Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport

My first use of BKK Suvarnabhumi was on its opening day. It remains a mid-tier airport. Assets include airy architecture in much of the facility (but this is no better than many of its contemporaries) rail access and a few land-side services such as banking and phone kiosks. Deficiencies include signage informative literature {maps etc.} for newly arrived passengers inadequate capacity leading to queues of aircraft and passengers on many occasions and tedious access to and from distant gates. The airport has not yet solved the excessive influence of King Power on facilities quality and pricing. For example it's better to eat at the airport Novotel than at most tenants in the airport. Suvarnabhumi remains an unfinished project - even though at age 6 years its capacity has already been exceeded and strained. Would I recommend this airport? Maybe no maybe yes. Personally I often find better availability of long-haul connectivity to/from other airports in the region thus often go there - sometimes making the short connecting hop to/from BKK by low cost carrier.

I have been travelling in and out of this airport for many years now. Has greatly improved in regards of seating inside the international terminal. Customs and baggage retrieval very good both arriving and departing. Still somewhat lacking in terms of food inside the international section. Still though very much improved from initial opening. Hope they can keep up the improvements.

This was my first time back through Suvarnabhumi in 3 years. The improvements are noticeable. It's still one of if not the largest airport in the world. The airport has an abundance of eating places and facilities all of which are pretty good. It is a long distance from the plane to immigration. However there are travelators for those that don't want to walk. Immigration is efficient and quick. Baggage claim is pretty straight forward. When departing it is a short distance to the check in desks and plenty of free luggage carts are available curbside. I found check in to be easy and efficient although there were 4 of us and 8 bags. Departure security was somewhat clumsy but there are pleasant attendants. Departure lounges are spacious and comfortable especially since they replaced the hard plastic seats with cushioned seats. All in all I would say that this airport has come a long way from when it first opened and it is now one of the better airports I've been through.

Architecturally it is a beautiful airport and I should also remark that the direct train to the city is fast and cheap. However it is badly planned and poorly designed. As many have already remarked not only are the queues long and the walks endless but the gate design is illogical and the signage poor. Staff seem to resent working in this environment and most of them are unfriendly and unsmiling.

A quick trip for 2 weeks BKK-Prague-BKK. Check in was smooth as usual especially when you are web- checked-in otherwise expect a long line. Passport control is again different there is an escalator to an upper floor where you go through security check first once you go through you loop around and go down again to the ground floor to the new passport control (much smaller area than before which could cause trouble in rush hours). This would ensure that non passengers could see or reach the passport control area. The re-entry office is there again after several years and its a welcome. Passport control was OK but still not that quick they have their average days and much worse days. Duty free and food is a joke and never use them. Simply overpriced and nothing special. Gates are barren grounds with nothing but grey around. Boarding is a so so experience but ample seating for all which can be a problem in other airports. Transportation is good.

Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport was meant to be one of the best in Asia. But as things have turned out it is one of the many middle class airports without a soul and without any chance to beat the 4 and 5 star airports in the region. The airport is not that old but it looks like it is very old! The main problem is the long walks for most transit passengers and the huge crowds waiting to stamp their passport in front of the tired- looking immigration officers. I would also mention the horrible prices of anything you buy at the airport. Often double the price of buying the same item in Bangkok. Compared to Singapore and Hong Kong; Bangkok har a long way to go to present a 5 star airport.

For a newer airport it's amazing how poorly designed it is. I was shocked at the lack of thought put in to the layout. The automated check-in machines don't work. No power ports anywhere it looks like they originally had them but they have all been removed. No free wifi which even regional airports have nowadays. The line managers at passport control were busy chatting with each other and provided no direction at all. This resulted in lines moving at half speed. I literally cant think of a single good thing to say about this place other than I'm leaving it.

After all the reported delays at Immigration starting early June BKK is now experiencing 4 months of aircraft delays. The Thai Airports Authority is closing each runway for 8 weeks for strengthening and resurfacing. Wide-body jets can only use one runway whilst single aisle aircraft can take off from both but only land on one. My Emirates flight from HKG was delayed 15 minutes on take-off whilst waiting for a landing slot and then stacked twice prior to landing ending up with another 30 minute delay. One United flight ex-NRT had to be diverted to Don Mueang when it became low on fuel. If Gatwick's single runway can be in the middle of an 8-month similar exercise and yet remain open for flights virtually throughout what is really wrong with BKK's runways that requires them to be closed to most aircraft for such a lengthy period?

Flew in late May flew out early June. As per other recent comments both the immigration has improved since my last visit with only a handful of people queued at any booth - inbound this was at a peak period as well. My luggage appeared promptly on the inbound as well within 10 mins of clearing customs. I did notice the exchange rate was much poorer in the airport for some reason which is something to be aware of. The main improvement that now needs to be looked at is the lack of good quality public area seating post immigration here.

It seems like the airport are finally responding to the negative comments around some of the outrageous waiting times at Immigration over the past year. There seems consistently more Immigration Officers on duty now and the snake system for queuing is supervised properly. It's still not as good as the airport it replaced 5 years ago but it's acceptable.