Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport

I transit BKK twice a month on average and on my latest outbound journey which was mid- afternoon I was horrified to see that the lines at immigration were as long as at other times of the day. The signs promoting the 20 minute wait system have been taken down. This was despite making some of the Thai passport lanes for Thai/foreign passport holders. Usual agitated people trying to queue jump with those in front standing firm and rightly so. Thai immigration needs to hire more staff. This has been a thorny issue for years and it was never that bad at Don Muang. The return journey was the best yet thanks to the plane parking near the immigration area on the D concourse and got lucky as a new officer came on duty and as everyone rushed to his desk it left my line virtually void of people.

Been though BKK most months this year. Passenger numbers are on the rise again and pressuring the system. Choke points now are in Immigration with lengthy queues at most times of the day. I wouldn't arrive at the airport an hour before Departure Time - you may not make it. (1/2 hour minimum getting through Immigration). They've done a reasonable job of slicking up the Security areas after Immigration and that seems to be working well. Arrivals is fine with a lower taxi tout concentration than last year. Haven't tried the Rail Link yet. Some way to go before BKK hits the standards of HKG SIN or ICN but it's getting better.

Walking to gates especially from connecting flights or reboarding a flight can be annoying but its otherwise a good airport. Passport staff quite friendly. When arriving at night it can appear a bit unprofessional many staff everywhere and many just sitting around reading filing their nails etc. Can be hard to move freely about the airport. If you venture downstairs to where the taxis are and leave your bags with your family in the arrivals area it can be hard to get back upstairs as security make it hard for you to go back upstairs and don't understand english for you to explain. Two security checks for Australian flights and staff seem good at their job. Food expensive and also souvenirs and everything else especially duty free more expensive than in a western airport - shops were mostly empty. Lots of restaurants and cafes in the departures area lots of places to sit. Free 15 minutes of internet with wifi after signing at information desk.

In general the airport is a pleasant experience but the walking distances can be astonishingly long. Especially for connections there can be a 15-20 minute hike involved if the gates are far apart. It is a pleasant environment and the signage is better than in many airports--a good thing as you would not want to retrace your steps.

I have used Suvarnabhumi since it opened. It has improved greatly particularly the last 6 months. New trolleys. Color signage instead of only white. Refitted seats. More toilets. Airport Rail Link. The single security check after immigration was implemented to comply with new US regulations stating all airports with US bound flights originating in them must have single security check system rather than the BKK previous security check system which was divided the screenings into about 6 different areas just before each wings section (the original Thai system was better as it split up the crowd across the airport instead of into the small area near immigration as now required by US law). So people shouldn't blame the Thai people for the crowds at the security check area. People who complain about the overpriced food should list those airports with cheaper food and the list would be very short indeed. Suvarnabhummi is getting better all the time and hopefully when Terminal 2 is built they will improve on certain design faults.

How is it possible for a new airport to have so many non-airbridge parking bays? I reckon BKK has at least 40. Arriving back from PVG on a new TG A340-600 aircraft around 21:30 on Sunday evening I counted at least 15 unoccupied airbridge gates on the east side of the airport (and more on what little I could see of the west side). Yet we had to park way out on the tarmac. No dedicated first and business class buses. We were trundled half way around the airport packed into smoky smelly buses before then having to wait whilst 4 other buses unloaded their passengers at a single entry door. With this sort of experience Suvarnabhumi will never be more than a second class airport.

At arrival long queues at immigration. Still nothing improved. At departure good shops nice to walk around clean toilets. Nice airport.

Suvarnabhumi has improved recently. They are opening more booths at passport control and they even put cushions on the metal seats in the waiting area. Also the restrooms are reasonably clean. Food and drinks are ridiculously expensive for Thailand standards.

The layout is woeful. I must have walked for about two kilometers past a ludicrous amount of duty free shops to get from one poorly signed terminal to another. Only reached my gate with 10 minutes to spare (from a 90 minute layover). They desperately need a monorail type system to move passengers from terminal to terminal quickly although the cynic in me thinks that there's a reason why they are forced to walk past all the duty free shops with their overpriced goods. Will be avoiding in future if at all possible which is a shame since I quite enjoyed my Thai Airlines flight from Melbourne.

Sydney-Bangkok-Helsinki return. Only real criticism was the signage was a little confusing but for a large airport it works.