I've heard a lot of negative comments about taxi queue at new BKK airport. I've heard people waiting for over 2 hours to grab a taxi. I wonder if the situation is improved? I will be arriving at around midnight, so traffic should not be a problem, but I don't wanna wait 30 minutes just to grab a cap to hotel after 24 hours of flight from NYC. Has anyone have good or bad experience with taxi queue recently?

You'll probably wait a bit.

When they designed the airport, they had NO taxis planned to come to the main terminal. They were all to wait at the satellite.

During the soft opening they discovered that people expect taxis to pick them up at the terminal building and the new stands were invented. The taxis were to 'trickle' in as people need them.

Of course, this has been a minor headache. You will still find taxi's refusing to pick from the line and asking someone off the curb for a flat rate.

You should be able to get a taxi without too much trouble. I waited in the line a few times... the longest wait was about the same as old BKK, about 20 minutes. The next time, I waited only 3 or 4.

Expect disorganization, but it shouldn't be too bad.

You'll probably wait a bit.

When they designed the airport, they had NO taxis planned to come to the main terminal. They were all to wait at the satellite.

During the soft opening they discovered that people expect taxis to pick them up at the terminal building and the new stands were invented. The taxis were to 'trickle' in as people need them.

Of course, this has been a minor headache. You will still find taxi's refusing to pick from the line and asking someone off the curb for a flat rate.

You should be able to get a taxi without too much trouble. I waited in the line a few times... the longest wait was about the same as old BKK, about 20 minutes. The next time, I waited only 3 or 4.

Expect disorganization, but it shouldn't be too bad.


Sean, would it be better to just get a car from ACC limo or have another car waiting for you? My wife and I arrive in about 4 weeks and I thought about having ACC or Julie Taxi pick us up. Is it worth the extra $5 to do it this way or will it be about the same as waiting in the taxi line? Two years ago when we went into the old airport we had Julie Taxi pick us up, but we had never been to asia before and was a little nervous! Thanks for your help. Jeffrey

In two visits so far I did not see any appreciable queue for a taxi downstairs out front at the official desk. I haven't been through there enough to say for all times but at ~2:00am and 10:00am things were moving right along. That’s my admittedly limited experience anyway. It was actually pretty orderly and the only issue is it might not be immediately obvious where you grab a meter taxi since you have to head down a level from arrivals. Also if you arrive during the day when there are still departures going on it was still very easy to shoot up to the departure level and catch a cab that just dropped someone off. In fact probably easier to do that here then it was at Don Maung since some Bangkok taxies do not have the required permit to pick up passengers at the official queue so they either pick someone up at the departure level or else head back to Bangkok empty handed. Suvarnabhumi to Sukhumvit is ~180-~200 Baht on the meter. Obviously only go if he will run the meter. This was not even an issue for me on two rides so far although others have mentioned being asked for a flat rate of 400 Baht. Two toll booths for like 25 and 40 baht. Plus 50 Baht airport surcharge if you catch one at the taxi queue. It takes ~25 minutes to Sukhumvit with no traffic. Longer if there is traffic. In other words things are not much different than they were at Don Maung.

I agree with the previous post....I came in again on Monday last (Oct 23) afternoon...arrivals was very busy (Monday was also a holiday in Thailand, so lots of additional arrivals after long weekend breaks it seemed)...but taxis pick-up was surprisingly smooth...

a. First right after customs exit you are on Level 2....just go past the greeters crowd (they are thankfully mostly behind ropes now) and take the escalator down to Level 1

b. At Level 1 just get in a line for the taxis (they might look a bit long at peak hours but they move rather quickly)

c. While in line, a bilingual attendant will ask for your destination and then right it down in Thai wording on a slip of paper and then hand it to you (for you to give the attendant at the head of the line)...I find that this saves hold-ups at the front of the line....

d. If anyone else approaches you when you are in line and asks you if you would like a ride...just politely decline (they are freelancers or touts)

e. When you get to the head of the line (which was surprisingly fast given the length of the line when I first joined it--and there were several lines)....just hand the slip of paper (with your destination written in Thai) to the attendent who helps you to the first available taxi at the front...

f. The attendant then hands you a large slip of paper which explains the rules (50Baht airport surcharge on top of the metered amount payable to the driver as well as freeway tolls payable to the driver)....also there is a phone number and the number of your particular taxi (scribbled in pen) in case of problems or complaints...

g. Make sure the meter is on before you close the door...then off you go...

h. There are two tollways from the airport to the Central Business District of Bangkok (the aggregate of the two tolls is 65Baht-----I think 25 Baht for the first toll booth and 40 Baht for the second one)...

i. Give the driver the amounts when you reach the toll booths...if you dont have change dont worry...the toll booth will give the driver the resulting change and then he gives it to you..

j. When you reach your destination, pay the meter amount plus 50 Baht.....I paid about 200 Baht (on the meter) to Wireless Road near the Hilton Conrad Hotel plus 50 Baht for the surcharge....

actually not too bad.....they just need to organize the lines a bit with ropes so that they snake around instead of blocking all other ped traffic... but that will eventually come around...

... still very easy to shoot up to the departure level and catch a cab that just dropped someone off. In fact probably easier to do that here then it was at Don Maung...
This is a very interesting observation since there was supposed to be heavy enforcement against this practice.

This is a very interesting observation since there was supposed to be heavy enforcement against this practice.I arrived in BKK last saturday and have never been in Town so fast. The flight touched down at 4:08pm and I was in Sukhumvit Soi 20 at 4:54pm

Got the taxi upstairs at the daparture level. Including the 50 Baht surcharge and 25 Baht tollway I paid a total of 255 Baht plus 10 Baht tip.

The driver explained to me that going to the airport there is absolutely no need for any expressway or Tollway from Suk soi 20. Just go from Ashok to Rama nine and then the highway is free. Just coming into town needs 25 Baht.

...
Got the taxi upstairs at the daparture level. Including the 50 Baht surcharge ...
Why did you have to pay the B50 surcharge? I thought that was only if you got a taxi from the queue?

This is a very interesting observation since there was supposed to be heavy enforcement against this practice.

This was very common practice at the old airport and given they're still troubleshooting new airport, this seems like the best way to go.

Friends on a different forum confirmed quickest way is to head up to departure floor and hailing a taxi. I'll be there in about 3 wks and plan to do exactly the above.

Why did you have to pay the B50 surcharge? I thought that was only if you got a taxi from the queue?Until now I am not sure about this. Even in the old airport some taxis would charge this but most would not. It is written on the ratesheets and since I saw taxidrivers at the departure levels pay off the guards, I thought that this is some part of the game.
Now since it is the first time that I took a taxi from the new airport and the driver initially asked for it to open the meter, I didn't want to argue. Anyway I considered it as a self drawn tip, so I didn't tip exept rounding up to the next 20. And I only rounded up, because the driver turned out to be very informative.

Any further information on this 50 Baht rule would be appreciated.

I was at BKK a few weeks ago and had no problem getting a cab - just make sure you get the metered cab and not the negotiated price one.

deleted

Update, as of a couple of days ago the situation with how they are handling taxies in arrivals still seems to be a little in flux.

As for catching a meter cab on the lower level at the official desk it remains unchanged and I still have yet to see a significant queue. In fact it seems very orderly down there and I can't imagine that anyone would have a problem. The only long queue I have seen so far, is a long queue of empty taxies waiting to pick up relatively far fewer passengers.

But on the subject of upstairs at the departure level. A couple of weeks ago taxies were just dropping people at the curb and the cops were pretty lackadaisical if they hung around for a while so long as they weren’t really blocking things. This time they were rigidly enforcing that taxies must drop passengers at the outer curb across the inner lane of traffic and although some taxies were loitering about, most were shooed away pretty quickly. So in fact the old "driver pay airport loitering surcharge to the cop" is quite possible in effect now.

In any case it is really a trivial issue of whether you want to hassle over 50 baht or not. The taxi system is working very well.

Update, as of a couple of days ago the situation with how they are handling taxies in arrivals still seems to be a little in flux.

As for catching a meter cab on the lower level at the official desk it remains unchanged and I still have yet to see a significant queue. In fact it seems very orderly down there and I can't imagine that anyone would have a problem. The only long queue I have seen so far, is a long queue of empty taxies waiting to pick up relatively far fewer passengers.

But on the subject of upstairs at the departure level. A couple of weeks ago taxies were just dropping people at the curb and the cops were pretty lackadaisical if they hung around for a while so long as they weren’t really blocking things. This time they were rigidly enforcing that taxies must drop passengers at the outer curb across the inner lane of traffic and although some taxies were loitering about, most were shooed away pretty quickly. So in fact the old "driver pay airport loitering surcharge to the cop" is quite possible in effect now.

In any case it is really a trivial issue of whether you want to hassle over 50 baht or not. The taxi system is working very well.

The problem with the Thais is that if you don't hazzle over 50 Baht today, it will be 100 tomrrow.

The problem with the Thais is that if you don't hazzle over 50 Baht today, it will be 100 tomrrow.
C'mon, I think 50 baht is a reasonable price for the service you get: your destination is translated into Thai, and you get a slip with the taxi's details so they can't rip you off. Most airports around the world have taxi surcharges, usually much more than US$1, and they usually don't provide either service!

C'mon, I think 50 baht is a reasonable price for the service you get: your destination is translated into Thai, and you get a slip with the taxi's details so they can't rip you off. Most airports around the world have taxi surcharges, usually much more than US$1, and they usually don't provide either service!There might be a misunderstandig. I meant whether or not pay the 50 baht when getting a taxi upstairs, as the driver charges it and keeps it or uses it for bribes. If it goes to the authorities in the official queue, that's of course reasonable and ok.

deleted

you misunderstood his post. he was refering to paying the 50-baht surcharge upstairs on the departure level, where you don't get those services.

To clarify what I meant by "In any case it is really a trivial issue of whether you want to hassle over 50 baht or not” is... whether someone wants to just walk down to the official desk and do things the "right" way and pay the surcharge or whether they want to head up and grab one in departures and not pay the 50 baht, is a trivial issue. In the context of my comment I was merely trying to point out that conditions in departures seem to still be in a flux and changing from one week to the next, but regardless, no one is going to have the slightest trouble at all getting a taxi, one way or the other. Not sugesting anyone pay any kind of trumped up fee upstairs

if you can't do that, then you need to hand that slip of paper to your driver, so good luck on using it not to get ripped off! lol, i remember drivers trying to take that paper from me even after they'd confirmed to me that they understood where i wanted to go... see, on the back of it is a complaint form with their cab license number on it. once you give it to them, you'll never get it back.

On this note. There DOES seem to be stepped up enforcement of how slips are handled downstairs at the official desk. Like you said, at DM the driver usually ask you for the slip as soon as you get in and would happily keep the whole thing if the passenger did not know to tear off and keep their portion, which I am sure most never did.

At Suvarnabhumi the taxies have the slips pre filled out under the wiper blade on the window with the driver’s # and the counter attendants were personally and very pointedly taking the forms, checking them, tearing off the passenger’s portion with the complaint number and terms in English and handing it directly to the passenger, then handing the drivers portion directly to the driver. I took the way it was done to be a very deliberate attempt of making sure everything went by the book and I imagine if they keep that up it might save a few minor hassles for first time arrivals.

From The Nation, Nov. 27, 2006

Hundreds of cabbies blocked the taxi terminal at Suvarnabhumi Airport last night in protest at a police arrest and ticketing of a driver.

As many as 300 police were deployed to the protest.

The arrested driver had failed to turn on his meter when ferrying a passenger to the airport from Chon Buri province.

One of the protesting drivers said the blockade demanded justice for the arrested driver.

He said taxis travelling interprovincial routes did not have to use meters.

The protest organiser, who asked to not be identified, alleged staff at a company that operated an Airports of Thailand taxi concession were corrupt.

They allowed "ghost taxis" to freely pick up passengers at the airport while those who paid Bt50 to enter the airport had to wait "hours" to collect a fare.

Staff received Bt20 kickbacks from each unauthorised taxi.

Hundreds of taxis blocked entrances and exits to the commuter area while others blockaded the Thai Airways catering building, causing traffic congestion in the airport compound.

Interestingly, even though most advise against cabbies negotiating a rate instead of using the meter, I think I got lucky.

I posted earlier that my BKK-->Silom area fare including the 20+45 Baht toll and 50 Baht airport fee came to about 500 baht.

On departing from BKK, I also hailed a cab from Silom, and the driver asked if 400 Baht including tolls was okay. Since tolls are 65 Baht, I figured it was a good deal. I also figured that since I was in a rush, it was in both his and my interest to take the most direct route if he were paid a fixed fare rather than a fare that varied by distance.

FWIW, the line at the official taxi dispatch desk (level 1, near doors 8/9) today at 4 PM was quite long, maybe ~ 75 people waiting. I think there are similar desks mid-terminal and near door 1 (domestic arrivals), but I took the elevator up to level 4 (departures) walked out to the far curb where several taxis were waiting. I opened the door of the first taxi, said my destination and "meter OK", and off we went. There were police nearby but no issues. Traffic really wasn't bad at all in-bound, maybe + 5 minutes over off-peak travel times; I go to/from Ploen Chit/Wireless Road. (I have also taken taxis leaving the airport at level 2.)