Originally Posted by
mangoMan
We have a 2 night stay coming up in late February. Since we are arriving around midnight from the US, we figure this will be a "jet-lag recovery" stay. We are probably going to book a 7:45 am departure to SAI after our 2nd night, on Thai Airways, in economy. We will be checking bags. How soon should one be at the check-in counters at that time? I've read that one should allow 3 hours but that seems to factor in an uncertainty of travel time to the airport, which doesn't affect us since we'll already be there. It'd be nice to grab some breakfast in the club lounge but it seems we won't be able to if we book this early flight to SAI. Later departures on Bangkok Airways are an option, but they are running significantly more than the Thai flight.
Originally Posted by
Kacee
2 hours is more than sufficient.
Personally I'd stay in Bangkok. It shouldn't be more than 30 minutes to the airport at 5 am.
While I agree that I would personally stay in Bangkok as the time savings on the morning of departure will likely be nominal as traffic will be quick.....I do see some merit in staying two nights in this case. The hotel is a pretty easy walk over to the Airport Rail Link and you could just do a day trip into Bangkok (bag free) for some shopping and sight seeing etc. It also seems that the restaurant is open very early for breakfast which could also be a plus for an early departure. Also, the late nature of the food and beverage on site is nice for the late arrival if you want to unwind. Yes, you can do that in Bangkok but depending on your familiarity it is not quite as easy. While the hotel is not a terribly long walk isn't just a 5 minute skip over either. I would say that you will easily have 15 minutes invested in getting down to the level of the walkway and then the walk over. I would say that if you arrive two hours before your TG flight departure, you should be more than fine. So, while I see some merit in it, I think you could do better for your cash/points being in Bangkok.