Bizarre Flow Management At Swampy

[Eff1n2ret]

Went there to pick up some arriving passengers this morning. As there was a tail-back into the first entrance to the car-park I went into the second entrance. There is now a large area on level 5 close to the bridge into the terminal which is coned off, with loads of attendants there - if you want to park in that area, you pay an extra 50 baht for a max 2-hour stay.

So we then walk over the bridge through door 8 into the terminal on level 3, where all the food-outlets are. Can you get down to Arrivals on level 2? - no way! At all the down walkways and stairways there are barriers, attendants, and signs saying "Airport Staff only". Get in the lift, and it doesn't stop at the second floor, you go all the way down to level 1, where the 'up' walkway is also barred to anyone except airport staff.

I sometimes have bad dreams a bit like that.

What they seem to expect you to do is to trek all the way to door 3, where the designated Meeting Point for Arrivals is on Level 2. You can get up to Level 3 from Level 2, just not vice versa. To save myself a walk in the future I will only be using the first car-park.

On a completely different subject, the Thai lady who was arriving from UK said she heard at the Immigration desk that from a month or so's time, Thai passports will no longer be endorsed on arrival in or departure from Thailand. (Actually she said the info came from the lady who went through in front of her, so it's not from the horse's mouth). It makes sense, but remains to be seen whether it actually happens or not.

[NanLaew]

I prefer the 'second' car park as it is usually easier to park there apart from the level 5 where the airbridge into the terminal is located. It would appear that the new parking garage company have found a way of making a fast buck (and an half) out of the average Thai driver being too lazy to park on any other level and walk a bit further. I usually park on level 4 and there's always a space near the elevators and/or stairs so only going up/down one level.

The fact that they block access to travelators and escalators to the lower floors from that end of the building as well as disabling the elevator stopping at Arrivals is a bit of a chore if you were unaware of it. But you don't have to go all the way to the other end to get down to the meeting point. The travelators and escalators from around the middle of the building will all take you to the arrivals meeting point as well as the elevators.

If I am meeting someone, I tell them to make their way up two levels to departures, using the two, long travelators and come outside door 8 at departures. It's pretty quiet down that end with only the odd tour bus or aircrew minibus dropping off. Well away from the scrum of the taxi drop off and beyond the usual harassment area for taxis trying to beat the AoT system for getting 50 baht off the taxi.

[marstons]

I went last week level 5 was full, level 4 was so full they had blocked each other in parking in front of cars in the bay, i went to level 2 and it was nearly empty. Lazy or plain dumb not sure which.

Got to meet somebody Monday night a 22.00 hrs arrival, i think a taxi maybe in order, no way going to miss Man u and man city hanging around swampy for hours.

[NanLaew]

I went last week level 5 was full, level 4 was so full they had blocked each other in parking in front of cars in the bay, i went to level 2 and it was nearly empty. Lazy or plain dumb not sure which.

Got to meet somebody Monday night a 22.00 hrs arrival, i think a taxi maybe in order, no way going to miss Man u and man city hanging around swampy for hours.

Laziness mainly. I reckon the Thai driver is assimilating the US shopping mall car park 'crawler' where they will circle for ages, waiting for a slot to open up near the entrance. Here though, they quickly give up and as pointed out on another thread, they don't actually park, they just stop driving, get out, lock up and walk away!

Songkran week is not a good week to assess airport parking anyway. For example, there's 11 flights/day from BKK to Udon and ALL of them were full leaving BKK for 4 days before the Songkran weekend and full coming back to Bangkok the first two days after the Songkran weekend. With the new, lower rates being charged for the short-term parking garage, I would reckon it will be busier and more people decided to park stop driving closer to the terminal. Having said that, I used level 4 parking twice last week, evening parking and there was no problem.

[saengsureeya]

If there is any (legal or illegal) possibility to park the car in the close perimeter of the gate, people will do so.

BTW, that's not typical Thai.......it's universal.

Fact is, that the flow management in the covered parking and the terminal building sucks.

[vijer]

Bizarre Flow Management is the standard operating procedure for ALL things related to movement in Thailand.

The Thai's will build a brand new ... building, parking structure, road, etc. and IMMEDIATELY there will be cones or barriers to impede your movement. As if during the planning of the structure there was no thought given to movement of vehicles or people.

A classic example is ANY and ALL stations on the BTS, MRT and Rail Link. Massive open spaces unused (read that as a lot of money wasted on concrete, steel, lighting, etc.) but at the point where people have to pay there are very few turnstiles and they are wedged between booths where very slow attendants dispense change or refill your card. No don't put those attendants out of the way of the commuters, put them right there where they will cause the most congestion. Don't put 10 or 15 turnstiles across an opening, just put 4 or 5 and share them with in/out bound passengers. Make all commuters have to queue up for minutes on end. They can't say the reason was the cost of the turnstiles, as I have already pointed out how much money was wasted on massive EMPTY areas in all stations, the Rail Link is the worst. I guess the Tea Money was just a lot more from the concrete suppliers than it was from the turnstile suppliers.

I get very upset every time I move around Thailand, whether it is driving, walking or riding, they just don't understand engineering. And don't complain, that is just rude don't you know. Just go along with any stupidity because it is impolite to suggest there is a better way to do everything.

I try to put my blinders on everyday before I go out, but it makes it hard to drive. 5555

[Satcommlee]

Your reference to Thai passports not being endorsed is probably related to the super duper new e-gates that have been promised.. It makes sense really, why do Thais need a stamp and departure/arrival cards anyway?

[NanLaew]

Your reference to Thai passports not being endorsed is probably related to the super duper new e-gates that have been promised.. It makes sense really, why do Thais need a stamp and departure/arrival cards anyway?

Taxation.... it is coming!

[theoldgit]

Your reference to Thai passports not being endorsed is probably related to the super duper new e-gates that have been promised.. It makes sense really, why do Thais need a stamp and departure/arrival cards anyway?

They don't, they are doing away with them.

[geriatrickid]

Bizarre Flow Management is the standard operating procedure for ALL things related to movement in Thailand.

The Thai's will build a brand new ... building, parking structure, road, etc. and IMMEDIATELY there will be cones or barriers to impede your movement. As if during the planning of the structure there was no thought given to movement of vehicles or people.

A classic example is ANY and ALL stations on the BTS, MRT and Rail Link. Massive open spaces unused (read that as a lot of money wasted on concrete, steel, lighting, etc.) but at the point where people have to pay there are very few turnstiles and they are wedged between booths where very slow attendants dispense change or refill your card. No don't put those attendants out of the way of the commuters, put them right there where they will cause the most congestion. Don't put 10 or 15 turnstiles across an opening, just put 4 or 5 and share them with in/out bound passengers. Make all commuters have to queue up for minutes on end. They can't say the reason was the cost of the turnstiles, as I have already pointed out how much money was wasted on massive EMPTY areas in all stations, the Rail Link is the worst. I guess the Tea Money was just a lot more from the concrete suppliers than it was from the turnstile suppliers.

I get very upset every time I move around Thailand, whether it is driving, walking or riding, they just don't understand engineering. And don't complain, that is just rude don't you know. Just go along with any stupidity because it is impolite to suggest there is a better way to do everything.

I try to put my blinders on everyday before I go out, but it makes it hard to drive. 5555

The reason why there is an intentional slowing of traffic flow is that the escalators and stairs to the platform cannot handle a large crowd at one time. Next time you are in a station have a look. Imagine what would happen if hundreds of people went rushing for the stairs/escalator at one time. The fact of the matter is that there are only certain times of the day when there is a delay at the turnstiles. Having the delay there is not such a bad thing.

[bangkokburning]

The ramps that are closed - has been that way nearly forever. It is odd and counter intuitive. I think it is to control people for security more than anything else.

[impulse]

I'm with geriatrickid. First time I found those ramps closed, I was a little perturbed. Next time, I had a lot of time waiting for a late flight so I wandered around the terminal.

It's pretty easy to get to the next lower level from the other end of the building. There's escalators and elevators. It appears they are just blocking people from going all the way to the portal that lets international passengers out of baggage claim. They also have porous barriers (porous in that, if you look like you just got off a flight, you could easily pass back and forth- which I did) to keep people on that floor from crowding up to that international exit portal.

Then it made sense. If they didn't limit people from that area, you'd never be able to leave the international baggage claim. With thousands of people with too much baggage greeting each other (oblivious to blocking others behind them), touts, limo drivers and all the other folks that feed on fresh tourist meat, the area would be completely impassible if they didn't limit access.

So now my only gripe is that they could mark the new flow paths better. First time, I tried to follow the signs down to the arrivals area and came up against the security guys. If they changed the signs, it would be a little easier. But then foreigners would have one less thing to gripe about, Bangkok wouldn't be as mysterious and locals wouldn't have that edge on newbies.

[richard_smith237]

As a passenger I have no issues with Suvarnabumi Airport (and thats a different topic anyway). But when picking up passengers I have a nightmare.

Two times I've picked someone up I've parked outside on the ground floor, quick and easy parking, it usually has plenty of spaces.

When I walk across the road I can't find my way up to the arrivals level. The escalators are blocked and the lifts won't let me get off on the arrivals level.

I'm left flapping about hoping my friends will answer their phone, BUT, the phone reception at the airport is terrible, so we have to ensure we can catch the odd key word.

It really is a very very odd and completely unplanned system.