check, face recognition, blacklist check, scan, interview, take a picture and stamp."

Full story on TV (Thai Visa).

So despite the new fingerprint scanners there's obviously still a chance you have to wait a hellish long time until it's your turn to give the immigration officer your passport...

This reminds me of a recent trip to Pune.

The Indian government has implemented an online visa application system which they are unjustifiably proud of. In reality, it looks like some bureaucrat's son's/daughter's/nephew's/niece's 'skule siense projekt'. It took about 5 attempts to register and it asks in a myriad of ways what connections you may have with Pakistan. (Are your parents from Pakistan, are your grandparents from Pakistan, have you ever visited Pakistan, have you ever thought of visiting Pakistan, have you ever eaten in a Pakistani restaurant...).

But once you have navigated the low-tech online visa system, then the fun really begins.

Once you land, you have to go to one specific queue in immigration, as they only have one bar code reader. Needless to say the queue was for farangs only and the domestic arrivals and those with old school visas all got through the other 7 lanes within 10-15 minutes. (The under-employed 7 immigration officers then proceeded to make tea, sleep, pick their noses etc.).

After 3.5 hours standing in the 'high-tech' single queue I was finally processed. (it took about 5 minutes once I was actually at the one machine).

Oh yes, I was visiting Pune for an IT project...

Cheers

SAG

 

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1 hour ago, Thanks said:

Seems Bangkok will get a third airport by 2026. It'll be located west of Bangkok:

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1715903/third-bangkok-airport-proposed

 

There's a lot of palm greasing required to get anywhere close to that timing if they can find an investor to kick it off, especially given the historic propensity to burn overseas investors as it has suited such as the Don Mueng tollway was funded under a promise it was to be the only airport in Bangkok, then Swampy finally came along (30 years in the making). There's no motorway/BTS/MRT connections out there and the sirat motorway extention (partially completed) connects only at Chatuchuk which is the tail end of where congestion typically builds up, it would be the worst airport to use to connect to bkk of the 3 if it went ahead. 

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On 7/19/2019 at 2:50 PM, oliver17 said:

Here's a solution: Anyone (read: Chinese tourists) who hasn't bothered to fill out their arrival cards and / or doesn't have their passport in hand prior to seeing the immigration officer must go to the back of the line immediately.  Problem solved. 

 

I have seen this happen once or twice if the immigration officer discovers it.

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