New airport blues

[kiwi P]

we flew from airport on 18th oct we drove up from hua hin got to long term parking you just park man said does not open until 5th nov so we left the car hope it is still there when we come back then we get on shuttle bus from car park 45 min later we are back at car park the driver said where you go we said terimnal building he then said i not go there so we had to walk about 1 mile cases and all to bus station where we get bus about 2 hours in all from car park to airport crazy then once in airport the roof leaks most of the toilets closed mai pen rai

LOL is what makes L.O.S.,,,,,,,,,,,,, ALWAYS EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED... I always compere it to faulty towers,,,gota laugh and take it in ones stride.

Should be smooth sailing by the time we arrive in December eh..One Hopes anyway....

Peace Out..

[poisoner]

Do all flights now come into the new airport?
We're coming back over in December & our tickets just say 'Bangkok Airport'

[lomuamart]

Do all flights now come into the new airport?
We're coming back over in December & our tickets just say 'Bangkok Airport'

Assuming you're on an international flight, the answer is yes.
Despite the doom and gloom that was mooted before by a lot of people, including myself, my wife and I returned earlier this month.
It was painless. Very efficient and quick through immigration. Maybe we were lucky with a taxi from there to HH, but all you've got to do is walk through all the limo touts - as there were at the old one- and stroll on.
Negotiate and wait your time.

[Norseman]

The old airport, Don Muang, is now a military airfield.
No commercial flights, only special VIP flights and some military flights can operate from this good old golfers paradise.

[The understudy]

Whazzup Y'all! Guten Tag!!!!
Now almost 2 months after Suvarnabhumi Airport also the known as the New Gate Way into Thailand opened it had since beeen plagued with problems right up until yesterday.
It has been just sick. On it's opening date roofs where leakin Check in Computers chrashin, not enough bagggage handles to handle the baggages, The import and exporters gettin furious by not gettin their stuff into or out from the airport, weeks later the cracks hat been found on the tarmacs in front of the gates E 2 to E6 and now One of the runways had to be closed @ nights for 4 hours for the repair crew to quikly stitch thie cracks on the Taxiway, and just yesterday one passenger just commin back from a business trip abroad got stuck in one of the many glass elevators for 40 Minutes before being freed. and now the rest of the inhabitants near the airport are complaining about the noize from aircrafts landing and taking offf from Suvarnabhumi Airport.
could all those problems been avoided if the airport's not being opened prematurely? Should the head of this Airport resign because he did a heck of a poor job of solving problems. Should (an Highly unllikely event) we reactivate Don Muang Interantional Airport for all interational and Domestic flights until all problems @ the new airport has been solved! I wanna hear all of your opinions and shoutouts on what should be a Pride Gateway into Thailand but slowly turning Into Disgrace with implications to come!
I haven't landed on the new Airport but plan to land on it as soon ass my I'm outta here from the US of A!!!

Your's the understudy!!!

[Guess]

If I'm barking up the wrong tree, please let me know, would be very happy to know of a Ring road to get me for East side of BKK to HH

Winkie

You are barking up the wrong tree. I drove up that road by accident after coming from Sai Noi to Hua Hin the week it opened. That must have been two years ago.

Originally you would go south down Highway 9 until you got to a load of road works and were forced to U-Turn, turn left to BKK or turn right to Samu Sonkran. The one day I managed to just carry on. After five minuest on a spotlessly clean new road I suddenly thought "I have never seen this before. Where the f** am I." The lighter and watch calculation told me I was heading towards Bang Na with the River in front of me.

The only bit missing is the bridge itself. Nobody seems to know when that will open.

What confuses a lot of people is that two bridges are being constructed. One is part of highway 9 and the other is near to the Klassikorn Bridge that most of us use to get to Bangkok now.

Try looking at a satellite image.

[PeteC]

This 'east' side to HH is dear to my heart as we may visit in upcoming months and no map that I can find on or off line gives a clear picture of coming from Bagna-Trad and connecting with the highway south to HH.

I have been told by Thais to simply get on the expressway where Bagna Trad/Chonburi highway ends and stay LEFT at any and all options. Not exit left, but 'veer' left onto a different section. They then say there will be HH signs in English and Thai. Should I believe all of this? Thanks. Pete

[Norseman]

You will have no problems to find the new airport.
Suvarnabhumi is a huge airport!!
Went there yesterday and it wa really a piece of cake to follow the signs and park the car.
But it's a long way from Hua Hin!!!
Much longer way to drive than to Don Muang.
It took me a good 3 hours 45 minutes drive to get there.
Good signposts made it easy to find.

[VincentD]

I actually live quite near the Don Muang airport in Bangkok; the new airport is more than twice the distance away. The interesting thing is, if I get on the expressway, I'm at the new airport in about the same time that it used to take me to drive to DM. Also, because it's almost all on the expressway, it's a much less stressful drive.

They need to improve the parking at Suvanapoom, they're now issuing entrance/ exit cards but the pay booths have yet to become operational. The locals say that it's not too difficult for your car to go missing there...
And, they've given up trying to use the rotating doors - too troublesome.

I also should complain about the noise. My house was under the return flight path of Don Muang, so there were aircraft flying over practically all the time. These nights I can't sleep because it's TOO QUIET!! You get used to hearing aircraft at certain times of the night taking off, and you know what time it is. Now, I subconsciously wait for it, don't hear it, and so stay awake...

[Rob W]

One thing I noticed at the new airport was the poor lighting I had difficulty filling in the immigration form as I could not see it (perhaps its old age) and due to the fact i slept the full time of the flight, only from Singapore mind.
So fill the forms in on the plane or take a flashlight!!!
On the toilets at the duty free they are there just tucked behind the shops the most stupid design I have ever seen as you walk around the corner there is an electrical conduit across the floor just right for people to trip over.
but generally a painless experience.
And yes it took a much longer taxi ride to HH but it was early Friday night hence the traffic was horrendous getting out of BKK.
Rob

[sam]

How much should a taxi be from the new airport to HH? Are we better to organise one to collect us from HH or get one at the airport?

Thanks in advance.

[Rob W]

sam there is a thread on taxis to HH from BKK.
I prebooked one at 2200 not cheap but reliable.

[Kraka's Dad]

This does not paint a pretty picture at all.
http://www.airlinequality.com/Airports/ ... kk-suv.htm

I hope we have a better experience when we arrive in January.

[PeteC]

This does not paint a pretty picture at all.
http://www.airlinequality.com/Airports/ ... kk-suv.htm

I hope we have a better experience when we arrive in January.

I read through the link quickly and can agree with some points he makes, others are just bitching and not really a big issue.

I did the outbound route last Sunday morning, which is historically a slow fly day and it indeed was. Not too many people and time to take a good look around.

I saw workmen working on points raised and that is a good sign, on a holiday weekend.

I didn't have to wizz so I didn't pay too much attention as to where and how many heads there were outbound.

Signs are indeed too small and found two that were conflicting concerning arrows to the C-D-E-F gates. This really needs to be corrected quickly.

The most glaring problem I blame back on to Thaskin and his cronies who planned and built this thing. That is, no where on earth is there an airport that huge without a tram/train system connecting the main lobby areas to the remote finger gate areas. It's obvious why it was NOT designed with them, in order to pack in as many King Power shops as possible and FORCE people to walk by them enroute to the gates.

I left from F5 and I was in a full sweat by the time I got there. The automated walkways are too short and too infrequent.

If there were trains, King Power shops wouldn't even be a third in number as there are now. It's as obvious as the nose on your face what their thinking was and is. Force the herds through the area and some will stop and graze. It's criminal and I sincerely hope some upcoming government will tear the guts out of the place and install the needed people movers.

Stay tuned for my inbound expereince in a week or so. Pete

[STEVE G]

Prcscct wrote;
It's obvious why it was NOT designed with them, in order to pack in as many King Power shops as possible and FORCE people to walk by them enroute to the gates.

You are right there Pete, but this is not unique to Suvarnarbumi, this has been a design feature of many airports. One of the worst offenders is Amsterdam, Schipol, nearly every time I transit through there, with KLM; I end up having to walk from one end of the airport to the other. Then they put you on a bus at the gate and take you to the aircraft that can be parked next to the one you got off an hour before!