Suvarnabhumi Further Cracks Smiles

[mstribling]

I think it is a nice airport. I fly every two weeks to Africa and the Middle East. Nothing to complain about, but I'm not a bitcher.

[Deeral]

I think it is a nice airport. I fly every two weeks to Africa and the Middle East. Nothing to complain about, but I'm not a bitcher.

or discerning, apparently.

[antony77]

I need a wheel chairs when I travel. And Swampy is the best. They Always take me straight through the VIP diplomatic channel and to the head of the taxi queue. Have you ever been to London's Heath Row which is on par with Calcutta and a few African airports?

[Thai at Heart]

On quickly reading the headline, I thought it was related to cracks in the runway again.........

Oh well anyway, it is improving none the less (I went through it on the first day it opened, and twice a month until a year ago), but the signs still stink as of last week, and of course we won't mention men in black shirts and carparks.

Did notice some padding on the seats finally.

Edited October 27, 2010 by Thai at Heart

[NanLaew]

What a load of cynical whiners!

The Immigration officers looked really nice in their blue polo shirts the other day. A couple were having a great time taking pictures of a cute foreign kid with their cellphones. I find if I smile at them when I give/take my passport, they invariably smile back. The security check is as painless as any other airport and if you smile at the operators, their unnecessary reminder about your laptop, belt, cellphone, etc., is less of a grind.

I have been going through this airport on average 3 times/week for the last 4 months and all I can say that compared to the laughable LCCT and it's co-location with KLIA in the MIDDLE OF FRIGGING NOWHERE, Suvarnabhumi is a dream to transit through. I guess the free Wi-fi at LCCT compensates for the sh!t airconditioning? Surf AND sweat eh?

You want a long walk? Try the domestic gates at KLIA.

You want breakfast before the red-eye? You better like Burger King at KLIA.

You want to wait an age at Immigration? Come through KLIA; only ever 5 desks open tops.

You want to wait forever for a 'limo'? Yes, you can at KLIA.

The only redeeming thing about it is the Ekspres; 28 minutes to/from downtown.

Now I arrive at BKK and it's a nice stroll from the gates, 15 minutes tops at passport control, the bags are already on the carousel and the walk down to the meeting point... all 180m of it (ridiculous long eh?). Then about 20 minutes to get downtown or an hour fifteen to get to Pattaya; with options for doing it cheap or expensive. Up to you.

And who in their right mind buys ANYTHING at ANY airport <deleted>??!! They are all overpriced. It's just that Changi has more variety to lighten your wallet. Sheesh!

BKK airport is a pleasure to go through, especially when on the inbound route, I am going home to my loved ones. Maybe some of the grumpy old buggers here that vilify the airport because it is their gateway to/from their shattered dreams, terminal disillusionment and the twilight years of their discontent.

Edited October 27, 2010 by NanLaew

[pgangeles]

I think it is a nice airport. I fly every two weeks to Africa and the Middle East. Nothing to complain about, but I'm not a bitcher.

or discerning, apparently.

It's seems very obvious that all these complainers would rather keep the statis quo. Do nothing. Complain, complain, complain.

[mca]

I need a wheel chairs when I travel. And Swampy is the best. They Always take me straight through the VIP diplomatic channel and to the head of the taxi queue.

Note to self. Buy wheelchair before going home to visit the folks next year.

[pgangeles]

What a load of cynical whiners!

The Immigration officers looked really nice in their blue polo shirts the other day. A couple were having a great time taking pictures of a cute foreign kid with their cellphones. I find if I smile at them when I give/take my passport, they invariably smile back. The security check is as painless as any other airport and if you smile at the operators, their unnecessary reminder about your laptop, belt, cellphone, etc., is less of a grind.

I have been going through this airport on average 3 times/week for the last 4 months and all I can say that compared to the laughable LCCT and it's co-location with KLIA in the MIDDLE OF FRIGGING NOWHERE, Suvarnabhuni is a dream to transit through. I guess the free Wi-fi there compensates for the sh!t airconditioning? Surf AND sweat eh?

You want a long walk? Try the domestic gates at KLIA.

You want breakfast before the red-eye? You better like Burger King at KLIA.

You want to wait an age at Immigration? Come through KLIA; only ever 5 desks open tops.

You want to wait forever for a 'limo'? Yes, you can at KLIA.

The only redeeming thing about it is the Ekspres; 28 minutes to/from downtown.

Now I arrive at BKK and it's a nice stroll from the gates, 15 minutes tops at passport control, the bags are already on the carousel and the walk down to the meeting point... all 180m of it (ridiculous long eh?). Then about 20 minutes to get downtown or an hour fifteen to get to Pattaya; with options for doing it cheap or expensive. Up to you.

And who in their right mind buys ANYTHING at ANY airport <deleted>??!! They are all overpriced. It's just that Changi has more variety to lighten your wallet. Sheesh!

BKK airport is a pleasure to go through, especially when on the inbound route, I am going home to my loved ones. Maybe some of the grumpy old buggers here that vilify the airport because it is their gateway to/from their shattered dreams, terminal disillusionment and the twilight years of their discontent.

My friend, that says it all. Personally I think it's wayyyy past there bed time.

[jfchandler]

It's just such a laugh...almost to the point of being ridiculous....

But then again, in reality, as another poster noted above, the Skytrax ratings stuff is all about marketing, advertising and creating perceptions and business -- not so much about doing anything that results in real improvements...

I hope all of the following people will have BIG Thai smiles on their faces in the future:

--the gun toting black shirt soldiers who run the airport parking lots.

--the King Power staff and accomplices who arrest and pretty much kidnap supposed shoplifters until they pay ransom money.

--the construction crews fixing the crumbling/subsiding runways.

--the airport designers who created what's got to be the longest international airport walking distance from check-in to flight gates circuit.

--the ripoff taxi drivers who either are bandits and charge outrageous fees, or are official drivers with the AOT who charge similarly outrageous fees, double or more what a normal meter taxi would cost for the same trip.

--the facilities moving staff at the airport, who have to relocate the public taxi desks location every few months, just so no one can actually find where it's located.

--and lastly, the bathroom cleaning attendants, who surely are overworked because the airport has far too few bathrooms for its size and passenger capacity...

It's a smelly job, but someone's got to do it....

By that, I mean not the toilets, but marketing the airport....

[dsprtliving]

I'd settle for them simply flipping a few switches on the escalators between floors in the arrival/departure halls so one goes up/one goes down.....as it stands now all foot traffic is funneled past the army of "Where you Go?" skirts!!

[Deeral]

Deathrow is the busiest airport in the world and is a hel_l-hole - but thew fact it is like that is irrelevant and in no way detracts from the design errors and incompetence that prevail at Swampy.

[Deeral]

BTW - have you noticed how FEW toilets there are at Swampy?

[Lancelot]

I passed through Suvarnabhumi Immigration last night and the officer gave me a perfunctory smile. After receiving my passport I thanked her and she ignored me.

To be honest most of the Immigration officers -of any country- that I have endured are not that polite, the two clear exceptions being Hong Kong and Canada.

Bureaucrats don't really have to provide any customer service.... because they don't have to

Such is life...

[Arkady]

Another brilliant campaign thought up by one of those expensive consultancies owned by someone's brother. TAT is in hot competition with its own latest campaign, "Believe in Thailand because others do", introduced on international cable TV by a po faced Thai presenter with a thick soupy accent who mouths the ridiculous punch line without even a hint of mirth. Hopefully Kingpower's staff will remember to smile as they scam duty free shoppers, as will the fake excise officers working the cigarette scam, not to mention the armed thugs wandering in and out at will on the whims of their mafia bosses, the illegal taxi operators and the stony faced immigration officers. It should be a wonderful triumph of form over substance. Don't bother to try to sort out any of the real problems. Just lie about them and try to cover them up with asinine public relations campaigns.

[HerbalEd]

So the Immigration Officers will not be involved in the campaign then?

Virtually every Immigration officers world wide never smiles .... so don't take it personally. It's part of their job description ... literally.

[Arkady]

I passed through Suvarnabhumi Immigration last night and the officer gave me a perfunctory smile. After receiving my passport I thanked her and she ignored me.

To be honest most of the Immigration officers -of any country- that I have endured are not that polite, the two clear exceptions being Hong Kong and Canada.

Bureaucrats don't really have to provide any customer service.... because they don't have to

Such is life...

Last time I flew to Beijing the immigration counters had buttons for passengers to press to assess the friendliness and efficiency of the immigration officers like True now has in its shops. I think they were supposed to process every one in no more than a minute. I think it made a real difference. The officers were all super friendly and super fast which is very different from my first visit to China in 1985 when they scowled and kept every one waiting in long lines. Thai immigration on the other hand has no improved at all in the last 25 years. They still project the image of being a part of the police, as indeed they are, and show off their shooting and parachuting awards which have nothing to do with a modern immigration service in a country with an economy to which tourist revenues are very important.

Edited October 27, 2010 by Arkady

[stkyricesf]

What a bunch of moaning old farts you guys are.

Is it costing you anything now? No

Is it hurting you to have someone smile at you? No

Would it hurt you to smile back? No, unless you have just had an abdominal operation.

Can't you find enough trouble in the world to complain about, without inventing it?

Chill out and enjoy something ....just for a change.

I think it's a great idea.......have any of you flown Aeroflot lately? If not I think you should, join the other poe faces.

I totally agree with this assessment. If I had to deal with all these grumpy posters, I wouldn't be smiling either.

[SkyHigh]

nothing can satisfy bitchers.

[Arkady]

I passed through Suvarnabhumi Immigration last night and the officer gave me a perfunctory smile. After receiving my passport I thanked her and she ignored me.

To be honest most of the Immigration officers -of any country- that I have endured are not that polite, the two clear exceptions being Hong Kong and Canada.

Bureaucrats don't really have to provide any customer service.... because they don't have to

Such is life...

Last time I flew to Beijing the immigration counters had buttons for passengers to press to assess the friendliness and efficiency of the immigration officers like True now has in its shops. I think they were supposed to process every one in no more than a minute and it seemed to make a real difference. The officers were all super friendly and super fast which is very different from my first visit to China in 1985 when they scowled unpleasantly, harassed overseas Chinese with foreign passports and kept every one waiting in long lines as they worked at a snail's pace. Thai immigration, on the other hand, has not improved at all in the last 25 years. They still project the image of being a part of the all powerful Thai police, as indeed they are, that is accountable to no one and to, underline the point, like to show off their shooting and parachuting badges which have nothing to do with a modern immigration service in a country with an economy that relies on tourist revenues.

Edited October 27, 2010 by Arkady

[bridge]

I love the hard metal seats. Come one - really, what were they thinking?

[fstarbkk]

Clearly, The Nation created this article by heavily copying and pasting directly from the official AOT press release. I know this from the fact that large parts of it are grammatically correct. This would never happen in a piece originally written by a Nation staffer.

On the substance of the Article: "Airport of Laughs" would be more like it!

[jaywalker]

I found myself in the Mo-Chit bus station a couple weeks ago.

The restrooms there are at least 3 times the size of the Suvarnaboom shitters. <deleted>?

[anterian]

Sinage in Thai, English and Chinese, dioes that mean immigration will also speak these languages, and actually smile as they do so? How about a smoking room where the extractor fans actually extract?

[hayden5650]

How about actually stocking Marlboro in the dutyfree stores for once, allowing smoking in the open or at least a semi decent sized smoking room, fix the toilets and clean them semi regularly, and of course, improve the immigration officers.

Well you can't really blame the immigration officers for being sour, they know they make nothing compared to us and they know we'll soon be nailing the finest of their women. LOL.

I do like the fine line up of Thai women who greet you while you're walking off the aeroplane down to arrivals.

[siftasam]

I must be one of the lucky ones!

On my first trip to Thailand I was looking (obviously just a little anxiously) at the unfamiliar departures boards for a flight to Chiang Mai and on two separate occasions two very smartly uniformed young airport staff left their counters and crossed over to me to ask me very politely if I was OK and could they help me - I've never known such courtesy in any other airport. When I had the inevitable first query with immigration the lady was similarly friendly, polite and helpful. The check in has always been efficient and courteous. I was offered an earlier flight to Chiang Mai without me asking for it or expecting it - I was very grateful for that. Twice i have had queries about what I could take on board in hand luggage - both times my queries were dealt with immediately and satisfactorily.

On several occasions I have 'slept over' in the airport. I had no trouble finding food up to 3 a.m. and food was available again at 5 a.m. As I find sleep in an airport virtually impossible I became well aware how very efficient the cleaning staff are - smartly uniformed and polite too. The toilets were very clean. Police would circulate but it does need to be more regularly. The only unpleasant thing I've witnessed was an attractive girl of about 20 from Macao being harassed by a taxi driver and a guy in some sort of uniform inside the airport in the middle of the night.

OK so the passport check can take ages. BUT as has been already said is Heathrow any better? Heathrow Terminal 3 is a nightmare. And Stansted? People being charged one pound for a banana (and that was five years ago!)

[sailor59]

Comparing it to freezing Abu Dhabi and Doha, dirty JFK and comfuzing London, Paris and other airports, i give it a 10+.

Looking at that SKYTRAX ( http://www.worldairportawards.com/ ) website, i was surpised to see that Athens airport (among others) has 4 stars, while Suvarnabhumi has only 3. But Athens is not on the top 10 list and so are not others with more star rating that Suvarnabhumi.

[wileycoyote]

Suvarnabhumi "Airport of Smiles"

Are they having laugh !.......Immigration a dour bunch , KIng Power -fear of being conned ?

[Brewsta]

Swampy made the top ten list of airports, Bangkok is the best city in the world to live, and Thaksin is not a crook, ps, your check is in the mail.

Ne'er a truer word spoke in jest - ain't it the truth (?).

[Tropicalevo]

I live in Thailand but I try not to travel too much. I have only been to "Swampy" once, but I was met by lots of smiling people.

"You want taxi?"

"You want VIP limo?"

"Where you go?"

"You want hotel?"

"I take you to my friend's restaurant/bar/massage parlour/money exchange etc"

"Sorry - taxi meter broken, but I know how much to your hotel!"

Lovely place.

[toenail]

I know!! How about giving all the workers a raise in pay and that will make them smile. ( I live /.work in Pattaya and it seems that most ot the Thais working in the service section have lost their smiles - but maybe it has to do with the "class" of tourist that visist the city -- grumpy old men and tourists that have never traveled much.)