Avoiding Queues at the New Airport
Wed 4 Oct 2006
I’m just back from my first trip out of the new Bangkok airport. As you may have heard, the opening was accomplished with only a few minor glitches, most of which were cleared up by the end of the first day. I found out a few things that those of you familiar with the old airport may want to know, so here they are:
Thai check-in is handled a bit differently than at the old airport. Instead of separate queues for each counter position, they now have just one queue for the entire row (H & J for international economy). This makes the queue look rather long, but I’ve seen more people waiting at the old airport. It did seem like they could have had more people working the counters, but they probably are still short staffed.
If you want to avoid the queue entirely, then use the internet to check in 2 to 24 hours before your flight at Thai Airways’ web site. Then you can walk up to the "Internet Check-in" counter, check your luggage and get your boarding pass.
One thing to note is that at present there’s no queue for ROP/Star Alliance gold card members. I asked and they said there wasn’t. That may change, but for now there’s no way to avoid standing in line except to use the internet.
Check-in, immigration and duty free shopping are all on level 4. This level only extends a short way up the concourses, then you have to go through security and down to level three to access the gates. There can be a big line at the security checkpoint, but I found that there are escalators at the intersections of the concourses that allow you to go down to level three - where there are a few more duty free shops as well as the airline lounges. You can go through security on level three and there’s almost no queue going that way.
On returning, immigration and baggage claim were no problem. After getting your bag, they unfortunately still allow people to crowd around the exits from customs, sometimes blocking the exit. Immigration, baggage claim and customs are on level 2. I went down to level one to get a taxi, where there were certainly a lot waiting. There was a bit of a line at the first queue, but then one of the Thais working for the airport pointed out there was another queue just a short walk away. There are in fact at least three taxi queues (essentially, one domestic and two international) at the airport. The next one down was no waiting, and I arrived at a time that’s usually difficult to get a taxi from the old airport.
A few other notes: Driving up to the airport is quite an experience at night, with the blue lights in the roof enhancing the gem-like quality of the main terminal.
There’s a lot more food in the airside departure area than at the old airport, but it is pricey, since the duty free operator takes 25% of the sales price for rent. Land-side, most of the restaurants are on the third floor.
