Suvarnabhumi Airport: A Bad Experience For Travellers

[BlueSkyCowboy]

having travelled in and out of Suwannapoom more or less monthly for many years, I have to agree with most of the article. What really amazes me however, is not mentioned:

Since we are arriving at or leaving from "The land of Smiles", one would kind of expect the people at immigration to stand out as friendly service minded individuals. But compared to all other countries in Southeast Asia, including the green communist soldiers of Vietnam, the staff behind the counters at Suwannapoom immigration (and mostly at other entry points to Thailand) are the grumpiest looking, least communicative I have encountered in this rather friendly part of the world. It doesn't have to be like that, does it?

Walk a mile in the Immigration officers shoes. Did you ever pay attention to some of people he is greeting? Try to be courteous and smile, it works most of the time.

I have been in many countries including China and never have problems. The man in Hanoi "North Vietnam" in 2008 did not smile a lot handling my American passport, but people where pleasant.

[leelewadee]

this airport never a problem for me. try LAX and you'll know what a shit airport really is.

We have all travelled to real S*** airports. Great. Should we list them all?

By the way, there is worse than LAX also.

You are missing the point.

LAX was not built recently pretending to be the best airport in its region.

[thailandadam]

I've had no problems with Suvarnabhumi Airport.

- I always go upstairs, hail a taxi, and negotiate the fare or insist on the meter.

- The lines for immigration are sometimes long and sometimes short, it just depends, like other International airports in capital cities.

- I don't usually eat the food there and bring (better food) with me or just have snacks til boarding.

- And above all...This is Thailand...mai pen rai.

Edited March 2, 2011 by thailandadam

[BlueSkyCowboy]

No mention of the rip-off duty free prices.

I was so happy when the courts kicked out King Power a couple of years ago, but this is Thailand, and I think we all knew it would never really happen - too much profit involved!

Duty free is supposed to be for the benefit of the passenger, but Thais simply think it's a licence to print money.

OK, so knock off the duty and increase the profit. After all they are only rich foreigners with money to burn - so they won't worry......

It seems often cheaper to buy in Bangkok - but then we can't get it through the security system....

Duty free in Don Muang was cheaper then Suvarnabhumi. Have you seen the prices in Europe???

[dunkin2012]

It's one of the better airports. Of course, minor problems will always happen. Somehow most people in this forum only want to critizise anything here in Thailand. Why do you come here?

Are you the kind of farang who cannot accept any critics on Thailand ? Did you become more Thai than Thais ? some are here to work , to spend retirement , to enjoy life .. Any critics are good to take and we learn by making mistakes. why you come here if you dont like to see critics ?

Are you saying you made a mistake coming here.

I might not like some things they do here but that is my problem not there's. As far as I am concerned they are different. When I apply my western standards I am just asking for trouble. the first thing I would have to ask is why did I come here?

When I accept that they are different neither right or wrong I am a happy camper.

As far as the airport go's it is not in my opinion the worst or the best. I once stood in a line to get to the boarding gate in San Jose (not sure of the spelling) Calf. for a hour and never would have made my flight if they haden't come down the line picking the passangers out who were on the next flight. The longest I have ever waited in immagration was in Vancouver BC

There are problems in many airports around the world and because of the size and amount of traffic they handle there always will be.

For my self I don't like the top floor it is like a giant Cosco with inadequate seating for people between flights and waiting for check in.

People can complain about the cost of food and commodities being abnormal high. And they are rite in comparison to outside air port prices. But then compared to other air port's prices they are not that bad.

For myself I would appreciate the opinion of people who travel a lot and have been to many other air port's. I am sure they can tell of a lot better and a lot worse.

But for some reason looking for a balanced opinion on this board is not easy to do.

There are complainers on this board who if pushed would have to admit they have not had any problems some of the time they used Swampy. But that is not in there nature just complain is all they do.

In conclusion I believe there is a lot of room for improvement. But it is not as bad as some would have us believe.

FYI, they call it Swampy cos' it's built on a large swamp. It was a swamp where the airport is. ..... Haha..... not many people knowing this.

[BlueSkyCowboy]

I'd have to say this airport was both my first and worst impression of Bangkok. Made me want to leave Thailand asap.

Sandwich had mold on it and i was charged 1200B for a taxi to Victoria monument (I didnt know about airport link/bts :S )

IMHO, main problem is that there seems to be no information desk for transport. Phuket and Chiang mai (and every other airport in the word) have a help desk near the exit, where you can ask how to get where you are going. Although, maybe there is an information desk, who would know, its a f***n maze with no signs...

???How are we supposed to know the airport link exists???

Suvarnabhumi Airport:

Construction 5 stars

Service 0 Stars

I overpaid many times in many countries due to my ignorance of the country and habits

[exbelg]

the airport is a good example for thailand : taxi scams, touts, ripp-offs, ... welcome to LOL or was it LOS

[makkam]

Definately the worst airport in the world

I've told you a million times not to exaggerate

[BlueSkyCowboy]

It's one of the better airports. Of course, minor problems will always happen. Somehow most people in this forum only want to critizise anything here in Thailand. Why do you come here?

I appreciate other peoples experience, but if you are so critical, maybe should consider staying in your country

[dunkin2012]

No mention of the rip-off duty free prices.

I was so happy when the courts kicked out King Power a couple of years ago, but this is Thailand, and I think we all knew it would never really happen - too much profit involved!

Duty free is supposed to be for the benefit of the passenger, but Thais simply think it's a licence to print money.

OK, so knock off the duty and increase the profit. After all they are only rich foreigners with money to burn - so they won't worry......

It seems often cheaper to buy in Bangkok - but then we can't get it through the security system....

Duty free in Don Muang was cheaper then Suvarnabhumi. Have you seen the prices in Europe???

And another thing, I would like to point out that gave you very poor rate when exchange at the Thai duty free shops... Gosh..... Burning my money without noticing..

[makkam]

It's one of the better airports. Of course, minor problems will always happen. Somehow most people in this forum only want to critizise anything here in Thailand. Why do you come here?

Are you the kind of farang who cannot accept any critics on Thailand ? Did you become more Thai than Thais ? some are here to work , to spend retirement , to enjoy life .. Any critics are good to take and we learn by making mistakes. why you come here if you dont like to see critics ?

Are you saying you made a mistake coming here.

I might not like some things they do here but that is my problem not there's. As far as I am concerned they are different. When I apply my western standards I am just asking for trouble. the first thing I would have to ask is why did I come here?

When I accept that they are different neither right or wrong I am a happy camper.

As far as the airport go's it is not in my opinion the worst or the best. I once stood in a line to get to the boarding gate in San Jose (not sure of the spelling) Calf. for a hour and never would have made my flight if they haden't come down the line picking the passangers out who were on the next flight. The longest I have ever waited in immagration was in Vancouver BC

There are problems in many airports around the world and because of the size and amount of traffic they handle there always will be.

For my self I don't like the top floor it is like a giant Cosco with inadequate seating for people between flights and waiting for check in.

People can complain about the cost of food and commodities being abnormal high. And they are rite in comparison to outside air port prices. But then compared to other air port's prices they are not that bad.

For myself I would appreciate the opinion of people who travel a lot and have been to many other air port's. I am sure they can tell of a lot better and a lot worse.

But for some reason looking for a balanced opinion on this board is not easy to do.

There are complainers on this board who if pushed would have to admit they have not had any problems some of the time they used Swampy. But that is not in there nature just complain is all they do.

In conclusion I believe there is a lot of room for improvement. But it is not as bad as some would have us believe.

Good Post.

Nice to see someone post who is not of the prima donna disposition

[stingray]

Good brief synopsis of the myriad of problems besetting the "Showcase of Asia" or whatever other BS titles it's been bestowed to this airport resembling a giant Costco store.

Would personally add that is often uncomfortably warm, particularly on the upper floors, to the list.

If someone ever travelet to Hawaii, then he knows what is a long immigration cue. Everytime i go there it takes two hours to get in. So i think we should not complain about a long immigration cue in Thailand

[dickyknee]

I would refer you to the fact that so many Changi lovers fail to mention, Changi handles MUCH LESS passenger volume than any of Bangkok's airports have ever done

um, not quite much less... they are actually on par with passenger volumes.

BKK 38,565,626 vs SIN 37,974,903 last year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_busiest_airports_by_passenger_traffic

... what part of TRANSIT PASSENGERS in my post do you not understand?

did I miss quote you?

[DogNo1]

Definately the worst airport in the world

for a small fee you can be picked up in one of the small electric carts and taken through fast-track immigration.

Where can one arrange the small fee to be picked up by one of these carts and then utilize the fast-track immigration line? Last time I went through, I enquired about buying a fast-track pass but people around immigration, including the immigration agents didn't seem to know anything about it. I would gladly pay for a ride to immigration and fast-track status if it's not too expensive.

[Postmaster]

Please don't be too hard on the Airport. Remember the growth in traffic has been phenominal. What other orgainisation could cope with such a fast pace of growth?

[asdecas]

Well fair enough, everybody agrees there are many problems that need fixing at Swampy. Could we now have a Nation article that focuses on what exactly is being done to address them, please?

[TheWalkingMan]

I think what is disappointing to people about Suvarnabhumi is that it is relatively new and with examples of Singapore, HK and Inchon the officials seem to have closed their eyes and ignored them completely. It was such a great chance for Thailand to show that they could provide just as high quality an airport as Sing, HK and Inchon.

I fly out of Narita, and even though it is old, no free wifi, the carpet is tired and kinda crappy in some places, at times it provides a better airport experience than Suvarnabhumi. After immigration there are not as many food/drink shops as Suvarnabhumi, but the charges are reasonable, they are not doubled or tripled from the street price and the last few times I passed through, duty free gave out alcoholic drink samples.

TheWalkingMan

[BlueSkyCowboy]

this airport never a problem for me. try LAX and you'll know what a shit airport really is.

Hey be nice, LA is home for some of us. The place was not built with all the security in mind, especially the Tom Bradley terminal and consequently too small. The big problem are the clowns in charge of security and of course their minions. So much for our "superior government"

[BlueSkyCowboy]

Whinging about airport food pricing, poor quality food, waiting in Immigration lines, worst airport in the world?

What a bunch of nitwits. It's not that different in other airports anywhere.

Travel a few times through India before you pout kiddies.

I have to agree with the suggestion about India, but Airports not too bad, but traffic and driving styles in Mumbai and Delhi wow a different story

[avidflyer]

I have only used this airport 18 times, but I have never had a problem. I guess I'm just really lucky.

[BlueSkyCowboy]

When I got back from my latest business trip , I had to wait more than one hour at immigration , so many people there that was totally insane. The airport is nice YES .. is it efficient ? NO ... too long walk from plane to immigration .. think about the elder people or kids or even us when we just spent 10 hours in flight and are exhausted. Everything "good" are the front but the back is terrible. high prices in duty free ( what a joke) and still no Marlboro cigarette since the opening in 2007. Mafia taxi , Mafia parking ..illegal taxi who think all singles men go to Pattaya. I just got back from Seoul ..wow .... that is an international airport , KL , Singapore , Hong kong also .... Many things can be improve for sure if the management of AOT would stop sitting on their asses and see the reality of their airport.

Sure, but the girls are much nicer in Bangkok

[DumFarang]

Sorry, I don't get it.

I've never had a long wait at the airport clearing immigration and customs in Suvaranabhumi. Rather the contrary - it's about the fastest I've ever cleared. Try the lines in New York. And in China they met us with drug-sniffing dogs.

And I've never had a hard time getting a metered taxi there, once you know where they are - and they've always been in the same place every time I've gone through the airport for the last three years.

As for the food, I've never seen an airport where food wasn't grossly overpriced compared to the local economy. A cup of coffee at the airport in Miami is $5.00.

If you think the touts are bad here, you should try the airport in Delhi or Mumbai. You haven't experienced what a real tout is like until you've been to India.

-Your comment about the taxi always being in the same place is simply A FALSE STATEMENT. I have witnessed myself the change of location at least 4 times, and I have not been travelling every single months for the past 3 years so I would have to assume that they might have been moved even more than 4 times AND THERE WERE NO SIGNAGE for the (ha ha temporary) change of location.

-Your comment about immigration time is also border line ridiculous, sure, it does not always take an hour but for you to say that they are "the fastest I've ever cleared" : either you have been through there once and you got lucky OR you are sharing FALSE information once again

-Your comments about the food & the touts are plain silly - Bangkok is not Miami, the price comparison is not even appropriate...Sure there are more touts in India, and so? that makes the crowd of touts at the Bangkok airport a good thing? You can always find worse somewhere else. Obviously there is something "you don't get", and that's the concept of feedback.

OVERALL you sound like some defensive airport representative. Unfortunately you are making FALSE comments in the process and that is just unacceptable!

I've been through the airport several times since they constructed it, and I've never seen the official metered taxi line move. We're not talking about rocket science here. You see a line of taxis and in front of the place where people get in them you see a desk where they sort out your destination to make sure the driver understands. And, then you walk past a lot bs taxi drivers who try to keep you away from the real line, repeating "no" or "mai bai" at least a dozen times. I've always found it to be relatively painless. It's going back to the airport from place X in Bkk that always gets on my nerves, but even that's not so bad when I turn down every driver who won't agree to turn on the meter before I've entered the taxi.

It's not like this is isolated either. I think just about every time I've gone to Seoul (a place that doesn't have Thailand's scamming reputation despite having plenty of scam artists) I've turned down a scamming taxi guy who gives me some ridiculous price to my destination in the city. It's always the same routine pretty much. They're trying to scam you, so they're not going to direct you to the real taxi/bus area. In fact you can be guaranteed that they'll try to convince you it doesn't exist.

As a traveler not getting scammed is part of YOUR responsibility. Any other attitude is simply traveler's folly.

[NowImEasy]

Another bad thing is King power dutyfree.

I travled out of Suvarnabhumi airport in june 2010, and i was going to buy prince cigarette (smoked by scandinavians), but there was no prince avalible. So i sent a eamil to customer support and asked. They told me that they had to renew their license to sale Prince, and that it would be back in sale a few weeks later.

Next time i leave Thialand was january 2011 and still not Prince at King power. The answer from customer support this time was that Prince had production problems and could not deliver.

OK, let me understand this. The duty free shop does not have your brand of cigarettes? Must be mafia, no tea money, stupid people, poor planning, ... so many reasons why this airport is so terrible that your brand of smokes is not available!!!! GET A LIFE.....

[stkyricesf]

"Worst airport in the world" - lol <deleted> ???

Have you guys ever tried any other airport ? im amazed how much complaining going on here.

Im going through numerous airports every month, including suvarnabhumi, and for me its one of my favourite airports, i actually enjoy going through this airport and cannot recognize any of the complaints here.

Expensive food, not enough toilets, long immigration queues, bad-mannered officials, mafia at the parking lot, crooked taxi-drivers, no free wi-fi, too far to walk

Expensive food ? - NOT compared to 99% other airpots.

Not enough toilets ? - ive never tried to come to a toilet that is full or even close to being full, and never seen dirty toilets.

Long immigration queues ? - yes they can be long, but just something we have to accept in an airport this size with SSS safety regulations in the world we are living in.

Taxi mafia ? - few airports that doesnt have them, and compared to many other asian countries bkk is a dream. Never had problems with public taxi's.

No free wifi - maybe i can agree it would be a nice one, but many airports lacks this

Too far to walk - hey, its a big airport !

Additionally i can add that its an airport where you get smiles by the staff everywhere, even immigration can smile which is rare in so many other places, and ive never had anything but good service in this airport, actually i love it.

Gawd, thank you, a reasonable person. I have traveled world wide, and all airports have problems, but I have not heard so many complainer/whiners as I've seen on this post.

[Oberkommando]

It was such a great chance for Thailand to show that they could provide just as high quality an airport as Sing, HK and Inchon.

Could never happen until the three mafia groups that run the airport (as admitted by the Thai government and AoT) are neutralised. There wasn't even a Police station at the airport until last year <deleted>.

In addition, these projects are more to do with what the Thais can skim off for themselves, rather than providing improved services. The land was owned by Army generals remember, so the whole fiasco was about them profiteering.

Unfortunately as the scams continue, touts continue to operate with impunity and the airport takeovers and more recently last year's car-park takeovers by armed thugs prove, the authorities still have no real control of the place.

Sure, but the girls are much nicer in Bangkok

HK girls are way hotter than Thais.

Edited March 2, 2011 by Scott
Inappropriate remark edited out

[dunkin2012]

It was such a great chance for Thailand to show that they could provide just as high quality an airport as Sing, HK and Inchon.

Could never happen until the three mafia groups that run the airport (as admitted by the Thai government and AoT) are neutralised. There wasn't even a Police station at the airport until last year <deleted>.

In addition, these projects are more to do with what the Thais can skim off for themselves, rather than providing improved services. The land was owned by Army generals remember, so the whole fiasco was about them profiteering.

Unfortunately as the scams continue, touts continue to operate with impunity and the airport takeovers and more recently last year's car-park takeovers by armed thugs prove, the authorities still have no real control of the place.

Sure, but the girls are much nicer in Bangkok

Cheaper don't you mean? HK girls are way hotter than Thais.

there are no connections with Thai girls and the bad designed airport .. dude...

[bangkokcitylimits]

It's just the very pretentious and totally unfriendly atmosphere of that airport building that's annoying and it looks like a jail with all those unpainted concrete and steel.

The best places are the mini mart+ seats at the fourth and the (dirty) Bangkok Airways lounge with it's free snacks drinks and internet, the EVA lounge is superb, not like the poor one @ Schiphol, the amuses are delicious, all drinks, papers, internet, shower etc. available.

[harrycallahan]

I'm going to stand by my food whinge. I caught my international flight after travelling direct from Pattaya. For such a long trip and with non-refundable tickets it's important to get their early, so I've departed the hotel at 8am for a 1pm flight (the Bells bus departs every 2 hours, you take the one which suits). So you get to the airport early hungry and have a few hours to kill.

Other travellers have long stopovers, 4-6 hours not uncommon.

People need to eat.

In a country where meals can be bought for 50 baht we shouldn't have to pay 300 baht for the same thing inside an aiport. When we talk about high food prices at other airports I think you'll find in many cases the markup isn't in the order of 500 %, that's fiscal rape.

That said other people have mentioned a cheap food court though if that sits out of the check-in area then it's still not good enough. And it doesn't seem much effort is made to advertise its location.

But in no way would I say Suvarnabhumi is racked with problems. Had no problems taking a sh*t there and aren't the least interested in duty free anyway. You don't go to Thailand to shop at the airport. Waiting times no problem.

At Melbourne was given a baggage carousel run-around and my lift paid 1200 baht just to park the car. Had to line up at customs to get my two sea shells checked, they were fine.

[chutai]

Often a hidden problem. But god forbid anyone having to find a wheelchair to use there.

Edited March 2, 2011 by chutai

[AZBill]

It's one of the better airports. Of course, minor problems will always happen. Somehow most people in this forum only want to critizise anything here in Thailand. Why do you come here?

I've been through Swampy about 50 times and I can't say I've ever had much problem. Once or twice a long wait at passport control or immigration but that's about it. My biggest complaint is that it is hot in the terminals and the walk can be long. But plenty of food chouces and still cheaper than US airports. If you go to the food court downstairs it's quite reasonable. Can't speak to the taxis as I have a driver that always picks me up but I have heard they are a problem. Usually hit the VIP lounge for a little free food. No real complaints.