Phuket airport denies paid "fast-lane" exists. claims it never existed

This is not at all surprising. Whenever some sort of theft or bribe system is detected and recorded by the public and ends up going viral, the supposed system disappears and everyone claims that it never existed and then shifts blame to something else.

We all know that the paid lane did exist and this was yet another scheme that Thai officials were using to line their own pockets at the expense of the very travelers that this country is constantly claiming is very important to the well being of the overall economy.

It is kind of amusing to see the usual pointing of fingers and denial of any wrong-doing. In all the years of this happening over and over all over the country there have been very few people that have ever been prosecuted and I think I know why that is. The people who are charged with charging those people are also on a "bribe list" as the money trickles uphill. From what I have heard from a guy that I knew that was pretty high up in the police force was that the localized bribes and "tea money" that various officers and officials collect is supposed to flow upwards to more senior officers, and in return they turn a blind eye and allow the theft to continue to happen. It's kind of like when in gangster films you would see people turn up with an envelope of cash for the Mafia Don during every meeting.

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I don't think there is such a place as a "good airport" to be stuck in, but the ones in Thailand are pretty bad outside of small regional ones that haven't grown up yet such as Krabi or Koh Samui. In Phuket, this is one of the busiest airports in all of Thailand and while they do keep expanding it, it isn't anywhere near as large as it needs to be in order to accommodate the amount of people that are being intentionally put there every single day.

When the VIP fast-track was unofficially opened, and it is still open now and can even be booked online the immigration officials denied that it exists or that it ever existed. The quote from the guy in charge is below.

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there was no fast-track channel offered in exchange for 200 baht or any other fee.

Well then how can we explain the fact that there are multiple websites that are still active right now that are offering exactly this sort of service?

Anyway, we all know that the "service" did exist and that multiple people documented this with their phones and even more people corroborated the story by saying they were approached by someone offering this service.

The officials are claiming that there was some sort of software error that resulted in the long lines and that as a response the dutiful chief immediately sent out officials to open all 18 lanes of Immigration at the airport. He then claims that the software system was working again at a very convenient time that the lines dissipated according to CCTV.

None of this information can be confirmed because the Thai airports and Thai Immigration are very secretive about their computer systems as well as anyone so much as taking a photo while waiting in line. Seriously, they have "spotters' in the crowd that are searching for and shouting at people who have their phones out in a way that looks like they might be making a video or a photo. I have seen one person with my own eyes who was forced to go through his phone and prove that he didn't have any photos of the immigration area.

So it's a pretty handy out for Police Colonel Rasarin Theeraphatthanakun (have fun pronouncing that surname) who is the person giving the statement to the public about how the "graft line" never existed.

When you live in Thailand as long as I have, corruption just becomes something that you get used to and in many situations it can actually work out in your favor. I, for one, am not opposed to a VIP lane that you pay for and I would gladly pay it if I was in a hurry or just couldn't be asked to stand in line. I take no issue with this.

What I do take issue with is when these systems are clearly designed to intentionally inconvenience people into feeling forced to pay for it or else they are going to be standing there uncomfortably for hours and perhaps miss their flights if they choose not to pay it. If you want to make it an optional service, I say go for it.

The lies though man, the obvious lies... this stuff needs to stop because it is just one blemish after another for the Land of Smiles.