Arriving At 2 A.m.! Transportation To City Available?

[tingtongmakmak]

My flight will arrive at the airport at 2 o'clock in the morning. I'm wondering if I could still get a taxi to the city and if the taxi driver will charge more than normal rate because of the timing.

In addition, will the currency exchange booth still be opened at this hour?

[ovenman]

You shouldn't have any problem with either. No overnight surcharge on taxis in Bangkok. Not all currency exchange booths will be open at that hour but several will.

[Gumballl]

Use the ATM rather than a currency exchange booth if it comes down to that. If you are staying in a hotel, make sure you book the room for the night you arrive. You should have no trouble concerning taxis.

It ticks me off that Thai airlines always seem to arrive at 6am or so from the US, and then depart at 6pm or so when returning. This costs me money for the hotel upon arrival (for which I am not there for the most part of the night!) and ditto for when I return.

Edited May 14, 2007 by Gumballl

[Totster]

It ticks me off that Thai airlines always seem to arrive at 6am or so from the US, and then depart at 6pm or so when returning. This costs me money for the hotel upon arrival (for which I am not there for the most part of the night!) and ditto for when I return.

The things we have to put up with !!!

totster

[billp]

When you go to the ATM, make sure you get 9900 baht or 14900 or whatever. Bangkok cab drivers can't or won't change 1000 baht notes. Refuse a flat rate and insist on the meter. Apparently the taxi dispatcher is now pushing flat rates. Tell the driver you DON'T want the toll highway. No need for it at that time of night and you'll save a couple bucks.

[lomatopo]

When you go to the ATM, make sure you get 9900 baht or 14900 or whatever. Bangkok cab drivers can't or won't change 1000 baht notes. Refuse a flat rate and insist on the meter. Apparently the taxi dispatcher is now pushing flat rates. Tell the driver you DON'T want the toll highway. No need for it at that time of night and you'll save a couple bucks.

But you could take the tollway and pay the toll with a 1,000 (or 500) baht note, and then have change. For most destinations the tollway is still always faster.

[meadish_sweetball]

When you go to the ATM, make sure you get 9900 baht or 14900 or whatever. Bangkok cab drivers can't or won't change 1000 baht notes. Refuse a flat rate and insist on the meter. Apparently the taxi dispatcher is now pushing flat rates. Tell the driver you DON'T want the toll highway. No need for it at that time of night and you'll save a couple bucks.

If you use the regular public taxi queue at the bottom level, they will use the meter and not make a fuzz, but an additional flat charge of 50 baht on top of that applies. On Don Muang I would flag down the taxis on the departure level (at the top floor) that were dropping off passengers - with them there was no surcharge, but you have to make them promise to use the meter before you get in the car.

Anyways, at your time of night you may not be so lucky finding incoming taxis on the departure level.

If you are approached by an older man who stands near the meeting point outside customs, looks slightly Chinese and wears semi-official looking clothes and wields a walkie talkie, who asks you if you need a taxi, say no unless you want to go with his inflated price 'inofficial' taxi service that charges 900 baht into Bangkok and have other inflated rates to other destinations.

Silly sod tried it on me recently. He is in cahoots with another younger walkie talkie guy on the lowest level.

[Soju]

Tell the driver you DON'T want the toll highway. No need for it at that time of night and you'll save a couple bucks.

Agreed, depending on the location. For me, going to mid-sukhumvit, it doesn't make any sense to use the tollway at that time of night as it's just as fast without the tollway. Actually, you use the motorway for quite a good portion of the ride, and only get off right before the first tollbooth. If you end up going through the first tollbooth (25 baht), be sure to get off before the next one (40 baht) or you may end up actually taking longer and costing much more to get to your destination (mid sukhumvit or similar). I made the mistake of taking the tollroad the whole way on my first taxi trip from Sukhumvit and ended up paying about 100 baht more and taking at least 10 minutes longer than if I'd asked him to get off before the first tollbooth. Of course your mileage will vary depending on where your destination is. Also be careful that the taxi driver doesn't try to take you a totally different and longer route just because you tell him not to use the tollway. I once had a driver who wanted to go to Sukhumvit via Bangna when I told him no tollway, because he misunderstood. Would have taken much longer and cost more if he'd done that I think.

Getting a taxi from the arrivals (level 4), even at 2AM is still no problem. I do it all the time and there's never a shortage of people arriving even at that late hour. I'd guess you'd have to wait at most one minute for an arriving taxi. But if the extra 50 baht isn't important it's probably just as fast to use the taxi booths on Level 1 as there shouldn't be any queues there at that time.

Edited May 16, 2007 by Soju

[meadish_sweetball]

But if the extra 50 baht isn't important it's probably just as fast to use the taxi booths on Level 1 as there shouldn't be any queues there at that time.

Sounds likely - but I was surprised to see that right around midnight the queues were actually fairly long. Took 10-15 minutes before I got to the front, despite no shortage of cars.

[Soju]

But if the extra 50 baht isn't important it's probably just as fast to use the taxi booths on Level 1 as there shouldn't be any queues there at that time.

Sounds likely - but I was surprised to see that right around midnight the queues were actually fairly long. Took 10-15 minutes before I got to the front, despite no shortage of cars.

Yes, there are a lot of flights arriving shortly before midnight, so typically the place is pretty busy at midnight when they get out of immigration/baggage/customs. By the time you reach 1AM, there aren't many arriving flights so by 2AM it's pretty deserted. At that time the queues are of waiting taxis, not waiting passengers.