PDP11

As many have noted, this is not a non-stop flight. Going from BKK to LAX requires a stop in HKG. However, it feels even more like a connection when you consider the following: 1) the time on the ground in HKG is scheduled for two hours. Would you stay in an airplane seat on the ground for two hours if you can get out and walk around? 2) in the direction of travel to the USA, there are “enhanced” security procedures. I’ve experienced them many times on HKG to LAX flights where people and cabin baggage are scrutinized a second time at the gate. I suspect all those on the United flight originating from BKK will have to deplane to submit themselves to the enhanced check. Those checks aren’t possible at BKK as there will be a lot of mixing between US bound travelers and those just going to HKG (United is utilizing fifth freedom rights to sell those tickets). From my point of view this is really a connecting flight through HKG, albeit with the bonus that you will make your connection!

Typical Thai response to immediately tumble to large infrastructure projects like a third runway when the gap is that BKK was never designed as a transit hub in the first place (it was designed as an origination / destination airport only). Further, the anchor carrier Thai International seems uninterested in being a transit carrier … they focus on bringing people to / from Bangkok and that’s it. Assuming TG wants this to happen (they’ll have to start behaving like Singapore, Cathay, JAL / ANA, KLM, Turkish, Emirates, and other serious transit traffic carriers), the core design inside BKK will have to change. Serious thought on how you efficiently hold and move people gate to gate while separating those originating / terminating in Thailand. Look at transit at, say, Schiphol (AMS) to see this done well. Heck, BKK can’t even manage moving people efficiently from international to domestic. Look at airports like Vancouver (YVR) to see how you do that well … avoiding the delays of requiring a new security screen while simultaneously separating the flow of transit / terminating passengers through separate immigration/ customs flows. I think BKK could get this done if they would just focus on emulating what makes the world’s best transit airports work well (hint: it’s not runway capacity).

I used to have skin cancer screening done at a major university hospital in the USA. I’ve had both basal cell carcinoma and “pre” melanoma. I now need to get this done in Bangkok every six months. Can anyone recommend a good doctor / facility in the area that does this, along with removal and analysis of suspicious moles? I assume Bumrungrad is the default choice but perhaps there are specialists I’m not aware of?