The Early Guinea Pig Catches The Worm....

[skippybangkok]

Guinea Pig.

Had a meeting in Singapore today, and had the best of luck that it had to be today (go/return). Although there are teething issues, just to let you know what ur up against

1. Checking requires looong que-ing ( non expat friendly as we know how to beat the system at Don Meung ).

2. Queues were about 30+ minutes.Still have system bugs to work out.

3. Paid 500 baht tax ( not 700 ?)

4. No picture at immigration ( I used to love smiling 4 the camera )

5. Make sure you hike a few mountains and national parks as the walk to the gates is loooonnnnnnnnnggggggg with no walk-a-lators

6. Appreciation of design is subjective, but for me I feel I am in a factory

with all the trusses and beams, and support wires on the roof and walls in the check in area. It looks very messy ( I used to work part time in a factory as a kid during my studies repairing equipment )

7.The canvas 'tunnel' walk ways, are depressing to me. Feels closed in, dark and dull. Totally opposite of what I expected from reading articles. Hardly any natural light until you get to the gate area, feels like your walking through a big dark tent, and the troughs of the arches sweep down.

8.

Floors are very slippery..... There was a guy being pushed in a wheel chair in front of me. When going down the walk ways there are ramps, the guy holding the wheel chair just held on to the handles, and slid all the way down ( about 20 meters or so ) admidst alot of giggles. I did my impression of a cross-country ski-er. My shoes are not so slippery ( i think i have hard rubber souls ), so watch out if you have leather.

9 I said to my wife as a joke ( expecting it to come true ), " I bet we will get shoved on a bus " as is the common pracive with TG regional flights. Boarding pass said E1a gate..... suspected i was right, and sure enough , it was a bus terminal again ( TG, if you dont have enough money to hook up to a real gate, can you really run a airline business? (yes folks, this normally is a saving $$ feature of TG ). Even Nok air uses gates !! )

10. Finally..... Wil try to post a picture ( paints 1000 words ), leaving the building to get on the bus, was like walking through the Suwannabom scrap yard.Words cannot describe it, and passengers had to tippy toe through the scrap lying all over the place, and dodge crates of construction junk. I have seen the rear end of Thai factories which were cleaner. Very embarrasing. Gives u a clear indication about the competency of the head and project team for AOT.

On a positive note, we left only about 50 mins late, which is good for the first day of a new airport.

Edited September 28, 2006 by skippybangkok

[Sarpedon]

Dont suppose you saw the re-entry permit office on your travels round the airport?

[skippybangkok]

Got Multi-entry, so did not see it.

Here is the pic by the way.....

[skippybangkok]

“We have installed passport reading machines at the gate. The passengers need to present their passport a second time before boarding an aircraft. This is to prevent the usage of bogus passports. The machines are also connected to a database of wanted persons,” said Suwat.

Nope, did not see any of such machines !

[ace]

Any news on transport to/from the airport?

You used bus-bus, bus-taxi?

Taxis available at airport arrivals?

Any info appreciated. Still a few weeks to my arrival but interested to know.

[skippybangkok]

Any news on transport to/from the airport?

You used bus-bus, bus-taxi?

Taxis available at airport arrivals?

Any info appreciated. Still a few weeks to my arrival but interested to know.

Mrs. sent me, hopefully there to pick me up. I assume it should not be too difficult to find. Heard that they would allow taxi's now, but just like the 700 baht being 500, its anyones guess

[thaiflyer1]

Any news on transport to/from the airport?

You used bus-bus, bus-taxi?

Taxis available at airport arrivals?

Any info appreciated. Still a few weeks to my arrival but interested to know.

Mrs. sent me, hopefully there to pick me up. I assume it should not be too difficult to find. Heard that they would allow taxi's now, but just like the 700 baht being 500, its anyones guess

Taxis are available at the arrivals terminal door...........1300 baht to Pattaya inc. tolls. (got one 2 days ago)

Dont know how much from the transportation center.

[ovenman]

Guinea Pig.

I passed through Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday (the 26th) en route from Chiang Mai to Penang on AirAsia. Judging by your report, it doesn't sound like much got finished from what I saw on Tuesday, although you say they are collecting the departure tax now. I skated on this requirement.

Going to my departure gate (in 'C' block), one had to traverse this under construction shopping concourse that was a horrifying mess: junk piled everywhere, cables strewn about, no air-conditioning, and a thick coating of construction dust everywhere. It was so dirty that one didn't want to touch anything or sit down. I wonder whether they got that area cleaned up since then...?

[Flow]

Guinea Pig.

6. Appreciation of design is subjective, but for me I feel I am in a factory

Couldn't agree with you more. A nice modern new airport but it does make you feel you're in a factory - not my taste either. Also 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.

[skippybangkok]

Arrived, delayed slightly. Was lucky to get an Aero bridge this time. The walk from the gate to the immigration was horrendously long. Immigration was short on exit and entry.

Fully agree with Flow's comments on the exit, it is pretty messy with people everywhere, Don Muang was better than that.

Good thing was trip home to Thonglor by car was 20mins, and no toll ( not yet anyway just wait till they figure that one out)

The designer is colour blind in my assessment. Everything is on shade of grey or another, like watching a black and white TV. If there with ur kids, can invent a new game "spot the colour".

I had no bags, so dont know how that went. All in all, besides the rubbish at the bus, they seem to have less teething problems than KL / HK. But I am dissapointed in the design. Changi has a more peronable feel to it.

[Soju]

Guinea Pig.

Had a meeting in Singapore today, and had the best of luck that it had to be today (go/return). Although there are teething issues, just to let you know what ur up against

1. Checking requires looong que-ing ( non expat friendly as we know how to beat the system at Don Meung ).

2. Queues were about 30+ minutes.Still have system bugs to work out.

3. Paid 500 baht tax ( not 700 ?)

4. No picture at immigration ( I used to love smiling 4 the camera )

5. Make sure you hike a few mountains and national parks as the walk to the gates is loooonnnnnnnnnggggggg with no walk-a-lators

6. Appreciation of design is subjective, but for me I feel I am in a factory

with all the trusses and beams, and support wires on the roof and walls in the check in area. It looks very messy ( I used to work part time in a factory as a kid during my studies repairing equipment )

7.The canvas 'tunnel' walk ways, are depressing to me. Feels closed in, dark and dull. Totally opposite of what I expected from reading articles. Hardly any natural light until you get to the gate area, feels like your walking through a big dark tent, and the troughs of the arches sweep down.

8.

Floors are very slippery..... There was a guy being pushed in a wheel chair in front of me. When going down the walk ways there are ramps, the guy holding the wheel chair just held on to the handles, and slid all the way down ( about 20 meters or so ) admidst alot of giggles. I did my impression of a cross-country ski-er. My shoes are not so slippery ( i think i have hard rubber souls ), so watch out if you have leather.

9 I said to my wife as a joke ( expecting it to come true ), " I bet we will get shoved on a bus " as is the common pracive with TG regional flights. Boarding pass said E1a gate..... suspected i was right, and sure enough , it was a bus terminal again ( TG, if you dont have enough money to hook up to a real gate, can you really run a airline business? (yes folks, this normally is a saving $$ feature of TG ). Even Nok air uses gates !! )

10. Finally..... Wil try to post a picture ( paints 1000 words ), leaving the building to get on the bus, was like walking through the Suwannabom scrap yard.Words cannot describe it, and passengers had to tippy toe through the scrap lying all over the place, and dodge crates of construction junk. I have seen the rear end of Thai factories which were cleaner. Very embarrasing. Gives u a clear indication about the competency of the head and project team for AOT.

On a positive note, we left only about 50 mins late, which is good for the first day of a new airport.

They announced several weeks ago that ALL airports in Thailand will be increasing to 700 THB next year, but that Suvarnabhumi would open with the same 500 THB and would only increase to 700 next year when the other airports do likewise.

The gates are a long way, but all the moving walkways were working from my gate to immigration. Then this morning flying domestic one of the many walkways was not working, the rest were working fine.

By not using the cameras, the immigration step is much shorter. I prefer the lack of cameras.

Nok Air used gates at Don Muang? I never had a flight where they used a gate. Always got bused. But Nok Air is using gates at Suvarnabhumi. Saw one parked there this morning. I'm surprised to hear that you got bused on THAI. There seemed to be so many empty gates, but maybe some of them aren't yet finished, thus the need to bus you until they are finished.

I didn't see any trash, but maybe because I arrived later it was all cleared away, or maybe due to being in a different part of the airport.

I didn't come across any area of the airport with slippery floors and I walked extensively around the landside area with shoes that are very subject to slipping on slippery floors. Where abouts did you encounter the slippery floors?

Edited September 29, 2006 by Soju

[skippybangkok]

checked in Row H, and when u walk out of there, you can go stright to immigration. After that you walk down a ramp with the tug of war on the snake thingy. I turned right to go to E-section....... the whole way was white tiles, and they were slippery. My foot lost traction every time i made a step ( like on ice ). as you walk further, i thing there are some stairs, and on the left, a ramp which i took. I seriously "cross country ski-ed" down the slope, with the guy pushing the wheel chair infront of me just holding on and sliding down.

Strange, no walk-a-lators on the way to the plane, but have them on the walk from plane to immigration.

Buses, very comon for regional flights. I would say probbly 7 times out of 10 when i get back from flights less than 3 hour in the region, we get bussed in and out. Even if there are gates free. Reason ( to my understanding

1. gate time is more expensive.

2. If the flight is not going any where, the AC needs to be towed to a parking place later - which cost $$.

Happens alot with TG.

Edited September 29, 2006 by skippybangkok