April 6, 2008
Transit nightmare at Suvarnabhumi Airport
Bangkok has a new airport, one that took 44 years for planning. The airport, although impressive, looks oddly similar to KL airport. It is however very eco-friendly with a water cooling system operated thorough the entire site. Having been launched over a year ago, it is still under deployed but over staffed, i.e. people holding 'last call' sign walking around the airport.
My connecting flight with Air France, which was scheduled 7 hours after my flight in from Melbourne, got cancelled at the last minute while everybody was waiting at the boarding gate. Business class flyers and passengers who were transiting from Paris got the priority seats on the next available flight, leaving us with little direction and explanation. The airport staff was extremely incompetent and uninformative, making the wait even more painful than it had already been. We practically had to race from one end of the airport to the other where we waited another hour to get our new boarding pass with Bangkok Airways. The drama does not end their, after having to wait 9 endless hours with no food and drink, our flight was again delayed for yet another 45 minutes because someone's luggage was missing and it had to be found before the plane can take off.
My advice: avoid transiting at Suvarnabhumi Airport at all cost. If you have to, pray for your life. If god does not love you and shit happens, don't stop pushing until you receive a satisfactory response from the airport staff.
My connecting flight with Air France, which was scheduled 7 hours after my flight in from Melbourne, got cancelled at the last minute while everybody was waiting at the boarding gate. Business class flyers and passengers who were transiting from Paris got the priority seats on the next available flight, leaving us with little direction and explanation. The airport staff was extremely incompetent and uninformative, making the wait even more painful than it had already been. We practically had to race from one end of the airport to the other where we waited another hour to get our new boarding pass with Bangkok Airways. The drama does not end their, after having to wait 9 endless hours with no food and drink, our flight was again delayed for yet another 45 minutes because someone's luggage was missing and it had to be found before the plane can take off.
My advice: avoid transiting at Suvarnabhumi Airport at all cost. If you have to, pray for your life. If god does not love you and shit happens, don't stop pushing until you receive a satisfactory response from the airport staff.
