Bangkok airport fast track - worth it?

Sheep Shagger

Heading to Bangkok over the summer, will be a family of four.

Given Irish passport holders don't need a visa, is it still worth getting fast track to avoid other Qs (like general immigration?). Anyone recently been?

The going rate looks like about €50pp which is pricey compared to everything else in the country.

Any other tips for the airport or out and about?

JohnCleary

A lot of these 'services' no longer exist as it was basically all based on bribes etc.

I have fast track included in my ticket for BKK so use it. Whether it's worth it or not is subjective and down to luck. When we landed in Dec, there was no Q worth talking about, however when I was there in 2019 the Q looked to be about an hour.

The Chinese are allowed back in, so could be mad busy. Given you'll be landing at non-peak travel times for Thailand, I don't expect it to be busy.

Weigh it up: €50 per person, or POTENTIALLY a 1-hour wait (but very unlikely.... expect approx. 20 minutes on average, could be lucky and 1 minute!)

Sheep Shagger

Cheers that's very helpful.

At €200 odd extra for the family think we'll just take out chances and hope theres a short Q.

Just double checking, for Irish passport holders there's a visa waiver programme in place so there's nothing to pay on arrival?

Herad some people have paid but that could more be duped into paying?

https://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand-visa/thai-visa-exemption-and-bilateral-agreement

Mervyn Skidmore

I've been there a dozen times or so and never used fast track. There can be queues sometimes but I've never experienced anything overly long. They're pretty efficient at getting people through. That 200 euro could be enough spending money for a couple of days instead.

Also, there's no visa fee. I think it's 45 days if you arrive by plane. You just show passport, they take a photo and fingerprints and that's it.

beachhead

No need to fork out.Queues always move quickly.Another version of the Thai hands out.As an aside that 200 euro(between 4 people) won't last a few days unless walking everywhere and eating away from the city centre/tourist traps.

embraer170

Not worth it.