Airport Taxi

[BevT]

My 20 yr old daughter is flying into Thailand alone and stopping for one night before flying onto Cambodia (where she will be met). She is arriving late at night and has booked a room for the overnight stay. How safe are airport taxis? Can anyone pass on any advice? She will be returning to Thailand for a 5 week stay. any advice on how she can keep safe - she has been travelling round New Zealand and Australia for the last 4 months.

A worried mum!

[orchis]

-Why not book in Amari Airport hotel which is separated from the airport by only an elevator and a walking bridge;

-Best for her to go to the taxistand (look for a long cue), right outside the building, she will get a

paper with her destination and the number of the taxi, taxis taken at the taxistand are metered taxis

the meter starts at 35 thb, there is a supplement of 50 thb to the total meter price for taxistand taxis

-You could ask the hotel to pick her up , then she wd just have to look for the driver holding a board with the hotel name and her name on it;

Hope this helps,

[lopburi3]

If you are very concerned the safe thing to do would be use the official airport limo service (not from some stranger who says they provide limo service that might be in the arrival area however). There should be a desk and you would want her to book there. The normal meter taxi service is security checked and recorded (you pay an extra 50 baht for airport pickup) and should be safe - this is a 24 hour city/airport and most flights from USA arrive late at night. The thing to watch is that driver immediately turns on meter as some will try to forget and ask double price (which is still cheap so most would not even know it). Hotel pickup is also possible but this is a busy airport and the mass of signs can be hard to navigate. As said another option is the connected Amari Airport hotel (expensive for Thailand).

Thailand is defiantly much, much safer than Cambodia so I would not worry too much.

[sbk]

When I return from the US my flight always arrives after midnight, I take the airport limosine for about 800 baht. My Thai husband insists on it, he does not feel comfortable having me take a taxi alone in the middle of the night. The airport limosine desk is just outside the departure from customs or just outside the mass of people standing at the gate but still inside the building

[Soju]

IMHO, the Amari is terribly overpriced for what you get. Depending on how long it is before the flight to Cambodia, and what her budget is, she might be better off to just stay in one of the day rooms inside the airport, thus avoiding ever exiting immigration or the airport and saving the 500 baht departure tax. I think the rooms with a private bathroom are 1,400 baht for 4 hours, and ones with a shared bathroom are even cheaper. If she arrives late at night and leaves early in the morning, I'd go that route and save yourself all worries.

[L--T]

My 20 yr old daughter is flying into Thailand alone and stopping for one night before flying onto Cambodia (where she will be met). She is arriving late at night and has booked a room for the overnight stay. How safe are airport taxis? Can anyone pass on any advice? She will be returning to Thailand for a 5 week stay. any advice on how she can keep safe - she has been travelling round New Zealand and Australia for the last 4 months.

A worried mum!

Don't worry Mum!

She should get an Airport limousine.

Get the ticket from the girls behind the counter INSIDE the international arrival-hall.

The cars should be 4 door Benz....The driver is very unlikely to try to persuade her to go to a hotel other than the one she has planned to..(He would get a commission).

If I'm not met I use a taxi & often say my destination to the driver ending with "I'm tired after my flight. If I'm asleep, wake me when we are almost there."

Tell her to walk about as if she owns the place(Confident).

Don't walk with your mouth slightly open (you look lost).

And it's not illegal NOT to answer every question someone asks.

"Where you go?"...really just means --"How you doing" in most cases.

The Thais may only be being friendly but if you girl feels a little uncomfortable she should stay quite quiet until see knows her way around.

[janeos]

Some info.

http://www.tourbyme.com/airport-facilities/