High-profile scams at the airport are threatening Thailand's allure for tourists

[alantheembalmer]

Need to start taking licenses away from these crooks

You mean some of them have driving licences?

[johna]

I have always been under the impression that the taxi must pay the AOT 50 baht before they can pick up a passenger, the passenger is simple refunding the taxi, some posters here suggest that is not the case.

can someone clear that up???

[Sviss Geez]

"Use carrot and stick." preposterous Thai tripe.Everyone knows that the "allure" of Thailand is cheap sex and counterfeit goods.

Yes, preposterous tripe indeed...from noitom, again.

[richusa]

Spineless Thai Government, they cannot figure it out without pocketing some cash.

[Boycie]

There's a cover up in operation.

Post 16 http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/795667-taxi-ripoff-caught-on-video-at-suvarnabhumi-airport/?p=9000938

[kingalfred]

I wonder if any of this will be on that fake image of Swampy airport will be on the BBC show currently on TV?

Obviously not, as that was completed many months ago, it's not a live report you know.

Irrelevant when the programme was made. If the producers did their research the taxi scam could be included. Not a recent phenomenon you know! Its like "since the airport opened 11 years ago!"

[emilymat]

I wonder if any of this will be on that fake image of Swampy airport will be on the BBC show currently on TV?

I watched the most of the first episode of this programme. What load of nonsense. For example, this immigration officer who has become some bizzare star, moaning because there is nobody in the queue. There was loads of other nonsensical stuff but I just switched off.

[kangeroo]

I would like to see the so called majority of taxi drivers who are honest do something about the minority of drivers who are not ha ha. But that would be a lot to ask and I guess loss of face comes into it .

Cheers .

[car720]

" However, if an extra Bt50 will help discourage taxi drivers from overcharging or refusing to use the meter, it is probably a price worth paying. "

No it's not.

It's giving in to extortion and rewarding them for refusing to do their job properly.

The headline says

"Use carrot and stick to rein in rogue cabbies"

I'm not seeing any stick.

Yes... I wondered where the carrot on the stick was in this article.

Nevermind eh..... I agree 100%, you can not hand then any concession that they leveled threats to gain, that is making a rod for your own back, they will still scam on top of the extra "peace pipe payment"....

If this is true and that the airport cabs are really struggling then there is one way to find out seeing as the airport run is the pinnacle of cabbying in Thailand.

The ultimate litmus test is to just put your foot down and give every cabbie 24 hours to accept working from the airport under current conditions, or hand in their card and go and join the others down on Sukumvit..... Tell them you will replace them in 30 minutes..... No coming back.

See how many hand in their card...... I would hazard a guess that number will be nil.

A very useful approach in the west but every time I ask a Thai why he does not do something this way, he always makes the sign of the gun or knife. What is correct does not always work in Thailand. It is usually a case of what will happen to you and your family if you don't find a way of doing it so nobody knows it was you that did it.

[maidee]

how difficult it would be for AOT, TAT, or whoever in charge

to put on that small paper (make it bigger): in english & in thai : TAXI fares start at 35 baht (or a bit more now?), taxi drivers have to use the meter

& where you can report (email) your complaint if you get scammed ;.... tourist police number ?

50 baht surcharge, 100 baht surcharge, 500 baht surcharge, will never change SCAMMING taxi drivers

[Fiddlesticks]

Are there any farangs here as stupid and gullible as the Land Transportation Dept and believes that giving in to the taxi drivers requests to up the surcharge to 100 baht or even allowing a baggage surcharge is going to change the Thai taxi driver's practices of denying fares or gouging foreigners every chance they can? These mercenaries will continue their practices since their motive is filling their pockets legally or illegally. It is laughable that there are only 3,000 fines handed out each year to rogue cabbies! That is maybe one day's violations in Bangkok alone! These cabbie know that there is zero enforcement and any penalties they do pay are more than offset by skirting the existing laws.

So giving in any to these guys demands is just allowing them to further stuff their pockets. Now, if there was real enforcement with real, punitive and substantial penalties, THEN I would be OK with upping the surcharge but not with the BS that passes for enforcement today.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Fiddlesticks

[almavro]

One inaccuracy in the original article: Thai pax all around town are regularly turned down by taxis. It is most definitely not just a farang scam.

Last night it took five tries for the Grand Hyatt Erawan concierge to find a taxi who would take us to the Surawong Montien. At one point, the concierge advised that we should pay a negotiated rate rather than waste time waiting for a 'proper' taxi. So everyone's being cowed, it seems.

Time was, Thai taxi drivers had a great rep -- helpful, cheery, smiling. Most of them back then (up until relatively recently: maybe 2-3 years ago) were true professionals, drivers for most of their careers. The current sulking, unfriendly lot are mostly losers who can do nothing else except B&E... which is what they do between taxi gigs.

I have occasionally photographed the license tags (on the inner door) of recalcitrant drivers. I get some satisfaction at their subsequent tirades, but intimidating a taxi driver is a dangerous thing to do and I wouldn't recommend it. Instead, there should be an app that allows everyone to report turn-downs, real-time, to the BIB for appropriate follow-up.... but of course, I tend to dream a lot.

[FangFerang]

12,000 annual complaints and 3,000 fines ? --

At last -- reconciliation and the end of corruption!

Hallelujah and amen!

Even more amusing: "The Land Transport Department is studying the feasibility of doubling the surcharge for airport taxis from the current rate of Bt50. Increasing it to Bt100 may help satisfy the many cab drivers who have complained about making insufficient income, though it will undoubtedly anger many visitors."

What?

No it won't. That's raising the base rate a whopping 1.36 euros, or less than the price of a large bottled Leo beer. But it will make the unscrupulous less scrupulous (antiscrupulous?)

Edited January 29, 2015 by FangFerang

[hughben]

My worst experience when I took cabs from the airport (don't do it now) was when the taxi had NO AC. And I got stuck in a traffic jam for 20 minutes. I couldn't do anything with some bags in the boot/hood.

Adding 50baht to the fee will change nothing much.

[HerbalEd]

Actually I'd gladly pay the extra 50 baht airport surcharge ... IF the cabbies would then shut the f... up and play nice! But most likely after a short while they'd start back with their whining and continue their cheating ways.

What keeps me from being a total cynic are the very nice and polite cabbies I often meet ... and I make it a point to always reward them with a significant tip.

Edited January 29, 2015 by HerbalEd

[Time Traveller]

One inaccuracy in the original article: Thai pax all around town are regularly turned down by taxis. It is most definitely not just a farang scam.

Last night it took five tries for the Grand Hyatt Erawan concierge to find a taxi who would take us to the Surawong Montien. At one point, the concierge advised that we should pay a negotiated rate rather than waste time waiting for a 'proper' taxi. So everyone's being cowed, it seems.

Time was, Thai taxi drivers had a great rep -- helpful, cheery, smiling. Most of them back then (up until relatively recently: maybe 2-3 years ago) were true professionals, drivers for most of their careers. The current sulking, unfriendly lot are mostly losers who can do nothing else except B&E... which is what they do between taxi gigs.

I have occasionally photographed the license tags (on the inner door) of recalcitrant drivers. I get some satisfaction at their subsequent tirades, but intimidating a taxi driver is a dangerous thing to do and I wouldn't recommend it. Instead, there should be an app that allows everyone to report turn-downs, real-time, to the BIB for appropriate follow-up.... but of course, I tend to dream a lot.

I never understood why people complain about taxis that don't want to take them. In bankgok all you need to do is just wait 5 seconds for the next taxi.

The real problem is the taxis that refuse to use the meter. Seriously if these taxi drivers don't want to use meters then they should be driving tuk tuks instead.

Of course there are those farang buffoons saying oh well in Mayfair the London cabs charge me 200 pounds for the fare blah blah blah and anyone complaining about an extra 100 baht must be some lowlife blah blah blah blah blah...and thailand should kick people like you out blah blah blah.

Let me explain why that's such as stupid practice to pay more than the going rate. I got into a heated argument with a bangkok taxi driver after he wanted a fixed fee - which I agreed to - then he wanted an extra 200 baht on top of the fixed fee after getting to the destination that was agreed upon. . like ? Can't even stick with what they agreed to, it's so typical of criminals and ex-convicts..

The lesson is that if you give them another 50 baht, then they'll want another 100. Give them 100 baht then they want 200......It just never ends because it's EXTORTION, and the people that do it are criminals.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Time Traveller

[SABloke]

My worst experience when I took cabs from the airport (don't do it now) was when the taxi had NO AC. And I got stuck in a traffic jam for 20 minutes. I couldn't do anything with some bags in the boot/hood.

Adding 50baht to the fee will change nothing much.

20 minutes?? Traffic jam You were probably just at a traffic light Edited January 29, 2015 by SABloke

[Camelot]

So the airport taxis that have been overcharging at Suvarnabhumi since it opened in 2006, and for decades prior to that at Don Muang airport, haven't suddenly stopped doing so.

Did anyone really think they would? Can regular travellers suggest ways other countries have successfully tackled the problem and found a lasting solution? The practice certainly isn't limited to Thailand. I've had my worst experiences at Manila and Heathrow.

[tominbkk]

Came in on Monday night, a taxi driver collared me. I was going to Soi 11 Sukhumvit. Got in the taxi, he refused to put on the meter and asked for 500 baht. I started getting out and he said OK, 400. He relented to 350 but I told him no tip, which was fair enough to me as I had just traveled over 30 hours and I was early evening, so the traffic was heavy

He probably gets away with it 9 out of 10 times as tourists have no idea what the normal fares are...

When I hail a taxi in Bangkok, the first question I ask before getting in is whether they use the meter or not...

Ask them that in Thai and they definitely won't try to rip you off! haha

[MrJohnson]

Go up to departures and grab a cab that is dropping someone off. Pick the newest looking cab. The drivers are usually very happy to get a fare going back into down. Meter on. You pay the toll fees and a B20-B50 tip sweetens the deal round.

BTW - it took me attempts to get a taxi from Sukhumvit Soi 11 to Samitivej Hospital at 10am on Wednesday. Hardly any traffic going in directions so I am not sure why the guys would not take me - and they were not the taxi mafia parked along Soi 11 just the normal guys driving around. A mystery but eventually I got one - less than five minutes

[Thian]

After immigration they are the first people you meet in Thailand. That is after you have woken up the girl behind that crappy desk who gives you the 50 baht ticket for a taxi.

Since we pay 50 baht for a taxi i always got an old crappy taxi. Thai customers just refuse old crappy taxi's and wait for a new one, that's why the old ones made suvarnabhumi their homebase i guess.

My last taxi couldn't go faster then 90 km/hr , if we tried to go faster then it started making strange noises from under the bonnet.

I guess if we have to pay 100 to get a taxi nothing will change..Also i think the taxidriver should pay the tollway for me so i don't have to give him money all the time and have frustrating conversations because he can't speak english.. At the destination i will pay him once for the total amount.

Just to correct you on one point.

The girls behind the desks now stand in front of what are supposed to be self service machines pressing the button and handing the ticket to you.

Allright i believe you on that.

But it was a shaming situation that i as a Quality Tourist first have to wake up a girl who is sleeping with her head on a selfmade kind of deskthing and then she writes down my destination (i speak thai but she doesn't know where my address is) and then the taxidriver has to be woken up. He was sleeping in his taxi with his feet hanging out of the window.

The taxi was damaged from an accident, the drivers window couldn't open so at the tollway/security he had to open the door all the time, the engine had serious problems and it stank of cigarettes inside. I bet the driver lived in that taxi untill he goes back to his family in Esarn. Also half of the dashboard was missing, the passengerdoor had no upholstery at all, i could see the windowmechanism from inside. Totally ready for the scrapyard and then they dare to ask for more money?

They should pay me to be transported in a barrell like that. And the problem is we can't refuse the taxi after we have paid our 50 baht.

[Suffinator]

How can the Thai people expect one sector of society not to be corrupt when corruption is acceptable for all others ... and there lies the problem with Thainess; it's only an issue when you are fleeced otherwise it's a benefit.

I could live to be a thousand years old and Thainess will never be wiped out. So thankful I no longer live in the cesspit.

[Keesters]

After immigration they are the first people you meet in Thailand. That is after you have woken up the girl behind that crappy desk who gives you the 50 baht ticket for a taxi.

Since we pay 50 baht for a taxi i always got an old crappy taxi. Thai customers just refuse old crappy taxi's and wait for a new one, that's why the old ones made suvarnabhumi their homebase i guess.

My last taxi couldn't go faster then 90 km/hr , if we tried to go faster then it started making strange noises from under the bonnet.

I guess if we have to pay 100 to get a taxi nothing will change..Also i think the taxidriver should pay the tollway for me so i don't have to give him money all the time and have frustrating conversations because he can't speak english.. At the destination i will pay him once for the total amount.

Just to correct you on one point.

The girls behind the desks now stand in front of what are supposed to be self service machines pressing the button and handing the ticket to you.

Thanks girls for pushing my buttons.

[kkerry]

After immigration they are the first people you meet in Thailand. That is after you have woken up the girl behind that crappy desk who gives you the 50 baht ticket for a taxi.

Since we pay 50 baht for a taxi i always got an old crappy taxi. Thai customers just refuse old crappy taxi's and wait for a new one, that's why the old ones made suvarnabhumi their homebase i guess.

My last taxi couldn't go faster then 90 km/hr , if we tried to go faster then it started making strange noises from under the bonnet.

I guess if we have to pay 100 to get a taxi nothing will change..Also i think the taxidriver should pay the tollway for me so i don't have to give him money all the time and have frustrating conversations because he can't speak english.. At the destination i will pay him once for the total amount.

Just to correct you on one point.

The girls behind the desks now stand in front of what are supposed to be self service machines pressing the button and handing the ticket to you.

Allright i believe you on that.

But it was a shaming situation that i as a Quality Tourist first have to wake up a girl who is sleeping with her head on a selfmade kind of deskthing and then she writes down my destination (i speak thai but she doesn't know where my address is) and then the taxidriver has to be woken up. He was sleeping in his taxi with his feet hanging out of the window.

The taxi was damaged from an accident, the drivers window couldn't open so at the tollway/security he had to open the door all the time, the engine had serious problems and it stank of cigarettes inside. I bet the driver lived in that taxi untill he goes back to his family in Esarn. Also half of the dashboard was missing, the passengerdoor had no upholstery at all, i could see the windowmechanism from inside. Totally ready for the scrapyard and then they dare to ask for more money?

They should pay me to be transported in a barrell like that. And the problem is we can't refuse the taxi after we have paid our 50 baht.

Interesting. I've read many times here on Thai Visa of long lines of passengers waiting for a taxi, forcing passengers to go to arrivals if they want a taxi, yet this girl (there's only one?) somehow manages to sleep amid all the chaos.

I also find interesting how a driver can be asleep in his cab with all these long lines of people. The Suvarnabhumi Airport taxi line (the official one) I get a taxi from (must be in a parallel universe) usually has a group of drivers standing to the left waiting to be called to the counter for their next fare whenever it's quiet. When it's busy the taxis are arriving in waves from the taxi holding area, and the drivers get out as soon as they've parked in their assigned bay. Fortunately, as Jay says, you will discover on your next trip there is now only a ticket machine so sleeping is more difficult... progress.

[wolfmanjack]

Need to start taking licenses away from these crooks

You mean some of them have driving licences?

Any taxi driver that has a taxi license also had a drivers license at the time they got the taxi license.

[Baerboxer]

"Use carrot and stick." preposterous Thai tripe.Everyone knows that the "allure" of Thailand is cheap sex and counterfeit goods.

"Everyone" being you and your friends.

Not sure the rest would want you making statements like that on their behalf.

Careful you don't fall off your bar stool.

[Baerboxer]

After immigration they are the first people you meet in Thailand. That is after you have woken up the girl behind that crappy desk who gives you the 50 baht ticket for a taxi.

Since we pay 50 baht for a taxi i always got an old crappy taxi. Thai customers just refuse old crappy taxi's and wait for a new one, that's why the old ones made suvarnabhumi their homebase i guess.

My last taxi couldn't go faster then 90 km/hr , if we tried to go faster then it started making strange noises from under the bonnet.

I guess if we have to pay 100 to get a taxi nothing will change..Also i think the taxidriver should pay the tollway for me so i don't have to give him money all the time and have frustrating conversations because he can't speak english.. At the destination i will pay him once for the total amount.

Just to correct you on one point.

The girls behind the desks now stand in front of what are supposed to be self service machines pressing the button and handing the ticket to you.

Allright i believe you on that.

But it was a shaming situation that i as a Quality Tourist first have to wake up a girl who is sleeping with her head on a selfmade kind of deskthing and then she writes down my destination (i speak thai but she doesn't know where my address is) and then the taxidriver has to be woken up. He was sleeping in his taxi with his feet hanging out of the window.

The taxi was damaged from an accident, the drivers window couldn't open so at the tollway/security he had to open the door all the time, the engine had serious problems and it stank of cigarettes inside. I bet the driver lived in that taxi untill he goes back to his family in Esarn. Also half of the dashboard was missing, the passengerdoor had no upholstery at all, i could see the windowmechanism from inside. Totally ready for the scrapyard and then they dare to ask for more money?

They should pay me to be transported in a barrell like that. And the problem is we can't refuse the taxi after we have paid our 50 baht.

Guess no one else recognized you as a "Quality Tourist"

Maybe you should wear a badge next time to be sure.

[philw]

After immigration they are the first people you meet in Thailand. That is after you have woken up the girl behind that crappy desk who gives you the 50 baht ticket for a taxi.

Since we pay 50 baht for a taxi i always got an old crappy taxi. Thai customers just refuse old crappy taxi's and wait for a new one, that's why the old ones made suvarnabhumi their homebase i guess.

My last taxi couldn't go faster then 90 km/hr , if we tried to go faster then it started making strange noises from under the bonnet.

I guess if we have to pay 100 to get a taxi nothing will change..Also i think the taxidriver should pay the tollway for me so i don't have to give him money all the time and have frustrating conversations because he can't speak english.. At the destination i will pay him once for the total amount.

Just to correct you on one point.

The girls behind the desks now stand in front of what are supposed to be self service machines pressing the button and handing the ticket to you.

Allright i believe you on that.

But it was a shaming situation that i as a Quality Tourist first have to wake up a girl who is sleeping with her head on a selfmade kind of deskthing and then she writes down my destination (i speak thai but she doesn't know where my address is) and then the taxidriver has to be woken up. He was sleeping in his taxi with his feet hanging out of the window.

The taxi was damaged from an accident, the drivers window couldn't open so at the tollway/security he had to open the door all the time, the engine had serious problems and it stank of cigarettes inside. I bet the driver lived in that taxi untill he goes back to his family in Esarn. Also half of the dashboard was missing, the passengerdoor had no upholstery at all, i could see the windowmechanism from inside. Totally ready for the scrapyard and then they dare to ask for more money?

They should pay me to be transported in a barrell like that. And the problem is we can't refuse the taxi after we have paid our 50 baht.

Guess no one else recognized you as a "Quality Tourist"

Maybe you should wear a badge next time to be sure.

A genuine first.

Nice one BB and the first time I fully agree with you !!

[mok199]

many countries ie vietman,cambodia,philli,and many more,the situation at the airport is the same as here,it is up to the tourist to protect themselves from this behaviour by understanding in advance how much the fare should be.,,having the correct change, and telling the driver slow down or,speed up ,remember he is working for you,dont let these ''bullies''push you around..

Edited January 29, 2015 by mok199

[BigBadGeordie]

"Use carrot and stick." preposterous Thai tripe.Everyone knows that the "allure" of Thailand is cheap sex and counterfeit goods.

"Everyone" being you and your friends.

Not sure the rest would want you making statements like that on their behalf.

Careful you don't fall off your bar stool.

Your comment is totally unfair, I sit on Bar stools and I am not an <deleted>.

But then again.