Soju

Same experience here with the Concourse D Lounge. Busy, but not so busy that you couldn't find a seat. Very different than when the airport first opened, but still a bit too busy for my liking.

The unopened Concourse C Lounge actually doesn't really look much different now than it did a month ago. A month ago the attendant in the opened Concourse C lounge said it's twin should be finished by the following week. So I think it's probably been finished for a while, but with minimal passengers in the present Concourse C lounge, it doesn't make any sense to open it up. One other reason I prefer the Concourse C Lounge over the Concourse D Lounge....no mirror over the urinals. Wonder who it was that decided putting a mirror over the urinals was a good idea?

As of last Friday, only the one Royal Silk Lounge on Concourse E was open. The other (the Royal Orchid Lounge) looked ready, but was closed. Maybe they just opened since then, or maybe they are not open as many hours as the other lounges. I didn't get a chance to go into the opened lounge there, but was wondering the same thing - whether it's a twin (actually triplet) of the Concourse C lounge or not.

I also tried out the Louis Tavern First Lounge on Concourse F. It was just okay in my opinion. I was there early in the morning and the sandwiches were stale, the same as back at Don Muang. They had pancakes and syrup, with ants getting into the syrup. And no internet, which being I don't like to lug my own notebook with me is a big minus for me. Their business class lounge was very busy - as you say serving as the contract lounge for other airlines - actually many airlines...I made lots of notes about all the various lounges at the airport but don't have those notes with me now. I'll post it later when I get a chance.

Soju

Thanks for that explanation. And you should treat yourself to two more Asahi's. I was always wondering about that naming difference but every time I visited the lounges forgot to ask them why. You mention that there is only one Royal First lounge open now, meaning the Royal First Lounge, as part of the Royal Orchid Lounge on Concourse E is not open. What about the rest of that Royal Orchid Lounge (the part for C / *A G Passengers) - is that open? Trajan posted that the TG attendant said both lounges on Concourse E are open. Just like to get confirmation as to whether there are one or two lounges on Concourse E that are open, and if so maybe a report on which one is best, how they compare to the other lounges, and if they have different operating hours than the other lounges.

Thai-Kiwi

Now in Koru Club AKL after 11 hours C on TG 989. Now awaiting domestic flight to WLG (yawn).

The Royal SILK Lounge in Concourse E is an exact copy of the one in Concourse C (except that staff seem prettier - but that is a subjective, male comment).

The Royal ORCHID Lounge in Concourse E was NOT open, and looked unfinished.

Cheers, TK (too juch Asahi I think...)

Trajan

I never saw an arrivals lounge at Don Muang....

Trajan

I liked the Louis Tavern First class lounge when I visited because it was virtually empty and I enjoyed the foot massage while drinking a gin& tonic (I didnt eat anything) .....it was a great escape from the overcrowded main TG Royal Silk lounge in Concourse D when the airport first opened... but now I'd probably skip visits to any Louis Tavern lounges (using my Priority Pass)...and just hit the TG lounges.....

do you know if there are plans for any other Star Alliance lounges at the BKK airport?

KIXman

Finally got to pass by Suvarnabhumi last night on a transit from MNL to DEL; my first time since it opened. I must say that I got pretty much the same impressions as those written here (like a cold, gray CDG and still under construction in various areas).

I had a couple of hours to bum around and so tried the Royal Silk lounges on concourse D and C. The atmosphere for both lounges was similar and not too bad, but D was (as always?) rather crowded inside. I suppose that'll always be the case from hereon since it seems to be the first and nearest one that people will come across after checking in.

At the old airport I liked to do lounge hopping for a varied experience. I tried looking around to see if there were any indications of future *A lounges (especially for an SKL lounge, I like their dimsum) but unfortunately didn't come across any...

I'll be going back to BKK this evening for a day in Thailand before returning to KIX on Sunday. There'll be a little more time to explore the airport then.

KIXman@DEL

Soju

Don't know for sure, but I walked the entire Level 3 on a recent trip through BKK and had a look at every lounge or potential lounge location and didn't see any signs of any other *A lounges open or being constructed. I would have thought that SQ would want their own lounge at BKK, but evidently not or they're keeping it under wraps.

moocherx

This has to be the WORST design error in the entire airport. If someone is alongside you, the positioning of the mirror means looking at your fellow passenger as if he's literally just decided to drop his trousers and do it in front of you. Very off-putting.

At last though, the C room is opened. Very uncrowded last week... sadly though, the food is as dull and pastry-based as the old airport.

KIXman

I'm back in Bangkok on my way back to KIX (via MNL, no empty seats on the direct flight )

I went through the lounges one more time and so far this is what I saw:

C concourse
- leftside Royal Silk open
- rightside Royal Silk not in service but with furniture already setup inside

D Concourse
- Royal Silk & Royal First open (everybody knows this of course)
- Royal Spa still not open

E Concourse
- leftside Royal Silk open
- rightside Royal Orchid not in service but with furniture draped in plastic setup inside

I also looked around for more signs of any lounges under construction (not necessarily *A) and there seems there might be one room for CX near the D / E / F / G councourse intersection (according to the construction permit, it was for Cathay). There are also other largish rooms but with no purpose yet, perhaps for future use?

dinbangkok

Well after a farcical checkin at the 'gold-counter' (ie queue extending way beyond the holding area with many people clearly not knowing that it's for *G), i drudged to the lounge at concourse D to ask where the C lounge was. The Thai representative said C was much better because, "anni meun 'supermarket'" ("here it's like a supermarket"). Anyway, i made my way to C lounge (where i'm writing this), and as soon as i sat down, felt like i was back home TG style. It's much more relaxed, far less people, more intimate, and most importantly, the TG staff are unhurried and much more like the people that we knew and loved at the old airport lounge! What is more, for the first time i've ever seen in a thai lounge at breakfast time, they're serving extremely good quality scrambled eggs (and i mean, very very good!). Hot ham and bacon is also available*. Needless to say, the usual motley crew of assorted pasties & dreadful sandwiches are also available

So... anyway, do keep this to yourselves we wouldn't want it to become so busy that it loses the magic!

*I was just told they launched a new lounge menu yesterday

Cheers

dinbangkok

indiahoosier

Any updates of the free massages that were offered at DM?

Trajan

we wont know for sure until the Royal Orchid Spa (across the hall from the main lounges in Concourse D) opens....I understand that it wont open until after the New Years....

moocherx

I apologise if this is a re-post, but I haven't seen it anywhere on this thread yet... it's the Thai Airways lounge information website, and if you scroll to the bottom there is a pretty clear map of where the lounges are/will be when they open.

The reason I wanted to post it is that it's soooooooo very clear compared to any other map I've seen about the airport:

http://www.thaiair.com/Travel_Destin...es/default.htm

And here is a link to just the map:
http://static.flickr.com/143/3247471...888bb9.jpg?v=0

Soju

That map looks accurate except for the Arrival Lounge. From the map it appears that the location is along the side of the terminal, but AFAIK, this is not the case. The location is actually in the arrival hall, toward the front of the terminal, just to the left of domestic Exit A.

Trajan

yes, your description of the location of the arrival lounge is correct....do you know if its opened yet?