Bangkok Airport Rail Link (ARL): Updates, Advice, Discussion
Oct 8, 2016, 2:49 am
#301
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While I always liked the express service, I never really got it. .... the express train has to wait a bit after the last local train before it can leave so that it doesn't catch up to the local ahead of it. So you don't really get to Makkasan or Phaya Thai any more quickly.
Otherwise I guess the exclusivity
of the uncrowded Express service was its only selling point.
Oct 24, 2016, 7:00 am
#302
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Oct 24, 2016, 7:59 am
#303
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Oct 24, 2016, 8:34 am
#304
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Anyway, if you miss the last train it is not a disaster (unless you are on a very tight budget). A taxi to downtown Bangkok is fairly cheap; should be around 350-400 THB including tolls, depending on your destination.
Oct 24, 2016, 8:26 pm
#305
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The current published schedule shows the last train leaving the airport at exactly 00:00. I guess if everything goes well: flight arrives early, no line at Immigration, any checked bags pop out first, you know exactly where you're going, and have a token in hand by 23:55-ish, and the last train is actually running, you should be fine.
Last edited by transpac; Oct 25, 2016 at 7:39 pm
Oct 25, 2016, 12:05 am
#306
Join Date: Dec 2002
Programs: UA MM, Hilton-Dia
Posts: 1,480
Datapoint for recent flight in the last week:
Deplaned 11:10pm at remote stand. Bus. Took approx 15 minutes to immigration
Cleared immigration (priority) with little to no lines at regular lines at 11:25pm
No checked luggage and out in arrivals area by 11:30pm
Walk fast to immigration, have no checked luggage, better if have access to priority lines, have baht ready, know which elevators to take to get to basement and your chances are good.
Deplaned 11:10pm at remote stand. Bus. Took approx 15 minutes to immigration
Cleared immigration (priority) with little to no lines at regular lines at 11:25pm
No checked luggage and out in arrivals area by 11:30pm
Walk fast to immigration, have no checked luggage, better if have access to priority lines, have baht ready, know which elevators to take to get to basement and your chances are good.
Oct 28, 2016, 5:06 pm
#307
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: HNL
Programs: Star Alliance
Posts: 87
My Asiana flight landed at 2250 but I still made the 2nd to last ARL train around 2336. That included changing dollars at the Super Rich exchange office next to the ticket kiosk.
When I got off at Petchaburi, subway attendants told me I could make the last 'ride' around 2350 in time to get out at Sukhumvit - which I did.
When I got off at Petchaburi, subway attendants told me I could make the last 'ride' around 2350 in time to get out at Sukhumvit - which I did.
Oct 28, 2016, 5:59 pm
#308
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Waterloo Canada
Programs: QF SG, AC, AA
Posts: 425
The current published schedule shows the last train leaving the airport at exactly 00:00. I guess if everything goes well: flight arrives early, no line at Immigration, any checked bags pop out first, you know exactly where you're going, and have a token in hand by 23:55-ish, and the last train is actually running, you should be fine.
As it turned out, an earlier CX flight was long delayed and I was put on a direct TG flight to BKK even though it was an hour delayed also, I still landed long before 23:15.
Oct 28, 2016, 8:10 pm
#309
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Datapoint for recent flight in the last week:
Deplaned 11:10pm at remote stand. Bus. Took approx 15 minutes to immigration
Cleared immigration (priority) with little to no lines at regular lines at 11:25pm
No checked luggage and out in arrivals area by 11:30pm
Walk fast to immigration, have no checked luggage, better if have access to priority lines, have baht ready, know which elevators to take to get to basement and your chances are good.
Deplaned 11:10pm at remote stand. Bus. Took approx 15 minutes to immigration
Cleared immigration (priority) with little to no lines at regular lines at 11:25pm
No checked luggage and out in arrivals area by 11:30pm
Walk fast to immigration, have no checked luggage, better if have access to priority lines, have baht ready, know which elevators to take to get to basement and your chances are good.
Oct 29, 2016, 8:32 am
#310
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I'm typically around 75% bus gates in BKK and I despise it.
Oct 29, 2016, 9:59 am
#311
Join Date: Dec 2002
Programs: UA MM, Hilton-Dia
Posts: 1,480
Stand at the opposite doors of the one you get in. Then you'd be first to get out. Board the bus (for widebodies, there are usually 2 at a time) closest to the nose of the airplane - that's the one that'll leave first.
Oct 29, 2016, 10:42 am
#312
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Oct 29, 2016, 7:18 pm
#313
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That's right. Those that know how/when/why to walk fast, and can actually do so, will hate the bus - the great democratizer of immigration lines.
Stand at the opposite doors of the one you get in. Then you'd be first to get out. Board the bus (for widebodies, there are usually 2 at a time) closest to the nose of the airplane - that's the one that'll leave first.
Stand at the opposite doors of the one you get in. Then you'd be first to get out. Board the bus (for widebodies, there are usually 2 at a time) closest to the nose of the airplane - that's the one that'll leave first.
Nevertheless, despising bus gates is not simply getting to immigration quickly, because my view of them is the same for domestic or international arrivals, it's mostly about moving at my own pace.
Dec 26, 2016, 12:53 am
#314
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Bangkok
Posts: 284
I think I recall the original "vision" was to have an underground link but it was never engineered, and when they went to look at boring a tunnel they quickly figured out that the cost was going to be off the charts. And they did that classic Thai thing and wedged in a ridiculous walkway. Well at least they covered it from the get-go. 
As long as it is not raining - certainly not the case over the past few days here, most savvy commuters just use the street level access to the MRT/exit #3 as it is quicker/easier.
As long as it is not raining - certainly not the case over the past few days here, most savvy commuters just use the street level access to the MRT/exit #3 as it is quicker/easier.
A more sensible walkway would have been direct over Kampaeng Phet 7 rd to MRT exit 3. However, the longer walkway to exit 1 involved more cost - approx US$3m.
Dec 26, 2016, 1:10 am
#315
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The train has taken to a crawl along the curve entering/leaving the airport. I take it as indication the tracks' condition is worse than poor??!!!???