Low Cost Airlines And Domestic Flights To Move To Don Mueang Airport

[DefaultName]

It would help if they named the airlines.

[irlguy1]

I dont fully understand the implications but if it means I have to fly from Ireland to Swampy then make my way to Don for my flight to Chiang Rai then IMHO.

THAT IS A FRICKIN NIGHTMARE

Is that basically the long and short of it?

[3SoiDogNight]

I support all efforts to drive out Air Asia.

Air Asia is the biggest lie in the sky!

Their prices are NOT cheaper than Thai Airways or any other national carrier in Asia.

At least Nok Air & One2Go are always cheaper and provide service. Every time I've flown in SE Asia, Air Asia was the MOST expensive. I've flown them once and even had to buy water on-board. <deleted>?!?!?!

Their service requires WAY too much planning too far in advance to get basic service.

At least with Nok & One2Go, you know what you're getting and their older planes makes things more interesting. Other than that, my loyalty is with Thai Airways. Their fares are always the best and I get Royal Orchid miles that I can use for upgrades on long-haul flights.

[pepi2005]

What a mess!

I can already see ten-thousands of people miss their flights for the first 2-3 years until everyone is informed. Until then, tourists will be easy food for the ripoff-shark taxi drivers who will exploit passengers needing a quick lift to avoid arriving at the correct airport too late at inflated prices.

[cdnski12]

My first experience @ Don Mueang Airport was in July 1972. I flew to BKK from Calcutta on a Thai Airways Flight. As the plane came in to land, it began to circle. We could see a massive column of smoke rising many 1000's of feet into the air. The plane continued circling for about 20 minutes. The Pilots were both UK Farangs. Finally we came in for a landing. We passed the fire scene, which was a burnt out C-47. I cleared the Immigration to meet my brother, who was then a CUSO Volunteer in BKK. He was pretty excited, as he was standing on the viewing deck and saw a Thai AF T-33 Trainer Airplane collide and slice off the wing of a C-47. Amazingly, everyone survived. The C-47 Crash landed and the T-33 also landed. We read all about it in the BKK Times Newspaper a few days later. I thought, "Welcome to LOS!"

[Nisa]

Sounds like a great plan.

[Nisa]

It would help if they named the airlines.

Sure would be but my guess is Air Asia, Orient Thai (One-Two-Go). and Bangkok Air (Nok is already there).

[IsaanUSA]

It would help if they named the airlines.

Sure would be but my guess is Air Asia, Orient Thai (One-Two-Go). and Bangkok Air (Nok is already there).

And the other 11 airlines?

[chingching]

.........Wait.........something is wrong here!...........This is far too logical a decision for Thailand!

Hardly logical - it just pisses international travellers off, as they now have to travel across BKK to get a domestic flight!?

It may well benefit 'in-country' travel, but doesn't help anyone else.

And as mentioned above, it is probably a tactic to move Air-Asia away from Suvarnabhumi to help Thai Airways get a larger chunk of profits from people who don't have time to travel across town to catch a connecting flight.

Jokers...

The move is voluntary for the airlines

[Nisa]

It would help if they named the airlines.

Sure would be but my guess is Air Asia, Orient Thai (One-Two-Go). and Bangkok Air (Nok is already there).

And the other 11 airlines?

It is 14 airlines total including Charter Airlines. The big move is going to be Air Asia ...

Nok Air (already there)

Nok Mini (already there)

Solar Air (already there)

Sunny Air (already scheduled to move in August)

Business Air (already scheduled to move in August)

Air Asia (already scheduled to move in August)

Orient Thai (already scheduled to move in August)

Bangkok Air (a guess)

The rest are likely other Charter Airlines few of us have heard of. Keep in mind that Air Asia alone carries over 7 million passengers a year alone and they are saying the move will relieve 7 to 8 million passengers from BKK airport.

[Nisa]

What a mess!

I can already see ten-thousands of people miss their flights for the first 2-3 years until everyone is informed.

Informed of what? Who books tickets without knowing what airport they are leaving or arriving? Large cities all over the world have multiple airports.

I am however curious about people that have already booked tickets for after August or are still booking them with airlines that may move later in the year.

[BigSkip]

And Let the Games Begin; more time stuck in BKK, more money flowing thru BKK, what a great deal for the city

[Rob8891]

Maybe am inconvenience to some but hey, look at Heatrow...and what about low cost flying from Stanstead...same as.

No it's not........you can get a domestic flight to Heathrow, this proposal reads that you cannot get a domestic flight to Swampy..........if that's the case it's mental.

Who in their right mind thinks it's a good idea to oblige every single international passenger that wants to connect domestically to travel across BKK to an airport that's a known flood risk.

It's just rank stupidity.

I have no problem with being given a choice, for example fly with Airasia DM to CM for 2000 baht, or go with Thai for 3000 baht from Swampy, I'm paying the three thousand baht. It might have escaped the attention of some people, but when I'm on holiday I don't want to eff about in taxi ranks, traffic jams and airport concourses. I'll spend the extra 1000 baht easy for the convenience, in fact in my case I would go more than that.

Not entirely true for those of us close to the Arctic Circle....Try flying from Inversnekky to LHR....we lost that link years ago.... We have to fly to LGW then express coach to LHR (20 quid each way, and russian roulette on the M25). The alternative is a three hour drive down the A9 and the cost of leaving the car at EDI or GLA (or the A96 to ABZ). Thankfully, I found a flight next month for INV - MAN - DOH - BKK this time, so no pratting around in London (but I get a 7 hour layover in MAN for my pains..... Woohoo!).... and no grubby old T3 in LHR, either.

However, I agree with you about BKK, I'd gladly pay the extra 1000 to fly direct in and out of Swampy.... you'd blow a lot of that on taxis to/from DM anyway, not to mention the sheer aggravation of getting luggage etc.

[Joolz63]

The Poll is a joke ! Not going to effect travel plans is BS. Transfers from DM will be comical. Thai Air just screwing Air Asia. Political <deleted> having big Bungs T.I.T. !

[bikerider21]

.........Wait.........something is wrong here!...........This is far too logical a decision for Thailand!

Hardly logical - it just pisses international travellers off, as they now have to travel across BKK to get a domestic flight!?

It may well benefit 'in-country' travel, but doesn't help anyone else.

And as mentioned above, it is probably a tactic to move Air-Asia away from Suvarnabhumi to help Thai Airways get a larger chunk of profits from people who don't have time to travel across town to catch a connecting flight.

Jokers...

In KL, AA have their own terminal on the fringes. Seems to work great. People can still choose. Not me though. I hate AA.

[frank2611]

Stop complaining. The idea is good. Point to point airlines and domestic at Don is great. A taxi from Don to Suvarnabhumi will not break you and if it does you should not be travelling. New York has 3 airports, Paris two plus your cheapo centres, Melbourne two, London two plus the extras at Luton etc and so on. Why dont you complain about them. You are all self centred whingers. Are you all POMS.

[Thai at Heart]

All in all, an enormous pain in the ass to have to commute across town to get where you need to go.

I was based in one of the few airports that had ZERO domestic flights through SVB when it opened, and believe me, rushing across town having come in from somewhere in Asia to get the connecting flight was an absolute pain, costly, stressful and all the rest. People can hark on about how nice Don Muang was, how more convenient it may be to get to than SVB, but if you are based outside Bangkok and have to transfer across town to get your connections out of the country it is after a while, extremely inconvenient.

Maybe they can build a walkway from SVB to DMK. I mean in the old days, it was only a couple of kilometres to walk at DMK, what a tourist attraction it could become. (sarcasm)

[tartempion]

.........Wait.........something is wrong here!...........This is far too logical a decision for Thailand!

Hardly logical - it just pisses international travellers off, as they now have to travel across BKK to get a domestic flight!?

It may well benefit 'in-country' travel, but doesn't help anyone else.

Jokers...

Exactly.

As I understand it Thai will also move its domestic flights to DM.

I was truly pissed off late May flying in from Europe around 7 am.

Originally I had a connecting flight to Udon Thani on Thai leaving Swampy at 09.30, but Thai changed it's schedule of TG001 to 07.05, next flight at 14.00, Thank you Thai.

Air Asia cancelled it's 11am flight due to low season and my next choice was a free limo to DM (flying Etihad business class) to catch the next Nok Air but Nok advised against it, not having at least 3 hours between arriving at Swampy and leaving from DM.

Thus I opted for a 7 hours wait, even in Thai domestic lounge it wasn't fun after a flight via Abu Dhabi, pissed off.

I have no desire/need to spend a day/night in Bangkok on both ways in/out and adding more hours to my travel.

Didn't the planners plan for an extension of Swampy????

Didn't they plan a domestic terminal?

Isn't the basic infrastructure present for a third runway?

Spending money on DM in stead of building a second terminal, brilliant

[gaucho]

there will be people rejoicing and there will be people pissed off about this depending on your personal circumstances .. obviously there will be connection issues ...at the very least there will have to be implemented a shuttle bus service every 15 mins at a nominal or free cost one thing for sure ...where the most money falls for the decision makers will decide the issue ...hotel occupancy rates in bangkok will rise as people will have to overnight in a lot of cases .....

[bubba]

Have to admit that I voted a solid yes for domestic flights at Don Muang. Rather than doing a hold over Lopburi for 20 minutes due to congestion at Suvarnabhumi, rather than walking close to 1 km from a domestic gate to the exit of the airport in crowds of swarming tourists, and then another 500 metres to my car in an overcrowded car park, I really do enjoy and straight in approach and landing and then exiting an aircraft at Don Muang and being in my car and on my way home in less than ten minutes.

Plus, it's a lot closer to home and easier to get to, although I realise that is selfish logic.

Most major cities in the world have more than one airport to spread traffic around, ease congestion, and ease accessibility to the various airports. Why not Bangkok?

[johnlandy]

Just another FUBAR scenario.

Whats new? it's TIT

[Thai at Heart]

there will be people rejoicing and there will be people pissed off about this depending on your personal circumstances .. obviously there will be connection issues ...at the very least there will have to be implemented a shuttle bus service every 15 mins at a nominal or free cost one thing for sure ...where the most money falls for the decision makers will decide the issue ...hotel occupancy rates in bangkok will rise as people will have to overnight in a lot of cases .....

If free shuttle bus services are similar to what they have always been, they will be 30% full of airport employees shuttling themselves between SVB and DMK.

Will moving domestic from SVB actually have that much of an effect on the customer experience at SVB? It may free up some landing spots for the airlines, but unless they change the entire layout.

[geriatrickid]

So does that mean lower cost flights if the airlines are getting incentives.

Somehow I do not think so.

Brilliant that has just added an extra 3 hours to my traveling time when I fly from Phuket to the UK or NZ

How so? TG and PG offer competetive fares on the route. For comparison purposes, I had a look at peak season (Dec/Jan) , round trip BKK - HKT using the airline websites and ignoring discount codes and connector discounts that both TG and PG offer;

TG - B5760

PG- B8960

Air Asia - B5176 (seat selected, 1 bag up to 25kg, no food, no comfort kit, no advanced boarding)

So, for a difference of 584 baht you will moan and groan and transit to DM? Are you serious? Who in their right mind takes Air Asia and transfers to an international flight? When Air Asia is delayed, or cancels a flight or if something goes wrong, that's it. The Pax is on his/her own.

Both TG and PG have interline bagage transfer facilities.

I really do have to laugh at this. Air Asia is good for local point to point travel and that's it. The cost savings on domestic flights are a marketing gimmick.

Right now, PG is offering a B2990 return between BKK and HKT, for travel 1 Aug to Sept 30 and TG is supposed to be matching this. The costs are either lower or the same as Air Asia.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

People can hark on about how nice Don Muang was, how more convenient it may be to get to than SVB, but if you are based outside Bangkok and have to transfer across town to get your connections out of the country it is after a while, extremely inconvenient.

I voted NO in the poll, and here's why...

I always liked DM Airport, and it, of course, was the international airport I flew into for years before Suvarnabhumi arrived. DM was compact and relatively easy to get around, whereas Swampy is sprawling and it always takes 10 minutes to walk from your entry point to your flight gate.

In principle, the notion of a main international airport (Swampy) and a nearby low-cost carrier/domestic airport is a well-established one. But the problem for Bangkok, and one of the main reasons I voted NO, is the total lack of any kind of easy, convenient, reliable mass transit connecting the two locations. And not even any mention of that issue on the various pronouncements on the coming change.

Add to that the added inconvenience factor for those arriving or departing BKK on international flights, and having to travel to a different airport to make their domestic flight connections.

Also, call me spoiled, but I have liked the convenience of using the Airport Rail Link line for domestic flights out of Swampy where I'm not having to carry that much luggage. As the ARL is not particularly user friendly for those carrying the larger/heavier luggage associated with international flights. But now in the future, it seems mostly only the international flights will be out of Swampy, making the ARL even less useful/relevant than it already is. And of course, there is no comparable ARL service as yet for DM.

And then, add in the flooding factor that saw DM deluged last year, along with the likelihood that similar flooding will occur again in the future, and the equal likelihood that the Thai government will be able to do anything effective to prevent a recoccurrence.

And it all begins to add up to quite a big mess, Thai style.

[Maseratimartin]

If you cannot keep up with demand and lay back on your lazy ass....yeah then "oh surprise" you suddenly are driven into such stupid decissions!

Will the domestic airlines also apply for new water landing gear....hey some new invention.

Sorry for all the people it hits and lucky me that they will never see me at DM.

There are more beautifull countries just within an hour who develop their infrastructure with brain....let's make holidays in Malaysia, Philipines, Indonesia, Vietnam and even Gambodia is coming.

[bubba]

Stop complaining. The idea is good. Point to point airlines and domestic at Don is great. A taxi from Don to Suvarnabhumi will not break you and if it does you should not be travelling. New York has 3 airports, Paris two plus your cheapo centres, Melbourne two, London two plus the extras at Luton etc and so on. Why dont you complain about them. You are all self centred whingers. Are you all POMS.

The London metro area has nine airports.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_airport

[Maseratimartin]

And Let the Games Begin; more time stuck in BKK, more money flowing thru BKK, what a great deal for the city

Wrong:

Piss off the travelers!

Less travelers!

Less money for Thailand!

[chrisinth]

It has never been a problem for me as the only service available from up here is Nok, who, apart from the floods last year have always used DM. Until all the phases are complete at Swampy, it is the logical thing to do to utilize what they have and move the domestic carriers back to DM.

It has never taken me more than an hour to transit between DM and Swampy by taxi using the tollways. Granted, I usually don't have to wait for luggage as I only have carry-on. Judging by a lot of the posts in this thread, peoples memories are short; it is not that long ago that both airports were running, with most of the domestics flying out of DM.

[TonyGilbert]

So will Thai Air Asia be forced to move to DM? That would certainly piss me off. Still I normally fly from KL to Chiang Mai, so just an occasional inconvenience. Can't see Thaksin being happy with it but.

[sfbandung]

Not sure why people are predicting disaster. I answered No to the poll because of the amiguous nature of the question. "Some flights"? ALL domestic would be ridiculous. DM should just become the LCCT for Bangkok. Air Asia would move their whole operation to DM surely. Just as they operate out of the LCCT in KL. And out of OOL in QLD. Etc. Air Asia aren't foolish enough to not recognise what splitting their operations would do to their revenue base. Not to mention their cost base by duplicating administration overheads.