Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport Major Problems

The new airport has so many problems
that travelers are longing for the old,
awful, dilapidated Don Muang airport.
Major design mistakes are causing
massive delays, huge lines, and an
endless flow of complaints.According to the New York Times, it is more than just "opening day quirks" and "small glitches" that are bugging the new Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport. Rick and Justin — who both frequent the airport — have talked about the impossibility and impracticality of navigating the place. It sounds once more like the practice of Thai pocket-lining took precedence over design, functionality, and common sense.

Nearly three months after opening, the bare concrete walls of the sprawling terminal appear unfinished, the arrival hall is chronically overcrowded, and workers are busy fixing cracks in the tarmac. ...

The most common gripes, she said, were the crowding and delays during check-in and “this marathon walk passengers have to endure when they’re trying to reach the plane.” ...

Not long after the airport opened, complaints about a dearth of bathrooms prompted the second most powerful man in Thailand’s military-appointed government, Pridiyathorn Devakula, the deputy prime minister, to order the airport authority to tear down offices and install more toilets. ...

Raveewan Netarakawesana, director of public relations for the Airports Authority of Thailand, which oversaw the construction of the new airport, says her office has received a litany of gripes about Suvarnabhumi: “inadequate and ambiguous signs,” overcrowding, faulty air-conditioning, lack of seats at the departure areas and the “naked-looking concrete, paintless columns, walls and structures.” ...

But although some are being addressed, other problems will be harder to fix, such as the overcrowding, which Ms. Raveewan described as a “structural restriction resulting from the design.” During peak hours, the two check-in lines for Thai Airways are the length of a football field, something that rarely happened at the old airport, which had separate counters for each flight. ...

Inside the terminal, the airport authority has earmarked 40 million baht, just over $1 million, to build 20 new bathrooms, with 205 toilets, 118 urinals and 248 new wash basins. Some of the current wash basins may have to be replaced, too. They are poorly designed and water splashes onto the floor, creating full-time employment for janitors, who mop the floor every few minutes. ...

One particularly nagging problem is that, despite the size and number of parking gates at the main terminal, passengers are often asked to disembark onto buses that ferry them to the building.