Suvarnabhumi Airport Plagued With Many Problems

[chuang]

Walking in the departure hall i couldn't find a working water dispenser ..this mammoth building looks a a warehouse to me..when they built the terminal did they had a look at other airports around the world...

they should look at the Singapore Chiangi Airport...

[whybother]

There is nothing too wrong with the design of the Airport, its the clowns which run it.(apart from the sonic the hedgehog escalators).

When meeting visitors, you are not allowed to stand by a convient door to collect them, Oh No lets make it hard & get all the greeters to cram into as small as space as possible.

Say gate 4.

Then what we will do is take away all the seats, so that everyone has to stand up (perfectly good seats removed)

Now the seats are gone, it exposes some plug sockets on the floor, better take them out, leave the hole & just tape over it.

Now thats better, we have people leaning on walls, squatting or sitting on the floor, and tripping over ,much more 3rd world, much better.

Now we stuffed up when we built it, we made all the signs multilingual, so anything we add or replace had better just be in Thai (there isnt going to be any farangs visiting an airport anyway is there?).

What can we do next??

I know, well we can cut the floor tiles (to lay a cable?) then just put a metal strip over the top, so we can trip people up, Oh and dont worry about the tile we cracked, just leave it.

For a 4 year old airport its a Complete joke, & thats just the meeting point

whats it going to look like in another 4 years.

I agree. The Arrivals - meeting area is the worst part of the airport. There is so little space there to wait and to exit.

It is something that they could actually fix with a bit of refurbishment ... but I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Cuchulainn]

I was teaching English in Bangkok from 2003 - 2005 and one of our clients were the Japanese company who were building the airport.

Teecha, teecha!! I think you too wrong!!

[EarthAlien]

They work hand in hand corruptly handing out these concessions, taking the back handers, running the airport into the ground and then start bleating on about all the problems. They make the problems.

Who put King Power in there in the first place? Corrupt and rotten from the top down.

Taxi limo business, they simply transferred from Don Meung. Along with the same Mafia operators. Why was that?

Thais won't work efficiently or quickly, the queues to get in are endless, they don't have enough immigration staff sitting doing their jobs and there is no sense of the place working. It is like aimlessly wnadering through yet another shopping Mall. There is no sense of purpose about it.

The bottom line is that due to the numbers involved the place is seen as a cash cow. Hence it is stimied in corrupt practice and mis-management. Furthermore, people have been abducted from the concourse; people have been wrongly imprisoned by bogus police officers demanding money.

Now that ranks the place on a par with Somalia's Airport; the Sudanese Airport and those of Iraq and Aghnistan.

It looks like the inside of a factory with its air conditoning pipes, grey paint and bare concrete. It doesn't so much impress as depress.

Next.

Brilliant synopsis my friend!

"Housepainter" huh?,.... ever thought of getting into journalism?

Merry Christmas!

[ryladie99]

This is discussing history, every airport had problems in the past. News must be slow.

Yes I agree with your comment and we need to share every airport in the world..let's start with Bangkok...then...China....US...etc...( we can write a blog on line about their problems )

Happy Holidays....May all of your Christmas dreams come true....

[ExpatJ]

For all the haters, catch a flight to Manila---you will come back and kiss every employee at BKK.

Got to agree- it drives me mad that they have separate male female security queues- the female line is normal empty while the male line is backed up for miles-so all the male travellers stand in a long queue while looking over at the empty/unused female line.

[ExpatJ]

I see the old taxi scam discussed again- i fly in and out of bkk several times a month- i have never been scammed by taxis- just follow the sign down to the taxi rank, get your taxi, and go- yes there is 50 baht surcharge but thats normal for airport taxis. I just dont understand what people are talking about on this issue- which airport are these people landing in???

[gemini81]

its a hindu word meaning land of gold. they speak with the "ee" sound (i spelling) at the end, but thais don't have that ending particle.

Edited December 24, 2010 by metisdead
Removed reference to HM the King

[metisdead]

A comment with regard to HM the King has been removed from view, as well as a reply to it. Any comments or speculation regarding HM the King are not allowed:

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[jayjay0]

^ yes but not the spelling!

To give the airport a fabulous name would have been RAMA 9 Bangkok, But better it was never built, as was said by so many initially, to kick the air-force of Don/M. Would have given the room for a super Hub, with the rail and road links already there. But that was not going to be the case. This must rate as one of the biggest mafia controlled airports in the world. The "powers that built it" new why--it wasn,t cause it was needed, it was the massive rake offs. The total set up is sick, now this report--5555555555555555. It was expected to have megga problems from day 1. So surprise surprise.

I always thought the Mafia was Italian.

[" as one of the biggest mafia controlled airports in the world:]

Now you are telling me that not only are they Thai but it is only one of the ones they run you also leave the door open to a bigger one. Perhaps in Chicago.

[jayjay0]

I've used the airport since it opened, I've never had a problem. Now, AMERICAN airports are a different story . . .

I have to agree with you I don't use it as often as you do but I have never had the problems people talk about.

It really makes no difference what people say the facts are it could use some up grading and when they get it all done it will be ready for further upgrading. It is called maintance. Happens in all structures.

You are right It is surprising how little people know of the rigmarole you can go through in a North American airport. I know of one case where a Lao Lady had a Visa obtained through the proper channels here and they turned her around. Only been in LA international three times. Hate to be pressed for time between flight's. to easy to get lost and go through all the checkpoints again.

[animatic]

Not even addressing the aquifer run-off catchment area, that it has displaced to god knows where.

Boondoggle from day 1, but mismanagement, mostly likely graft and 'face saving' incompetence driven has weakened it's promise considerably.

[hughben]

No mention of Sri-Lanken Tony and his 'shoplifting' scams.

[Wozzit]

I am in and out of Suvarnabhumi on average once each month. To be fair, there have been some improvements since it opened, but not enough. The airport functions pretty well for most passengers. But there are still glaring faults. Others have mentioned the appalling arrivals area. This really is a complete joke. I was told that to save costs, they decided not to have the exterior wall close to the roadway and brought it much further 'in', thereby cutting the size of the arrivals area by a good 50%. It was presumably at the same time as someone came up with the bright idea that no taxis would be allowed near the arrivals area. Instead, every arriving passenger would be bused to a taxi holding area! That idea was finally abandoned only a couple of months prior to opening!

Immigration queues are also often mentioned. At the peak afternoon arrivals time at the west entrance, I once witnessed a near fight as the queues stretched back almost to the duty free area (the one which turned out to be illegal and which has at last been greatly reduced in size). Having taken about 50 minutes to get through, I asked a senior Immigration officer why this continuing problem had not been resolved. Not enough staff, I was told, along with a suggestion that I write to the Head of the Immigration Department about it!

SIgnage remains a problem. When you arrive at most major airports, the airlines and the gates to stop at are clearly signposted on the access road. Suvarnabhumi once had signs with the smallest writing imaginable that it was impossible to read. Unless some have gone up in the last few weeks, you have to slow to a crawl as you arrive at the terminal to find out which door to stop at. Get it wrong and you may have a long, long walk. Once inside and through immigration, too many signs are still boards plonked on the ground rather than hung from above. Get a group of passengers standing in front and you just cannot see them. Good directional, easily-seen signage is vital for all well-functioning airports.

The lack of airbridge departure gates remains a disgrace for a new airport. I recently counted about 40 but there may be more. What other recently completed airport has anything like that number? The reason, of course, is that just 4 years after opening, it is at full capacity. Hong Kong recently opened a new satellite with a dozen or so new airbridges. What evidence is there of BKK starting to do the same? None.

Then there is the lack of moving walkways in the departures area. There is just one that seems to cover less than 50 meters. Naturally this was to ensure that passengers spend a good deal of their time in the shops which line this area. Yet, for those flying TG and accessing via the east-end check-in counters, their aircraft are often parked on the west side gates. It can then be a long, long, long walk as you weave through hoards of other passengers in an area that is relatively narrow at several points.

These and other problems are just a basic nuisance to most occasional passengers. The more you use BKK, however, and the more you see how other airports in the region have largely avoided such problems, the less satisfactory BKK becomes.

[maxman71]

Oh, more whining from those who constantly choose to look at the glass of Thailand being 1/2 empty. I have been travelling about 250K miles a year for the last 4+ years all over Asia, Europe and N. America for biz and I am based out of BKK, so I use Swampy heavily. It is not my favorite airport in Asia. Compared to Changi, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, KL, it comes up short, that's for sure. But compared to ANY US/N. American airport, Heathrow, Sydney, and most Euroland airports, Swampy has them beat. I have never had a bag lost on arriving to Swampy (or anywhere else in Asia for that matter) and never had to wait more than 15 min for by bag; most of the time my bag is already there when I finish Immigration. When travelling to N. America, delayed/lost bags is commonplace. To the occasional tourist traveller to Swampy, I can see how they can get irritated with the long immigration queues, taxi touts, etc. Some tips: when you book an arriving flight to Swampy, try to get seated as close to the front as you can. Then when you walk off the plane to immigration, HUSTLE YOUR BEHIND TO IMMIGRATION. You will be surprised that by being one of the first ones to Immigration from your flight, how much time in queue can be saved. It doesn't always work, but from my experience, it works more often than not. As for the taxi touts, learn the word MEI-OW and give the touts a horizontal slicing motion of one of your hands. Not flipping the bird or making a threatening gesture, just a show of conviction verbally and body-language that they are not going to make any money off of you; they'll quickly leave you alone.

[powderpuff]

Don Muaeng was the nightmare.

An airport right out of the Flintstones.

Horrible place.

Compared to that Suvarnaphum is one of the 10 best airports in the world.

Edited December 25, 2010 by powderpuff

[Lammbock]

The worst thing at Swappy is the Immigration. Dozens of people waiting to long to check-in or out of the country.

The long extendet queues are horrible. I hate it.

[Wozzit]

A few months ago, the AOT announced the engagement of consultants from Seoul's Incheon airport to help bring the airport into the 10 Best in the World. Incheon consistently ranks in the top three in most polls. What I fail to understand is why Thailand had to wait four years after opening a huge international airport without engaging such consultants. Had they done so afew years before opening, a lot of the niggling little problems and some of the more major ones would have been solved. For example, economies arising from cutting the arrivals area by more than 50% and by not permitting taxis into the arrivals section would have been proved to be false economies.

Edited December 26, 2010 by Wozzit

[powderpuff]

Maybe they would have included toilets in the original blueprints.

Luggage scanners.

So many opportunities for corruption.

[rubik101]

One of the major and most annoying aspects of the airport is the long and uneccasary drive from the south side of the airport, along the length of the runway, then return back between the two runways to reach the terminal building. Surely, a new design should be state of the art when it comes to convenience and segregation of incoming and outgoing passengers What a great opportunity they missed by having all the traffic using the same entry and exit roads. Departing pax coming in from one end and arriving pax departing the airport in the other direction would greatly improve things. The linear design of the terminal building also means also that distances from check-in to the gates is often as much as 1km when smaller, circular designs have been shown to reduce that to a max of 300m.

I agree that the Immigration officers lack of English is a major weakness; surely they need to communicate with travellers, the majority of which have some English.

I have never had a problem using the signed taxi rank and a metered cab.

As for duty free, it's a rip off. Buy down-town; it's cheaper and less hassle. I have never found anything cheaper in the airport than I have in the city.

[HaruHaru]

I've used the airport since it opened, I've never had a problem. Now, AMERICAN airports are a different story . . .

Heathrow airport is also the third world class airport in the First World.

[whybother]

I flew out this morning to Chiang Mai. Took the bus from one side of the terminal to the other. It wasn't because of the airport, but because Thai airways had their 747 parked at a gate on the other side. It must have come on an international route.

[SomTumTiger]

Never had a problem at Swampy besides the occasional long immigration cue

[ginjag]

^ yes but not the spelling!

To give the airport a fabulous name would have been RAMA 9 Bangkok, But better it was never built, as was said by so many initially, to kick the air-force of Don/M. Would have given the room for a super Hub, with the rail and road links already there. But that was not going to be the case. This must rate as one of the biggest mafia controlled airports in the world. The "powers that built it" new why--it wasn,t cause it was needed, it was the massive rake offs. The total set up is sick, now this report--5555555555555555. It was expected to have megga problems from day 1. So surprise surprise.

I always thought the Mafia was Italian.

[" as one of the biggest mafia controlled airports in the world:]

Now you are telling me that not only are they Thai but it is only one of the ones they run you also leave the door open to a bigger one. Perhaps in Chicago.

It was what was written, I thought D/M would have been better than what we have now. As for the word MAFIA so it refers to Italy, but there,s a similarity to how Bkk airport is run, it,s there for all to see==== NIT PICKING again, we always get the clever scholars that have to correct others for the sake of it. If you read what I put, would be nice of you to comment on that, not pick a word up. I shall now watch your reports closely. Chicago would be a fitting place for you. YES THE MAFIA IS WORKING AT BKK AIRPORT.

[jfchandler]

I think comparisons of Don Muang (the old airport) vs. Suvarnabhumi (the new airport) need to be kept in the context of old vs. new...

When I first started traveling to Thailand thru DM, it was already an old airport. But, at least, the air conditioning system worked passably well in the context of the terminal, I didn't have to walk a mile to go from immigration to my gate or visa versa, and I never had any problems finding a bathroom.

Sadly, after spending however many billions of baht on the new airport, the Thai authorities still have to use portable air con units in the Immigration area to augment the building systems for people standing in line, now I get the pleasure of walking a mile thru the terminal to get to my plane and visa versa, and the problems with the lack of sufficient bathroom facilities (and finding those that do exist) have been well documented in the local news media, and not just here by ThaiVisa members.

Is Suvarnabhumi the worst airport in Asia? Probably not. Can a person go to the airport and end up getting on their plane eventually? Probably so. But for a brand new airport, did the Thai authorities make it an enjoyable, convenient facility to use. Absolutely not, just in terms of the facility itself.

And then, layer on top of that the crumbling runways, the airport terminal closure and seizures, the gunmen seizing the parking lots over a concession dispute, the whole mess with King Power and on and on... And the result is a pretty poor report card. All in all, comparing the two, I would just as soon have continued flying in and out of Don Muang if I had the option, old infrastructure there and all.

PS - I had an interesting experience the other day returning a rental car to Suvarnabhumi... We were returning from a domestic trip via rental car and as we approached the airport from the north via the #9 and then #7 expressways that lead into the terminal, there didn't appear to be any readily accessible gas stations from those two expressways during the last 40 kilometers or more. We ended up having to bring the near empty car back to the terminal, and then get a car rental staff person to go with us in the car to direct us off airport property to the nearest filling station, which was about a 5 minute drive away, but not at all accessible from our arrival route.

[ginjag]

I think comparisons of Don Muang (the old airport) vs. Suvarnabhumi (the new airport) need to be kept in the context of old vs. new...

When I first started traveling to Thailand thru DM, it was already an old airport. But, at least, the air conditioning system worked passably well in the context of the terminal, I didn't have to walk a mile to go from immigration to my gate or visa versa, and I never had any problems finding a bathroom.

Sadly, after spending however many billions of baht on the new airport, the Thai authorities still have to use portable air con units in the Immigration area to augment the building systems for people standing in line, now I get the pleasure of walking a mile thru the terminal to get to my plane and visa versa, and the problems with the lack of sufficient bathroom facilities (and finding those that do exist) have been well documented in the local news media, and not just here by ThaiVisa members.

Is Suvarnabhumi the worst airport in Asia? Probably not. Can a person go to the airport and end up getting on their plane eventually? Probably so. But for a brand new airport, did the Thai authorities make it an enjoyable, convenient facility to use. Absolutely not, just in terms of the facility itself.

And then, layer on top of that the crumbling runways, the airport terminal closure and seizures, the gunmen seizing the parking lots over a concession dispute, the whole mess with King Power and on and on... And the result is a pretty poor report card. All in all, comparing the two, I would just as soon have continued flying in and out of Don Muang if I had the option, old infrastructure there and all.

PS - I had an interesting experience the other day returning a rental car to Suvarnabhumi... We were returning from a domestic trip via rental car and as we approached the airport from the north via the #9 and then #7 expressways that lead into the terminal, there didn't appear to be any readily accessible gas stations from those two expressways during the last 40 kilometers or more. We ended up having to bring the near empty car back to the terminal, and then get a car rental staff person to go with us in the car to direct us off airport property to the nearest filling station, which was about a 5 minute drive away, but not at all accessible from our arrival route.

Good stuff, JFCHANDLER, these replies are what is needed. We could -but can,t go back to D/M. This Taksin flagship to my mind near had only 1 purpose in mind, Look what I,ve dreamed up----Ha. planned to get vast corruption excuse, from most of the contracts. As you said. Look at the whole dirty messed up job. A reader remarked He has never had a problem at S/Bkk. He must have a white stick !!!!. Yes there are more bad airports around, But are they NEW ones ???...This airport built for back pocket money, hardley ever had the passenger in mind, The treks off-and onto planes-immigration- arrivals point--yes look at this area again-passengers cannot meet people waiting, as they dont know which point they are going to be standing at, arrivals 2-8. ???? they made 1 point now there are more what a mix up--and every month its different--people are running around the area to locate friends and family. A joke this supermarket greenhouse.

[Wozzit]

We could -but can,t go back to D/M. This Taksin flagship to my mind near had only 1 purpose in mind, Look what I,ve dreamed up----Ha. planned to get vast corruption excuse, from most of the contracts. As you said. Look at the whole dirty messed up job. A reader remarked He has never had a problem at S/Bkk. He must have a white stick !!!!. Yes there are more bad airports around, But are they NEW ones ???...This airport built for back pocket money, hardley ever had the passenger in mind, The treks off-and onto planes-immigration- arrivals point--yes look at this area again-passengers cannot meet people waiting, as they dont know which point they are going to be standing at, arrivals 2-8. ???? they made 1 point now there are more what a mix up--and every month its different--people are running around the area to locate friends and family. A joke this supermarket greenhouse.

I don't go as far as ginjag, but in principle I agree. For a new Asian airport, it has far too many faults. I've flown in and out of Don Muang since 1979. I have seen it upgraded, expanded, upgraded again, expanded again, waited in its immigration queues and put up with the overworked air-conditioning. You are correct. It's now history as Bangkok's main hub airport. And I agree that the new BKK was partly a huge corruption plot, from the buying up of the land by crooked politicians and their cronies to the awarding of contracts and the transfer of all the old gangs from the old BKK. Blaming Thaksin, though, is a bit late, because the decision to go ahead was actually made in the 1960s which was when the corruption first started.

That too is history. The question really is: how can the AOT and the government - particularly the Immigration Department - get rid of the more obvious corruption elements and start to work on a programme to sort out the most basic problems - reducing immigration queues, installing moving walkways or an underground train at departure level, better signage from arrival on the access road to the departure gates, knocking down walls to significantly increase the arrivals area, etc. I remember HKG when it opened. It was a cold, austere grey building. Admittedly it felt open and airy, but it lacked any kind of warmth, had insufficient F&B outlets, and also toilets that were too small. That all changed after a few years. Now there are coffee shops almost everywhere, trees to break up the grey, larger toilet areas etc. So it can be done - if there's the will. And that surely is the real question!

[MrJohnson]

For all the haters, catch a flight to Manila---you will come back and kiss every employee at BKK.

Or stry Sukarno Hatta Airport in lovely, sunny Jakarta. It is a shocker. I go there often and look forward to it like a trip to the proctologist!

[ginjag]

For all the haters, catch a flight to Manila---you will come back and kiss every employee at BKK.

Or stry Sukarno Hatta Airport in lovely, sunny Jakarta. It is a shocker. I go there often and look forward to it like a trip to the proctologist!

I,ve done with my say about Bkk airport, There are the fores, majority are against the way it,s managed, sums the job up ?? Shoot me down for saying this, but an airport seem to be as good as its national airline. really decent---Abu--Dub-Sing-HK-NZ-Quan-Amst-CDeg--------------lousey--Bkk-Jak-Manil-Kar-Ran-..................There are loads to add on either side, have fun, enjoy your hols -

[Humphrey Bear]

I am through Suvarnabhumi 2 to 4 times a week.

The immigration lines can get tedious if a few planes land at once and I still don't understand why the majority of my landed flights have to use buses instead having an available gate.

But overall, I find the airport very good and have no real complaints.

There are much, much worse airports than Suvarnabhumi.

The reason for the bus trip is that the airline pays a lower fee than those who use the jetways.