'Catching A Cab At Bangkok Airport' Discussion Thread

[EXLEFTSEAT]

We got in Wednesday night and after reading the last posts, expected the worst. But it was a pleasant surprise. Went to the taxi stand, got our ticket,
driver was very friendly, turned meter on without even being asked. He did ask if we wanted the highway, he paid for the tolls upfront. We tipped him, he sjook our hands and was grateful. Wonderful experience again. Keep'em
coming. Next week we are going back to catch the 6 a.m. flight on NW, so we will need a 3 a.m. cab. Let's see how that works out.

[og]

Airport - city - airport with meters on (by request) both ways. No hassle at all. My only regret was getting in this guys taxi and then discovering he had his prized Formula 1 steering wheel with a fancy yellow logo in the centre (Ferrari?). I then discovered he drive like an F1 driver (in a video game). We both lived through the trip (why, I can't understand). I looked away when I saw 140 km/h on the speedo.

Neither driver stuffed around when I handed over THB 65 for the 2 tolls up front. They knew I knew the trip.

[Wilbur]

Originally Posted by og

Airport - city - airport with meters on (by request) both ways. No hassle at all. My only regret was getting in this guys taxi and then discovering he had his prized Formula 1 steering wheel with a fancy yellow logo in the centre (Ferrari?). I then discovered he drive like an F1 driver (in a video game). We both lived through the trip (why, I can't understand). I looked away when I saw 140 km/h on the speedo.

Neither driver stuffed around when I handed over THB 65 for the 2 tolls up front. They knew I knew the trip.

Ha - I have been in that very taxi, with that very driver, or else his cousin. The prancing horse should have been my first tip that we would get from the airport to the hotel in near-record time with near-record tire wear!

[FredyFarang]

I arrived at Bangkok's international airport early this morning after a long flight. This is my second time in Thailand. Six months ago when I arrived at the airport, I took a taxi to my hotel in the Sukhumvit area and was charged a fixed price of 500 baht. I was later told that I should never accept a fixed priced fare and only use a metered taxi, so this time, that is what I did. I took a metered pink taxi from the ground level. Driver asked me if I wanted the meter on and I said yes. After driving for a little while, he pulled over to get fuel. This took a long time. Nearly 10 minutes. When he stopped, the meter was on 65. After re-fueling, he drove off without the meter on, but put it on after a few minutes. It was now on 67. He stopped at the first toll and asked me for 65 baht. The smallest note I had was 1000 baht, so I handed him that. Due to extreme tiredness and poor lighting in the taxi, I did not notice that he had short changed me by a large amount. He should have given me 935 baht in change, but he had in fact handed me 440 baht in small notes! Then we stopped at the next tollway and he demanded a further 40 baht from me, which I gave him. After driving for another 10 minutes or so, I had noticed that the meter was now over 500 baht! I questioned this, but he did not understand me and I could not get an answer to why the meter was so high. When we finally arrived at my hotel, the meter was on 655! He demanded this money from me. I tried to tell him that it was too high, but he would not listen and demanded the money. I was so tired that I just wanted to get to my hotel and sleep, so rather than continue agruing with him, I handed him another 1000 baht note, and he gave me 340 baht in change. Once again he had short changed me, but only by 5 baht, so I didn't worry.
I had real trouble sleeping last night, because I know that I had been ripped off by so much.
Is there anything I can do about this? I don't know the license number of the taxi, but I know exactly what the taxi driver looks like. He is very tall for a Thai, and has a large, almost western looking nose and acne scarring on his face. If I saw him again, I would recognize him straight away.
I'm thinking about going to the Thai tourist police. Maybe get them to take me back to the airport so I can point out the guy. Do you think they would help me with this? I would really like to see this guy fired for this. If I don't stop him, he will do the same to the next farang.

[Jaimito Cartero]

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!

I hate to say it, but you made a number of mistakes. Even a 500 Baht note is too much for many of the taxis to change. Where did you get your money from? I always have them break some down, so I don't run into these problems. You knew that the taxi drivers could be nefarious, and you let him

If I have a problem, when I arrive at the hotel, I don't pay until I get out, and have my bag in my hands. If they're ripping you off, ask the staff to help you, they can call the Tourist Police, or other police officials. Make sure you get the plate number, so you can file a complaint.

[FredyFarang]

Ok, so I'm a fool. Thank you very much. I withdrew 5000 baht from the ATM when I arrived at the airport and it gave me 5 x 1000 baht notes. That's why the smallest note i had was 1000 baht.
Could you please let me know whether there is any chance that I can report this guy? Even if I can't get my money back, I don't care. I want to do my best to make this guy lose his job.

[Jaimito Cartero]

Originally Posted by FredyFarang

Ok, so I'm a fool. Thank you very much. I withdrew 5000 baht from the ATM when I arrived at the airport and it gave me 5 x 1000 baht notes. That's why the smallest note i had was 1000 baht.
Could you please let me know whether there is any chance that I can report this guy? Even if I can't get my money back, I don't care. I want to do my best to make this guy lose his job.

So, take out 5400 from the ATM. Or change a bit in one of the kiosks. Do you have his license number? If so, call the tourist police, or taxi cab authority. Ask you hotel for help on this. You nip stuff like this in the bud, and don't hand the money over until your satisfied.

If I had let every BKK taxi driver pull the wool over my eyes, I'd be out tens of thousands of baht.

I still can't believe that you knew you had problems before, and didn't find out what the real charge should have been. My experience last month was about 250-300 baht from the airport.

[dsquared37]

Originally Posted by FredyFarang

Could you please let me know whether there is any chance that I can report this guy? Even if I can't get my money back, I don't care. I want to do my best to make this guy lose his job.

Unlikely to lose his job. But anyway, if you got the taxi from the Taxi Stand on the arrival level from BKK you should have also received a slip of paper with his name and cab number. If you have this (though I'm assuming the answer is no) you can send it in. Otherwise you're SOL. And there's no chance in hell you'll ever have the oportunity to pick him out, much less effectively do so. That was laughable.

Paying the additional 50Baht for the taxi stand allows you to have something to use against the driver should these things happen. Sorry it happened to you but paying 1000 Baht instead of 250 is not the biggest loss. Yeah, you're out money, but it's less than $30. Don't fret it too much. This is less than 1% of what you'll spend for the flight and trip in total. A pittance.

[FredyFarang]

Nah, don't have his license number, and the yellow bit of paper they gave me, he asked me to hand to him before I even got in the cab.
It would be very easy for me recognize this piece of sh*t though. I'd really like to punch the crap out of him, but I don't wanna end up in a f#cking Thai jail. It's not about the money. Yes, it's only a small amount really in US dollars. It's the principle of it. I know these guys make f#ck all money, but they still shouldn't cheat people.

[FredyFarang]

Originally Posted by dsquared37

And there's no chance in hell you'll ever have the oportunity to pick him out, much less effectively do so. That was laughable.

Why is it laughable? I bet if I went back to the airport tomorrow and hung around where he picked me up, I'd spot the pr*ck. I could take of a photo of him, give it to the cab company or police & let them know what happened. I wanna get back at this piece of sh*t badly.

[transpac]

Originally Posted by FredyFarang

I wanna get back at this piece of sh*t badly.

This type of attitude could lead to further problems for you on your trip. Maybe it would be better to put the experience behind you, relax and enjoy your holiday.

[Guy Betsy]

Originally Posted by FredyFarang

I arrived at Bangkok's international airport early this morning after a long flight. This is my second time in Thailand. Six months ago when I arrived at the airport, I took a taxi to my hotel in the Sukhumvit area and was charged a fixed price of 500 baht. I was later told that I should never accept a fixed priced fare and only use a metered taxi, so this time, that is what I did. I took a metered pink taxi from the ground level. Driver asked me if I wanted the meter on and I said yes.

* Your first mistake here. You did NOT take the taxi from the official taxi queue!

After driving for a little while, he pulled over to get fuel. This took a long time. Nearly 10 minutes. When he stopped, the meter was on 65. After re-fueling, he drove off without the meter on, but put it on after a few minutes. It was now on 67. He stopped at the first toll and asked me for 65 baht. The smallest note I had was 1000 baht, so I handed him that.

* Your second mistake here. Always have around B500 in B100 notes with you!

Due to extreme tiredness and poor lighting in the taxi,

* But you're not that tired to notice the fare going to B500???

I did not notice that he had short changed me by a large amount. He should have given me 935 baht in change, but he had in fact handed me 440 baht in small notes! Then we stopped at the next tollway and he demanded a further 40 baht from me, which I gave him. After driving for another 10 minutes or so, I had noticed that the meter was now over 500 baht! I questioned this,

* Of course you asked him in ENGLISH ????

but he did not understand me and I could not get an answer to why the meter was so high. When we finally arrived at my hotel, the meter was on 655! He demanded this money from me. I tried to tell him that it was too high, but he would not listen and demanded the money. I was so tired that I just wanted to get to my hotel and sleep, so rather than continue agruing with him, I handed him another 1000 baht note, and he gave me 340 baht in change. Once again he had short changed me, but only by 5 baht, so I didn't worry.
I had real trouble sleeping last night, because I know that I had been ripped off by so much.
Is there anything I can do about this? I don't know the license number of the taxi, but I know exactly what the taxi driver looks like. He is very tall for a Thai, and has a large, almost western looking nose and acne scarring on his face. If I saw him again, I would recognize him straight away.

* No you can't really. And what are Thai people supposed to be? Short?

I'm thinking about going to the Thai tourist police. Maybe get them to take me back to the airport so I can point out the guy. Do you think they would help me with this? I would really like to see this guy fired for this. If I don't stop him, he will do the same to the next farang.

*Excuse me but.... The Pink taxi is a giveaway. The green ones are the ones that are part of a conglomerate. Sorry.... but you seem to have taken an unofficial taxi ... and why in G*d's name did you do that when there is an official taxi queue, with the reps there writing down the name and license number of the cab when you board.Tired or not, if you don't know the way, ASK an official airport representative, who will direct you to the official taxi queue.

After giving name of hotel to the rep, she writes out a slip and I take it to the driver reps who gives instructions to cab and writes down name of driver and taxi number for complaints if any. I get in cab, hand over B100 for 'tollway' charges. Taxi goes off. My fare to Sukhumvit Sheraton is B200. Driver always returns the balance of the tollway charges. About B35. Remember there is a B50 surcharge when you take a cab at the official taxi queue. I usually round off to B300.

On return trips the fare is usually less, but I still give B50 for tip. As far as I know, this is one of the easiest way to catch a cab in BKK airport these days.

..I bet if I went back to the airport tomorrow and hung around where he picked me up, I'd spot the pr*ck. I could take of a photo of him, give it to the cab company or police & let them know what happened.

*Think of it as a contribution to the Thai economy. Go to Erawan Shrine. Make amends. Cool down. And enjoy Thailand. No use holding off all this anger inside of you !

[FredyFarang]

[quote=Guy Betsy;9954873]* Your first mistake here. You did NOT take the taxi from the official taxi queue!

### I was on the ground level and there was indeed a queue of people leading to a desk with 2 people sitting down. When I reached the desk, I was asked where I was going to. I let the guy know and he scribbled something on a yellow piece of paper and gave it to me, then I had to wait in another queue where there was this very efeminate guy tearing off half the yellow piece of paper and handing the other half to the people in the queue. When I was in the front of this queue, that piece of sh*t taxi driver came and asked me to hand him that piece of paper and led me to his car. It was pink in color, but had the meter sign on the roof.


* Your second mistake here. Always have around B500 in B100 notes with you!

### Ok, I will remember for next time, if indeed there is a next time!

* But you're not that tired to notice the fare going to B500???

### I was too tired to keep my eye on the meter at all times like I should have. If I did, I may have seen when this c#nt adjusted the f#cking meter!

* Of course you asked him in ENGLISH ????

### I speak a bit of Thai, but very little and my pronunciation is not good. I could not question the meter in Thai because I don't have all the words in my vocab. All I said was ""meter paeng maak", a few times. Either he didn't understand, or more likely, pretended not to understand! Whatever.

* No you can't really. And what are Thai people supposed to be? Short?

### Umm, yes I can see this f#cker's face in my mind's eye right now, and he was unusually tall for a Thai i.e. around 6ft 2 - 6ft 3. Now, I have seen maybe a couple of Thais of that height, but there certainly aren't too many. Most Thais are shorter than Americans, Australians, English etc. You must know that. Perhaps you have a height complex?


*Excuse me but.... The Pink taxi is a giveaway. The green ones are the ones that are part of a conglomerate. Sorry.... but you seem to have taken an unofficial taxi ... and why in G*d's name did you do that when there is an official taxi queue, with the reps there writing down the name and license number of the cab when you board.Tired or not, if you don't know the way, ASK an official airport representative, who will direct you to the official taxi queue.

### See my reply above. How am I supposed to know what "an official taxi queue" should look like? This line that lead to a desk manned by two people looked pretty official to me. The metered taxi's i've seen in Bangkok come in different colors. I've caught pink ones, brown ones, green and yellow ones. The fare always ended up being much the same because they all used the meter and did not f#ck around with it to cheat me.

*After giving name of hotel to the rep, she writes out a slip and I take it to the driver reps who gives instructions to cab and writes down name of driver and taxi number for complaints if any.

### Well maybe this c#nt was not one official drivers and just came out of nowhere and the effeminate looking and sounding guy wasn't watching. That is a possibility I hadn't thought of.

*Think of it as a contribution to the Thai economy. Go to Erawan Shrine. Make amends. Cool down. And enjoy Thailand. No use holding off all this anger inside of you

### A contribution to the Thai community? LOL. It is a direct contribution to the pecuniary gain of this low life piece of sh*t. The money has gone to him and no one else! This guy really should have been drowned at birth!

[Guy Betsy]

What goes around will come around.... so just let it go! Its less than $50. It could have been more....

Still, pay a visit to a temple and make peace. No use bantering on about this. You're on holiday.

[EXLEFTSEAT]

I left BKK this morning on the ungodly 6 am NW flight. That meant I had
to leave the hotel by 3:30. Asked the porter to call a taxi. They told the
driver I wanted the meter on, but driver refused. Seems to be a problem
at night. We bargained, he wanted 600 Baht, we settled on 425 Baht. Not
that much more than by meter. And driver turned out to be very curtious,
friendly and helpful with the baggage. Also drove quite civilized. So, no
complaints again. Since I will be going every couple of months now, I will
have a great way to compare and keep reporting here. And as a sidenote,
yes, it is quite advisable to have smaller notes for a total amount of 500 Baht
on hand. They are not good in returning change in the right amount. Also, if
you hand them the 65 baht for the tolls in advance, they realize that you
are sort of knowledgeable, which helps to keep them honest.