Suvarnabhumi Voted 10Th Best Airport Of The World

[MAJIC]

Suvarnabhumi is a dump. It is actually unfinished. Read about it. The scandals surrounding the money and contracting are legendary. The airport staff are quite nice, however. True Thai style. A smile and willingness to help are very important.

To rebut a few points made in earlier posts --

1. When comparing airports you should take into consideration the age of the airport. Suvarnabhumi is not so old, but nonetheless is it terribly built. It feels like a dimly lit bunker of sorts. Certainly it feels nothing like a modern, relatively new flagship airport.

2. Someone said you have to take into consideration whether a country is poor or not. Well, in the case of Thailand, surely we all know most PEOPLE are poor here. However, the COUNTRY/GOVERNMENT is far from poor, so I don't see that a valid excuse. Look at China's airport in Beijing. It's massive, beautiful, efficient and quite a pleasure to go through. Countries show off to an extent in building their flagship international airports. You'd expect so much more from a country like Thailand who has spent the better part of a century working the international tourism market.

3. Someone tried to compare the Suvarnabhumi to some of the US airports... OK, sure, there are crap airports in the US. BUT, please remember the following:

1. The US has the oldest and most airports of any country on Earth.

2. The US is beyond the point where it needs to rely on nice airports to gain FACE in the international community. It's a rich country, beyond these silly things.

3. The US has two of the busiest airports in the world (Atlanta and Chicago) which are in fact decent airports.

4. Generally British/US/Scandinavian culture places more emphasis on function rather than form. Asia is exactly the opposite, so you'd expect not to find very pretty or 'nice' airports in these countries. I mean, to put it plainly, people in the US would rather invent the planes (which they did) and the airports (which they did) and the computer systems (which they did) and let the FACE savers reach into their corrupt mafia-style governments budgets to 'pretty up' their airports in countries trying to make statements that 'they've arrived'.

5. When was the last time you flew into an international airport in the US and had to deboard the plane onto a bunch of hot, packed busses to get to your gate? I am shocked that this seems to be the standard here in Thailand. They can't get the numbers or logistics right so that the planes can be taken right up to the gates. It's rather pathetic. Did not happen to me at Beijing, just as an example.

So, in summary, the staff in Suvarnabhumi are largely great. Typical of well-trained Thai staff. Very polite, helpful and it certainly doesn't hurt that the women tend to be easy on the eyes. The facilities, however, are 'bottom of the barrel'. Cheap looking and feeling. Dreary is a good word to describe the place. With poor lighting and often inadequate air conditioning. The duty free gives new comers an immediate taste for the scams and ripoffs they can expect as they embark on their journeys into Thailand. It's just an awful airport. As bad structurally and in feel as JFK (although JFK is much, much older).

Atlanta, are you kidding? The only good thing about the Atlanta airport is that it has a Chik-Fil-A (just try not to connect through on Sundays when it's closed). Try going from the E concourse to the T gates- a 1K walk, then 15 minute a subway ride and then another 1K walk, no moving sidewalks either (I am totally underestimating the walk distances as well). Atlanta is a very American Airport in that it resemble a huge strip mall-tacky clothes and junk food galore!

Let's look at LHR terminal 5. They obviously spent a lot of cash on it, but it really leaves one feeling cold. It is also not very well maintained-the bathrooms are pretty gross and the terminal just looks like it isn't cleaned enough. One could also say this of T3, which overall I like better. Now, do I have to even mention again what an ordeal it is to switch terminals here as one does flying from the US to Thailand on BA? Sorry, I guess I'm beating a dead horse about the 45 minute bus transfer between the two.

"The duty free gives new comers an immediate taste for the scams and ripoffs they can expect as they embark on their journeys into Thailand."

Have you ever been scammed in duty free? Referring to the most famous case of "scamming," I think the people claimed this were actually what we call "shoplifters" who then got a taste of what it is like to get arrested in Thailand.

Finally, what you call mafia in Thailand is what we call Mafia in the US-why did it take so long for a major airport to built in Newark, NJ? Because the port authority wouldn't pay off the crime families in NJ. In the UK, I believe that they call the mafia "unions" who routinely drive up the costs of public works projects like roads, bridges and airports. You shouldn't be so naive about the existence of graft in ANY major public works projects. It goes on everywhere.

The cost for T5 (the building and related infrastructure)- 4.2 billion pounds or about $6 billion . The cost for building all of BKK including terminals, runways and related infrastructure-$3.8 billion.

BKK's main failing is its absolutely scatter shot immigration process. Sometimes it is a breeze. Other times, it is a ridiculous. If they could work this major, major issue out, I think there would far less catterwalling. Let's face it, BKK will never be #1, but it is better than a lot better than people make it up to be.

In the UK, I believe that they call the mafia "unions" who routinely drive up the costs of public works projects like roads, bridges and airports. You shouldn't be so naive about the existence of graft in ANY major public works projects. It goes on everywhere.

I don't know where you got this idea from,but it is absolute nonsense speculation drivel,bet you can't come up with one shred of evidence.

[belg]

did TAT use the chinese way of paying people 50 satang as in china 50 cents for each positive review on the web?

[GentlemanJim]

I reckon the people that voted for Suvarnabhumi were the people destined to use the shipment in the "

Record Marijuana Haul Seized In Saraburi

"

By the way, I bet that people would not be too quick to vote for suvarnabhumi if they knew that all the glass in the building (that includes all the stuff above above your head!) that is supposed to be tempered glass (that's what was paid for!) is in fact normal bog standard glass! If there was even a small explosion in there it would end up looking like the inside of a butchers shop.

Edited April 29, 2012 by GentlemanJim

[BrianCR]

Listening to you lot moaning, groaning and rubbishing everything I reckon next time I'll travel by boat. Oh here we go, now klong Toi......... and as for the pollution.......

[khunron13]

It's a godsend compared to LA. Last year with over 2 hours between my international flight from Bangkok and my domestic connection to St. Louis I still managed to miss my domestic flight. For one thing there was this impossibly long line at U.S. customs. Eventually I managed to talk one of the employees into letting me jump ahead of the line due to the timing of my domestic flight. Was unable to get on standby flight and had to pay full price for an entirely new ticket not to mention having to stay at a hotel for the night. No direct flights to St. Louis by the way, which used to have the busiest train station in the entire world. Had to fly to Atlanta then wait over 2 hours in the airport, and finally I got to fly backwards to St. Louis.

Oftentimes I've had to wait at the L.A. airport for 8 or 9 hours for my domestic flight. First thing to close are the book stores. So no new magazines, paperbacks, etc. Restaurants all close by 1 a.m. or so. Can't even sit in McDonalds drinking coffee while waiting for a 6 a.m. flight. For over five years now LAX looks like a construction zone. Aside from the long line at U.S. customs contributing causes to my missing my flight were the shuttle bus after landing having to drive a very long distance for a ridiculous amount of time getting from the landing strip to the terminal and the great difficulty I had just being able to find the ticket counter for my domestic flight. Believe me, Suvanarnabumi is a total class act compared to LAX. I can easily get help throughout the airport from personnel who seem anxious to please, taxis are both cheap and plentiful, meals are much cheaper and better there than in U.S. airports, and the restaurants, shops and bookstores never seem to close. And for those who do smoke, there's plenty of smoking rooms that are conveniently located.

Ummm....Jack, LAX is not even in the Top 100 (http://www.worldairportawards.com/Awards_2012/top20airports.htm), so what does your experience there have to do with the topic? Just because LAX sucks doesn't mean that Swampy is a world class airport!

[josephbloggs]

We all know SWAMPY is one of the worst airports in the world bar none if you look at everything.

That is simply one of the most ridiculous sentences I have ever come across on here - and that is saying something!

[JohnAllan]

This has, of course, been headlined competely out of context. Apart from the surveys only covering departures, the numbers were extrapolated by Skytrax from the Best Airport figures, and is a category that hasn't actually appeared in previous statistics. As well, I haven't gone in-depth, but the research I have done suggests that many of the airports which fall within the 30 to 50 million range are in the US, and are regional/international. In fact, the number of airports falling under the 30 to 50 million category of passenger numbers is likely fairly low, judging by further figures which list a total of nineteen airports with numbers between some 34,000,000 and some 48,000,000. The stats don't go below 34,000,000 but I shouldn't think the numbers would take the total to much above nineteen.

A quick run through a Skytrax list of 2012 comments has Suvarnabhumi with 13 positive scores to 21 negative; the odd five-star quote relates to first class - and seemingly occasional - passengers; and several high scores were severely contradicted by the accompanying comments.

Interestingly, Suvarnabhumi was 10th in the Best Airport in the World survey in 2010, a move up from 16th place in 2009. Unfortunately, it fell three places in 2011. And a further twelve places, to 25th, in 2012, the year to which the misleading headline relates.

Edited April 29, 2012 by JohnAllan

[NanLaew]

You know I thought there was something fishy about the headline....how could this crummy airport with its enormous queues for immigration and too few toilets rank higher than say, Lagos Airport

Oops.... someones's alarm clock just went off. They fixed the toilet 'shortage' years ago and the immigration queues are also (recent) history.

Back to sleep then!

PS. I overnighted Lagos airport sleeping on a genuine elephant leather sofa. How about you?

Edited April 29, 2012 by NanLaew

[Beaneater]

Suvarnabhumi is a dump. It is actually unfinished. Read about it. The scandals surrounding the money and contracting are legendary. The airport staff are quite nice, however. True Thai style. A smile and willingness to help are very important.

To rebut a few points made in earlier posts --

1. When comparing airports you should take into consideration the age of the airport. Suvarnabhumi is not so old, but nonetheless is it terribly built. It feels like a dimly lit bunker of sorts. Certainly it feels nothing like a modern, relatively new flagship airport.

2. Someone said you have to take into consideration whether a country is poor or not. Well, in the case of Thailand, surely we all know most PEOPLE are poor here. However, the COUNTRY/GOVERNMENT is far from poor, so I don't see that a valid excuse. Look at China's airport in Beijing. It's massive, beautiful, efficient and quite a pleasure to go through. Countries show off to an extent in building their flagship international airports. You'd expect so much more from a country like Thailand who has spent the better part of a century working the international tourism market.

3. Someone tried to compare the Suvarnabhumi to some of the US airports... OK, sure, there are crap airports in the US. BUT, please remember the following:

1. The US has the oldest and most airports of any country on Earth.

2. The US is beyond the point where it needs to rely on nice airports to gain FACE in the international community. It's a rich country, beyond these silly things.

3. The US has two of the busiest airports in the world (Atlanta and Chicago) which are in fact decent airports.

4. Generally British/US/Scandinavian culture places more emphasis on function rather than form. Asia is exactly the opposite, so you'd expect not to find very pretty or 'nice' airports in these countries. I mean, to put it plainly, people in the US would rather invent the planes (which they did) and the airports (which they did) and the computer systems (which they did) and let the FACE savers reach into their corrupt mafia-style governments budgets to 'pretty up' their airports in countries trying to make statements that 'they've arrived'.

5. When was the last time you flew into an international airport in the US and had to deboard the plane onto a bunch of hot, packed busses to get to your gate? I am shocked that this seems to be the standard here in Thailand. They can't get the numbers or logistics right so that the planes can be taken right up to the gates. It's rather pathetic. Did not happen to me at Beijing, just as an example.

So, in summary, the staff in Suvarnabhumi are largely great. Typical of well-trained Thai staff. Very polite, helpful and it certainly doesn't hurt that the women tend to be easy on the eyes. The facilities, however, are 'bottom of the barrel'. Cheap looking and feeling. Dreary is a good word to describe the place. With poor lighting and often inadequate air conditioning. The duty free gives new comers an immediate taste for the scams and ripoffs they can expect as they embark on their journeys into Thailand. It's just an awful airport. As bad structurally and in feel as JFK (although JFK is much, much older).

Atlanta, are you kidding? The only good thing about the Atlanta airport is that it has a Chik-Fil-A (just try not to connect through on Sundays when it's closed). Try going from the E concourse to the T gates- a 1K walk, then 15 minute a subway ride and then another 1K walk, no moving sidewalks either (I am totally underestimating the walk distances as well). Atlanta is a very American Airport in that it resemble a huge strip mall-tacky clothes and junk food galore!

Let's look at LHR terminal 5. They obviously spent a lot of cash on it, but it really leaves one feeling cold. It is also not very well maintained-the bathrooms are pretty gross and the terminal just looks like it isn't cleaned enough. One could also say this of T3, which overall I like better. Now, do I have to even mention again what an ordeal it is to switch terminals here as one does flying from the US to Thailand on BA? Sorry, I guess I'm beating a dead horse about the 45 minute bus transfer between the two.

"The duty free gives new comers an immediate taste for the scams and ripoffs they can expect as they embark on their journeys into Thailand."

Have you ever been scammed in duty free? Referring to the most famous case of "scamming," I think the people claimed this were actually what we call "shoplifters" who then got a taste of what it is like to get arrested in Thailand.

Finally, what you call mafia in Thailand is what we call Mafia in the US-why did it take so long for a major airport to built in Newark, NJ? Because the port authority wouldn't pay off the crime families in NJ. In the UK, I believe that they call the mafia "unions" who routinely drive up the costs of public works projects like roads, bridges and airports. You shouldn't be so naive about the existence of graft in ANY major public works projects. It goes on everywhere.

The cost for T5 (the building and related infrastructure)- 4.2 billion pounds or about $6 billion . The cost for building all of BKK including terminals, runways and related infrastructure-$3.8 billion.

BKK's main failing is its absolutely scatter shot immigration process. Sometimes it is a breeze. Other times, it is a ridiculous. If they could work this major, major issue out, I think there would far less catterwalling. Let's face it, BKK will never be #1, but it is better than a lot better than people make it up to be.

You can't compare the level of corruption in Thailand to the level of corruption in the US. It's so irritating to see people constantly doing this and then casually adding something to the effect of "It's everywhere." Yes, so is racism, AIDS, authoritarianism, etc, etc. That doesn't mean that there isn't much more of these things in some places rather than others.

Sure you can compare it. Take Boston's "Big Dig" depression of the central artery in downtown Boston. Putting this 3.5 mile section of expressway underground is projected to ultimately cost $22 Billion including interest payments. Let's do the math: 6.28 Billion per mile or ~1,200,000 per foot (or about 24,000,000 for your average size US driveway). I'll let you figure it our per inch. The people who got rich off of this were the contractors and construction companies who worked on the project. It is also questionable that the project actually did anything to alleviate congestion in downtown Boston, considering all of the other solutions $22 Billion can buy. If you want more examples of boondoggles like this, I can provide them.

While the corruption in Thailand may seem to be a bit more bald faced and open-full of 200 baht bribes for policemen who pull you over for no reason- the west in general, and the USA in my particular experience, is full of examples of sanitized corruption (contractors charging 1,000's of $ for toilet seats, lobbyists buying political clout and power to shape legislation which will reap them Billions, etc. Oh and for you Brits-letting Rebekah Brooks borrow your horse so that David Cameron can ride it on the weekends apparently gets you good press coverage). So yes, I know it is bad here, but what I can't stand is the way people look down their noses at Thais. As if we come don't come from places where companies, individuals and corporations "pay to play." So please get off the high horse.

However, if you are from Singapore, the least corrupt (and most boring) place in Asia, I wholeheartedly apologize.

[farang000999]

What are your guys complaints? I think the airport is near perfect except that there is no taxi option that the driver wont drive like an idiot. both public and TOT taxi are paid on commision and thus want to get to each destination asap.

[surangw]

Wait until the shoddy construction starts to unravel.

[tingtongfarang]

I'm going to go against the prevailing sentiment and sing the joys of Hong Kong. I use it now as my hub. My praise is attributable to (in no particular order);

1. Quick and efficient immigration

2. Faster baggage delivery than BKK

3. Security

4. Transportation via taxi or train is a pleasure compared to the travesty of BKK. (what a pleasure to get in a proper taxi and not be harassed by touts.)

5. Fantastic transfer desk services where the staff are fluent in English and will do whatever they can to help

6. Corruption oes not intrude on the airport's operations

7. Clean, clean, clean

8. No matter how busy, it doesn't seem crowded.

9. The duty free prices are comparable to the city centre and the variety of merchandise makes the airport the most convenient shopping mall in the world. Plus, there is no fear of the scams associated with BKK.

I know SIN is good, and offers many of the above, but the airport is getting a bit long in the tooth and even the locals are starting to make that suggestion. Mind you, this is like comparing a Bentley and a Rolls Royce.

+1

The fact that the imigration officers give a friendly smile...then say enjoy your stay in hongkong sir and actualy look where they stamp the 180 days in my passport as to save page space as oppossed to unfriendly glare i get at swampy as they randomly stamp the passport without even looking ( three times the wrong date stamped! )

Luggage arrives fast and all seems effient in Hk...and as you say it never seems crowded, Free wifi, free landline for local calls if needed,

Arrive at the check in with oversized luggage and they even carry it to the the oversisized luggage counter,

Never tried a taxi or the train...just walk outside and get on the bus to where i go using the octopus card ...the driver drives like he should and actualy stops at the bus stops and not in the middle of the road, The bus even has free wifi!

Its like a breath of fresh air after going through swampy.

[Unkomoncents]

Suvarnabhumi is a dump. It is actually unfinished. Read about it. The scandals surrounding the money and contracting are legendary. The airport staff are quite nice, however. True Thai style. A smile and willingness to help are very important.

To rebut a few points made in earlier posts --

1. When comparing airports you should take into consideration the age of the airport. Suvarnabhumi is not so old, but nonetheless is it terribly built. It feels like a dimly lit bunker of sorts. Certainly it feels nothing like a modern, relatively new flagship airport.

2. Someone said you have to take into consideration whether a country is poor or not. Well, in the case of Thailand, surely we all know most PEOPLE are poor here. However, the COUNTRY/GOVERNMENT is far from poor, so I don't see that a valid excuse. Look at China's airport in Beijing. It's massive, beautiful, efficient and quite a pleasure to go through. Countries show off to an extent in building their flagship international airports. You'd expect so much more from a country like Thailand who has spent the better part of a century working the international tourism market.

3. Someone tried to compare the Suvarnabhumi to some of the US airports... OK, sure, there are crap airports in the US. BUT, please remember the following:

1. The US has the oldest and most airports of any country on Earth.

2. The US is beyond the point where it needs to rely on nice airports to gain FACE in the international community. It's a rich country, beyond these silly things.

3. The US has two of the busiest airports in the world (Atlanta and Chicago) which are in fact decent airports.

4. Generally British/US/Scandinavian culture places more emphasis on function rather than form. Asia is exactly the opposite, so you'd expect not to find very pretty or 'nice' airports in these countries. I mean, to put it plainly, people in the US would rather invent the planes (which they did) and the airports (which they did) and the computer systems (which they did) and let the FACE savers reach into their corrupt mafia-style governments budgets to 'pretty up' their airports in countries trying to make statements that 'they've arrived'.

5. When was the last time you flew into an international airport in the US and had to deboard the plane onto a bunch of hot, packed busses to get to your gate? I am shocked that this seems to be the standard here in Thailand. They can't get the numbers or logistics right so that the planes can be taken right up to the gates. It's rather pathetic. Did not happen to me at Beijing, just as an example.

So, in summary, the staff in Suvarnabhumi are largely great. Typical of well-trained Thai staff. Very polite, helpful and it certainly doesn't hurt that the women tend to be easy on the eyes. The facilities, however, are 'bottom of the barrel'. Cheap looking and feeling. Dreary is a good word to describe the place. With poor lighting and often inadequate air conditioning. The duty free gives new comers an immediate taste for the scams and ripoffs they can expect as they embark on their journeys into Thailand. It's just an awful airport. As bad structurally and in feel as JFK (although JFK is much, much older).

Atlanta, are you kidding? The only good thing about the Atlanta airport is that it has a Chik-Fil-A (just try not to connect through on Sundays when it's closed). Try going from the E concourse to the T gates- a 1K walk, then 15 minute a subway ride and then another 1K walk, no moving sidewalks either (I am totally underestimating the walk distances as well). Atlanta is a very American Airport in that it resemble a huge strip mall-tacky clothes and junk food galore!

Let's look at LHR terminal 5. They obviously spent a lot of cash on it, but it really leaves one feeling cold. It is also not very well maintained-the bathrooms are pretty gross and the terminal just looks like it isn't cleaned enough. One could also say this of T3, which overall I like better. Now, do I have to even mention again what an ordeal it is to switch terminals here as one does flying from the US to Thailand on BA? Sorry, I guess I'm beating a dead horse about the 45 minute bus transfer between the two.

"The duty free gives new comers an immediate taste for the scams and ripoffs they can expect as they embark on their journeys into Thailand."

Have you ever been scammed in duty free? Referring to the most famous case of "scamming," I think the people claimed this were actually what we call "shoplifters" who then got a taste of what it is like to get arrested in Thailand.

Finally, what you call mafia in Thailand is what we call Mafia in the US-why did it take so long for a major airport to built in Newark, NJ? Because the port authority wouldn't pay off the crime families in NJ. In the UK, I believe that they call the mafia "unions" who routinely drive up the costs of public works projects like roads, bridges and airports. You shouldn't be so naive about the existence of graft in ANY major public works projects. It goes on everywhere.

The cost for T5 (the building and related infrastructure)- 4.2 billion pounds or about $6 billion . The cost for building all of BKK including terminals, runways and related infrastructure-$3.8 billion.

BKK's main failing is its absolutely scatter shot immigration process. Sometimes it is a breeze. Other times, it is a ridiculous. If they could work this major, major issue out, I think there would far less catterwalling. Let's face it, BKK will never be #1, but it is better than a lot better than people make it up to be.

You can't compare the level of corruption in Thailand to the level of corruption in the US. It's so irritating to see people constantly doing this and then casually adding something to the effect of "It's everywhere." Yes, so is racism, AIDS, authoritarianism, etc, etc. That doesn't mean that there isn't much more of these things in some places rather than others.

Sure you can compare it. Take Boston's "Big Dig" depression of the central artery in downtown Boston. Putting this 3.5 mile section of expressway underground is projected to ultimately cost $22 Billion including interest payments. Let's do the math: 6.28 Billion per mile or ~1,200,000 per foot (or about 24,000,000 for your average size US driveway). I'll let you figure it our per inch. The people who got rich off of this were the contractors and construction companies who worked on the project. It is also questionable that the project actually did anything to alleviate congestion in downtown Boston, considering all of the other solutions $22 Billion can buy. If you want more examples of boondoggles like this, I can provide them.

While the corruption in Thailand may seem to be a bit more bald faced and open-full of 200 baht bribes for policemen who pull you over for no reason- the west in general, and the USA in my particular experience, is full of examples of sanitized corruption (contractors charging 1,000's of $ for toilet seats, lobbyists buying political clout and power to shape legislation which will reap them Billions, etc. Oh and for you Brits-letting Rebekah Brooks borrow your horse so that David Cameron can ride it on the weekends apparently gets you good press coverage). So yes, I know it is bad here, but what I can't stand is the way people look down their noses at Thais. As if we come don't come from places where companies, individuals and corporations "pay to play." So please get off the high horse.

However, if you are from Singapore, the least corrupt (and most boring) place in Asia, I wholeheartedly apologize.

Singapore is one of Asia's most progressive countries. Good luck convincing the world of the value of "boring" based on your your own inane sense of reality. Your ideas are irrelevant. You're probably quite old and looking at Thailand as a bonus, because Southeast Asia can really only reap benefits for the elderly (unless you're talking about Singapore, which is ASEAN's most powerful country, despite its population). America has David Cameron?! What's your goal: global obscurity? Stay in Thailand please and please, keep all your fellow boop-boops in limbo...

[geriatrickid]

Ummm....Jack, LAX is not even in the Top 100 (http://www.worldairp...p20airports.htm), so what does your experience there have to do with the topic? Just because LAX sucks doesn't mean that Swampy is a world class airport!

Because when one rates an airport it is relative to other airports?

LAX is worse than some 3rd world airports I've flown into. It's a searing indictment of the state of the USA's infrastructure and attitude to visitors. Only CDG with its homeless residents gives LAX a run for its money as the worst big city airport in the world.

People that have suffered through LAX, JFK or EWR for that matter, and then travel to BKK will think that BKK is nirvana.

Those that have flown to HKG, FRA, AMS will see BKK for what it is. How SFO of DFW is able to offer professional and polite customs and immigration while LAX and EWR cannot is beyond explanation. It's all relative to the airports one uses regularly. I suppose if I was stuck using Rome or Paris as a hub, I'd think BKK was wonderful too.

[farang000999]

yeah american airports are brutal which is why i think bkk is awesome.

that said, hongkong has wayyyyy longer immigration lines in my travels.

dunno i hear people complain about waiting at bkk but i never have, my average immigration wait time on arrival is like 45 seconds.

for departure it is never longer than 5-6 minutes.

BKK has the prettiest staff around and what else could u want in an airport? super friendly people.

in the US the employees look miserable and all u ever hear them talk about is how they did not get a long enough lunch or some other terrible injustice. they have a constant look of misery on their face. the staff act like you are in a prisoner not customer.

[farang000999]

is JFK the biggest shit hole of all ?

just get your 5 bags and CROSS THE MOTHER fuc_kING 7 lane street then get up to the skytrain, get on, wait 15 minutes, get off, go backk downstairs, cross another street again.

dont ever epect to get any help at all. nobody that works there actually speaks english.

[mca]

dunno i hear people complain about waiting at bkk but i never have, my average immigration wait time on arrival is like 45 seconds

I take your "wait time" to mean the time you spend at the actual counter?

Edited April 29, 2012 by mca

[farang000999]

no, i am talking about the moment i walk into the immigration area. maybe i have been consistently lucky. there never seems to be more than one person in front of me.

[Beaneater]

"Singapore is one of Asia's most progressive countries. Good luck convincing the world of the value of "boring" based on your your own inane sense of reality. Your ideas are irrelevant. You're probably quite old and looking at Thailand as a bonus, because Southeast Asia can really only reap benefits for the elderly (unless you're talking about Singapore, which is ASEAN's most powerful country, despite its population). America has David Cameron?! What's your goal: global obscurity? Stay in Thailand please and please, keep all your fellow boop-boops in limbo..." -Komoncents

I'm sorry, you apparently lack a sense of humor as well as the ability to make a coherent argument.

As far as Singapore, I assume that you are referring to it being economically progressive as opposed to socially progressive. Singapore has some of the most restrictive laws of any developed, tertiary economy in the world. These laws limit freedom of the press, freedom of association and freedom of expression. All of these laws serve to squelch any opposition to the ruling government and ensure one party rule in Singapore.

Here's some light reading for you.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/01/20/singapore-textbook-example-repressive-state

[laurentbkk]

I cannot believe its in the top ten .. what are the criterias for such survey ? I hope its not for the clean toilet , the long immigration queues, the over priced restaurant and pretended "duty free" shopping area , the 400 to 700M walk when you arrive in the morning and unluckly when your plane park so far from the immigration ... LOL another jocke probably .

[Unkomoncents]

"Singapore is one of Asia's most progressive countries. Good luck convincing the world of the value of "boring" based on your your own inane sense of reality. Your ideas are irrelevant. You're probably quite old and looking at Thailand as a bonus, because Southeast Asia can really only reap benefits for the elderly (unless you're talking about Singapore, which is ASEAN's most powerful country, despite its population). America has David Cameron?! What's your goal: global obscurity? Stay in Thailand please and please, keep all your fellow boop-boops in limbo..." -Komoncents

I'm sorry, you apparently lack a sense of humor as well as the ability to make a coherent argument.

As far as Singapore, I assume that you are referring to it being economically progressive as opposed to socially progressive. Singapore has some of the most restrictive laws of any developed, tertiary economy in the world. These laws limit freedom of the press, freedom of association and freedom of expression. All of these laws serve to squelch any opposition to the ruling government and ensure one party rule in Singapore.

Here's some light reading for you.

http://www.hrw.org/n...epressive-state

Heard it all before, but thanks for an incredibly narrow-minded interest group's perspective regarding life in Singapore. One thing that Human Rights Watch has failed to note is that no one in Singapore cares about the lack of press freedom, because the quality of information coming out of Singapore is second to none in Asia. This can be seen readily in the that the world's biggest multinationals have chosen Singapore as their Asian regional headquarters. In fact, few care about the general lack of freedom in Singapore, as the country's quality of life and GDP are second to none. And if we're going to talk about social progress, I think Thailand would, again, rank rather low among Southeast Asian nations. Thailand has a rigid and fairly codified class system that doesn't exist in SIngapore. This prevents massive numbers of people from fair access to the country's political and economic system. The political problems in 2009 and 2010 are the fruit of an incredibly corrupt government apparatus (ranked lower than China for corruption according to Transparency International, since we're using single-minded interest groups as sources of reliable information [see www.transparency.org]) that has left the majority of the population in the dust for the last two decades. There would be no red-shirt movement if Thailand offered social wisdom among Asian nations.

[Unkomoncents]

"So yes, I know it is bad here, but what I can't stand is the way people look down their noses at Thais. As if we come don't come from places where companies, individuals and corporations "pay to play." So please get off the high horse."

Beaneater, I understand your sentiments (considering that the phenomenon that irks you is fully omnipresent), but I think it should be said that the entire world looks down their noses at Thais, especially other Thais. I think it was Rama IV who said something to the effect of: "I fear that if you placed a bowl of molten gold before my people, they would burn their hands trying to steal it." I'm not on a "high" horse...just a horse.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Unkomoncents

[ginjag]

farang 000999 Quote "there never seems to be more than 1 in front of me"   do you have bad body odour  ????      Sorry I am joking and it's not personal

[bendix]

I just wish they'd spell the bloody place like it's pronounced.

They do. In Thai.

Is that so unreasonable?

[coma]

Still got to catch buses to and from the aircraft, on many flights ,which is sitting in the middle of the airfield. Not quite top ten stuff me thinks.

[ginjag]

Coma, They should have planes take you to the buses, !!!   but agree this new airport out of date already, mega building-scanner probs from day 1. near always had immigration problems, no 1st class commute system, near the best commute system is the bus from airport to Jomptien at 120 bht direct roomy new. from Domestic to out--no joke. One thing that was a good move was the 7-11 shops they stopped many rip off places,  by selling coke and ice tea etc,. snacks is what most people want NOT big food lounges, before traveling when they wake you up too many time for food on route.

[KarenBravo]

I just wish they'd spell the bloody place like it's pronounced.

They do. In Thai.

Is that so unreasonable?

You don't get it, do you?

The transliteration is buggered. They are free to use any of the 26 letters in the Roman alphabet to spell the name, yet, they messed it up.

[WhingeingMoaners]

I find it very funny that Farangs keep moaning about the long queues at Suvarnabhumi while there is a much worse problem at Heathrow. How deliciously ironic! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17896216

[xthAi76s]

I find it very funny that Farangs keep moaning about the long queues at Suvarnabhumi while there is a much worse problem at Heathrow. How deliciously ironic! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17896216

What about how busy each airport is? Heathrow consistently ranks in the top 5 year to year by passenger volume doing about 30% more traffic by volume.

Swampy is down around 15.. However, interesting to note that Swampy surges at points in the year (likely tourist season) -- take a look at numbers for 2012 thus far. Swampy is at number 4, Heathrow at 3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_busiest_airports_by_passenger_traffic#2011_statistics

[ratcatcher]

Suvarnabhumi dips from 13 to 25 in global ranking.

The story:

http://www.chicagotr...0,4295920.story

And here is one of the little, preventable screw-ups that makes the downward spiral even more obvious.

Just to damned arrogant & lazy to get someone at the airport who understands the English language.

Multi-billion baht airport + 100 baht sign.

Priceless!