Crackdown Fails To Stop Suvarnabhumi Airport Gangs

[webfact]

a duplicate post was deleted

[Seismic]

Crackdown fails to stop airport gangs

ILLEGAL OPERATORS DEFY AUTHORITIES

I hope we are not forgetting THE BAGGAGE THIEVES. In this instance I believe the ground hosteses at the check in are in on the deal. (is it O.K. to tell my gut feeling?)

I was a business class passanger on Qatar Airways at BKK heading via Doha for Amman in Jordan whereupon my very distinctive bag did not arrive with me and has not turned up to date. I din't realize I had no bagage receipt until I reached Amman and the receipt is usually attached to the smaller of the check in stubs which I still have. QA's lost baggage web has failed to retrieve it and they were completely non cooperative in the many attemps to contact them by phone(does this make QA an accessory?).

On reflection I did not receive the baggage receipt at all, trusting that business class might have gotten a proirity.

In any event either QA are responsible. Whether or not it is the fault of the ground hostess who accepted my baggage, ground staff at BKK, Doha or Amman or the thieves in BKK baggage handling, remains to be seen. Has anybody else similar experiences please respond.

Hunkey Dorey

If I had checked in and not received a baggage check receipt, then I wouldnt expect my bag to arrive at the other end either. So to be blunt, you are at fault for not making sure you got the baggage receipt. No receipt probably means they didnt tag the bag, without the bar code, the bag wouldnt have gone anywhere.

[mikemellow]

Every time I'm at the airport I'm attacked so to speak by these taxi scammers--but I had read in the travel guides a very stern warning about taxi scams in Thailand before my first visit in 2005---so luckily I never fell victim. but I was ripped off by a mini bus driver once in Krabi and after seemingly endless tourist touts in Krabi I left a few weeks early (lost income for the Krabi economy) and had a great stay in Khon Kaen with no tourist scams and just great thai people. I keep coming back and spending a lot of time here but I would think that after being scamed many tourists would cross Thailand off their list of vacation spots.

[onomataho]

As long as a "sucker is born every minute," there will be people to help them suck. It's just the nature of the world.

And, as anyone who has lived or traveled in Thailand knows, Thais are particularly helpful people!!!

No big surprise here...

[eggomaniac]

I always walk outside to the taxi stand in BKK. Have never had a problem getting a real taxi.

That is the advice I used at the old airport, the overhead walkway to the Amari. The Google Earth map of the new airport makes it look like a 2 mile walk?

[keyjor]

The corruption starts at the top and to try to clean up anything is simply a lost cause. In my opinion, the corruption is getting even worse and the police are openly corrupt. At one time they tried to hide it.

I agree. I have looked at all the posts and it will not stop. It is so open now the Thai government has to take a stronger stand. The police are puppets. Look at the way they ran away when the airport siege was on last year. The police are OK when stopping people for whatever, but when the real trouble starts what happens?

Oh too tired.

[Oberkommando]

This is another case where you notice immediately the difference between the strong arm of Thaksin, who would have sacked immediately the authorities involved, replaced the police or would have declared some kind of war on thugs and the slowly slowly approach of the democrats. Chuan was already known for his lack of doing something and his strengths were not to upset anyone, especially not his kingmaker Sanan. Now you have another PM without power, who has to maneuver very slowly and carefully. After all the people in power in the airport belong to the elite, the elite are the people keeping this government in power. Therefore the most simple things link sacking AOT bosses and top police will not work. This government is a disaster for the country.

Good, perceptive and accurate post.

Crime is up, visibly. There are more beggars everywhere in Bangkok, the stories coming out of Thailand are increasingly negative and it only looks more bleak on the horizon as the economy continues to dwindle. This government, and the Democrat party will render themselves unelectable yet again as they did during their last term in office.

What is sad is that getting through Suvarnabhumi is people's first introduction to Thai culture.

What is sadder is that the airport is a microcosm of the entire country.

[jayceebee]

Arriving November, Suvarnabhumi after dark. I'm now a bag of nerves. Are the illegal taxi's easy to spot?

[jwisland]

If I had checked in and not received a baggage check receipt, then I wouldnt expect my bag to arrive at the other end either. So to be blunt, you are at fault for not making sure you got the baggage receipt. No receipt probably means they didnt tag the bag, without the bar code, the bag wouldnt have gone anywhere.

Could not agree more! If you are a traveler to Thailand, then let's assume you have traveled elsewhere. Use your common sense! You check in at the counter. You look and see if the tag on your bag shows the destination. You ensure that the person has given you a receipt, on your ticket, and that the destination is correct. What exactly IS the problem, other than ignorance? You fly into an airport....for this purpose we'll assume BKK. Bothered by taxi drivers.....hotel drivers.....whatever? Ignore them! My cell phone is always at the ready to put my ear and pretend to be talking to my "friend" that is supposed to be meeting me. Easy! Straight for the taxi area where you pay your 50 baht "extra"....(If you can't afford 50 baht, then stay home).....and ignore everyone!!!!!!!!!!! Confirm with the "official" station the full cost to your destination.......whether it includes toll fees, etc.......and wait in line. Get in the taxi and BEFORE closing the door, confirm the total cost. If there is any question, such as "broken meter"....get out. If you do not, then you deserve what you're charged. Same on return......find a taxi that will either show the meter.....OR.....decide on a price. Sukhumvit Soi 22 to airport "should" cost you 200 baht with tip. PEOPLE......we're talking $6 usd! You can't get OUT of the LAX airport property before the meter shows $6 usd! Again...coming in..once inside...use your brain. You do not NEED anyone to help you with your luggage.....unless you usually pack 4 suitcases for a two day trip......OR.....a two month trip. FYI......hotels have hair dryers, irons, soap and shampoo.....but if you do, then confirm the price first. Do NOT let your baggage out of your sight. This person is helping to carry your luggage....they are not a transportation company with offices worldwide. Use your brain!

I have entered and left BKK, both airports, at least 40 times in the last ten years and NEVER had a problem. As a previous post indicated, if you look clueless, then the scammers will gravitate to you. If you look clueless, then the scammers at ANY AIRPORT IN THE WORLD willl gravitate to you. Use your common sense.......and your cell phone......and learn how to ignore. Yelling at someone only acknowledges the fact that you are aware they exist. They have better uses for their scamming time than to get the attention of a traveler that is "apparently" meeting someone! Yeah...yeah...yeah....I've read about the duty free problems. So.....stay in the middle of the concourse.....look like you know where your gate is.....ignore the calls from salespeople........and head forward like you're going to miss your flight.

Sorry.....but I have little sympathy for those that are "scammed". It is your fault. These scammers are trying to make a living off scamming you. That will never end anywhere in the world. Let them make their living off someone else. I, and you, can feel bad for the "other" tourist, but someday, after many airports and many countries, they will learn. The people on this forum should know better. I, for one, do not chat on Ignoranttouriststhathaveneverlefttheirneighborhood.com. Nor do I use an airport to practice my language skills. As most have read on this forum...and hopefully have learned......the airport teachers have a different agenda.

[martin81]

Today I was walking aroud the airport for two hours floors 2 to 4 with bags waiting for a flight.

The only touts trying to bother me was the official yellow aot taxi sharks that I ignored.

This is the first time that there have not been at least 5 people offering illegal taxis when walking around.

So maybe there are fewer touts now?

[eggomaniac]

I always walk outside to the taxi stand in BKK. Have never had a problem getting a real taxi.

That is the advice I used at the old airport, the overhead walkway to the Amari. The Google Earth map of the new airport makes it look like a 2 mile walk?

Whoops, my bad, by 'outside' you meant the airport taxi stand, not outside the airport. They fixed that leak with new airport.

Will the rail station they are opening in December come right into the Terminal, or will one have to take a taxi a few miles to get to it?

From the Google Map, it kind of looks like the railway will come right into the Novotel Hotel!?

Edited September 6, 2009 by eggomaniac

[barry]

considering how many things Thai's do a poor job with

its good to see at least the gangs are real professionals

[LPCustom69]

I don't think anyone is surprised by all of this, lol.

[siamjimi]

Seems that the information is there but the will to stop, arrest and prosecute the activities is not - this is a direct reflection that none of this business will stop anytime soon and is sanctioned by many people of authority

A clear example of corruption and greed

A prime example that what you see is not always what you get in "Amazing Thailand"

This information will deter tourists from Thailand and other destinations of interest are taking billions of baht from the regular people of Thailand needing the tourism.

"Cut Your Own Throat" seems to be the flavor of the decade

[espinoza]

One measure has been to transfer some officials who were thought to be involved with the gangs. A reshuffle of officials will be made this month, he said. Mr Serirat said the AoT will spend 15 million baht starting on Oct 1 to try and end the illegal operations.

Why not put them into jail where they belongs?

[bjderb]

When I was last at Suvarnabhumi in June, on my way to Udon a guy approached me after being turned away from Air Asia for missing the check in time by 5 minutes (woops, 1 too many beers at the bar the night before and slept in).

He had what appeared to be a legitimate TAT ID Card, which he showed me. He claimed to be a tourist transport assistant and offered to help me rebook another flight. I guess he took me for fresh meat, and I probably appeared so as I still felt a bit tipsy.

He quoted me a price of 3500thb for a ticket to Udon, which I knew was rubbish. Pretty impressive though, he communicated (in English) to someone via RT (Radio, for those of you not in the business of using the walky talkies) who quoted the price, apparently from the Thai Airways desk. He told me he would take cash and arrange for the ticket for me.

I told him I would go and check other prices, and meet him in 10 minutes if I did not find a cheaper price. Went straight to the Thai Counter near the oversize baggage collection and booked for 1200b...

Surely the state of the art airport has cameras and we all know has ample security to kick out taxis not willing to pay to sit in the rank, so could there not be someone monitoring people walking around the airport dealing with large numbers of foreigners for hours on end? I work in surveillance and know for a fact that this type of activity is extremely easy to pick up (same people, same behaviour, day after day)and stop (trespassing these same people from the entrance doors inwards and putting their faces on a board on the wall).

It seems they did not try very hard on their crack down. Does TAT not understand that once a farang gets scammed in a country, they never usually return unless they have a very good reason? I will never return to Malaysia for that reason - the scamming is on a much bigger and more agressive level than in LOS.

I had a similar experiance when i arrived @ swimming pool airport from UK , i was making my way to the air asia check in to connect to my flite to Chiang Rai, when approached by a respectable looking guy asking if i wanted a taxi,stupidly i told him i was going to the Air asia desk, he said that Air asia had transfered there check in to Dom Muang,because i had been warned about the scams being pulled @ this place by the thai visa forum,l immediately realised he was conning me in to taking a taxi to Dom Muang that would probably have set me back around 2000 baht.So please make your friends/family to be aware when they visit you especially if they r alone @ suvarnapumi.......Bri

[espinoza]

What's the latest on the King Power gang?

Same as usually

[tomashopkins]

Excuse me again, but why all of this talk of tourist taxi scams at the airport? Avoid all the touts, go straight up to the third floor, and get a taxi dropping off at the arrival gate. Virtually all of those guys use the meter, because they know if you are looking for a taxi there you know every taxi scam and they are simply looking for a metered fare that will get them back into central Bangkok. Why is this simple piece of information not incorporated into every tourist book? And why has no one on this forum mentioned it before? Point, set lao.

[espinoza]

however, airport authorities with a trained eye still see unauthorised taxi operators and tour guides preying on victims, but claim they get intimidated when they approach these people, who then claim they have connections in high places.

I am beginning to like that comment.

airport authorities with a trained eye How does this eyes looks?

[ukrules]

If people would only think before they engage anyone in conversation they would be able to avoid a lot of problems with getting ripped off.

In general nobody who you don't know should ever approach you, especially when you are in a foreign country. If they do then you should be on guard immediately as there is the likelihood that they are up to no good.

For example muggers often ask for a cigarette or 'do you have the correct time', it's a distraction technique designed to get you off guard. I've come across people like this on various occasions over the years.

These scammers work the same way, if you make a point of not talking to any strangers who approach you then you will generally not become victim to any of these type of scams. It may come across as being a bit ignorant but that never bothered me.

[espinoza]

When I was last at Suvarnabhumi in June, on my way to Udon a guy approached me after being turned away from Air Asia for missing the check in time by 5 minutes (woops, 1 too many beers at the bar the night before and slept in).

He had what appeared to be a legitimate TAT ID Card, which he showed me. He claimed to be a tourist transport assistant and offered to help me rebook another flight. I guess he took me for fresh meat, and I probably appeared so as I still felt a bit tipsy.

He quoted me a price of 3500thb for a ticket to Udon, which I knew was rubbish. Pretty impressive though, he communicated (in English) to someone via RT (Radio, for those of you not in the business of using the walky talkies) who quoted the price, apparently from the Thai Airways desk. He told me he would take cash and arrange for the ticket for me.

I told him I would go and check other prices, and meet him in 10 minutes if I did not find a cheaper price. Went straight to the Thai Counter near the oversize baggage collection and booked for 1200b...

Surely the state of the art airport has cameras and we all know has ample security to kick out taxis not willing to pay to sit in the rank, so could there not be someone monitoring people walking around the airport dealing with large numbers of foreigners for hours on end? I work in surveillance and know for a fact that this type of activity is extremely easy to pick up (same people, same behaviour, day after day)and stop (trespassing these same people from the entrance doors inwards and putting their faces on a board on the wall).

It seems they did not try very hard on their crack down. Does TAT not understand that once a farang gets scammed in a country, they never usually return unless they have a very good reason? I will never return to Malaysia for that reason - the scamming is on a much bigger and more agressive level than in LOS.

Malaysia is not as corrupted as Thailand is.But,maybe Air Asia is contaminated.They have Thai Air Asia,you know.

This is why Thailand is sailing into nowhere with the flag on top.

[espinoza]

Airport authorities with a trained eye Who is these people?

[ilyushin]

Stop allowing people without tickets or security passes in the airport facilities. Only people with valid airline ticket / passport and official airport pass holders within the secured areas. The taxi issues can be controlled by concessions with metered transport.

[espinoza]

Why rescuffle leaders???? Why do the "who ever is in charge" not send them behind bars where they belongs???

[NamSod]

Arriving November, Suvarnabhumi after dark. I'm now a bag of nerves. Are the illegal taxi's easy to spot?

Ignore everyone inside and just walk outside to the taxi stand. Easy peasy.

[bdenner]

However, airport authorities with a trained eye still see unauthorised taxi operators and tour guides preying on victims, but claim they get intimidated when they approach these people, who then claim they have connections in high places.

OK so why don't AoT employ people with the BALLS not to get intimidated?

Answer easy --- (IMO) AoT's senior management are behind the whole rotten mess!

[Jaydillon]

What's the latest on the King Power gang?

Well it goes to show how weak the Thai Authorities are

[mark2552]

There are also two prominent groups known as the Pattaya Mafia gang and the Phuyai Daeng gang. The Pattaya Mafia gang, whose leaders are known as Steve and Montri and who are neatly dressed and can easily pass as passengers, is stationed on the fourth floor of the passenger terminal. The Phuyai Daeng gang, with good connections with influential figures in Samut Prakan, works more like a lobbyist for fraudsters who want to gain entry to the airport.

That's like in the Wild Wild West.... and it seems to be the problem to "negotiate conditions" for a not-losing-face-withdrawal which satisfies every gang and authority involved!

[mark2552]

It is obvious that AOT is not in charge. The motto: Better to lose face than to lose your job. 2 things should happen and possibily 3.

1. Start firing and fining the authorities who cannot up hold the law. 2. Arresting the gangs on the spot. 3. Expats start spreading the word to their would be guests who are even thinking about coming to Thailand, not to come. No one likes to be snapped off when visiting a foreign country; especially at Airports. There is a need to start hitting these people with imprisonment and fines, right square in their pocket books where it counts. The economy is Thailand is already on its

rear-end so to keep on hitting them in their pocket books even more is a nice form of behavior modification. Of course one could also suspect that the some of the authories who have been hired to protect the public at the airport are also receiving kickbacks.

The question also arises, where are the police in these cases at the airport are they having donuts at Mister Donut?

[Serpico]

Most likely, the cops haul them away, drive around a corner, make a cash deal and let them walk.