[Tom Otley]

A review has been posted here on the new airport link

http://asia.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi-Airport-Link-review

[npchuaMY]

The 20 min. foot or head/shoulder massage service at TG’s Royal Silk lounge in BKK is also available to business class passengers departing BKK or in transit, and it is FREE. You must have at least 1 hr. spare before your boarding time.

[MartynSinclair]

Anyone heading out to BKK, the lines at immigration are horrendous, with waits of up to 90 minutes.

Try and secure the services of fast track immigration, either through business class travel or your hotel.

[DerekVH]

I always travel in First to BKK but have not noticed any fast track for Business/First arriving or departing, is this new?

[MartynSinclair]

about 2 years + new.

[Prayanak]

As mentioned in earlier post, immigration lines when departing Bangkok are simply horrendous (if you fly Economy). On last Friday morning, I get to the line (outside immigration hall) at 6.05am only to get inside the hall at 6.35am and then at 7.00am I managed to pass through immigration.

Once again, instead of making things better, in Bangkok airport they only managed to make things worst.

So, get to the airport on peak hour times (morning from 5.30 to 8 am) and evening (from 8pm to midnight) at least 3 hours before your flight departure time.

[MartynSinclair]

There are companies who provide a fast track service through BKK airport (irrespective of class of travel), for arriving and departing pax. It may be worth investigating this option.

I was advised that BKK is extremely busy at the moment in part, due to Chineese New Year.

A happy New Year to all those who celebrate.

[JamesMoloney5]

Derek,

If you fly First on Thai you benefit from the excellent meet & greet service and you are taken by buggy and escorted through Immigration at the Thai First/Business Class Immigration area.

If you fly any other airline, there is a separate Fast Track Immigration facility for which your airline will give you a Fast Track pass which you should surrender to the Immigration officer. I have accumulated a good number of these now as the officer invariably forgets to ask for the pass. I can then use these on the odd occasion I travel in economy…..thereby skipping the long lines.

There are some “cheap charlie” airlines, such as ANA and, I think but not sure, Qatar, which do not provide these passes because they do not pay the fee for the service. If you travel Business Class with these airlines you will end up in the economy class line at Immigration.

[CHINABOY]

How very interesting that 7 of the top 10 airports are in Asia, two in Europe, one in NZ but not ONE in the USA which prides itself as
being such a great country, most especially NYC which claims
to be the greatest city in the world. Try using JFK and Suvarnabhumi
looks pretty darn good to me. I’ve used it four times in the past
two months and never once had any problems whatsoever. In
fact, contrary to my worst fears, it was efficient and very easy to
navigate from check-in to security to the gate (although in some
instances that is a long, long walk. Our taxi driver met us at
Exit 4 which was fully open as was Exit 3 and we had no problem
finding him nor he us.

[DNAdams]

JamesMoloney5 – Just to correct your post as it is inaccurate. I fly to BKK with Qatar regularly and they always give premium passengers a fast track immigration pass and I have never had to queue.

[JamesMoloney5]

Qatarfan, thanks for correcting me. I wasn’t sure as I said in my post. I have flown Qatar a couple of times to London via Doha but couldn’t remember if they provided the fast track pass.

[JasonMyers]

Suvarnabhumi Airport is now my favourite airport in the world. Living in Asia for 25 + years I have had my frustrations with Bangkok which I travel through biweekly most of the time. If you travel on Thai Airways First or Business there is no easier or faster airline experience anywhere, especially on first. With an easy check in experience, a short walk to Thai’s own dedicated fast track immigration directly in front of the business check in area and a few steps after security to the escalators down to the lounge. Flying first you get the meet and greet service with the buggy which saves your legs on departure/arrival by being brought to or picked up from the the gates. Massages are a delight and you really find yourself in such a relaxed mode by the time you take your seat on board. Thai are slowly upgrading their aircraft but the seating is comfortable in business on most routes, even the old seating is still comfortable. Thai and the Airport management have really got together to make this an excellent experience and I never have had to wait too long for my luggage after the first few months problems, which both HK and KL experienced as well. If you want to complain about airports and bad experiences Manila is a nightmare.

[Prayanak]

Jason,

You wrote a very accurate description on how good is Suvarnabhumi Airport if you fly with TG on First and Business, something I did many times. On that I agree 100%.

However sometimes for short regional flights I fly in Economy Class and this is where you will feel the pain, as I did last week and many other people, in fact most of the passengers going through the airport are economy class passengers and they have to suffer one of the worst airports in Asia by far.

We have to be truth and not judge an airport only for their F and C class service but overall and on that regard, Suvarnabhumi Airport is still a shame and even Manila airport where I was last month is better since you will never spend more than 20 minutes to go through Immigration (last time I just took 5 minutes).

[MartynSinclair]

Jason – having arrived into BKK airport this morning, for the second time this week, using Thai First, I agree with your comments 100%. However, that does not eliminate the experiences for those that do not enjoy fast track. The queues between 2pm and 5pm most days when the European and Japan flights arrive are wholly unacceptable.

What the queues do show is that tourism and business are returning to Thailand. I hope that the airport management do take note and speed the passenger flow through immigration for those that do not enjoy the superb Thai first and business experiences.

[GarethForster1]

I Must say I have always found Bangkoks new airport a delight to travel though, spacious comfortable, no hassle and have never experienced any ques at Immigration, perhaps this is because i fly Business class with Emirates and they give you a fast track pass yo use the VIP lane after check in, which is great

[Author]

Posts