Bangkok International Terminal and other Bangkok, Thailand Transportation Tips

'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: The new Bangkok airport opened early in 2007 – and promptly ran into major problems when major construction faults led to calls for the old airport to be re-opened while repairs were made. We passed through the new terminal in late May and everything appeared to be functioning properly by then. The terminal is absolutely huge, though as we saw it at night, gaining a clear impression was difficult. The construction of boarding lounge areas appears similar to other new airports, such as Hong Kong, with extensive use of “plastic canvas” roofing. There are vast long concourses connecting different areas, fortunately equipped with moving walkways, and shops grouped at what I would call “nodes”.

Unsurprisingly, it was largely empty when we arrived late at night, local time! We found our way from our arrival lounge through the corridors with fairly few problems, then entered the boarding lounge (go out at the top level, then downstairs to the lounge – see photo). What soon became apparent was that no catering options existed in the boarding lounge area – to obtain some drinks, it was necessary to return to the shopping node.

So, getting to the point, if you are travelling from Bangkok Airport and are looking for catering, I would suggest you shop for nutrition prior to entering the boarding lounge area. Maybe later something will be provided in these areas as the terminal ‘beds in’.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: We flew to Bangkok from Brisbane on a Thai Airlines B777. The food was good, the cabin crew friendly, and the seats comfortable. The seats are worthy of further explanation – when “reclined”, the entire seat pivoted into a more horizontal position: ie not only did the back go down, but the squab moved forward and up at the front. The result was that it not only became more “bed-like”, but it did not intrude into the space of the passengers behind (though one’s own knee room reduced). We encountered no other seats like these on our trip, but were very impressed.

Flying from Bangkok to Vienna, we again found ourselves on a B777, this time operated by Austrian Airlines. The cabin service could be described as polite (but more formal than Thai) and the food was average to good. There was a major problem with the seats though – these were the traditional “recline the backrest onto the person behind” variety and at best were uncomfortable and with minimal kneeroom. As soon as we left Bangkok, the two people in front went to full recline and stayed there! I should probably have asked the cabin crew to do something about it, but instead stayed trapped with no room to move (not even space to read a book). It was the most uncomfortable flight of the entire trip and my back complained for over two weeks later!

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'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: The website for the Star Alliance provides online details of available flights for trips between two airports, or for longer trips. Most usefully, from the website you can obtain a free downloadable program which has all this information, intended for planning ‘round the world’ trips while offline. This program automatically updates online with new airline schedules every few months.

I found the “trip planner program” invaluable, as it enabled me to put together draft itineraries, save the details, review them at leisure and make changes to refine flight details. Finally I printed out what looked a useful “final” and sent it by fax to our travel agent – who ran it past the airlines, which raised a few new issues (such as a different distance calculation, requiring some flight modifications, plus the single stopover allowed in Asia). Collectively we developed the final itinerary, but having the travel options at my fingertips made it possible to consider and review a huge range of possibilities, some of which may not otherwise have been obvious. You won't be surprised that I'd rate this program as "Highly Recommended"!

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