Don't Go To Suvarnabhumi With A Bad Stomach

[svenivan]

Published on September 15, 2006 - The new airport has its soft opening today, but bosses must face some huge concerns - the main departure hall has only 100 seats and just four restrooms for men

The people behind the new Suvarnabhumi Airport love to boast about its numerous and impressive statistics and they have been doing so with some gusto for the past few weeks.

With the Bt150-billion airport's soft opening for some domestic flights by Thai Airways International starting this morning, here are some statistics that they don't want to boast about.

Question 1: How many toilets for men are there in the main departure hall, which is 444 metres long and about 50 metres wide, and a place where domestic and international passengers have to check in their luggage and get their boarding passes?

Some experts have told The Nation that given the volume of people passing through, there should be 200 or even 300. Are there that many at Suvarnabhumi?

The answer: there are 12 toilets and 16 urinals in four restrooms.

In fact, make that eight toilets as four of the 12 - one in each restroom - are set aside for the physically disadvantaged.

So if you're in a hurry, you might have to hop across to the nearby Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel, which has 19 toilets alone on the ground floor.

In the words of Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit, Suvarnabhumi is "one of the most modern airports in the world with multiple distinctive features".

With tens of thousands of people departing each day, one of those "distinctive features" is bound to be long queues at the restrooms.

With the other three floors having about the same number of toilets, Suvarnabhumi is in danger of being labelled a farce come September 28.

Now on to question 2: On that very same fourth floor, the only departure hall, how many seats are there for the public to rest their weary bones?

A couple of thousand would seem reasonable, you'd think. But if you said 100 you'd be spot on the money. Not bad for a place where thousands will congregate each hour. "There are hardly any seats because passengers must stand," huffed an Airports of Thailand (AOT) information officer. "We want them to check in quickly and get to the retail space."

The uniformed staffer added: "We have received many complaints that the duty-free space is too large." At an enormous 20,000 square metres or more, that's a lot of ground to cover. You'll definitely need a seat afterwards.

A female Thai Airways ticket staffer complained: "There are too few seats and too many shops. It's not like an airport but more like a shopping mall."

When the chairman of the AOT board, Srisuk Chandransu, happened by just at that moment, he quickly shied away from The Nation's questions about toilets and public seating, saying he was a bit too busy. The Thai Airways staffer then aired some more concerns as the hours count down to the soft opening of the airport today. "We don't even know what number to call for a wheelchair or any other units for that matter. They haven't handed that over to us yet."

The complaint list began to get bigger: the central conveyor belt should automatically read a check-in tag, but if the tag is not attached properly the computer won't be able to read it and the bag most likely will end up in the wrong terminal.

"For every 50 pieces of test luggage, 20 went missing," said the staff member, who did not want to be identified. So, if a piece of luggage goes missing, what happens next, she was asked. Well, with the new centralised single conveyor system, it means more of a headache to trace it and re-channel it back to the right place. "We're trying to fix it," she said.

The woman staffer added an even more ominous note to the list of complaints. It seems many who will man the airport have not been trained yet. "Training is not completed yet," she said, in an echo of the many critics who feel the government wants the airport opened as soon as possible and at all costs so that it will reap a feel-good windfall ahead of the election.

And what about that most controversial of purchases for the airport, the state-of-the-art CTX X-Ray bomb scanners? Well, the consensus is that they may be good but they only scan luggage after it goes through the conveyor belt, meaning there is still a risk of a bombing, said another Thai Airways staffer.

One major difficulty for passengers boarding public buses to and from the airport is that they will have to off-load and re-load their luggage at the public transport centre. If you are a departing passenger, you will have to grab your bags from the bus and drag them to where your bus is specifically parked. Then you load on the bags and head to the main departure hall.

Oh, you should know that there are no trolleys to help you with this task. Nor air-conditioning to make it more comfortable for you. The AOT claims the shuttle service is "free", but passengers still have to pay airport fees.

"Yes, it's a problem," admits Kaetsuda Ho-morb, a driver on the new public bus link. "Nobody is talking about it ... but we do need the trolleys."

"It looks convenient but in a way it's not," said Darunee Suknakorn, one of the many "airport tourists" who have come to admire the new pride of the Kingdom.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

[IMA_FARANG]

Published on September 15, 2006 - The new airport has its soft opening today, but bosses must face some huge concerns - the main departure hall has only 100 seats and just four restrooms for men

The people behind the new Suvarnabhumi Airport love to boast about its numerous and impressive statistics and they have been doing so with some gusto for the past few weeks.

With the Bt150-billion airport's soft opening for some domestic flights by Thai Airways International starting this morning, here are some statistics that they don't want to boast about.

Question 1: How many toilets for men are there in the main departure hall, which is 444 metres long and about 50 metres wide, and a place where domestic and international passengers have to check in their luggage and get their boarding passes?

Some experts have told The Nation that given the volume of people passing through, there should be 200 or even 300. Are there that many at Suvarnabhumi?

The answer: there are 12 toilets and 16 urinals in four restrooms.

In fact, make that eight toilets as four of the 12 - one in each restroom - are set aside for the physically disadvantaged.

So if you're in a hurry, you might have to hop across to the nearby Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel, which has 19 toilets alone on the ground floor.

In the words of Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit, Suvarnabhumi is "one of the most modern airports in the world with multiple distinctive features".

With tens of thousands of people departing each day, one of those "distinctive features" is bound to be long queues at the restrooms.

With the other three floors having about the same number of toilets, Suvarnabhumi is in danger of being labelled a farce come September 28.

Now on to question 2: On that very same fourth floor, the only departure hall, how many seats are there for the public to rest their weary bones?

A couple of thousand would seem reasonable, you'd think. But if you said 100 you'd be spot on the money. Not bad for a place where thousands will congregate each hour. "There are hardly any seats because passengers must stand," huffed an Airports of Thailand (AOT) information officer. "We want them to check in quickly and get to the retail space."

The uniformed staffer added: "We have received many complaints that the duty-free space is too large." At an enormous 20,000 square metres or more, that's a lot of ground to cover. You'll definitely need a seat afterwards.

A female Thai Airways ticket staffer complained: "There are too few seats and too many shops. It's not like an airport but more like a shopping mall."

When the chairman of the AOT board, Srisuk Chandransu, happened by just at that moment, he quickly shied away from The Nation's questions about toilets and public seating, saying he was a bit too busy. The Thai Airways staffer then aired some more concerns as the hours count down to the soft opening of the airport today. "We don't even know what number to call for a wheelchair or any other units for that matter. They haven't handed that over to us yet."

The complaint list began to get bigger: the central conveyor belt should automatically read a check-in tag, but if the tag is not attached properly the computer won't be able to read it and the bag most likely will end up in the wrong terminal.

"For every 50 pieces of test luggage, 20 went missing," said the staff member, who did not want to be identified. So, if a piece of luggage goes missing, what happens next, she was asked. Well, with the new centralised single conveyor system, it means more of a headache to trace it and re-channel it back to the right place. "We're trying to fix it," she said.

The woman staffer added an even more ominous note to the list of complaints. It seems many who will man the airport have not been trained yet. "Training is not completed yet," she said, in an echo of the many critics who feel the government wants the airport opened as soon as possible and at all costs so that it will reap a feel-good windfall ahead of the election.

And what about that most controversial of purchases for the airport, the state-of-the-art CTX X-Ray bomb scanners? Well, the consensus is that they may be good but they only scan luggage after it goes through the conveyor belt, meaning there is still a risk of a bombing, said another Thai Airways staffer.

One major difficulty for passengers boarding public buses to and from the airport is that they will have to off-load and re-load their luggage at the public transport centre. If you are a departing passenger, you will have to grab your bags from the bus and drag them to where your bus is specifically parked. Then you load on the bags and head to the main departure hall.

Oh, you should know that there are no trolleys to help you with this task. Nor air-conditioning to make it more comfortable for you. The AOT claims the shuttle service is "free", but passengers still have to pay airport fees.

"Yes, it's a problem," admits Kaetsuda Ho-morb, a driver on the new public bus link. "Nobody is talking about it ... but we do need the trolleys."

"It looks convenient but in a way it's not," said Darunee Suknakorn, one of the many "airport tourists" who have come to admire the new pride of the Kingdom.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

just four restrooms for men

They had the same problem in Athens when the new airport opened.

There are hardly any seats because passengers must stand," huffed an Airports of Thailand (AOT) information officer. "We want them to check in quickly and get to the retail space."

What collosal arrogance! Scr@w them if I will ever buy one item in their duty free area.

QUESTION:

Are the business lounges actually open/working at this time?

[johnh101]

"For every 50 pieces of test luggage, 20 went missing,"

[fxm88]

With tens of thousands of people departing each day, one of those "distinctive features" is bound to be long queues at the restrooms.

OMG! This can only get worse:

"Airport movements increase 70%", TTR Weekly, August 01, 2006

And that's only at the Phuket airport. (I must admit, I had no idea they kept statistics on this kind of thing.)

Hey! Q: What's brown and lies on a piano stool? A: Beethoven's last movement! HAHAHAHA

[eljeque]

I am reading your above link from the official website for TAT Governor, Juthamas Siriwan

THEIR NUMBERS DO NOT ADD UP!!!!

Phuket International Airport ’s passenger movements soared 69.72% for the first three months of 2006, according to the Airports of Thailand.

The airport reported 1,315,633 passenger movements compared with only 668,779 during the same period last year. Of these 634,996 disembarked, 672,965 embarked and 7,676 were transit passengers.

This is: 96.72 % NOT 69.72%

During the first two months of 2006 international passenger movements skyrocketed 206.16% to 513,870 compared to the 167,843 in the first two months of 2005. The airport reported that 250,577 of these passengers disembarked, 256,264 embarked and 7,029 were in transits.

ok here

Domestic passenger movements shot up 60.05% to 801,763, compared to last year’s 500,936 passengers. Of these, 384,415 passengers disembarked and 416,701 embarked.

March passenger movements reached 412,881, a 47.32% leap over last year’s 280,264. Of these, 197,027 disembarked, 214,125 embarked and 1,729 were in transit.

International passenger movements catapulted 78.81% in March from last year’s 86,246 passengers to 154,219, of which 73,466 disembarked, 79,024 embarked and 1,729 were transit passengers.

Domestic passenger movements in Phuket also jumped in March, showing a 33.32% rise to 258,662 from last year’s 194,018. Of this year’s movements, 123,561 disembarked and 135,101 embarked. Aot estimates the next quarter will record further growth.

513,870 international first two months

801,763 domestic first two months these two = 1,315,633

154,219 international March

258,662 domestic March

1,728,514 Total not 1,315,633 as reported

If I miss read something, please tell me.

[Rinrada]

"For every 50 pieces of test luggage, 20 went missing,"

No Problem...dont carry any luggage...

as said above..

.... whats the score with the new Airline lounges/bars etc...All open and up for business ...shipshape even...are they ...yes

[Crushdepth]

In the words of Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit, Suvarnabhumi is "one of the most modern airports in the world with multiple distinctive features".

Like 'nowhere to piss' ? Must have been designed by a Roman.

[AmeriThai]

Oh, you should know that there are no trolleys to help you with this task. Nor air-conditioning to make it more comfortable for you. The AOT claims the shuttle service is "free", but passengers still have to pay airport fees.

"Yes, it's a problem," admits Kaetsuda Ho-morb, a driver on the new public bus link. "Nobody is talking about it ... but we do need the trolleys."

"It looks convenient but in a way it's not," said Darunee Suknakorn, one of the many "airport tourists" who have come to admire the new pride of the Kingdom.

By "trolleys", is that meaning the wheeled carts people use to push their luggage around when arriving or departing?

[LaoPo]

"For every 50 pieces of test luggage, 20 went missing,"

In other words:

that's 40% of ALL luggage....missing

LaoPo

[sbk]

Lose your luggage (don't need trolleys then, do you?), no place to sit and NOT ENOUGH TOILETS!

Sounds like a complete disaster in the making. Can you imagine the hordes of angry women bearing down on the AOT people looking for bathrooms?

[Huckenfell]

Lose your luggage (don't need trolleys then, do you?), no place to sit and NOT ENOUGH TOILETS!

Sounds like a complete disaster in the making. Can you imagine the hordes of angry women bearing down on the AOT people looking for bathrooms?

Christ!!.....................I was going to be there in december, might be too frightened now, this all sounds disasterous.

[sbk]

Esp the hordes of angry women searching for a bathroom.

Too ugly to even contemplate, isn't it

[sriracha john]

Oh, you should know that there are no trolleys to help you with this task. Nor air-conditioning to make it more comfortable for you. The AOT claims the shuttle service is "free", but passengers still have to pay airport fees.

"Yes, it's a problem," admits Kaetsuda Ho-morb, a driver on the new public bus link. "Nobody is talking about it ... but we do need the trolleys."

"It looks convenient but in a way it's not," said Darunee Suknakorn, one of the many "airport tourists" who have come to admire the new pride of the Kingdom.

By "trolleys", is that meaning the wheeled carts people use to push their luggage around when arriving or departing?

yes... a standard feature of airports since around 1965. Perhaps in another 40 years, the new airport will have them. In the meantime, it's hauling all your luggage by hand through the kilometers and kilometers of hallways and entranceways.

[brahmburgers]

Thanks to Pravit from the Nation for publishing such an informative update on the airport - ...an airport which really wasn't needed as Don Muang could have been updated/enlarged as needed. The key sentence has to do with the airport authorities wanting passengers to mill around at shops rather than relaxing in seats. In numerous ways, Thai planners have shown lack of skills and foresight - not just with the airport but in municipal planning in general. ...should have brought in farang to design the machinations of the airport. Thai planners are dissadvantaged by their educational system which mandates rote learning and suppression of creative 'out of the box' thinking - plus their propensity for blindly following directives from top bosses - who are often just looking at what will fatten the bulge in their wallets.

[AmeriThai]

By "trolleys", is that meaning the wheeled carts people use to push their luggage around when arriving or departing?

yes... a standard feature of airports since around 1965. Perhaps in another 40 years, the new airport will have them. In the meantime, it's hauling all your luggage by hand through the kilometers and kilometers of hallways and entranceways.

YIKES! That's going to be peachy. We're usually loaded to the hilt with luggage filled with things for the family. We're going to postpone things until sometime next year. Maybe by then the airport will have figured out having luggage carts available might be a handy idea. Either that, or we'll have to FedEx everything but the carry ons. Maybe they'll send the carts from Don Meung over to the new airport.

I've got a hunch there's going to be a few unpleasantly surprised people visiting Thailand. Some of those going for the first time may decide to make it their last time. Lessee, no carts, practically no seats or toilets, 20 out of 50 luggage may end up missing... Have I missed anything? But hey, they've got a duty free area as large as a shopping mall. This is going to be a confusing zoo for a while.

Edited September 24, 2006 by AmeriThai

[tartempion]

Oh, you should know that there are no trolleys to help you with this task.

The trolleys will be moved from Dong Muang to Suvarnabhumi on the 28th september between 03.00 and 05.00...LOL, Why buy new ones???

[AmeriThai]

Oh, you should know that there are no trolleys to help you with this task.

The trolleys will be moved from Dong Muang to Suvarnabhumi on the 28th september between 03.00 and 05.00...LOL, Why buy new ones???

Whew! That's a relief. Thanks for the info. I was already starting to feel an aching back just at the thought.

[AmeriThai]

Thanks to Pravit from the Nation for publishing such an informative update on the airport - ...an airport which really wasn't needed as Don Muang could have been updated/enlarged as needed.

What's the elevation of the new airport? It may eventually sink in the swamp.

[The Skipper]

Also reports of slippery tile and sharp edges. Imagine that?

[Sir Burr]

The key sentence has to do with the airport authorities wanting passengers to mill around at shops rather than relaxing in seats. In numerous ways, Thai planners have shown lack of skills and foresight - not just with the airport but in municipal planning in general. ...should have brought in farang to design the machinations of the airport.

If I wanted to make the best airport in the world, I would have approached the Singaporean government for advice.

[Soju]

Lose your luggage (don't need trolleys then, do you?), no place to sit and NOT ENOUGH TOILETS!

Sounds like a complete disaster in the making. Can you imagine the hordes of angry women bearing down on the AOT people looking for bathrooms?

SBK, it is a shortage of men's restrooms that was reported to be a problem, not women's restrooms. If I recall, the original report on this said that there were only 4 men's restrooms which they calculate is not enough. There was no mention of a shortage of women's restrooms, and in fact I saw elsewhere the total number of restrooms in the airport and the number of women's restrooms is much higher than the number of men's restrooms. So rest assured you women won't have a problem, and us men will just have to go outside to the curbside to relieve ourselves.

[sbk]

Lose your luggage (don't need trolleys then, do you?), no place to sit and NOT ENOUGH TOILETS!

Sounds like a complete disaster in the making. Can you imagine the hordes of angry women bearing down on the AOT people looking for bathrooms?

SBK, it is a shortage of men's restrooms that was reported to be a problem, not women's restrooms. If I recall, the original report on this said that there were only 4 men's restrooms which they calculate is not enough. There was no mention of a shortage of women's restrooms, and in fact I saw elsewhere the total number of restrooms in the airport and the number of women's restrooms is much higher than the number of men's restrooms. So rest assured you women won't have a problem, and us men will just have to go outside to the curbside to relieve ourselves.

Well, thank god for that

I'll just avert my eyes as I have done for many years now.

[sriracha john]

In light of the shortage of mens rooms and following in a classical Thai tradition, I understand plans are underway to construct a plain brick wall for which men can openly relieve themselves upon. It will be located on the main concourse in full view of all.

[Lacoste]

Why don't you wait until you have a complaint before you start moaning on here?

Has anyone had a problem with the airport yet? If not you don't realy have call to complain.

[sriracha john]

That's good logic. No need to replace a missing storm drain cover until someone actually drives their motorcycle into it and gets hurt.

[Lacoste]

Well the talk of slippery tiles and sharp edges and the aiport could sink in to the swamp are just pathetic, sorry.

[sriracha john]

That's ok. People who have ever travelled with young children or senior citizens will recognize the varied dangers inherent with the multiple types of shortcomings described at the airport.

[bmanly]

If they only got the 1 duty free operator like they do at the current airport then what's the point? All the same merchandise and the same prices shop after shop after shop.

[astral]

I hope they will move the seats from Don Muang?

As for the toilets that is appallingly bad design.

What will happen if flights are delayed and the departure halls are full????

[Soju]

I hope they will move the seats from Don Muang?

As for the toilets that is appallingly bad design.

What will happen if flights are delayed and the departure halls are full????

If I read it correctly, they are only talking about a shortage of men's restrooms in the departure hall, meaning the airline check-in area, landside. After you go through immigration, there certainly will be many more restrooms, with at least one nearby to every gate.

As it is now, there certainly aren't a huge number of restrooms in the departure hall at Don Muang. I've never counted them, but I've only seen a couple, I think one on each end, of Terminal 1, and the same for Terminal 2. But as it is I've never ever had to wait there to use one even when there is a mass of people waiting around there. If there ever was a problem with a wait, there are lots of other options, either upstairs or downstairs.

Same with the seats. There currently are not many seats in the departure hall at Don Muang. I've never counted them, but there certainly aren't thousands. I'd guess 200 at most in each terminal, but probably closer to 100. During busy times they are completely full and people standing around. The airport doesn't want people waiting just waiting around in the departure hall. They want you to check-in and go to your departure gate, departure lounge, or duty-free area. If your flight and check-in is delayed, they want you to go do some shopping, eating, or something else upstairs or away from the departure hall.

Being I don't think there's a huge difference between the number of seats or toilets between the departure hall at Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi, I think this report was way off the mark. Their statements that there should be "200 or even 300" men's toilets and "a couple of thousand" seats is utterly rediculous!!! I have never seen any airport in the world with anywhere near those numbers of toilets and seats in the departure hall. Perhaps the writer forgot what he intially defined as the "departure hall", and wrongly assumed that those numbers were for the entire airport.