Don't Go To Suvarnabhumi With A Bad Stomach

[phibunmike]

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????

No, it is all clever design:

1. As SBK said, no need for trolleys if 40% of the luggage is lost;

2. No need for seats if everyone is queuing for the loo.

[AmeriThai]

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

Taking a bit of humor a bit too serious?

[svenivan]

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.

Maybe we, the people, like to stay in the departure hall. Maybe we have people taking us to the airport and we want to spend some time with them after checking in instead of waiting alone for hours at the gate.

Maybe we want to sneak out outside for a little smoke instead of sitting in one of the smokerooms.

So should the airport be designed for us, the passengers or for the dutyfreeshops etc?

Me myself has always spent most of my time at the departure hall, in one of the restaurants outside etc before going in time to my gate.

[Soju]

Me myself has always spent most of my time at the departure hall, in one of the restaurants outside etc before going in time to my gate.

And there is nothing to prevent you from doing the same thing at the new airport. I haven't seen anyone say there is a lack of restaurants at Suvarnabhumi, though I wouldn't be surprised if there could be a few initial problems if all of them aren't ready for opening on September 28. The airport is a business. Just like any other business, they don't want customers arriving hours early and just taking up seating without buying anything. You go to a restaurant and buy something to eat/drink and you get to sit. You don't want to buy anything and you can stand. If they added thousands of seats to the departure area, it would mean increasing the size of the departure hall and it would mean a more costly terminal which would translate into a higher departure tax for all of us passengers whether we used it or not.

Answer me this, what airport in the world has thousands of seats in their departure hall? I've never in my life seen one. Maybe a few airports have such seating, but certainly I've never seen it and I've been to many airports around the world. Granted, I don't spend much time in departure halls, so I could have missed it if it did exist. If such airports don't currently exist, then what make you think that Suvarnabhumi should be any different? Tell me this, what other businesses in the world have huge special seating areas just for customers who arrive hours earlier than they're supposed to? I've never seen any such business. Sure there are stadiums and such that have lots of seats as part of their business but those are not special seats for early arrivals. Doctors offices and other such businesses have seats for waiting customers, but it is because of the nature of the business whereby they expect their customers to wait.

Suvarnabhumi is designed to handle over 100,000 passengers a day. Think about it...if all the departing passengers wanted to do as you and have several of their friends accompany them to the airport and just hang out in the departure hall for several hours, what a total mad house it would be. Nobody in their right mind would want to go near an airport that allowed such a situation. Some airports have such a problem with this that they are forced to restrict the airport to passengers only and not allow any guests inside. Just be thankful that Thailand has not needed to resort to this. But it certainly will if everyone wanted to do what you are suggesting.

[svenivan]

I am not talking about adding thousands of seats in the departure hall.

If you are sending your 16 year daughter on her first trip going alone I am sure that you want to go to the airport together with her to see that she arrives at the right terminal, that she come to the right checkincounter etc etc. And you have to be there 2 hours before flight time, maybe you add 30 min for eventual trafficjams etc so you are there in good time.

After checkin maybe you want to have chat with her, still 2.5 hours before the flight so why rush.

In your world you are not allowed to follow her to the airport, you send her by taxi, with a driver that does not talk english, that might drop her at wrong terminal etc. etc.

Still I like airports that are designed for their customers. Not to make records to be the biggest, the highest, with most corruption etc etc etc.

If they design to cut the walking distance from the plane to immigration, to bagage and from there to taxi/airportbus (without loading your luggage in and out of the local airportbus).

If they design so it is easy to find your way to the right departureterminal, the right checkin, easy to find a restroom, easy to find your gate without too much walking.

And maybe with a variety of dutyfree shops that have prices that are lower than outside the airport.

I don't think that will be a more expensive design and they does not need to rise their fees.

What do you think?

[Soju]

I am not talking about adding thousands of seats in the departure hall.

If you are sending your 16 year daughter on her first trip going alone I am sure that you want to go to the airport together with her to see that she arrives at the right terminal, that she come to the right checkincounter etc etc. And you have to be there 2 hours before flight time, maybe you add 30 min for eventual trafficjams etc so you are there in good time.

After checkin maybe you want to have chat with her, still 2.5 hours before the flight so why rush.

In your world you are not allowed to follow her to the airport, you send her by taxi, with a driver that does not talk english, that might drop her at wrong terminal etc. etc.

Still I like airports that are designed for their customers. Not to make records to be the biggest, the highest, with most corruption etc etc etc.

If they design to cut the walking distance from the plane to immigration, to bagage and from there to taxi/airportbus (without loading your luggage in and out of the local airportbus).

If they design so it is easy to find your way to the right departureterminal, the right checkin, easy to find a restroom, easy to find your gate without too much walking.

And maybe with a variety of dutyfree shops that have prices that are lower than outside the airport.

I don't think that will be a more expensive design and they does not need to rise their fees.

What do you think?

In your original post, you quoted an article that said this

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.

That is where I came up with the "thousands of seats" from. I thought the author of that article was absolutely looney to suggest that thousands of seats in the departure halls of airports should be a standard feature. If you say you think there should be 500 rather than the existing 100, I wouldn't argue the point. I see 100 as being adequate being I'll likely never use the seats, but I can see some people using them and 500 wouldn't be so excessive as to cause major conjestion problems.

With regard to wanting to bring your daughter to the airport and spend some time on her first trip, certainly as we already discussed, you can go have a seat in one of the coffee shops or restaurants and enjoy eating/drinking something while spending your time with her. And certainly wouldn't that be more enjoyable as opposed to just sitting in a departure hall? For me, I don't see the big deal. If there's empty seats in the departure hall and you want to sit, then sit. If there aren't any, then go to a restaurant and buy something and sit there. Whether they put 100 seats in or 500 seats, or even 1000 seats, undoubtedly there will be certain times when all the seats are occupied and you'd still be forced to find alternate seating or do without. There is no solution to this problem without creating a new and bigger problem.

Your other comments seem to me to be valid. Certainly designing an airport with the customer in mind would be great. It would have been great if this new airport could have been built without any corruption, which will only be paid for by us passengers. It would be great if they would have allowed real competition at the shops, resulting in fairer prices. But this is Thailand and we all know that corruption exists here as it does in many other countries. We can dream of a perfect airport, but I don't think it's really reasonable to expect one. Even without the corruption, the airport, just like any other business, has to balance the customer's wishes against the economics. You could build the world's greatest airport that had everything any passenger would want, but if the construction and maintenance costs were too much so that the passengers and airlines couldn't afford to pay the fees, then it would do nobody any good.

Anyways, based on initial reports, I certainly don't think the new airport is the best that it could be. I think many people's complaints are valid, at least to some extent. But I also am very thankful for the new airport as I'm sure it will be a vast improvement over Don Muang, certainly after the initial kinks are worked out.

[DrDweeb]

I am not talking about adding thousands of seats in the departure hall.

If you are sending your 16 year daughter on her first trip going alone I am sure that you want to go to the airport together with her to see that she arrives at the right terminal, that she come to the right checkincounter etc etc. And you have to be there 2 hours before flight time, maybe you add 30 min for eventual trafficjams etc so you are there in good time.

After checkin maybe you want to have chat with her, still 2.5 hours before the flight so why rush.

In your world you are not allowed to follow her to the airport, you send her by taxi, with a driver that does not talk english, that might drop her at wrong terminal etc. etc.

Still I like airports that are designed for their customers. Not to make records to be the biggest, the highest, with most corruption etc etc etc.

If they design to cut the walking distance from the plane to immigration, to bagage and from there to taxi/airportbus (without loading your luggage in and out of the local airportbus).

If they design so it is easy to find your way to the right departureterminal, the right checkin, easy to find a restroom, easy to find your gate without too much walking.

And maybe with a variety of dutyfree shops that have prices that are lower than outside the airport.

I don't think that will be a more expensive design and they does not need to rise their fees.

What do you think?

In your original post, you quoted an article that said this

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.

That is where I came up with the "thousands of seats" from. I thought the author of that article was absolutely looney to suggest that thousands of seats in the departure halls of airports should be a standard feature. If you say you think there should be 500 rather than the existing 100, I wouldn't argue the point. I see 100 as being adequate being I'll likely never use the seats, but I can see some people using them and 500 wouldn't be so excessive as to cause major conjestion problems.

With regard to wanting to bring your daughter to the airport and spend some time on her first trip, certainly as we already discussed, you can go have a seat in one of the coffee shops or restaurants and enjoy eating/drinking something while spending your time with her. And certainly wouldn't that be more enjoyable as opposed to just sitting in a departure hall? For me, I don't see the big deal. If there's empty seats in the departure hall and you want to sit, then sit. If there aren't any, then go to a restaurant and buy something and sit there. Whether they put 100 seats in or 500 seats, or even 1000 seats, undoubtedly there will be certain times when all the seats are occupied and you'd still be forced to find alternate seating or do without. There is no solution to this problem without creating a new and bigger problem.

Your other comments seem to me to be valid. Certainly designing an airport with the customer in mind would be great. It would have been great if this new airport could have been built without any corruption, which will only be paid for by us passengers. It would be great if they would have allowed real competition at the shops, resulting in fairer prices. But this is Thailand and we all know that corruption exists here as it does in many other countries. We can dream of a perfect airport, but I don't think it's really reasonable to expect one. Even without the corruption, the airport, just like any other business, has to balance the customer's wishes against the economics. You could build the world's greatest airport that had everything any passenger would want, but if the construction and maintenance costs were too much so that the passengers and airlines couldn't afford to pay the fees, then it would do nobody any good.

Anyways, based on initial reports, I certainly don't think the new airport is the best that it could be. I think many people's complaints are valid, at least to some extent. But I also am very thankful for the new airport as I'm sure it will be a vast improvement over Don Muang, certainly after the initial kinks are worked out.

You know, I really like Don Muang. It is one of the easiest airports to go through anywhere in the world. I fly well over 100 sectors a year, and hit plenty of airports and Don Muang is fine by me.

From my Hotel to DM, checkin and through immigration is rarely ever more than 30 minutes (OK, my flights are almost always between 23:00 and 01:00, but still ...). Coming in is always brisk with a minimum of fuss, kerbside cabs 10 metres from the door - ok, I have waited 5 minutes in the queue on rare occasions. If you want to talk about airport disaster zones, DM is not on my list.

I will miss DM.

I will in and out of TNA next week and 3-4 times more before year end, so I will have some first hand experience soon

[Plus]

What happens if there are weather problems and hundreds of flights are delayed by a few of hours each?

I know, Thais will find straw mats, sit on the floor and eat grilled chicken. Pee outside against the walls.

[Soju]

I mentioned this in my report on Suvarnabhumi, but thought I'd reiterate it here in this thread.

There are 540 seats in the departure hall, not 100 as the report says. There are 108 units, each with 5 seats each, so maybe the author was confused about that. There are 1405 total seats on all 4 levels, landside. Plenty of seats IMHO. Even with lots of people there, there was no problem finding an empty seat on any level.

The men's toilets do seem to be a problem, but with that said I didn't see anyone waiting. We'll have to wait and see if it really becomes a problem or not.

[Flow]

The windows and toilets aren't as clean as at Don Muang. And waht a mess in the arrival hall at around 6.00 pm the space simply wasn't big enough for all the waiting people for the arriving passengers, I had to elbow my way through the crowd to get trhough from domestic to international. Terrible planning!

Not enough restaurants. Dozens of people waiting for a seat at S&P and literally hundreds of people inside the food court which is imo is way way too small. An expensive restaurant/bar just underneath the observation deck, helloooo not everyone has loads of cash to afford a drink at these kinds of places!!!

Very limited signs so most people obviously got lost...

There is no comparison between Singapore's Changi airport and the new BKK airport. Singapore is truly much better. But having said this, it is the airport's first day so hopefully they'll improve things.

On another note, transportation to and from the airport is fast and convenient. Took the 551 bus around 4 pm from the Victory monument just 45 minutes all the way to the airport's bus terminal. Then a shuttle bus, 15 minutes becuase... of heavy traffic, taxis and taxis and more empty taxis.

Going back I took the 552 around 7 pm to BTS Onuch, also fast and conveneint just one hour. 35 Baht one way.

[Soju]

The windows and toilets aren't as clean as at Don Muang. And waht a mess in the arrival hall at around 6.00 pm the space simply wasn't big enough for all the waiting people for the arriving passengers, I had to elbow my way through the crowd to get trhough from domestic to international. Terrible planning!

Not enough restaurants. Dozens of people waiting for a seat at S&P and literally hundreds of people inside the food court which is imo is way way too small. An expensive restaurant/bar just underneath the observation deck, helloooo not everyone has loads of cash to afford a drink at these kinds of places!!!

Very limited signs so most people obviously got lost...

There is no comparison between Singapore's Changi airport and the new BKK airport. Singapore is truly much better. But having said this, it is the airport's first day so hopefully they'll improve things.

On another note, transportation to and from the airport is fast and convenient. Took the 551 bus around 4 pm from the Victory monument just 45 minutes all the way to the airport's bus terminal. Then a shuttle bus, 15 minutes becuase... of heavy traffic, taxis and taxis and more empty taxis.

Going back I took the 552 around 7 pm to BTS Onuch, also fast and conveneint just one hour. 35 Baht one way.

I visited 4 different restrooms (no I don't have a bladder problem, just wanted to check them out), and didn't notice any unusually dirty ones, but at the time of day I imagine they weren't getting as much use as during the peak hours, so the staff had more time to clean them. I think with some of the construction and what not still going on, the cleaning staff likely have their hands full and probably can't dedicate as much time to cleaning windows and cleaning the restrooms as they would under normal operating conditions. I did visit one restroom where the floor was still wet, evidently having just been cleaned minutes before by the cleaning staff. Water was working in all the restrooms, but they have those automatic sinks in some and one of the restrooms I visited had only 2 out of 3 sinks working. The ones that did work seemed to not have very sensitive sensors.

I totally agree with you about the arrival area. That was by far my biggest complaint about the airport. Really poor planning there IMHO. They definitely need to do something about it. Very difficult for passengers to navigate and this was at 01:15.

[h5n1]

the toilet, seats are serious design issues.

given the problems thailand has created for its expat community it is possible to see people flying into kuala lampur, singapore or enterining cambodia from hkg or kl.

coming up from malaysia one can stop in penang for visa. heading to cambodia overland. why stop in bkk. just fly in and you dont hassle with any time ticking on your stamps.

this IS the thai way folks. this airport was not needed. nothing a facelift, new equipment and THE REMOVAL OF ALL MANY OF DUTY FREE SHOPS IN DON MUANG (WHICH HAVE GROWN INTO INFECTIOUS DISEASE LEAVING NO SPACE FOR SEATING) and a new runway would not fix.

this would also have avoided many of the corruption issues as well.

thailand is under misimpression that somehow a new airport will mean more tourists. unless people could not holiday here due to full flights this is pure folly.

i am really angry they have put in all that freaking duty free garbage and no seating - EXACTLY like don muang (so everyone will be sitting on the floor like DM and PAYING XTRA B200).

changyi ROCKS - it must be the BEST airport in the world. all airports should take a clue from sng.

Edited September 29, 2006 by h5n1

[Plus]

So you are saying take a train instead of inconvenience of using SA? Have you seen toilet seats on Thai trains? Have you tried squeesing into a toilet on a Thai bus?

That's overreacting. This time next year the airport will running as smooth as silk. You are most welcome to try again.

Sorry about Duty Free. That will never imporve.

[Savage]

the toilet, seats are serious design issues.

given the problems thailand has created for its expat community it is possible to see people flying into kuala lampur, singapore or enterining cambodia from hkg or kl.

coming up from malaysia one can stop in penang for visa. heading to cambodia overland. why stop in bkk. just fly in and you dont hassle with any time ticking on your stamps.

this IS the thai way folks. this airport was not needed. nothing a facelift, new equipment and THE REMOVAL OF ALL MANY OF DUTY FREE SHOPS IN DON MUANG (WHICH HAVE GROWN INTO INFECTIOUS DISEASE LEAVING NO SPACE FOR SEATING) and a new runway would not fix.

this would also have avoided many of the corruption issues as well.

thailand is under misimpression that somehow a new airport will mean more tourists. unless people could not holiday here due to full flights this is pure folly.

i am really angry they have put in all that freaking duty free garbage and no seating - EXACTLY like don muang (so everyone will be sitting on the floor like DM and PAYING XTRA B200).

changyi ROCKS - it must be the BEST airport in the world. all airports should take a clue from sng.

Good anti-Thai diatribe! Why do you hate everything Thai? Do you hate to see see them have success at anything & does it make you rage inside?

Singapore Changi could perhaps be a little bit better but the new airport has only just opened so all problems will soon be creased over.

I rest assured that wherever you are from be it London, Sydney or New York that your airport is no match for the new Thai airport.

Stop being so bitter!

[DrDweeb]

the toilet, seats are serious design issues.

given the problems thailand has created for its expat community it is possible to see people flying into kuala lampur, singapore or enterining cambodia from hkg or kl.

coming up from malaysia one can stop in penang for visa. heading to cambodia overland. why stop in bkk. just fly in and you dont hassle with any time ticking on your stamps.

this IS the thai way folks. this airport was not needed. nothing a facelift, new equipment and THE REMOVAL OF ALL MANY OF DUTY FREE SHOPS IN DON MUANG (WHICH HAVE GROWN INTO INFECTIOUS DISEASE LEAVING NO SPACE FOR SEATING) and a new runway would not fix.

this would also have avoided many of the corruption issues as well.

thailand is under misimpression that somehow a new airport will mean more tourists. unless people could not holiday here due to full flights this is pure folly.

i am really angry they have put in all that freaking duty free garbage and no seating - EXACTLY like don muang (so everyone will be sitting on the floor like DM and PAYING XTRA B200).

changyi ROCKS - it must be the BEST airport in the world. all airports should take a clue from sng.

Good anti-Thai diatribe! Why do you hate everything Thai? Do you hate to see see them have success at anything & does it make you rage inside?

Singapore Changi could perhaps be a little bit better but the new airport has only just opened so all problems will soon be creased over.

I rest assured that wherever you are from be it London, Sydney or New York that your airport is no match for the new Thai airport.

Stop being so bitter!

Sydney is pretty good actually !

And I know for a fact that the roof does not leak

The Taxi access works, the train access is easy.

There are plenty of shops, seating, loos etc. in the departure hall

I cannot recall any complaint at Sydney except that the immigration queue on the way out at peak hour is sometimes a bit long.

[Soju]

the toilet, seats are serious design issues.

given the problems thailand has created for its expat community it is possible to see people flying into kuala lampur, singapore or enterining cambodia from hkg or kl.

coming up from malaysia one can stop in penang for visa. heading to cambodia overland. why stop in bkk. just fly in and you dont hassle with any time ticking on your stamps.

this IS the thai way folks. this airport was not needed. nothing a facelift, new equipment and THE REMOVAL OF ALL MANY OF DUTY FREE SHOPS IN DON MUANG (WHICH HAVE GROWN INTO INFECTIOUS DISEASE LEAVING NO SPACE FOR SEATING) and a new runway would not fix.

this would also have avoided many of the corruption issues as well.

thailand is under misimpression that somehow a new airport will mean more tourists. unless people could not holiday here due to full flights this is pure folly.

i am really angry they have put in all that freaking duty free garbage and no seating - EXACTLY like don muang (so everyone will be sitting on the floor like DM and PAYING XTRA B200).

changyi ROCKS - it must be the BEST airport in the world. all airports should take a clue from sng.

Did you read my report? Did you actually visit the airport? If not, why the complaint about a non-existent seating problem? I was there twice in 24 hours, both times there were lots and lots of people there. There were MANY more people there for that time of day than I ever saw at Don Muang in all my many travels there. And still there were NO problems with seating. Let me repeat that NO problems with seating. This reported seating problem IMHO was a bogus report. One more time, there is NO problem with seating. There was not a single place where there wasn't an empty seat, and probably at least 20% of the passengers were spread out, sleeping over 3, 4, or 5 seats. I'm assuming that the huge numbers of people there were due to delayed flights, luggage problems. The seating capacity looks to be on-par with other major airports I've been to.

The number of toilets does seem to be very low, but there was no waiting. I would not be surprised if during peak capacity times you need to wait. I've heard it reported that they are planning to install more toilets to alleviate this problem, but this will almost certainly take some time. But before you critisize too much the lack of toilets, lets wait and see how much of a problem it really is.

[bkkandrew]

I am not talking about adding thousands of seats in the departure hall.

If you are sending your 16 year daughter on her first trip going alone I am sure that you want to go to the airport together with her to see that she arrives at the right terminal, that she come to the right checkincounter etc etc. And you have to be there 2 hours before flight time, maybe you add 30 min for eventual trafficjams etc so you are there in good time.

After checkin maybe you want to have chat with her, still 2.5 hours before the flight so why rush.

In your world you are not allowed to follow her to the airport, you send her by taxi, with a driver that does not talk english, that might drop her at wrong terminal etc. etc.

Still I like airports that are designed for their customers. Not to make records to be the biggest, the highest, with most corruption etc etc etc.

If they design to cut the walking distance from the plane to immigration, to bagage and from there to taxi/airportbus (without loading your luggage in and out of the local airportbus).

If they design so it is easy to find your way to the right departureterminal, the right checkin, easy to find a restroom, easy to find your gate without too much walking.

And maybe with a variety of dutyfree shops that have prices that are lower than outside the airport.

I don't think that will be a more expensive design and they does not need to rise their fees.

What do you think?

In your original post, you quoted an article that said this

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.

That is where I came up with the "thousands of seats" from. I thought the author of that article was absolutely looney to suggest that thousands of seats in the departure halls of airports should be a standard feature. If you say you think there should be 500 rather than the existing 100, I wouldn't argue the point. I see 100 as being adequate being I'll likely never use the seats, but I can see some people using them and 500 wouldn't be so excessive as to cause major conjestion problems.

With regard to wanting to bring your daughter to the airport and spend some time on her first trip, certainly as we already discussed, you can go have a seat in one of the coffee shops or restaurants and enjoy eating/drinking something while spending your time with her. And certainly wouldn't that be more enjoyable as opposed to just sitting in a departure hall? For me, I don't see the big deal. If there's empty seats in the departure hall and you want to sit, then sit. If there aren't any, then go to a restaurant and buy something and sit there. Whether they put 100 seats in or 500 seats, or even 1000 seats, undoubtedly there will be certain times when all the seats are occupied and you'd still be forced to find alternate seating or do without. There is no solution to this problem without creating a new and bigger problem.

Your other comments seem to me to be valid. Certainly designing an airport with the customer in mind would be great. It would have been great if this new airport could have been built without any corruption, which will only be paid for by us passengers. It would be great if they would have allowed real competition at the shops, resulting in fairer prices. But this is Thailand and we all know that corruption exists here as it does in many other countries. We can dream of a perfect airport, but I don't think it's really reasonable to expect one. Even without the corruption, the airport, just like any other business, has to balance the customer's wishes against the economics. You could build the world's greatest airport that had everything any passenger would want, but if the construction and maintenance costs were too much so that the passengers and airlines couldn't afford to pay the fees, then it would do nobody any good.

Anyways, based on initial reports, I certainly don't think the new airport is the best that it could be. I think many people's complaints are valid, at least to some extent. But I also am very thankful for the new airport as I'm sure it will be a vast improvement over Don Muang, certainly after the initial kinks are worked out.

You know, I really like Don Muang. It is one of the easiest airports to go through anywhere in the world. I fly well over 100 sectors a year, and hit plenty of airports and Don Muang is fine by me.

From my Hotel to DM, checkin and through immigration is rarely ever more than 30 minutes (OK, my flights are almost always between 23:00 and 01:00, but still ...). Coming in is always brisk with a minimum of fuss, kerbside cabs 10 metres from the door - ok, I have waited 5 minutes in the queue on rare occasions. If you want to talk about airport disaster zones, DM is not on my list.

I will miss DM.

I will in and out of TNA next week and 3-4 times more before year end, so I will have some first hand experience soon

You know - I agree. DM was great. I fly about as much as you and not many airports are as user friendly as DM. Christ try DBX - supposedly state of the art - always a nightmare. Business class lounge a zoo...

[Johpa]

You know - I agree. DM was great. I fly about as much as you and not many airports are as user friendly as DM. Christ try DBX - supposedly state of the art - always a nightmare. Business class lounge a zoo...

Too many people forget that Don Muang was a very recently upgraded and expanded airport. The only downside, which made the departure lounge seem more crowded, was the replacement of seating with an endless row of small knick-knack shops selling over priced souvenirs. Yet there was always plenty fo seating in the gate area, and if your particular gate got a bit crowded the adjoining gate seating areas were always empty.

As for international arrivals at Don Muang, I never found limmigration lines longer than at most major airports when you have more than one 747 arriving within minutes of another. Luggage retrieval was on par with peer airports. And the fairly new elevated highway connections made travel into and from the city a relative breeze.

So although some may find reasons for kudos for getting Suvanabhum finally open, please don't forget that it was, in the end, just a gift to contractors and others.

[Krub]

Sydney is pretty good actually !

And I know for a fact that the roof does not leak

The Taxi access works, the train access is easy.

There are plenty of shops, seating, loos etc. in the departure hall

I cannot recall any complaint at Sydney except that the immigration queue on the way out at peak hour is sometimes a bit long.

Sydney is terrible for arriving around 6 or 7am for a non Australian passport holder. Never done it quicker than 90 minutes from plane to immigration booth. After more than 10 hours on a night flight it is a disgrace to treat arriving passengers that way.

[ernieK24]

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.

Maybe I'm seeing things, or you guys had your eyes closed. My daughter is coming next month, for a visit from California, so we took a look-see ride to the new SueWannaBoom airport. We saw a "gazillion" brand new baggage carts, modern design, looked like "stainless steel", (and expensive), and quite a few (I guess) "local" passengers arriving and departing. I personally could not hardly believe the hugeness of the place, nor the apparently organized operations. They were feverishly putting the final touches on the vending cubicles, some were already open, some not, and it appeared they were working 24 hrs getting ready.....That was 3 days before "official" opening and there were very few people, mostly gawkers like us, and LOTS of workers and officials mulling about.

I'm hoping for the best, but fear the worst.....ErnieK