Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi named among the world’s worst airports

[lvr181]

18 hours ago, Wiggy said:

I wonder how long before this is put down to "old information" or a "misunderstanding". I'm not surprised though, as Swampy is a dump. 

Inferring Don Mueang is better? Duh!

 

Personally, I've never had a problem with Swampy in the last nine years.

[newnative]

15 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

+1  The tipoff is the fact that no North American or African airports are  mentioned. BKK is a beautiful friendly place  compared to  MIA for foreigners in transit from latin America or  the Caribbean. YYZ customs/immigration makes  BKK seem welcoming. Baggage delivery times?  Good luck on that in some EU 2nd tier stations like FCO whereas BKK is  prompt.

Newark, New Jersey is #4 on the worst list.

[newnative]

7 hours ago, bendejo said:

 

At Dulles airport outside of Washington DC you leave the terminal and enter a vehicle that resembles a Star Wars troop carrier that takes you to your plane, and the whole boarding experience takes a while.  I only had to go through it once, and that was 10+ years ago.  I'm surprised more people don't complain about it.

 

Dulles now has a subway that takes you from the outer terminals to the main terminal.  But, last time I was there the people movers were still being occasionally used and hadn't been phased out yet.

[Usernames]

18 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

How many ranking sites exist?

How many list Emirates and Qantas in the top 10? Many.

Does this site? No.

 

About the airport list: they must have used a quite small selection.

Manila not being in the worst list?

No central Asian/Russian/African/South American airports worse than Suy.?

 

Incheon, Seoul not on the top 10?

etc.etc.

 

Laughable.

If you compare the "worst airport" lists you will find that they all use quite arbitrary selections.

 

I dump this ranking list/site.

 

Not to mention that one of the largest and most unbearable hubs in the US is not even mentioned, DFW.  But they're ranking Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky?  I've never even heard of that place.

[ben2talk]

1 hour ago, boomerangutang said:

That ridiculous transliteration of the airport's name is annoying.

 

Here's how Thais pronounce it:   Suwanboom

 

Transliteration is aimed at farang.  It's not for Thais.  The purpose of transliteration is to help farang pronounce Thai words correctly.  Unfortunately, the people who do the transliteration make many mistakes. In sum: they cause Thai words to be mistakenly pronounced by farang. 

ROFL

 

สุวรรณภูมิ

Su-Wan-a-Poom (last sound ignored)

not Boom.

 

I agree to an extent that they could add a pronounciation guide, or simply go for a simplified spelling by asking a bunch of 6 year old English children to write the word how they think it should be spelled.

 

"The people who do (this)" There is no 'them'. Any Thai can do it, and no Farang that hasn't had the required Thai education. The methodology is drilled in from Thai schools, children start being drilled from 3-4 years old. Understanding is not allowed, only repetition. Look at a cat, say 'see-cat-maew'. Look at the letter C and say 'see-cat-meaw'.

 

This is also problematic because it is a Sanskrit word. If you're name is Ruairi, should you be forced to spell it 'Rory'?

 

They only want to write the word using our alphabet, not write it in our language or write it for us to read...

 

If it were aimed at Farang, then they could very quickly and easily hire a thousand unqualified, yet well spoken, native British, Australian, and American teachers and have them help out with these issues.

 

Your error is common. You assume that they do it for foreigners!

 

If you want to learn Thai, then transliteration is the last thing to waste time with - it's easier to learn the Thai alphabet by listening and repeating from Youtube so you can also learn how tones are affected by classes of consonants...

 

Every book has a different transliteration method - khaw jai mai? (is that 'cor' or 'cow' - how the heck can this work?) and many sounds simply get ironed out in translation to and from text (Thai's don't pronounce 'ai' in 'James', they don't pronounce 'oe' in Jones).

 

Furthermore you should be using your mobile to dictate and see Thai script written to improve your reading... 

[IMA_FARANG]

Quote

No, actually world's worst shopping centre with a runway.

I believe I already commented on this previously.

I am 70 years old and book a wheelchair for my international flights at Swampy.

The main reason is that LONG walk from the immigration to the landing gates.

As I stated before Swampy is a shopping mall with runways attached to it.

At 70 years old I can' no longer handle that walk from check in to the departure gates.

[Penicillin]

I never had any problem with BKK. They also have very good lounge clubs. The BKK Air France lounge has the best food and drinks of any lounge I have ever been in.

Its DMK that is the nightmare with half the population of China packed In that sardine can. Additionally, there is no lounge club in the international terminal to get away from the cacophony of shouting Chinese tourist that feel the need to yell at each other as they walk to their gates. I fly out of DMK sometimes 3 times a week and just dread early morning chaos. 

[hugh2121]

IMO there should have been 2 lists for airports.

One list for a country's main international airport and another list for regional airports.

That would create a better comparison of countries.

[kurtmartens]

12 hours ago, Prbkk said:

Tripolis and Damascus 

Haven't been to Damascus.  Went through Tripoli a few years back ... certainly worst than BKK.  The best one was Tunis-Carthage where they wouldn't even take their own currency in duty free ... only USD, EU or GBP.  

[Brunolem]

Paris CDG is missing from the list of worst airports...to be ranked 0 since 1 is already taken...

[bandos2000]

that is a BS survey, nothing too wrong with swampy, just shows the surveyors have never been to Manila. a few people have already touched on it, but the worst ever is Ninoy  Aquino, it is a 100% total cluster <deleted>, what with scams going on inside , scam taxis as well, no seating, hell went there last night to pick up some friends, couldnt even get into the arrival hall to see if the plane is ontime/landed, guard kept saying cant come in here go that way, walked almost to the end of the building near the car park, and some tomboyish thing was locking the doors, when asked if could go in  it just grunted and pointed back in the direction we just came from . couldnt organize a crap in a country outhouse any of them.

[Sakeopete]

List is bogus anyone who has been to Addis Ababa would put it near the bottom with its porta potty bathrooms not enough seating and rats in the business class lounge. Mind you they have many cats running around but the rats are bigger. 

[gk10002000]

20 hours ago, Dobredin Ghusputin said:

 

 

No, actually world's worst shopping centre with a runway.

love it.  I don't know about it being so bad, but it certainly isn't great, barely call it good.  Remember the first opening, toilets or lack thereof.  I frankly liked Don airport as when I left I could get a banana and orange juice smoothie from a little shop. Now the have the chain store in there and don't make what I want.  Also when arriving at BKK you hardly see anything that shows you are in Thailand.  Nothing against steel and glass, but the decor is not Thai.  DM had a little more flavor to it.  The long walks at BKK are bad.  The downstairs food court is kickass though.  Cheap and good eats and you get to see a lot of pretty airport employees there.  Decent kind of fun no frills place to kill an hour or so while waiting for a bus.  Immigration, well, that is hit or miss.  Can't blame the airport just because they don't staff up the immigration booths that are there.  Clearly some times of the day though it is obvious they didn't do very good loading and sizing estimates as the lines go well down the ramp and into the terminal area

[gk10002000]

thankfully my last 7 trips i flew eva air premium elite class and just had a carry on bag, so I did not have to wait in any baggage line.  No significant delays upon arrival as all my flights came in at 1100 in the morning.  The queue never took more than about 30 minutes. That may seem long while standing there, but it is a better line than when arriving back in the LAX dungeon line.  And in LAX even if you only have a carryon, after getting through immigration, you usually a long line behind all the people that have bags and it takes a long time to get out.

[boomerangutang]

2 hours ago, Black arab said:

Imo swampy is ok immigration can be slow at times but Lhr can also be slow, an airport is not the best of places at anytime though i do like samui airport.

                                 Suwanboom is ok, but you reminded me:  immigration is very slow.  Coming in from an int'l flight, perhaps after around 30 hours traveling, and then having to wait in lines 120 meters long, 3-people wide.  Ugh.  

 

                           The imm. kiosks are never fully staffed.  There are always about 2 to 5 which are empty.    There should be twice as many Imm kiosks, and all should be manned (or womanned, as the case may be).   Whomever manages that part of the airport should be fired, and a farang manager should be put in that position.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2017 by boomerangutang

[Tech65]

Totally absurd. For example:

 

- Cincinnati, 6st best,  almost 6 milion passenger in 2016

- Suwarnabhumi, 9th worse, almost 55 milion passengers in 2016

 

Can compare those?

 

I don’t understand what is wrong with Suwarnabhumi. I flight almost every month, since 10 years, and it is not better nor worse than many other indicated among the best. Plus many many many missing.

 

The only remarkable problem may be the passport control. True is that often is a total caos and it may take up to 45 minutes to clear.

But this is also due to the huge number of passengers in specific pick hours. Guangzhou airport, not even mentioned there, is even worse.

 

The rest is just fine:

restaurant areas and restaurant selection are fine,

smoking rooms are present,

all gates equipped with toilettes

Free wifi

Toilettes are really everywhere, and always perfectly clean

Air con is almost everywhere fine (although is not the best)

Distances are not huge

Duty free shops are fine

Airport staff helpful and may help you at baggage claims in case you need some help (ex. old people)

Taxi area is now well organized, no caos or mess, as in many other places (in China in Vietnam and in many other airports there is the Taxi Mafia).

BTS skyline (every 25 minutes) allow you  to get the center of the city in 30 minutes and for less than 2 USD

 

I flight often to Singapore (here indicated as the best), and it seems to me almost the same. Certainly a better airport but, after all, to me just the same.

 

(small note : before wasting time commenting my English grammar, instead of the post, please  go to school and learn three languages at your choice, many thanks )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thaiguzzi]

Only read the first page.

As airports go, i like the place.

[side]

Somewhat surprised to see precisely zero China Mainland airports in the World's Worst. Having spent the best part of 3 miserable years doing China on business trips monthly, I can confirm that I'd rather repeatedly lick an airline seatback tray than go through one more Chinese airport.

 

IMHO Suvarnapooooom comes way below China airports in my overall Kill-Me-Index. I challenge you to find a decent meal or coffee anywhere from Shanghai to Dalian, Hangzhou or Kunming. Don't get me started on Duty Free options. Dalian: "would you like Chinese White Wine or a packet of Sea Cucumber, Sir?".

[Penicillin]

37 minutes ago, gk10002000 said:

thankfully my last 7 trips i flew eva air premium elite class and just had a carry on bag, so I did not have to wait in any baggage line.  No significant delays upon arrival as all my flights came in at 1100 in the morning.  The queue never took more than about 30 minutes. That may seem long while standing there, but it is a better line than when arriving back in the LAX dungeon line.  And in LAX even if you only have a carryon, after getting through immigration, you usually a long line behind all the people that have bags and it takes a long time to get out.

I also Fly that route BKK➡️TPE➡️LAX two to three times a year. Never stood in a  line for one second using Global Entry kiosks. Bypass everyone and just hand Customs your kiosk ticket as you wheel out your luggage.   If your eligible to get GE it's well worth it. 

[joecoolfrog]

20 hours ago, onthesoi said:

Swampy is one of my favourite airports, what with its beautiful architecture and low priced good quality food, everything is well laid out, modern and accessable, never had delays of any kind either arriving or departing.

 

Although, Im sure those that hate all things Thailand will be rushing to agree with this nonsense article.

So anybody with an opposing view must hate Thailand !!! You certainly have a higher opinion of yourself than I do of the King Power retail site in question.

[Bartman1369]

I don't think it deserves that placing. But I travel in and out of there every month. Luggage handling for me is the worst. They have trashed 4 suitcases in 18 months.

 

Everything else is comparable to other airports. 

 

For me the worst airport I travel from is Shanghai. Very poor selection of shopping and restaurants after security.  Check in immigration and security are also pretty slow.

 

Singapore is good. Also not surprised to see Arab airlines featuring very highly. Usually excellent customer service. 

 

 

[Prbkk]

42 minutes ago, Tech65 said:

Totally absurd. For example:

 

- Cincinnati, 6st best,  almost 6 milion passenger in 2016

- Suwarnabhumi, 9th worse, almost 55 milion passengers in 2016

 

Can compare those?

 

I don’t understand what is wrong with Suwarnabhumi. I flight almost every month, since 10 years, and it is not better nor worse than many other indicated among the best. Plus many many many missing.

 

The only remarkable problem may be the passport control. True is that often is a total caos and it may take up to 45 minutes to clear.

But this is also due to the huge number of passengers in specific pick hours. Guangzhou airport, not even mentioned there, is even worse.

 

The rest is just fine:

restaurant areas and restaurant selection are fine,

smoking rooms are present,

all gates equipped with toilettes

Free wifi

Toilettes are really everywhere, and always perfectly clean

Air con is almost everywhere fine (although is not the best)

Distances are not huge

Duty free shops are fine

Airport staff helpful and may help you at baggage claims in case you need some help (ex. old people)

Taxi area is now well organized, no caos or mess, as in many other places (in China in Vietnam and in many other airports there is the Taxi Mafia).

BTS skyline (every 25 minutes) allow you  to get the center of the city in 30 minutes and for less than 2 USD

 

I flight often to Singapore (here indicated as the best), and it seems to me almost the same. Certainly a better airport but, after all, to me just the same.

 

(small note : before wasting time commenting my English grammar, instead of the post, please  go to school and learn three languages at your choice, many thanks )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some good points there but it's a bit selective. If your main experience with BKK is to/from Singapore, then the distance to walk from gate to immigration is not that great, because they tend to use the same gates that are close ( E1/2...I forget which ones).....

[natway09]

Swampy would be fine if Thaksin had let them finish it before it was opened. (6 more months)

And if they did not try to attract every man & his dog to Thailand the airport could handle it.

Personally I think it is not too bad. One big crazy is  glass roof in a tropical climate.

The Canadian architect must have been having a no think day

[Prbkk]

Just now, Bartman1369 said:

I don't think it deserves that placing. But I travel in and out of there every month. Luggage handling for me is the worst. They have trashed 4 suitcases in 18 months.

 

Everything else is comparable to other airports. 

 

For me the worst airport I travel from is Shanghai. Very poor selection of shopping and restaurants after security.  Check in immigration and security are also pretty slow.

 

Singapore is good. Also not surprised to see Arab airlines featuring very highly. Usually excellent customer service. 

 

 

The speed of luggage delivery to the carousel is just abysmal. You can deplane, walk 2 kilometres and then wait in the immigration queue and STILL wait longer for the bags. And yet they have taxes and fees 50% higher than Hong Kong ( ie, the funds meant to provide a quality airport experience). Now how is that money spent?

[notmyself]

21 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

I think Survanambhumbi is alright generally but passport control can let it down.

 

Manchester's the same, passport control there can be really slow too, other than that it's not a bad airport, granted no theme parks but apart from that has everything else you need. 

 

I would put LAX as worst and MAN a close second.

[The Deerhunter]

20 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

How many ranking sites exist?

How many list Emirates and Qantas in the top 10? Many.

Does this site? No.

 

About the airport list: they must have used a quite small selection.

Manila not being in the worst list?

No central Asian/Russian/African/South American airports worse than Suy.?

 

Incheon, Seoul not on the top 10?

etc.etc.

 

Laughable.

If you compare the "worst airport" lists you will find that they all use quite arbitrary selections.

 

I dump this ranking list/site.

 

What a load of Rubbish.  It is not great and is looking old internally way before its time due to poor workmanship and cheap finishing, but the nineth worst?  Surely not even close.  Everything seems to work, but pretty, it ain't.  It does not deserve that rating. Half of the ratings on the other categories in the quoted survey are rubbish too. Try flying into Vladivostok some time. Or most Indian second string  or most African airports.    That'll open your eyes!   Vladivostok had rows of scores or perhaps hundreds of red metal water & CO2 sparklet type fire extinguishers lined up down both sides of the runway just a few years ago.   Last time I came into Swampy a couple of months ago they had mobile immigration officers running through the rows checking documentation to keep all the queues moving smoothly.  They were helping the easy-to-help people or kicking the idiots out to complete their forms before reaching the counter.  That was great.

Edited June 14, 2017 by The Deerhunter

[farcanell]

Lol.... they only looked at 76 international airports out of how many that exist.?

 

what a load of rubbish this list is.... I've been to many airports were I wish for the comfort, ease, cleanliness and friendliness of swampy

[off road pat]

21 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

How many ranking sites exist?

How many list Emirates and Qantas in the top 10? Many.

Does this site? No.

 

About the airport list: they must have used a quite small selection.

Manila not being in the worst list?

No central Asian/Russian/African/South American airports worse than Suy.?

 

Incheon, Seoul not on the top 10?

etc.etc.

 

Laughable.

If you compare the "worst airport" lists you will find that they all use quite arbitrary selections.

 

I dump this ranking list/site.

 

Totally agree with you, Manilla (Philippines), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Delhi (India),...were the worst I have ever been...Bangkok both airports were OK...

[moe666]

I do not have a problem with swampy, check in check your bag, the downside of course is immigration coming and going. Plenty of places to eat and relax or go to the airport lounge

[spidermike007]

22 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

How many ranking sites exist?

How many list Emirates and Qantas in the top 10? Many.

Does this site? No.

 

About the airport list: they must have used a quite small selection.

Manila not being in the worst list?

No central Asian/Russian/African/South American airports worse than Suy.?

 

Incheon, Seoul not on the top 10?

etc.etc.

 

Laughable.

If you compare the "worst airport" lists you will find that they all use quite arbitrary selections.

 

I dump this ranking list/site.

 

 

I tend to agree. Skytrax is far more reliable. And they list these airlines amongst the top nine in the world:

 

•  All Nippon Airways (Star Alliance)
•  Asiana Airlines (Star Alliance)
•  Cathay Pacific (Oneworld)
•  Etihad Airways
•  EVA Air (Star Alliance)
•  Garuda Indonesia (SkyTeam)
•  Hainan Airlines
•  Qatar Airways (Oneworld)
•  Singapore Airlines (Star Alliance)

They got a few right. I do not agree about Swampy. Of course, like most things Thai, it is not nearly as good as it could be. But, it is clean, it is fairly efficient, and it is reasonably pleasant. It has some great lounges (the new EVA lounge is outstanding), and decent food, especially if you include the local food court downstairs. Immigration could be better. Faster. But I have been to alot of airports that are far, far worse, and they are not on the list. Not a credible list, as far as I am concerned.

 

And they really miss the mark on top airports- 

 

Airport of the year[edit]

Year	1st	2nd	3rd
1999	Amsterdam Airport Schiphol[23]	None	None
2000	Singapore Changi Airport[23]	None	None
2001[24]	Hong Kong International Airport	Kuala Lumpur International Airport	Singapore Changi Airport
2002[25]	Hong Kong International Airport	Singapore Changi Airport	Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport
2003[26]	Hong Kong International Airport[23]	Singapore Changi Airport	Dubai International Airport
2004[27]	Hong Kong International Airport	Singapore Changi Airport	Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
2005[28]	Hong Kong International Airport	Singapore Changi Airport	Incheon International Airport
2006[29]	Singapore Changi Airport [23]	Hong Kong International Airport	Munich Airport
2007[30]	Hong Kong International Airport	Incheon International Airport	Singapore Changi Airport
2008[31]	Hong Kong International Airport	Singapore Changi Airport	Incheon International Airport
2009[32]	Incheon International Airport	Hong Kong International Airport	Singapore Changi Airport
2010[33]	Singapore Changi Airport	Incheon International Airport	Hong Kong International Airport
2011[34]	Hong Kong International Airport	Singapore Changi Airport	Incheon International Airport
2012[35]	Incheon International Airport	Singapore Changi Airport	Hong Kong International Airport
2013[36]	Singapore Changi Airport	Incheon International Airport	Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
2014[37]	Singapore Changi Airport	Incheon International Airport	Munich Airport
2015[38]	Singapore Changi Airport	Incheon International Airport	Munich Airport
2016[39]	Singapore Changi Airport	Incheon International Airport	Munich Airport
2017[40]	Singapore Changi Airport	Haneda International Airport	Incheon International Airport

Edited June 14, 2017 by spidermike007