Bali Airport Has Become A Nightmare With Up To Five Hours Immigration Lineups – Stay Away!

I was able to witness the worst immigration line I've ever seen in my life, at Denpasar Airport in Indonesia.

Some people got caught in the process and were close to a breakdown after standing in line for over five hours.

The afternoon is the worst time to get into the airport because of the bad weather.

The Thai Airways flight leaves BKK at a convenient time and gets in around 2 pm.

I have always been able to get easy award tickets in Business Class whenever I wanted. Paying rates are through the roof when you arrive in Thailand.

I was able to find a seat for 13,500 Singapore Airlines miles in Economy Class. For a 3:40h flight (4:20 officially as per schedule, but it never takes that long), that is a good solution except for the fact that THAI doesn't provide any security fast track at their hub airport. The flight went over quickly and was a standard economy flight.

The fun began at the airport. I had a warning that John would write about his experience there.

Entering Indonesia Through Bali In May 2022

It was worse than what John experienced in May. There were a lot of people in the lineups. I don't know where all these people came from but there were thousands of passengers.

Here are some thoughts.

The concierge went with my credit card to buy the visa on arrival and I had to go to a counter to get entry documents.

The VOA counter lineup looked dull.

There is a separate line for different residency options in Indonesia.

The immigration line went back and forth in the terminal. The people filled the entire space of the immigration counter.

Only every second counter was staffed by immigration officers, something that’s entirely unacceptable on behalf of the authorities. Where is the staff? Is it so difficult to get officers on the roster to stamp people’s passports?

It was horrible. Someone needed medical attention, children and adults were crying, people hadn't had anything to drink for hours, and a shouting match got out of hand and had to be broken up by officers. The person in front of the long line was asked how long they'd been there. After looking at the VOA payment receipt, he said, "We got here at 10:00 am" and we had 3:20 pm.

There is a lot going on in the world. Who doesn't think this is acceptable for a tourist destination?

There are many homemade problems. The Visa on Arrival was discontinued for a number of nationalities. It is now US$35,500,000 IDR.

Credit card payments are now possible. John was charged 515,000 in May and he attributed the surcharge to a credit card fee. The 500k Rupiah is $32.

The Fast Track was reserved through the hotel for a fee of 420,000 IDR per person. It was the best money ever spent.

TheBali Concierge charges 500,000 IDR per person and can be booked on your own. They have a broken website and payment processor, but I used to use them. Credit card transactions don't work and they ask for cash or a bank transfer.

I don't have to worry about paying for the hotel booking since it will be charged to my account. They did the rest after I said I wanted the fast track with my flight details.

A lot of people with Fast Track representatives slowed down the service. We had to wait at the crew line because there was only one officer working. After arriving at the airport, I got out of it at 1:45h. I take that any day over five hours in line.

The more people pay, the less efficient they will be in the future.

It was the conclusion.

The airport has turned into a hellhole. The organization and wait periods have gotten out of control, so I wouldn't recommend anyone to visit. Before I would tell my parents to come here, it would be too cold.

This isn't how a tourist destination should treat people. For a moment, forget the visa on arrival for a moment that was initially proclaimed to be a safety measure due to covid, but Indonesia andBali Airport in particular isn't even able to streamline that process in an acceptable way. First, get your house in order.

I don't think any of the people who were stuck in this line are going to come back. The tourism industry suffered for two years after this kind of PR. It's sad.