Bangkok airports hit turbulence: Ranked among world’s worst

[HappyExpat57]

I usually only travel once a year to the states so I spoil myself and fly business class. You get fast tracked past the basic queue both in and out.

 

I find the rest of swampy fine. Clean, reasonable distances to gates, air conditioned. Air travel is never a fun thing to do, but I feel swampy does their part to minimize the drudgery. One of the worst? Hardly!

[Jackbenimble]

This article reads more like an advert than a genuine news item. 

Apart from the length of the queues I have always thought Suvarnabhuni is one of the best planned and easiest to navigate airports in the world. It works on almost all levels. 

I would seriously question whether anyone from this UK financial information and research website Business Financing is even qualified to conduct and then extrapolate the results of such a survey. These online surveys are notoriously unreliable and the questions posed are designed to illicit a particular response anyway.......just like the headlines here at AN.

I'd wager nobody at Business Financing has ever even left UK. It would carry more weight if they were providing an "informed" opinion.

 

 

[spidermike007]

Prime Minister’s Office spokesperson Chai Watcharong responded to the ranking on Twitter. He urged Thai people to carefully check the source of the rank before concluding or depreciating airports in Thailand.

 

More deflection. Do not accept blame. Do not promise improvement. Do not admit failure. Just deflect. Never, ever look within for the source of the problem.

[Smokey and the Bandit]

2 hours ago, Shocked farang said:

The passenger experience at Hanoi's airport is poor, it has a very limited choice of restaurants and shops, I'm not a fan of this airport at all. 

Right, compared with Changi which has  a spectacular 40-meter-tall (around 130 feet) indoor waterfall, a butterfly garden and an IMAX cinema – not to mention more than 280 retail and dining outlets, perfect for killing time during a layover.

[cjinchiangrai]

3 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Those people being polled have never flown into Riyadh airport then.

Or Cairo, what a mess.

[superal]

2 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Good to see Incheon come in @ #4.

 

Very few airports have smoking rooms these days and I can tell you to see the smoking room there on my transfer last week from Michigan was a very welcome sight after 16 hours one me arse in cattle class !

Very few smoke rooms in airports now . The middle east still have I believe but not nice without  ventilation . The smoke rooms at Suvarnabhumi were nearly always occupied by airport workers which may have been the reason to close them . Strange that airports sell tobacco products but do not allow them to be used . 

[sheldoncollier]

3 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Those people being polled have never flown into Riyadh airport then.

Is Riyadh good, or bad? I have a layover there this summer.

[newnative]

'...queue times at check-in counters'.   That was by far my biggest complaint the last two times I flew out of Swampy.  Several of the most popular low-cost airlines are all in one check-in area, making for very long lines and very long wait times to check-in.  I think both times the whole process, including going through check-in, security, passport control, etc., took about 3 hours.   They aren't kidding when they say arrive at least 3 hours before departure.

[Cabradelmar]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Suvarnabhumi International Airport and Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok ranked among the worst air travel hubs in Asia according to Business Financing’s recent report.

 

What's so delicious about this particular webfact is that it flies directly in the face of the PMs pronouncement from last month that said THA wants to be the leader in this space #asleepattheswitch

[still kicking]

6 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Yes, I agree a million%. The immigrations officers are unfriendly and move as slow as molasse in the winter not to mention how they stop to socialize amongst their selves, laughing and having a good old time whilst tourists are queued up after a long flight or trying to get to their gates.

Also the walk from the gate to immigrations or getting to gates, even with the moving walkway, is way too long....

Do what I do get a wheelchair.

[TroubleandGrumpy]

6 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Yes, I agree a million%. The immigrations officers are unfriendly and move as slow as molasse in the winter not to mention how they stop to socialize amongst their selves, laughing and having a good old time whilst tourists are queued up after a long flight or trying to get to their gates.

Also the walk from the gate to immigrations or getting to gates, even with the moving walkway, is way too long....

Nail on the head hot - that is exactly why they are rated so low - Staff and Infrastructure.  Meanwhile over in Singapore they have shown them way to go - make it easy for people (especially business people). But would AOT ever consider going and taking a look around Changi for ideas and advice?  

[harada]

It’s the ‘Don’t you know who I am’ syndrome once again. 

[superal]

1 hour ago, HappyExpat57 said:

I usually only travel once a year to the states so I spoil myself and fly business class. You get fast tracked past the basic queue both in and out.

 

I find the rest of swampy fine. Clean, reasonable distances to gates, air conditioned. Air travel is never a fun thing to do, but I feel swampy does their part to minimize the drudgery. One of the worst? Hardly!

Most of us are not able to afford business class but normally the economy class and that is where the problems are caused at Suvarnabhumi . Immigration queues are often long and not enough immigration officers . I ask myself this , would it be possible to have Thai immigration officers onboard the long haul flight to Bangkok , 11 hours or so , to carry out immigration checks which would then allow uninterrupted passage to the carousels or transport on arrival  ?

Did you know that there is a " Fast Track " system for both arrivals and departures in Suvarnabhumi . Basic walking through the fast track lane costs around $66 or with an electric buggy $140 . These prices are for travellers who want the visa on arrival . For local Thais it is $ 35 and $112 .

[superal]

25 minutes ago, still kicking said:

Do what I do get a wheelchair.

Do you need a wheelchair or are you lazy ?

[still kicking]

1 minute ago, superal said:

Do you need a wheelchair or are you lazy ?

I did have 2 broken ankles I find it hard to walk long distances 

[superal]

5 minutes ago, still kicking said:

I did have 2 broken ankles I find it hard to walk long distances 

So you have a good reason for wheelchair us . I have a spinal problem and normally have a wheelchair but flying tiger did not mention a physical problem and there are sometimes able bodied people who blag it to get a wheelchair because they are too lazy . That sometimes results in there being a shortage of wheelchairs and in turn a long wait . No different than fit people parking in a disabled parking bay .

[still kicking]

1 minute ago, superal said:

So you have a good reason for wheelchair us . I have a spinal problem and normally have a wheelchair but flying tiger did not mention a physical problem and there are sometimes able bodied people who blag it to get a wheelchair because they are too lazy . That sometimes results in there being a shortage of wheelchairs and in turn a long wait . No different than fit people parking in a disabled parking bay .

I also have problems walking stairs I need a lift.

[rexpotter]

6 hours ago, TheAppletons said:

Okay but.....Hanoi's airport is the best?  Better than Singapore?  Hardly.

Hanoi??? Are you kidding? This whole report is worthless, must be getting paid off.

[superal]

2 minutes ago, still kicking said:

I also have problems walking stairs I need a lift.

Me too

[spidermike007]

I don't mind Swampy, but I don't consider it to be exceptional on any level. Thankfully I get to use the airline lounges due to gold status because I fly so much. Other than that there's nothing remarkable about any of the airports here. They could really do a lot to improve them, they could improve Wi-Fi, make it free throughout the airport and easy to access, they could provide many services which they don't, and of course we all know that they could improve immigration dramatically, but they don't.

 

So they pretty much deserve the status that they have, which is near the bottom of the heap.

[HappyExpat57]

2 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

I don't mind Swampy, but I don't consider it to be exceptional on any level. Thankfully I get to use the airline lounges due to gold status because I fly so much. Other than that there's nothing remarkable about any of the airports here. They could really do a lot to improve them, they could improve Wi-Fi, make it free throughout the airport and easy to access, they could provide many services which they don't, and of course we all know that they could improve immigration dramatically, but they don't.

 

So they pretty much deserve the status that they have, which is near the bottom of the heap.

I believe there is a generic lounge at swampy. Last I checked it was 1000 baht. Well worth it.

[scorecard]

6 hours ago, TheAppletons said:

Okay but.....Hanoi's airport is the best?  Better than Singapore?  Hardly.

Hanoi airport is very good / impressive, also Ho Chi Minh Airport very good / impressive.

 

But I agree Changi airport in Singapore is better. 

[scorecard]

1 minute ago, HappyExpat57 said:

I believe there is a generic lounge at swampy. Last I checked it was 1000 baht. Well worth it.

Poor attitude is also a factor. I went to the TG Bus lounge at Swampy, gold card lounge.

 

A passenger lady politely asked an attendant (in TG uniform) if these was any Halal food in the food trays. 

 

She quickly got abuse from 2 attendants. The attendant she asked said loudly 'eat it, it won't kill you'. 

 

A Thai nationality passenger intervened and told the attendant to speak politely and to give the enquiring passenger a specific answer. The attendant slammed the plate she was carrying on the table and disappeared. 

 

Lots of people watching / listening and lots of negative comment about TG and the food offered in the Bus lounge. 

[wensiensheng]

2 hours ago, RandolphGB said:

Passengers having their legs chopped off by the travelators and fliers smuggling live animals onto planes probably doesn't help.

 

Those things and the multi-billion dollars of corruption that goes hand-in-hand with state-run airports in Thailand. 

That travelator incident is all that needs to be recalled to put Suvarnabhumi bottom of any list of airports. 

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, fallup88 said:

People who complain long wait times must not have travel to US before where average waits are usually 40min or more. And immigration officers are just as bad as Thai officers. 

Comment: I agree re US immigration officers, some very rude, abrupt and unhelpful.

 

Those that complain long walks must have not travel to Germany where airports are just as far.

 

But this ranking is hardly accurate and polling numbers way too small.

 

[Caldera]

The hub of overconfidence and mediocrity.

[grubman]

I travel through Bangkok often due to working outside of Thailand, over the year of traveling through Bangkok airport i have seen the differences with Immigration over the years

 

I have now gotten to the point that whenever i am traveling to of from Bangkok i purchase fast track immigration, I do that as most time i have long flights and after being traveling for up to and over 24 hours the last thing i want to do is stand in line for hours waiting to get through immigration

 

The small cost for fast track i5s with the cost and hassle of waiting

 

Most times I'm off the plane, picked up at the gat in a golf cart and through immigration, luggage collection and into a taxi with in 30 minutes of the plane stopping at the gate

 

but the whole procedure of getting through the Bangkok airport, both on arrival and departure should be overhauled, i don't blame the officers on the front line, it's the ones behind the scenes that to lead by example and make sure that the front line staff are working efferently, but i'm sure that this will not happen any time soon

 

 

[eisfeld]

My main gripes with Thai airports are the sometimes unfriendly immigration officers, sometimes long queues and that in the past years I feel like more than half of all flights had delays or other changes. I am always happy to be out of there. Contrast that with Changhi which is always a breeze to go through, the immigration officers are friendly and never make problems and flight delays have been rare. I always enjoy my travel there.

 

Two years ago the immigration officer while leaving Thailand accused me of having a fake permission of stay stamp just because they were not familiar with the one issued by the office in Chamchuri Square in Bangkok. A senior officer had to come and clear it up. This should not happen. Even if the officer is unfamiliar with it they should first check with someone else before accusing me of having a fake stamp. It's just one example out of many over the past decade.

[HugoFastor]

7 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

There goes the hub

Not exactly. Seems they just got donned "worst air travel hub" out of all this. So something to be grateful for!

[Georgealbert]

39 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

That travelator incident is all that needs to be recalled to put Suvarnabhumi bottom of any list of airports. 

The incident was not good and showed poor maintenance/management, but happened at Don Mueang Airport, not Suvarnabhumi.