Bangkok Don Muang Airport

The WiFi is so difficult to access. Travellers appreciate simplicity, not having to jump through hoops and never getting access. There are endless questions and at the end of the day it becomes apparent they want you to buy it. Plus there are no charging stations. This is not world class.

I flew from here to KL and then back here from Krabi around new year. Flying out was not so bad: the Premium Flex counter for AirAsia passengers is hidden away, so I didn't notice it until I was halfway through the ordinary queue. But flying into Don Muang for the first time I made a rookie mistake - I stood and waited in the taxi queue, which snakes out of sight, around corners, and ultimately took me an hour. The delay seems to be waiting for enough taxi drivers and writing destinations down on tickets. This needs to be fixed, badly.

Unless it is absolutely unavoidable (life/death) do not land or depart at/from this airport. It took me and my family (including 1 infant, 1 child and 1 elderly person) 4.5 hours to clear immigration and collect baggage. The officials treat passengers just like cattle. All (incl infants and elderly travellers) visa on arrival passengers are directed to just 4 counters (while only 2 are attended. Officials have absolutely no knowledge of English language and have arrogant attitudes.

What a chaotic airport, it takes you longer to actually drive into the airport than the flight. I find it hard to believe that people rave about this airport. It is dirty, poorly maintained and over crowded. But the biggest headache is actually arrival and departure before and after your flight. Only one line of traffic can enter the airport at a time and the line of taxis snakes for miles.

Don Muang is Bangkok's older airport. Cabs still overcharge here but it's super easy to take the bus outside the main doors to the subway terminal then take the subway. Two cabs refused to use the meter at the airport preferring to quote a price that was 3 or 4 times the meter. I was quoted 1500 baht (the trip to the airport was 390 baht) and ended up taking the subway for 120 total. It took 15 minutes longer but I ended up 3 blocks from my hotel. I travel light so it was great. On a recent trip to Vietnam my visa was refused. I had to get a new kind of visa online. Getting through the requirements was impossible - having failed already I had no clue what to do. Several employees at Don Muang helped me find people to ask for help until I finally found an immigration supervisor from Vietnam who walked me through the process even taking me to the airline supervisor to get my change of flight fees waived. She was very patient and helpful and I wouldn't have been able to see Vietnam had she not helped me.

Just like some other people I, too, prefer Don Muang to Suvarnbhumi, the latter being overwhelmed in two respects: immigration lines which seem endless and baggage arrival which can easily take up to 30 minutes. Don Muang, by contrast, is a breeze. Yes, Suvarnbhumi is glitzy in comparison, yes, Suvarnbhumi has lots and lots of shops. But I am neither a shopper or someone interested in glitz (as opposed to glamour). Give me efficiency and ease of use and Don Muang wins hands down.

I was a frequent user of Don Muang in the days when it was Bangkok's main gateway. Although it had reached the limit of development, it still managed to be user friendly. I was therefore, pleased to see it re-open a year or so ago, to handle budget carriers and domestic traffic. A hallmark of the old DMK was its range of services, some tucked away that made for interesting explorations and constant discovery of new outlets. The "new" DMK doesn't have very many facilities as yet, but they are coming slowly. As soon as the old DMK closed, they raised the toll on the elevated highway from TB20 to TB60 (now TB70), meaning the tolls to get to DMK from the town centre are a total of TB120, as opposed to TB75 to Suvarnabhumi. So the lower cab fare/shorter distance is offset by the higher toll. The big plus point is the ease of getting through the airport, compared to Suvarnabhumi. Typically, you can clear customs and immigration in 10 minutes or so, compared with 30-40 minutes in Suvarnabhumi. Coupled with the fact that none of the gates are very far to walk makes it my favourite of the two airports.

It might be old and look run down, but it functions greatly. I had an international departure to Denpasar. In contrast to the overly crowded Suvarnabhumi, where I flew in earlier the same day, there were no queues at either security and immigration at Don Muang. It was a breeze. I had a meal landside at the foodcourt on +1, which was fine and affordable. The toilets in the international departure gate must have been refurbished recently, they were modern, clean and well kept. The free shuttle bus between Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang is very convenient, although don't plan too tightly, Bangkok traffic is bad.

Domestic Section was undergoing some construction on my departure date. Air conditioning system in departure hall is not working and entire hall is uncomfortably warm. Going to the airport on Friday evening is a difficult task due to traffic, otherwise this airport is user friendly. The building is not too large with just adequate food stall and some shops to buy supply for the journey, then you are at the gate with just a short walk. Sign is clear and there are too few walkways to get lost. Still love this little old charming airport.

In Departures bit of a messy check-in on Air Asia disorganised queuing plenty queue jumping going on and nobody doing anything about it. Immigration was pretty quick and airside has plenty shopping and eating options though like BKK not especially cheap. Arrivals was a bit of a hike to Immigration but reasonable queue time and not much waiting for luggage. Taxi queuing times were probably the worst part of the experience (30 mins in mid afternoon) but maybe I just hit a bad time.