Changi Immigration problems

[MAN Flyer]

They really are going to have to do something about this before the hard earned reputation Changi has justifiably earned over many years for efficiency and convenience is ruined by the constant, and now regularly lengthy, queue's to get through. I accept that it takes longer due to the finger printing (why they say the need for that is another debate entirely...) but when about half the immigration desks are sat unused then it's a problem they can do something about.

Immigration queue's are what all other airports do, Changi has always prided itself on being different to all other airports. So it needs sorting out, and quickly, before the reputation turns. I know many on here don't have to queue up in the first place, but many others do!.

*I thought of saying 'queues' but I consider it a problem!

[SQ025]

Iam still puzzled that they now allow Non-Residents to use the automatic gates on Departure. Most people are unfamiliar with the use of these gates and just creating a big mess. ICA is deploying additional staff now, but the queues are still there (while the immigration counters are underutilized).

[jonleong]

I go through Changi immigration every other week for 10 months of the year and I cannot recall once when all the automated gates were actually working. In the last 6 months there were easily 2 gates not working each time I passed through. These days when the manned counters have no queues I usually just head that way as the automated gates even when working are slow and not very responsive.

[scooby5]

I haven't come through often and seen long queues waiting for counters but I only come through a couple of times a month. The automated gates are certainly more problematic in the past year or so, maybe related to an extended data search behind when reviewing now non-resident passports.

I can see the advantage, coming out of Melbourne (first ever trip) as non-resident we also had to use the automated gate - I don't remember even seeing a counter - with face recognition like we have here at T4 and an increasing number of ports in Europe. The woman next to me couldn't get her passport scanned to get through the gate and asked me to tell the counter staff once I was through.......didn't need to since I could tell instantly she was trying to scan her passport by not putting in the page with her photo even........sheesh!

The finger print use, I think, is where the problem starts locally as most people using auto gates are familiar with facial recognition ones.

[SQ025]

The automated gates have been improved significantly during the past 12 month. They work much better now.
I use them a few times per month and it was quite common to get error message (every 3rd time or so), while I was waiting initially and asked for help later I just went through as they gate would open anyway. The ICA officers seem not to be too bothered, some would wave you through anyway.

[MAN Flyer]

I haven't come through often and seen long queues waiting for counters but I only come through a couple of times a month.

Crikey I have, almost every visit now. It started becoming a problem before the finger printing was introduced so it can't all be blamed on that. At first I just thought it was a bit of a blip but it's clearly not. To be fair my brother came in on SQ833 later the same day and waltzed straight through with nobody there so it's clearly not all the time. I would imagine I have entered Singapore 25-30 times in the last couple of years and the queues have been there at least 75% of the time, in a couple of cases for well over 30 minutes, especially this year. Now I know there are other places were queue's are standard and sometimes (much) longer, but this is Changi, which is supposed to be the 'best' and most efficient.

Leaving is never a problem because I have access to the SQ F check-in and the 'private' entrance but F pax, TPP's etc get nothing inbound and this is where the issues are, so it's something SQ need to be looking at.

[flyguy]

Just came back from Melbourne n SQ208 Sun night at 1150pm and we were docked at T2. The immigration lanes including those automated ones were all havng long queues almost to the the escalators. I was at the manned immigration counter and it took me 32 mins to clear and I was 9th in the Q. Somehow I think our immigration is slow especially now with finger printing and face recognition, I was just in HK last month and despite the usually long lines og queue, it was moving very very fast and was out in less than20 mins and for those who are familiar with HK, the Qs are long and over few lanes but yet somewhow the HK immigration were very fast. If Changi has that many arrivals like HK, then it will be at stake.

[ycp81]

The problem with Changi is that instead of one mega immigration hall, it has 2 smaller immigration halls at each wing of the terminal (other than T4 which only has one). When you have aircraft all arriving at the same terminal around the same time, and all docking at the same gate areas, you will encounter this messy situation as the immigration hall would not be able to cope. Ironically, the immigration halls at the other wing or other terminals might be totally empty.

The trick: Go back up and proceed to the other immigration hall in the terminal,which would mostly likely be much less crowded.

[flyguy]

another problem is from observation, it seems the finger print scanners and the face recognition that our immigration bought and uses are slower than what I have experienced in HK and even in Melbourne where even their entry is totally automated. Why didnt our immigration get the faster system in other airports.

[PPSFlyer]

another problem is from observation, it seems the finger print scanners and the face recognition that our immigration bought and uses are slower than what I have experienced in HK and even in Melbourne where even their entry is totally automated. Why didnt our immigration get the faster system in other airports.

Yup. Agree with this. Noticed that it has been getting slower over the years and the one at T2 seems especially slow compared to the T3 one (Have not used T1 for years so can't compare). Not sure if thats because the system in T2 is older than T3?

[SilverChris]

Arrival immigration took 25 minutes to clear at T4 last week. There were about a dozen people ahead of me but the line moved very slowly, due in no small part to the fingerprinting.

[flyguy]

abiut 2 weeks back a passenger wrote in to the paper and complained about the slow immigration at the newest Terminal ie T4 and lamented that the self service immigration kiosks were slow and long queue while the manned immigration counter only have one officer and it seems the officer was not bothered about the slow clearances and no other officers came to assist. This is indeed bad news for the new T4 and especially the immigration system.

[MAN Flyer]

The problem with Changi is that instead of one mega immigration hall, it has 2 smaller immigration halls at each wing of the terminal (other than T4 which only has one). When you have aircraft all arriving at the same terminal around the same time, and all docking at the same gate areas, you will encounter this messy situation as the immigration hall would not be able to cope. Ironically, the immigration halls at the other wing or other terminals might be totally empty.

The trick: Go back up and proceed to the other immigration hall in the terminal,which would mostly likely be much less crowded.

But they have always had this system of split immigration halls and it has worked perfectly until the last 12-18 months.

I accept the finger printing slows everything down, but Changi (and Singapore) are famous for anticipating this sort of thing and planning to alleviate the problem. They haven't done it this time, and when you are in a queue for 30-45 minutes and you can see half of the immigration desks unmanned it's obvious to all and sundry how they could solve it.

I have also tried the 'go to the other immigration hall' trick and sometimes the next one is even worse. I've even gone to the next terminal as well, that doesn't always work either.

[frolic]

Cleared immigration at T2 after 50mins wait yesterday. All immigation booths were open but the line moved so freakin slow..

I don't think its because of fingerprint, i noticed it generally took longer for the officer to inspect the passport and the immigation card. The lines for automated gates were also quite long as well.

Also i have to add that nobody was there to help/organised with the queue, sometimes a group of 5 lined up in 5 diff lanes to see which one faster, or when new booth opens, everyone swarmed to line up there.

It's been like this in the last 12 months i think... No point being premium pax who got to disembark first only to find the queue lines are horrendous. I wonder if I can write to SQ to suggest having priority lane service for immigration?

So sorry for ranting, but clearing immigration at changi has been very exhausting and time consuming lately...

[zilchster]

Cleared immigration at T2 after 50mins wait yesterday. All immigation booths were open but the line moved so freakin slow..

I don't think its because of fingerprint, i noticed it generally took longer for the officer to inspect the passport and the immigation card. The lines for automated gates were also quite long as well.

Also i have to add that nobody was there to help/organised with the queue, sometimes a group of 5 lined up in 5 diff lanes to see which one faster, or when new booth opens, everyone swarmed to line up there.

It's been like this in the last 12 months i think... No point being premium pax who got to disembark first only to find the queue lines are horrendous. I wonder if I can write to SQ to suggest having priority lane service for immigration?

So sorry for ranting, but clearing immigration at changi has been very exhausting and time consuming lately...

The lines at the immigration were long when I arrived at 4pm yesterday. Fortunately the automatic clearance was much faster.

But yeah...it gets bad during peak periods and given it is year end...it's probably worse.