Passenger charges soar at six major Thai airports

[webfact]

Passenger service charges (PSC) at six major Thai airports have seen an increase, as announced by the Airports of Thailand Plc. The charges, applicable on both domestic and international departing flights, have been raised at Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Don Mueang, Hat Yai, Phuket and Suvarnabhumi airports.

 

For international flights, the fees have been increased from 700 to 730 baht, while for domestic flights, a rise from 100 to 130 baht has been implemented.

 

AOT President Kerati Kijmanawat announced the change today, April 1, explaining that the increase in the service charge would cover the cost of AOT’s Common Use Passenger Processing System (CUPPS). The CUPPS includes automatic services such as Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE), which handles boarding passes, Common-Use Self Service (CUSS) for airport check-ins, and Common Use Bag Drop (CUBD).

In related news, the General Manager of Don Mueang International Airport, Wichit Kaewsaitiam, has forecasted a significant surge in traffic through the Bangkok airport during the Songkran festival, taking place from April 11 to 17.

It is predicted that Don Mueang Airport will serve 89,362 travellers daily during this period, marking an increase of 14.81% compared to the previous year. Moreover, the airport is expected to handle 590 flights each day, a rise of 10.58%.

 

Last week, to enhance passenger convenience and elevate service standards, the Airports of Thailand (AoT) unveiled the latest addition to Suvarnabhumi Airport: Grab taxi services.

 

Positioned at Gate 4 on the first floor of the terminal, the newly inaugurated Grab service centre stands ready to cater to passengers around the clock, announced AoT Director Kirati Kitmanawat.

 

Echoing Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s vision to propel Suvarnabhumi into the echelons of the world’s top 20 airports, Kirati highlighted the strategic move as a testament to AoT’s commitment to fostering seamless transport connectivity.

 

This initiative follows AoT’s successful collaborations with Grab at Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, and Phuket airports. Kirati underscored the significance of this partnership.

 

by Mitch Connor 

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-04-02

 

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[flyingtlger]

Nickle and diming the customers as usual......

[Spamhead]

Another one to add to the list of ways to kill yourself in Thailand. 

Hopefully when he recovers he will reflect on his stupidity...

[ezzra]

Could it be an  April fools day announcement? and if not, it means that ' we need more

tourists/passengers' equals more revenue/income...

 

[Aviatorhi]

2 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Nickle and diming the customers as usual......

Yes the roughly 1.75 Euro increase in ticket prices will make a huge difference after not being adjusted for years. Grow up. 

[BananaGuy]

1 hour ago, Spamhead said:

Another one to add to the list of ways to kill yourself in Thailand. 

Hopefully when he recovers he will reflect on his stupidity...

😜A well-aimed post there Spamhead (nice choice of name too).

[Nigeone]

Given those figures , surely there not correct. That’s around average of 150 passengers per flight . The bigger planes can carry around 600 . Another case of Thai maths not being a strong point . Everytime I’ve been on a plane into or out of Suvarnabhumi  there pretty much full. 

And don’t think those increases are going to stop anyone traveling. 

Edited April 1 by Nigeone

[morning glory]

“Passenger service charges soar” Huh? Since when would an increase of 30 baht be considered “soaring”? It’s just clickbait!! Whoever writes these headlines is deliberately trying to provoke a negative reaction and raise our blood pressure! Don’t fall for it, keep smiling 😁

[Ralf001]

2 minutes ago, morning glory said:

“Passenger service charges soar” Huh? Since when would an increase of 30 baht be considered “soaring”? It’s just clickbait!! Whoever writes these headlines is deliberately trying to provoke a negative reaction and raise our blood pressure! Don’t fall for it, keep smiling 😁

 

Some here will argue 30b will feed a family of 4 for a week...... 

[Dutchjohn]

8 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Some here will argue 30b will feed a family of 4 for a week...... 

Yeah, but they are not flying.

[khunjeff]

21 minutes ago, Aviatorhi said:

2 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Nickle and diming the customers as usual......

Yes the roughly 1.75 Euro increase in ticket prices will make a huge difference after not being adjusted for years. Grow up. 

 

Adding in small but irritating fees is, in fact, exactly what "nickel and diming" is.

 

And this particular increase has nothing whatsoever to do with "adjusting" the passenger service charge for inflation. As the article explains, it's to pay for check-in equipment that in almost every other country would be installed and paid for by airlines as a means of saving on labor costs, not put in by airport management at the expense of passengers. So yes, we will now pay AOT  for the privilege of doing the check-in ourselves instead of having professionals do it for us as part of our fare.

[Ralf001]

6 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

So yes, we will now pay AOT  for the privilege of doing the check-in ourselves instead of having professionals do it for us as part of our fare.

 

🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

[AhFarangJa]

42 minutes ago, morning glory said:

“Passenger service charges soar” Huh? Since when would an increase of 30 baht be considered “soaring”? It’s just clickbait!! Whoever writes these headlines is deliberately trying to provoke a negative reaction and raise our blood pressure! Don’t fall for it, keep smiling 😁

Look at the date....and the acronyms......

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Nickle and diming the customers as usual......

Doesn't seem much of an increase per head, but it soon adds up to a tidy profit for the airports.

[daveAustin]

1 hour ago, morning glory said:

“Passenger service charges soar” Huh? Since when would an increase of 30 baht be considered “soaring”? It’s just clickbait!! Whoever writes these headlines is deliberately trying to provoke a negative reaction and raise our blood pressure! Don’t fall for it, keep smiling 😁

It’s still a 30% increase no matter how you try to dress it up. One should keep an eye on stuff like this—air authorities and governments in particular are sly dogs for extra charges on this and that. As with many things here, prices don’t tend to go up in-kind with inflation. It is opportunism. 

[Skipalongcassidy]

45 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Doesn't seem much of an increase per head, but it soon adds up to a tidy profit for the airports.

And airports and other businesses shouldn't make profits... right???

[mfd101]

I assume that this HUGE increase (My goodness! How am I going to cope?) will be included in our air fares ... so we won't actually notice it. Which means we have nothing to worry about.

 

Those who continue to worry about it are presumably too poor even to eat on a regular basis.

[zzzzz]

a 30 baht additional fee is hardly "soaring"   5555

[JoePai]

the General Manager of Don Mueang International Airport, Wichit Kaewsaitiam, has forecasted a significant surge in traffic through the Bangkok airport during the Songkran festival, taking place from April 11 to 17.

 

 Talk about the bleedin’ obvious but then, we so lucky to have these professionals running the show

[Ralf001]

1 hour ago, AhFarangJa said:

Look at the date....and the acronyms......

 

Whats wrong with the acronyms ?

 

 

 

 

 

[sabai-dee-man]

2 hours ago, Nigeone said:

Given those figures , surely there not correct. That’s around average of 150 passengers per flight . The bigger planes can carry around 600 . Another case of Thai maths not being a strong point . Everytime I’ve been on a plane into or out of Suvarnabhumi  there pretty much full. 

And don’t think those increases are going to stop anyone traveling. 

 

Seems you're English is as bad as there maths! 🙄🙄🙄 

[SportRider]

700 to 730 is a 'soar'? 

🤔

[arithai12]

Soar? Geez, someone really intends to stir up negative comments on everything.

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, khunjeff said:

 

Adding in small but irritating fees is, in fact, exactly what "nickel and diming" is.

 

And this particular increase has nothing whatsoever to do with "adjusting" the passenger service charge for inflation. As the article explains, it's to pay for check-in equipment that in almost every other country would be installed and paid for by airlines as a means of saving on labor costs, not put in by airport management at the expense of passengers. So yes, we will now pay AOT  for the privilege of doing the check-in ourselves instead of having professionals do it for us as part of our fare.

The PSC is intended to improve airport security, about 65%, and airport passenger facilities, about 35%.

You seem confused over who is responsible for passenger facilities.

 

"The use of CUPPS is aimed at enhancing service efficiency and facilitating passengers to use airport services with convenience, rapidity and safety. The aforesaid use of the system is in accordance with the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT)’s Resolution and CUPPS into use at public airports. That policy aimed to develop their operations in terms of modernity and potential in parallel to international standard."

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/tourism/2024/04/01/aot-raises-passenger-service-charge-to-improve-efficiency/

 

"Common Use Passenger Processing System (CUPPS)"

[Srikcir]

2 hours ago, khunjeff said:

And this particular increase has nothing whatsoever to do with "adjusting" the passenger service charge for inflation.

Nice double dip.

Grab pays AoT to provide services and passenger customers pay Aot for the priviledge:

"to enhance passenger convenience and elevate service standards, the Airports of Thailand (AoT) unveiled the latest addition to Suvarnabhumi Airport: Grab taxi services."

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Doesn't seem much of an increase per head, but it soon adds up to a tidy profit for the airports.

PSC is a ring fenced tax for airport improvements and around the world local legislation is in place to prevent abuse.

Heathrow is about the only airport in the world that sets out to make a profit, they do that through a separate tax called APD, about 4000 THB, that goes into general taxation.

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, daveAustin said:

It’s still a 30% increase no matter how you try to dress it up. 

And I thought Thais were not good at Maths.  30% would be 210baht increase.

[jacko45k]

39 minutes ago, sabai-dee-man said:

 

Seems you're English is as bad as there maths! 🙄🙄🙄 

Ironic.... just the two mistakes........

[crazykopite]

Flying is becoming unaffordable to most Thais since this government took office all we see is price increase and the promise of the 10,000 bahtfree handouts to all 16 and above seems to have been Put on  the back burner 

[RandolphGB]

I'm sure that the world's richest airport operator (according to Bloomberg)  will re-invest every single penny of that increase to improve facilities, like the Don Mueang Airport, which is basically a relic of the 1970s. 

 

The extra revenue (millions of baht a month) will definitely not disappear into the coffers of managers and executives. Pig's might fly!

 

Seriously though... there's something seriously flawed in the Thai national mindset at every level of society that they see foreigners as their cash cow.