Don Muang Airport Reopens

[mtnthai]

I have decided I have had enough of this Bangkok airport drama for a while, at least until they sort themselves out. I was disappointed in the facilities, the service and the basic lack of comfort, especially getting in at midnight on an international and waiting until 5 am for the domestic check- in to open. It is just not a good airport, I wanted it to be and hope it can become one.

I decided to go back to using Singapore as my Asian hub, so from now on its Tiger Airways from Singapore to Udon Thani instead of dicking around in Bangkok to Khon Kaen. To have to travel across town to Don Muaeng would only add to my frustration.

Yep, a beer and a smoke in Harry's bar at Changi followed by a session on a free leg massage machine and a movie. If I want I can just have a nap on one of the sleeping chairs in a quiet corner somewhere.

I wish they had simply purchased the blue prints from Singapore Changi Airport and built something that works.

Khun Andy

and they have free Internet access with free-use PCs everywhere. i also believe i saw a pool there or was that in tokyo?

[deminister]

I would not like to be on the first flights in or out.

How have they been able to find the qualified staff?

Hmm the chances are less than 50/50 that they have beeen able to find qualified staff. Honestly spoken, the fact that one military airlplane after another falls out of the sky in Thailand and the fact that airport staff are mainly recruited from the military when it comes down to traffic controllers and so on, I fear that two airports in Bangkok with two traffic control centers will be a recipe for a disaster.

[robenroute]

A little insignificant but according to yesterday's Bangkok Post (24.3) they've changed the spelling to

Don Mueang

with an extra e in the middle.

I can't see what difference the extra 'e' will make. No one can pronounce the bloody name anyway. Maybe they should change the name to 'Donnybrook' or something?

If you think like that concerning the Thai language, you display in great manner how unwilling you are to try at least. But, if you are that unwilling, why are you here anyway? Thailand doesn't need bloody people like you, not at all. So just go home and citisize your own country !

I think we all know that coming up with proper western script for Thai names can be a real pain in the proverbial @r5e. There is an official (as in issued by the Thai government), Latin-based (Romanisation) guide to the translation rules. However, even this guide doesn't completely cover all the intricacies of the Thai language. Even though most of us are comfortable with the English language and its (sometimes) problematic and inconsistent pronunciation rules, the Latin-based translation offers more accurate translations in general. Sad and confusing it is to see inconsistent translation work by the government. But that is a different discussion alltogether.

The reason for my posting is that I find your comment rather nasty. Has it ever crossed your mind that the "Donnybrook" comment might have been a (rather lame, I might add) joke? No need to lash out at the person and accusing him/her.

Have a pleasant day!

[jaloochapurr]

I have decided I have had enough of this Bangkok airport drama for a while, at least until they sort themselves out. I was disappointed in the facilities, the service and the basic lack of comfort, especially getting in at midnight on an international and waiting until 5 am for the domestic check- in to open. It is just not a good airport, I wanted it to be and hope it can become one.

I decided to go back to using Singapore as my Asian hub, so from now on its Tiger Airways from Singapore to Udon Thani instead of dicking around in Bangkok to Khon Kaen. To have to travel across town to Don Muaeng would only add to my frustration.

Yep, a beer and a smoke in Harry's bar at Changi followed by a session on a free leg massage machine and a movie. If I want I can just have a nap on one of the sleeping chairs in a quiet corner somewhere.

I wish they had simply purchased the blue prints from Singapore Changi Airport and built something that works.

Khun Andy

You are so right, Singapore is what it is going to be. I can fly non-stop from New York and take a connecter to Chiang Mai without having to sleep at Bangkok. I have even heard that Singapore Air has much roomier seating in coach, yet I think we might just give in and go business this year. I will look for the bar to smoke in and fnd that massage too.

[Gumballl]

So if the IATA code for Suvarnaboom is BKK, what is the code for Don Mueang? Knowing this tidbit of info would help travelers know exactly which airport they are booking their flights into and out of when they are traveling thru Bangkok.

Edited March 25, 2007 by Gumballl

[Maejo Man]

So if the IATA code for Suvarnaboom is BKK, what is the code for Don Mueang? Knowing this tidbit of info would help travelers know exactly which airport they are booking their flights into and out of when they are traveling thru Bangkok.

The ticket that I have just had issued gives it a code of BKM

[slimdog]

The ticket that I have just had issued gives it a code of BKM

BKM is the official code for Bakalalan in Malaysia

BKK is for Suvarnabhumi

DMG is for Don Mueang

[buriramboy]

Now that Don Muang has re-opened, anyone got any info as to whether that lovely hairdressers that used to be on the top floor will re-open also?

BB

[Xangsamhua]

The ticket that I have just had issued gives it a code of BKM

BKM is the official code for Bakalalan in Malaysia

BKK is for Suvarnabhumi

DMG is for Don Mueang

I think it might be DMK.

[george]

The ticket that I have just had issued gives it a code of BKM

BKM is the official code for Bakalalan in Malaysia

BKK is for Suvarnabhumi

DMG is for Don Mueang

I think it might be DMK.

The Don Muang code is DMK

[Maejo Man]

Strange how the IATA code lists the two spellings...

DM

DMA (KDMA) – Davis Monthan AFB – Tucson, Arizona, United States

DME (UUDD) – Domodedovo International Airport – Moscow, Russia

DMK (VTBD) – Don Mueang International Airport – Don Muang, Bangkok

DMM (OEDF) – King Fahd Dhahran Air Terminal – Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, near Dammam

DMN (KDMN) – Deming Municipal Airport – Deming, New Mexico, United States

DMO (KDMO) – Sedalia Memorial Airport – Sedalia, Missouri, United States

DMU (VEMR) – Dimapur Airport – Dimapur, India

DMW (KDMW) – Carroll County Regional Airport (Jack B. Poage Field) – Westminster, Maryland, United

[Rhys]

Took Nok Air to Nakhon Si Thammarat..on Sunday Afternoon.... NO PROBLEM.. On TIME..Cute Air hostesses.. The terminal could use a few more chairs in the ticketing area.. but once past the security area.. Things are fine.. The BIG MINUS.....The food services are lacking... in progress.

[Maejo Man]

The ticket that I have just had issued gives it a code of BKM

BKM is the official code for Bakalalan in Malaysia

BKK is for Suvarnabhumi

DMG is for Don Mueang

Well you go tell Thai Airways that just issued this little lot on an "E-Ticket".....

FROM /TO FLIGHT CL DATE DEP FARE BASIS NVB NVA BAG ST

CHIANG MAI TG 127 H 30MAR 2100 HCD3M 30JUN 20K OK

BKK SUVARNABHUM ARRIVAL TIME: 2210

BKM DON MUANG TG 1116 H 17APRIL 1435 HCD3M 30JUN 20K OK

CHIANG MAI ARRIVAL TIME: 1545

AT CHECK-IN, PLEASE SHOW A PICTURE IDENTIFICATION AND THE DOCUMENT YOU

GAVE FOR REFERENCE AT RESERVATION TIME

[mitrapaap]

So do all Phuket flights still go into the new airport? Or do some go to the old as well? Just wondering as I am flying out in a couple of weeks and need to make a connection at the new airport.

I'm sure your travel agency or airline will assist you for this. Or do you really think anybody in this forum will be able to give you the final answer for a flight "in a couple of weeks" ???

[mtnthai]

Took Nok Air to Nakhon Si Thammarat..on Sunday Afternoon.... NO PROBLEM.. On TIME..Cute Air hostesses.. The terminal could use a few more chairs in the ticketing area.. but once past the security area.. Things are fine.. The BIG MINUS.....The food services are lacking... in progress.

this is the case with many businesses, the front line staff (in this case tickieting clerks and air hostesses) are doing a fantastic job, meeting the customers face to face and providing service with a smile, but the management and infrasturcture of the organisations they work for seem to conspire to work agianst them and they withold the products and tools needed to get the job done efficiently, seamlessly and cost affectively.

it really is too bad that they are the ones that must suffer the brunt of change and growth, and not the ones who come up with these "strategies/business plans".

[mitrapaap]

i flew in on Nok last night at 10 pm from Phuket and it was a typically bad experience. TIT

my departure gate was changed three times in Hkt to start off. then their was no service on the plane, nothing to buy or eat, whatsoever. the plane was maybe 20% capacity. we left early and arrived late. it took close to ten minutes to get the gangway door opoened once they started to try (so glad it was not an emergency situation, we would have all suffered for it. then the walk way to the main hallway was not lit. NO LIGHTS exccept ambient light form outside. baggage claim was ok, surprisingly. then, no exchanges open to change money, or break bills for taxis. many of the people were travelers who needed to do this but were told, in the morning it will open, ha ha ha. then the taxi stand was all the same people that helped to generate pages of posts here on TVF.com. for their bad attitude and over pricing.

all in all, TIT to the max. i will probably not fly Nok again unless they go back to the new airport.

further, the taxi ride to town, Phrakanong, was an hour and fifteen minutes and cost 400 baht (they jacked up the surcharge fee 50 baht to 150 form 100) and the new airport for me is 200 baht and 25 minutes with traffic.

i have heard this is all about politics and military control to reap the rewards. one airport is army controled and the other is airforce. everyone looking to make a fast buck. is this so? anyone hear about this?

Suggest you make up your mind regarding what services you need on board BEFORE you choose the airline. It does not make sense to book a cheap airline and then expect a gala dinner on board.

You come from Phuket to Bankgok and can't change money at 10pm. Are there no changes in Phuket? Again, think first.

One hour and fifteen minutes for the Taxi to town. Well, is this your first trip to Bangkok? And what does NokAir to have to do with the taxi services and charges?

Last but not least, what is the difference between army and air force?

[mitrapaap]

what happens when pilots get mixed up on which airport to land on.

Pilots follow the instructions of sky control. Aside that Pilots are not drunk when flying, neither are they stupid nor dumb.

[mitrapaap]

This pronunciation problem is more real than might at first be thought. I used to be able to simply get into a taxi and pronounce my intended destination as "Airport". Now with a choice of two unpronounceable names I will have to rely on the apartment doorman to brief the taxi driver and that generally means an inflated fare.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I m landing at Suvasomethingorother shortly.

Ever heard about paper and pencil? The first one accepts any langauge the latter can be used by foreigners an Thais. So a piece of paper with the name of one airport in Thai and English on the front side and the name of the other airport on the back side might ease the pain for your doorman.

[scooty]

So can anybody answer Pippas question ? ( page 2) it would be good information for everyone i think . my guess would be it would take possibly up to 1 hour to go by taxi from one airport to another.

oh also to the person who has a problem pronouncing the name of the one airport my wife pronounces it like this ,SOOWANAPOOM.

[mitrapaap]

This whole split airport thing is a pain in the proverbial! Until now, I was a regular Nok Air user, in their Nok Plus cabin. Emailed Nok Air complaining that I could no longer use them as am usually connecting to or from an international flight & advised they would lose a great deal of business from other connecting passengers - no response or acknowledgement though, yet they claim that moving to Don Muang is going to increase their business but in doing so, they now lose substantial business from passengers connecting to or from internation flights! I just can't figure this personally.

The other thing is that being in CM, even the TG flights are split between the 2 airports. This now means that if I am returning from a trip to Oz, I can no longer connect back home to CM the same day, as the last flight of the day leaves from Don Muang (Don Mueang!!! - who's got shares in a signwriting company?!?!?) and there's not enough time to drive from Suvarnabhumi to Don Muang to connect! This now means I have to overnight in Bangkok every time - an absolute pain & gross inconvenience!

i just now have gotten off the line with Nok "Customer Service". I explained in detail what went wrong with my flight to Don Muang Saturday evening. All the rep kept saying was, "it was our first day". i told her i did not want to hear excuses and her job is to listen and ask for suggestions and solutions, but that went over like the Hindenberg in New Jersey. I tried to explain that most folks would expect an airline to iron out all the problems before opening day, for safety and comfort reasons.

when i tried to get her to understand that many of my points were relative to percieved (if not real) safety issues and a care-free attitude that does not fit with such a serious service as air travel, she was unresponsive. she really never understood what i was trying to say, nor did she really seem to care. another talking head offering lip service. i also feel that i was probaly one of many who had called her today to say the exact same things.

too bad, Nok used to be the best, heads above the rest.

they really seemd to have bought into their own line of propaganda that if you go to Don Muang and you are not making a connecitng flight so there is no need for concerns, there are not a lot farangs on the plane and you will need no assitance or deserve any level of professionalism from Nok who used to be (IMHO) a benchmark for the local air travel industry.

i closed my conversatioin by giving her the URL for this forum in hopes that they will see what everyone's concerns are, and then maybe try to do something that is prompted by the consumers concerns.

now i will try to stop laughing and get back to work.

I'm sure she did not write down the url you gave her. How unfortunate. She would have seen that you actually the only one who makes such a fuss about it.

[mtnthai]

i flew in on Nok last night at 10 pm from Phuket and it was a typically bad experience. TIT

my departure gate was changed three times in Hkt to start off. then their was no service on the plane, nothing to buy or eat, whatsoever. the plane was maybe 20% capacity. we left early and arrived late. it took close to ten minutes to get the gangway door opoened once they started to try (so glad it was not an emergency situation, we would have all suffered for it. then the walk way to the main hallway was not lit. NO LIGHTS exccept ambient light form outside. baggage claim was ok, surprisingly. then, no exchanges open to change money, or break bills for taxis. many of the people were travelers who needed to do this but were told, in the morning it will open, ha ha ha. then the taxi stand was all the same people that helped to generate pages of posts here on TVF.com. for their bad attitude and over pricing.

all in all, TIT to the max. i will probably not fly Nok again unless they go back to the new airport.

further, the taxi ride to town, Phrakanong, was an hour and fifteen minutes and cost 400 baht (they jacked up the surcharge fee 50 baht to 150 form 100) and the new airport for me is 200 baht and 25 minutes with traffic.

i have heard this is all about politics and military control to reap the rewards. one airport is army controled and the other is airforce. everyone looking to make a fast buck. is this so? anyone hear about this?

Suggest you make up your mind regarding what services you need on board BEFORE you choose the airline. It does not make sense to book a cheap airline and then expect a gala dinner on board.

You come from Phuket to Bankgok and can't change money at 10pm. Are there no changes in Phuket? Again, think first.

One hour and fifteen minutes for the Taxi to town. Well, is this your first trip to Bangkok? And what does NokAir to have to do with the taxi services and charges?

Last but not least, what is the difference between army and air force?

1st let me apologise, i guess my english is a bit rusty.

i have lived in thailand for 14+ years and if you look at my profile, on the left of my posts, you can see i am not a newbie. and most of my previous posts over the years are in defense of the "little guy" here in thailand when it is a relevant subject. i am also a food and beverage/hospitality consultant with 25+ years of experience world wide and i am the kind of person who is hired to specifically iron out these types of problems with hospitality/ tourism issues. my employers usually complain that i am too pro labor, favor the customer too much and not strong enough on the corporate side when human resource and customer dcomfort issues arise.

further, if you had read my post carefully u would see that i was a great fan of nok until last night, a regular customer. i did not say i wanted a gala dinner, i simply wanted to purchase (as the no frills way of flying dictates) a drink for refreshment. nok has always had that and snacks to be purchased of which there were none offered. i arrived at the airport and i assumed when i boarded i would be able to have a coffee or coke and a mama noodle as my schedule was tight and i had no time to eat in the terminal.

and i was writing about the entire experience as that was the topic of this post. i happened to mention nok because they were involved and i wanted to let others know that there will be glitches to start and that Nok customer service reps were not instructed or prepared to deal with the eventuality of people wishing to express their views through the use of a dedicated phone number for customer service. another case of management not providing the firepower the staff needs to get the job done and satisfy the customer.

and, yes you are correct, nok does not have anyhting to do with taxi services, but when they take it upon themselves to deliver me to an aiport that does not have all of its expected services up and running, during all service hours, i expect them to stand by and be of assistance to me, their customer, if i need help. it just makes good business sense and it is in the Spirit of Service which is supposed to be the bar any service business aspires to. especially on the first day of a major change in serivce.

i think that covers it all ... did i miss anything?

oh, yeah - your last question eludes me: "what is the difference between army and air force". let’s see, one group flies and the other walks? try that for a start.

[mitrapaap]

Now if they'd decide to get settled with some of the other variations:

Wittiyu/Vittiyu

Chatuchak/Jatujak

etc.

The most logical transcription is from Mary Haas: Then it should be written Catucak

Take ten people from different countries/langauges and have them read this aloud one by one. Thais (and foreigners who can read and speak Thai) will crowl on the floor from laughing.

Suggest we let Mary Haas do something else and stick with the royal transcripts.

[kratindaeng]

This pronunciation problem is more real than might at first be thought. I used to be able to simply get into a taxi and pronounce my intended destination as "Airport". Now with a choice of two unpronounceable names I will have to rely on the apartment doorman to brief the taxi driver and that generally means an inflated fare.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I m landing at Suvasomethingorother shortly.

...your worried about unpronounceable names? are you sure you should be coming to Thailand?! Only kiddin! Write this down in your notepad, I'm glad to be of assistance:

ดอนเมือง DMK aka Don Muang

สุวรรณภูมิ Suwanabhumi

Goodluck

KD

[Greer]

A little insignificant but according to yesterday's Bangkok Post (24.3) they've changed the spelling to

Don Mueang

with an extra e in the middle. They said this is a more correct Roman translation of the Thai script. They showed a sign with the new spelling outside the airport.

According to the same article THAI advertise in hard copy with the new spelling and on their website with the old spelling.

I can't see what difference the extra 'e' will make. No one can pronounce the bloody name anyway. Maybe they should change the name to 'Donnybrook' or something?

Now now... how many airports, cities or towns, or other places of importance in the world have had a name change just so Asians could pronounce them? Exactly none...

The character in the middle of the name of our old airport is one which does not exist in the English language, but why should it? You are in Thailand, so it would be easier to educate the ones who come here, than to make changes to the language. Its not that hard anyway... it's "Don", the same as the English name, and Meung, where the central sound is the same as when you dont like something in English and say "euuugh!" whats so hard about that? Just make the sound slightly more in the back of your throat, and way you go...

It's the same sound as in the Thai word for "drink" but maybe a different tone. I am sure you can order a drink if you have to...oh...true..."beer" is pretty universal! Haha.

I am not convinced that using Don Meung is a good idea simply because of the confusion on the one hand, and the time it takes to get from one to the other on the other hand. I used to live in Minburi, and it took about 20 minutes to Suvarnabhumi, and about 50 minutes to Don Meung, and as Minburi is a little north of the halfway point between the two, I would be surprised if you could transit in under 3 hours. Not good.

As for the oddity about the 150 baht "surcharge" - I am afraid you fell victim to a rip-off - the surcharge for BOTH airports is the same - 50 baht - if you paid more, then you paid too much.

I agree that if they want to open Don Meung again, they need to put the services back in place and not <deleted> around with people - thats not fair at all. Why it should have taken that length of time to get into town is a bit odd, but I notice a lot of people seem not to want to pay the small extra fee to use the tollway, so maybe if you took the normal roads, I can understand the slow rate of progress.

"The most logical transcription is from Mary Haas: Then it should be written Catucak" ... what????? This is using phonetics, which you and I and most normal people couldn't read to save our lives...for goodness sake write it as Jatujak, becaus that is how it is pronounced by most Thais.

Greer

Edited March 25, 2007 by Greer

[mitrapaap]

So can anybody answer Pippas question ? ( page 2) it would be good information for everyone i think . my guess would be it would take possibly up to 1 hour to go by taxi from one airport to another.

oh also to the person who has a problem pronouncing the name of the one airport my wife pronounces it like this ,SOOWANAPOOM.

Not the easiest, but the best way to pronounce Thai language correctly is learning to read it.

[mtnthai]

This whole split airport thing is a pain in the proverbial! Until now, I was a regular Nok Air user, in their Nok Plus cabin. Emailed Nok Air complaining that I could no longer use them as am usually connecting to or from an international flight & advised they would lose a great deal of business from other connecting passengers - no response or acknowledgement though, yet they claim that moving to Don Muang is going to increase their business but in doing so, they now lose substantial business from passengers connecting to or from internation flights! I just can't figure this personally.

The other thing is that being in CM, even the TG flights are split between the 2 airports. This now means that if I am returning from a trip to Oz, I can no longer connect back home to CM the same day, as the last flight of the day leaves from Don Muang (Don Mueang!!! - who's got shares in a signwriting company?!?!?) and there's not enough time to drive from Suvarnabhumi to Don Muang to connect! This now means I have to overnight in Bangkok every time - an absolute pain & gross inconvenience!

i just now have gotten off the line with Nok "Customer Service". I explained in detail what went wrong with my flight to Don Muang Saturday evening. All the rep kept saying was, "it was our first day". i told her i did not want to hear excuses and her job is to listen and ask for suggestions and solutions, but that went over like the Hindenberg in New Jersey. I tried to explain that most folks would expect an airline to iron out all the problems before opening day, for safety and comfort reasons.

when i tried to get her to understand that many of my points were relative to percieved (if not real) safety issues and a care-free attitude that does not fit with such a serious service as air travel, she was unresponsive. she really never understood what i was trying to say, nor did she really seem to care. another talking head offering lip service. i also feel that i was probaly one of many who had called her today to say the exact same things.

too bad, Nok used to be the best, heads above the rest.

they really seemd to have bought into their own line of propaganda that if you go to Don Muang and you are not making a connecitng flight so there is no need for concerns, there are not a lot farangs on the plane and you will need no assitance or deserve any level of professionalism from Nok who used to be (IMHO) a benchmark for the local air travel industry.

i closed my conversatioin by giving her the URL for this forum in hopes that they will see what everyone's concerns are, and then maybe try to do something that is prompted by the consumers concerns.

now i will try to stop laughing and get back to work.

I'm sure she did not write down the url you gave her. How unfortunate. She would have seen that you actually the only one who makes such a fuss about it.

actually many people on my flight had problems with what i have mentioned, and it was another customer who was able to make the exchange for me, not anyone working at the airport. and i think if you arrived at Phuket airport late, because your shuttle driver was late in getting you there, and you then had to quicly board a flight, thinking you could get exchange at your destination (as expected worlwide), and then found you could not, and were then laughed at and told to wait until morning, by the people who are supposed to be organizing the place and helping you, i think you would feel as i do. ripped off and inconveinced.

further, i make a living in the hospitality/tourism industry, and i am forever having to run damage control in thailand because of things like this. every year we suffer for something (whether it is a natural disater, bombs, corruption/monoply or created by piss-poor-planning), millions of people are working in this sector and if thailand's reputation continues to suffer year after year we will see a radical decrease in toursits and the revenue and jobs they provide. (this year is a perfect example of a downtrend in arrivals and spending directly related to new years eve terrorism.)

considering the size of this local industry, and the numbers of businesses and people affected by it, this is a national issue of importance. everyone in the industry, service providers especially, must work as a team to guard against this loss of trade. if you can not see that now, i do not know what to say to you.

it is people like myself, within this industry, that work tirelessly to provide people like yourself with services of value.

think about it.

[mtnthai]

I'm sure she did not write down the url you gave her. How unfortunate. She would have seen that you actually the only one who makes such a fuss about it.

i find it hard to believe, that as a moderater of this forum, you would make such a statement without first really reading and comprehending the jist of what i wrote, and looking at my profile.

i do that before i post, and i am just a member.

whatever ... mai phen rai

[Johpa]

Now if they'd decide to get settled with some of the other variations:

Wittiyu/Vittiyu

Chatuchak/Jatujak

etc.

The most logical transcription is from Mary Haas: Then it should be written Catucak

Take ten people from different countries/langauges and have them read this aloud one by one. Thais (and foreigners who can read and speak Thai) will crowl on the floor from laughing.

Suggest we let Mary Haas do something else and stick with the royal transcripts.

Prof. Hass passed away over a decade ago. Yet her Thai-English dictionary is still considered by many, including moi, to be the best, by a long shot, such student dictionary on the market.

That being said, rendering Don Muang to Don Mueang, will not in any manner increase the likelihood that a native English speaker will pronounce the name correctly anymore than the road signs around Cardiff would allow me to pronounce Welsh names correctly.

[mitrapaap]

This whole split airport thing is a pain in the proverbial! Until now, I was a regular Nok Air user, in their Nok Plus cabin. Emailed Nok Air complaining that I could no longer use them as am usually connecting to or from an international flight & advised they would lose a great deal of business from other connecting passengers - no response or acknowledgement though, yet they claim that moving to Don Muang is going to increase their business but in doing so, they now lose substantial business from passengers connecting to or from internation flights! I just can't figure this personally.

The other thing is that being in CM, even the TG flights are split between the 2 airports. This now means that if I am returning from a trip to Oz, I can no longer connect back home to CM the same day, as the last flight of the day leaves from Don Muang (Don Mueang!!! - who's got shares in a signwriting company?!?!?) and there's not enough time to drive from Suvarnabhumi to Don Muang to connect! This now means I have to overnight in Bangkok every time - an absolute pain & gross inconvenience!

i just now have gotten off the line with Nok "Customer Service". I explained in detail what went wrong with my flight to Don Muang Saturday evening. All the rep kept saying was, "it was our first day". i told her i did not want to hear excuses and her job is to listen and ask for suggestions and solutions, but that went over like the Hindenberg in New Jersey. I tried to explain that most folks would expect an airline to iron out all the problems before opening day, for safety and comfort reasons.

when i tried to get her to understand that many of my points were relative to percieved (if not real) safety issues and a care-free attitude that does not fit with such a serious service as air travel, she was unresponsive. she really never understood what i was trying to say, nor did she really seem to care. another talking head offering lip service. i also feel that i was probaly one of many who had called her today to say the exact same things.

too bad, Nok used to be the best, heads above the rest.

they really seemd to have bought into their own line of propaganda that if you go to Don Muang and you are not making a connecitng flight so there is no need for concerns, there are not a lot farangs on the plane and you will need no assitance or deserve any level of professionalism from Nok who used to be (IMHO) a benchmark for the local air travel industry.

i closed my conversatioin by giving her the URL for this forum in hopes that they will see what everyone's concerns are, and then maybe try to do something that is prompted by the consumers concerns.

now i will try to stop laughing and get back to work.

I'm sure she did not write down the url you gave her. How unfortunate. She would have seen that you actually the only one who makes such a fuss about it.

actually many people on my flight had problems with what i have mentioned, and it was another customer who was able to make the exchange for me, not anyone working at the airport. and i think if you arrived at Phuket airport late, because your shuttle driver was late in getting you there, and you then had to quicly board a flight, thinking you could get exchange at your destination (as expected worlwide), and then found you could not, and were then laughed at and told to wait until morning, by the people who are supposed to be organizing the place and helping you, i think you would feel as i do. ripped off and inconveinced.

further, i make a living in the hospitality/tourism industry, and i am forever having to run damage control in thailand because of things like this. every year we suffer for something (whether it is a natural disater, bombs, corruption/monoply or created by piss-poor-planning), millions of people are working in this sector and if thailand's reputation continues to suffer year after year we will see a radical decrease in toursits and the revenue and jobs they provide. (this year is a perfect example of a downtrend in arrivals and spending directly related to new years eve terrorism.)

considering the size of this local industry, and the numbers of businesses and people affected by it, this is a national issue of importance. everyone in the industry, service providers especially, must work as a team to guard against this loss of trade. if you can not see that now, i do not know what to say to you.

it is people like myself, within this industry, that work tirelessly to provide people like yourself with services of value.

think about it.

Interesting, but I don't think I will ever need your services.

I can survive an hour flight without coke or coffe, I don't need exchange offices open at midnight because I have a Thai Bank account and an ATM card that works at any ATM 24h a day. I usually don't take taxis as I drive my own car and if I do I can get it at any street corner as I speak their language fluently. I don't have to worry about the pronounciation of the airports or anything else as I can read (and pronounce) Thai. I don't expect customer service agents to do more than answer standard questions as they are not paid for more than that, and if I check-in in a cheap hotel I won't ask for an improvement of the services. I have learnt that the world is not perfect and that sometimes we just have to accept facts and situations as they are. And all this after only 11 years in the land of smile.

Don't worry about me, I can manage the little inconveniences you mention while you continue to boost services and save the Thai tourist industry.

[thatguy]

do I read correctly that DM no longer has late (~midnite) money exchange?