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BKK Suvarnabhumi ~ Baggage & Associated Logistical Delays!

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View Poll Results: At BKK, on average how long are you waiting for your luggage?
Under 15 minutes
10
38.46%
15 - 30 minutes
11
42.31%
30 minutes to 1 hour
1
3.85%
None, I usually do not check luggage
4
15.38%
Voters: 26. You may not vote on this poll

BKK Suvarnabhumi ~ Baggage & Associated Logistical Delays!

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Old Mar 30, 2011, 5:48 am
  #1  
formerly known as 2lovelife
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BKK Suvarnabhumi ~ Baggage & Associated Logistical Delays!

Regarding Bangkok's airport BKK, Suvarnabhumi

My experience is that I am waiting too long for baggage retrieval after landing. The taxiing duration to/from the various bus gates is also seeming like it is taking way too long.

Are you waiting too long for your baggage?

Are bus gates driving you mad?

The flight HKT-BKK is only 1 hour long.
Why does it take me over an hour after landing to get to the terminal and gt my bag? Are other travelers observing similar experiences?

What can we do to push for improvements?
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Old Mar 30, 2011, 6:06 am
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formerly known as 2lovelife
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Flight last week.

Lands BKK 11:47 pm
Taxi to neverland
Plane parks: 12:02
Bus to terminal
Bus arrives: 12:12

25 minutes from landing to arriving at the terminal.

This trip I didn't check bags, but my experience from Bangkok Airways is that it takes at least another 30 minutes at the baggage claim.

6 minutes later I was in my taxi, shaking my head and leaving Suvarnabhumi behind.
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Old Mar 30, 2011, 7:29 pm
  #3  
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I don't check bags that often but don't usually see the delays you're talking about. Perhaps it's due to my flights typically being on a 734 (on TG), whereas you're likely on planes carrying significantly more pax. BKK also is quite good at adhering to the principle of 'priority baggage'. That is something the other domestic airports have left me desiring.

Two days ago I flew in on PG (short int flight) and we parked at D8. I'm not used to getting a gate on this segment, whether on TG or PG. Anyway, I chose the wrong immigration line, the guy was utterly incompetent. The lines around me were processing 5 in the time it took him for 2. After 25 min on line I got to the carousel and there were no pax left, maybe 7 bags still going around.
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Old Mar 30, 2011, 8:10 pm
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Generally I don't check a bag when flying in from Narita and have had very good luck getting through immigration fairly quickly. When flying domestic back from Phuket though I have to check a bag and it has taken longer, but not excessively. Perhaps I've been lucky?...
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Old Apr 8, 2011, 1:57 am
  #5  
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Yesterday Domestic arrival.

Plane Lands: 11:39am
Park ~ no gate: 11:45
Bus arrives to terminal: 11:57
First Bag to Baggage Claim: 12:16pm

So the first bag arrived 19 minutes after we arrived to the baggage claim area and 31 minutes after the plane parked.

Sometimes I really miss Don Muang
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Old Apr 8, 2011, 7:00 am
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I am guessing that Domestic v International will have an effect on how one answers this poll.

If you are waiting for the immigration lines then your bag is probably on the belt by the time you get to it. But if you are going through fast track or domestic you have to wait a little while.

I absolutely hate being stuck on a remote stand/bus gate. Those buses seem to just drive around a while for the sake of driving and then double back. There should be a more direct route to drive from the plane to the terminal.
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Old Apr 8, 2011, 11:14 am
  #7  
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Originally Posted by glennaa11
I am guessing that Domestic v International will have an effect on how one answers this poll.

If you are waiting for the immigration lines then your bag is probably on the belt by the time you get to it. But if you are going through fast track or domestic you have to wait a little while.

I absolutely hate being stuck on a remote stand/bus gate. Those buses seem to just drive around a while for the sake of driving and then double back. There should be a more direct route to drive from the plane to the terminal.
What he said.
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Old Apr 9, 2011, 7:57 pm
  #8  
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Originally Posted by seanthepilot

Sometimes I really miss Don Muang
There's always DD (Nok Air).

Originally Posted by glennaa11

I absolutely hate being stuck on a remote stand/bus gate. Those buses seem to just drive around a while for the sake of driving and then double back. There should be a more direct route to drive from the plane to the terminal.
The Int and Dom bus gates for entering the terminal are under D4 and D3 respectively. Adhering to the regulations of driving on the left side of the road requires the buses to drive past, turn around, and then come back.

Sometimes they can do this near D5, sometimes they're required to head down toward the E1A bus area and then turn around.

If you were able to flag down a motorbike I'm sure he'd drive you directly and not care about which side of the road you're on.
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Old Apr 11, 2011, 11:47 am
  #9  
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Originally Posted by dsquared37
There's always DD (Nok Air).

If you were able to flag down a motorbike I'm sure he'd drive you directly and not care about which side of the road you're on.
Awesome and true. Hilarious.
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Old Apr 12, 2011, 5:48 am
  #10  
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Last time I flew into BKK (Jan after the SIN Do) I was on a CX flight in J. I was given an express immigration pass, the benefit of being One World Emerald.

So I was through immigration in seconds after taking a slow walk to the desk.
My case was waiting for me when I arrived at the baggage claim area.

No complaints at all.

Will be back there late May on a Jet* flight so will be interesting to see how long it takes if I check a bag.
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Old May 12, 2011, 8:56 am
  #11  
 
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does anyone know if when I fly in from USA to Korea to ChaingMai when we stop at Bkk in route will I have to take the luggage and recheck? Or will we pick it up in ChaingMai?
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Old May 12, 2011, 10:45 am
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bus gates drive me mad. It's a brand new freaken airport! Did they make it too small?

I know nothing about the aviation industry, but why can't they drop the people off at the airport building, then park the plane out in the parking lot after we've all got off the plane?
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Old May 13, 2011, 6:18 am
  #13  
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Originally Posted by lorribarnes
does anyone know if when I fly in from USA to Korea to ChaingMai when we stop at Bkk in route will I have to take the luggage and recheck? Or will we pick it up in ChaingMai?
If your bag is checked through to CNX you will not need to collect it in BKK. Just go through the int-dom transfer/immigration area near the confluence of concourses C and D on level 2.

Upon arrival in CNX you will be directed to the international carousel to collect your bags and go through the customs checkpoint.
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Old May 13, 2011, 6:24 am
  #14  
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Originally Posted by CrazyInteg
bus gates drive me mad. It's a brand new freaken airport! Did they make it too small?

I know nothing about the aviation industry, but why can't they drop the people off at the airport building, then park the plane out in the parking lot after we've all got off the plane?
Welcome to my life flying in and out of BKK. Doesn't matter if I'm on FD, PG or TG, 90% of my international, short hop, flights leave from C1A, D1A or, occasionally, E1A.

Domestically I'm 50/50 getting a bus.

Often, with TG, I'm flying out first thing in the morning or arriving later at night on 737 or AB6 which are getting their first or last flight of the day respectively. For these I can undersatnd not parking at the gate all night. That's not to say I like the bus.

TG could do well to take a page from VN and bus the C pax in separately.
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Old May 13, 2011, 7:10 am
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thanks for the info. It will make it a little easier to pick up the bags in CNX
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