Taxi At Airport

[traveller76]

Hi,

I heard my friend said that we will not able to flag a metered taxi at the airport, all taxi from the airport charge a flat rate to town, is this true?

Thanks

[bendix]

No, it's not true.

When you leave baggage reclaim and customs, simply walk out. Ignore all the guys offering you a taxi and ignore the limo services. Go down a floor (there are plenty of escalators and travelators). There are signs showing you the way. There are hundreds of metered taxis down there.

[traveller76]

No, it's not true.

When you leave baggage reclaim and customs, simply walk out. Ignore all the guys offering you a taxi and ignore the limo services. Go down a floor (there are plenty of escalators and travelators). There are signs showing you the way. There are hundreds of metered taxis down there.

Thanks for ur advice.....

[SoiSong]

Look, get you bags and head for one one of the AOT Limo couters...About a 1 min stop and the driver who is waiting for his next client will push you cart out to his car and you are gone....No tolls to pay, waiting that then dealing about price etc. Look, I have said it beore and I will say it again...If you are underfunded, stay home....

To be homest I normally have the hotel car service pick me up.....A valet at the exit door from Customs and you are in a nice car just like I drive at home.....Arrive at you hotel and they are waiting to escort you to your room for check in! Easy as ABC!

It is so simple to just do it right... Meter Taxi Fa-get-a-bout-it!

[bendix]

Look, get you bags and head for one one of the AOT Limo couters...About a 1 min stop and the driver who is waiting for his next client will push you cart out to his car and you are gone....No tolls to pay, waiting that then dealing about price etc. Look, I have said it beore and I will say it again...If you are underfunded, stay home....

To be homest I normally have the hotel car service pick me up.....A valet at the exit door from Customs and you are in a nice car just like I drive at home.....Arrive at you hotel and they are waiting to escort you to your room for check in! Easy as ABC!

It is so simple to just do it right... Meter Taxi Fa-get-a-bout-it!

Not a particularly helpful post SoiSong. The OP asked for specific advice on getting a metered taxi at the airport, and it is as easy as falling off a chair.

You giving him advice on how to get a limo is the same as going to a restaurant, asking for steak and chips and being served a curry. It will do the same job, but it aint what you wanted.

[Farma]

Just do as bendix suggested. There are a couple of meter taxi ranks on the ground floor. I've used them many times. They use the meter and you pay 50 Baht airport surcharge and maybe 25Baht for the tollway depending on if you go into town by tollway. It's quick and easy.

The airport to Rama9 costs about 250 Baht total.

[ricksilb]

Look, get you bags and head for one one of the AOT Limo couters...About a 1 min stop and the driver who is waiting for his next client will push you cart out to his car and you are gone....No tolls to pay, waiting that then dealing about price etc. Look, I have said it beore and I will say it again...If you are underfunded, stay home....

To be homest I normally have the hotel car service pick me up.....A valet at the exit door from Customs and you are in a nice car just like I drive at home.....Arrive at you hotel and they are waiting to escort you to your room for check in! Easy as ABC!

It is so simple to just do it right... Meter Taxi Fa-get-a-bout-it!

Absolutely!

While you are at it, make sure it is a Mercedes limousine or Rolls stretch. Don't bother checking hotel prices or airfares either, because that is such a hassle as well! If you a wealthy man or, price conscious on any level, you have absolutely no right to be in Thailand.

Either soi song if joking or has some serious issues.

[Soju]

I normally go up to the Departures, Level 4, and catch a cab there dropping someone off. You'll be able to save the 50 baht fee, and more importantly save time due to not having to wait in any queues. This has worked beautifully for me since Suvarnabhumi opened, but last week for the first time I had to ask multiple cabs before finding one to use the meter. Always before they were more than happy to use the meter straight away. I arrived at a very busy time, so perhaps that had something to do with it. But still it took no more than 2 or 3 minutes to find a driver willing to use the meter.

[bendix]

Interesting. I used to do that at Don Muang, but didnt know it was a possibility at the new place. Will try it next week.

[PhilHarries]

Fine for Bangkok but approximately how much would a meter taxi cost to get to Pattaya?

I have always used a limo service but could not locate them at Camp Swampy so ended up using AoT limos. The money aint an issue but it just p1ssed me off that it's more expensive than when I used to travel from Don Muang and it's a shorter journey now.

[traveller76]

I normally go up to the Departures, Level 4, and catch a cab there dropping someone off. You'll be able to save the 50 baht fee, and more importantly save time due to not having to wait in any queues. This has worked beautifully for me since Suvarnabhumi opened, but last week for the first time I had to ask multiple cabs before finding one to use the meter. Always before they were more than happy to use the meter straight away. I arrived at a very busy time, so perhaps that had something to do with it. But still it took no more than 2 or 3 minutes to find a driver willing to use the meter.

Oh, I learnt a new trick here

There are 6 of us, so hopefully can get a MPV cab from the departure hall. But is it legal ? I mean will there be any security guard that stop illegal boarding of cab from non desinated area?

[bendix]

Fine for Bangkok but approximately how much would a meter taxi cost to get to Pattaya?

I have always used a limo service but could not locate them at Camp Swampy so ended up using AoT limos. The money aint an issue but it just p1ssed me off that it's more expensive than when I used to travel from Don Muang and it's a shorter journey now.

Meter taxis aren't obliged to use their meters if they're going outside the metropolitan Bangkok area, so a trip to Pattaya would be up to you to negotiate. You can join the taxi meter rank and haggle a price. I suspect that they would ask 1200-1500 up, but would be very surprised if they used the meter.

[PhilHarries]

Thanks Bendix, I suspected that might be the case. I think I'll just stick with the limo and save the haggling time, an extra 1000 on the taxi fare is less than 10% of my air fare and probably less than my evening's drinks tab.

[onzestan]

Thanks Bendix, I suspected that might be the case. I think I'll just stick with the limo and save the haggling time, an extra 1000 on the taxi fare is less than 10% of my air fare and probably less than my evening's drinks tab.

The meterd taxi's have fixed prices to Pattaya.

I have used them a couple of times now and the price is 1300 Baht + 50 Baht booking charge.

Cheers

Onzestan

[Soju]

Oh, I learnt a new trick here

There are 6 of us, so hopefully can get a MPV cab from the departure hall. But is it legal ? I mean will there be any security guard that stop illegal boarding of cab from non desinated area?

I think it is technically prohibited ('illegal' might be a bit strong), but the security guards have never said a thing to me or the taxis I've used from there. If a taxi is waiting there for a long time after dropping someone off, the guards may come and tell them to move along. But with the number of passengers departing, it's never a problem to find one that's just dropped someone off and hop in immediately. Just be sure the driver will use the meter and ignore any that try to give you a fixed price.

Perhaps if you arrived in the middle of the night you might need to wait, and thus going down to level 1, and paying the 50 baht extra, might be a bit quicker. At any other times I've found Level 4 to be the fastest. One word of warning though, if you don't know where you're going and it's not a common destination and you can't explain where you want to go to the taxi driver, you could have a bit of a problem. In that case you're better off going to Level 1 and tell the attendant there where you're going so they can write it down in Thai to give to your driver.

[traveller76]

Oh, I learnt a new trick here

There are 6 of us, so hopefully can get a MPV cab from the departure hall. But is it legal ? I mean will there be any security guard that stop illegal boarding of cab from non desinated area?

I think it is technically prohibited ('illegal' might be a bit strong), but the security guards have never said a thing to me or the taxis I've used from there. If a taxi is waiting there for a long time after dropping someone off, the guards may come and tell them to move along. But with the number of passengers departing, it's never a problem to find one that's just dropped someone off and hop in immediately. Just be sure the driver will use the meter and ignore any that try to give you a fixed price.

Perhaps if you arrived in the middle of the night you might need to wait, and thus going down to level 1, and paying the 50 baht extra, might be a bit quicker. At any other times I've found Level 4 to be the fastest. One word of warning though, if you don't know where you're going and it's not a common destination and you can't explain where you want to go to the taxi driver, you could have a bit of a problem. In that case you're better off going to Level 1 and tell the attendant there where you're going so they can write it down in Thai to give to your driver.

Thanks Soju for the advice

[phazey]

Alough going downstairs and getting a metered taxi is way better than the limo service, what pissed me off royally was the fact they are queued in order. On the return from a recent trip to Melbourne, we were overloaded with luggage - large suit cases etc, and whilst there was a nice estate type taxi a few cars up, we were forced to squeeze everything in the next car in line. on hindsight we should have just waited, but after 9 hours + tired kid/wife we simply were not in the mood.

It was nice to get the <ignore the ferrang> look form the moron on the desk too.

I ain't bitter tho

[Crossy]

In my (limited) experience, the cabs hanging around upstairs at departures only want a fare back into town (BKK) or quote a stupid fare.

I live a bit out (Pathum Thani) so a word with the lady downstairs nets me a cab who :-

a. Knows where I want to go and

b. Actually wants to go there.

Mostly fixed fare (off a list) out to the boonies, but rarely more than 15% over the meter fare anyway, tip reduced in proportion