The disgraceful attitude of Airport Immigration

[oakdale160]

By the Hilton, you mean the Immigration slammer??

[dundrillin]

This was nothing more than a blatant attempt to extort cash from a vulnerable old lady. Absolutely nothing to do with applying the law just crooked, heartless scumbags dressed as public servants.

[Big Boy]

This was nothing more than a blatant attempt to extort cash from a vulnerable old lady. Absolutely nothing to do with applying the law just crooked, heartless scumbags dressed as public servants.

This is what always amazes me in this country - the law of the land is applied to the letter of the law, and people cry, "Foul!"

Yes, the circumstances were unusual, and common sense had to prevail in the end, but the Immigration Officer was doing his job correctly.

How many times have I read that regular law breakers have been caught, but one of the reasons they like Thailand so much is proper fines aren't applied, but they get away with slipping the officer a little tea money. Then we get threads like 'How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate, " where the main reason for so many fatalities is tea money instead of true deterrents?

Again, in this instance, I'm delighted common sense prevailed, but it was a fair cop, through no fault of the poor old lady. The guy was doing his job properly, and could have found himself in trouble had he not applied the penalty before seeking further guidance. We keep hearing how Big Joke is clamping down on everybody.

We must remember, had the officer been corrupt, things could have turned out much worse if she had refused to pay. We just have to look at the French lady who vaped, and refused to pay tea money. The corrupt ones tend to go tea money first, and refusal sees the heavy handed law implemented to the full.

[christopher1]

I'm with, dundrillin. Lived here for 17 years and seen all of their scams!

[Big Boy]

How can correct execution of the law be a scam?

[T.O.M.]

BB wrote:
"Again, in this instance, I'm delighted common sense prevailed, but it was a fair cop, through no fault of the poor old lady. The guy was doing his job properly, and could have found himself in trouble had he not applied the penalty before seeking further guidance. We keep hearing how Big Joke is clamping down on everybody."

How difficult would it have been for BJ to instruct his underlings to be lenient towards travelers with tickets to the cancelled flights? He is normally not shy for a press conference or two....That could have created goodwill for Thailand, instead of the negative press they are getting now.....

[T.O.M.]

How can correct execution of the law be a scam?

Oh the irony.....
In fact it was not the correct execution of the law...the old lady in question did not pay her overstay fine

[Big Boy]

If you read the OP, it was after consultation with other Immigration Officers - the report is vague, so we don't know if a senior officer was involved. On my one 'deliberate' overstay, I was taken to stand before the senior officer on duty.

I was a Civil Servant - rules should not be broken without prior authorisation. Of course they can be broken, and yes, this was probably the first time this officer had encountered such a situation. Thankfully, common sense prevailed. However, I can sympathise if this was the first time the desk officer had encountered such a situation.

We must remember, of the 5,000 stranded, how many were going home on the date their visa expired? Some, maybe, but most tourists come for a couple of weeks and go home again.

Further, from the retirement extension fiasco, we know senior Thais are not fast at issuing instructions.

Having said all that, I was not there, and don't know whether the use of the term 'browbeating' was as bad as it sounds. I must admit, browbeating does sound disgraceful, and can not be condoned.

[buksida]

Disgraceful indeed. And this is coming from someone who normally thinks the sun shines out of their arses. Thai immigration are fascists, nothing more nothing less. Age, ability, gender, colour, creed have nothing to do with it - if you're not Thai you're a walking wallet ready for the taking.

Reminds me of a story years ago when a bunch of us were caught up in the tsunami. Thaksin went on TV saying 'no problems for foreigners' regarding visas etc. The immigration fascistas had other plans and everyone was fined for having 'unreadable stamps' due to disaster soaked passports.

[Big Boy]

Really??? I've never heard that one before.

[HHTel]

According to my mother, the first officer was shouting and the further officers called were very argumentative. Maybe they assumed a lady of her age was deaf so they needed to shout....!
Anyway, she boarded her flight although a little distressed.
A contrasting experience happened on route. When boarding her KLM flight in Hong Kong, the cabin staff recognised her. (She's been every year for 20 years!). When they found out that it would be her last flight as her health is now deteriorating quite quickly, she was treated to a 'first class service'. She was given gifts in the form of ceramic ornaments and a hand written letter, signed by the cabin crew, thanking her for her custom over the years and wishing her well.

So it wasn't all doom and gloom.

[Big Boy]

Nice

[Dannie Boy]

This specific incident is morally wrong - the passenger in question had a flight booked on a date prior to the expiration of her visa and through actions beyond her control, her flight was cancelled preventing her from leaving on her due date. Now if the circumstances had been different, I can understand those suggesting that the “letter of the law was being correctly interpreted”, but in this instance it shouldn’t have needed to have been escalated to senior levels to sort it out - the lack of common sense never ceases to amaze!!

[jimk]

My wife tells me that Thai TV news reports quoted Big Joke as saying that fines for overstaying would be waived for anyone affected by the flight cancellations -- so the incident with Terry's mum was indeed an attempt at extortion.

[christopher1]

I was a Civil Servant - rules should not be broken without prior authorisation.

Says it all...sycophant.


I'll just get me coat!