Catching a taxi at BKK and general Thailand taxi discussion
 

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Catching a taxi at BKK and general Thailand taxi discussion
 

Datapoint: Took a taxi from BKK a̶r̶r̶i̶v̶a̶l̶s̶ departures level a couple of days ago. The "one-way" gate is easy to circumvent - just pull forward a quarter turn, scoot in, pull forward another quarter turn and you're through.

Bags might need to go in edge-wise to fit though, easy enough if you have spinner-type wheels.

Taxis waiting as per usual, and I did this in full view of the traffic control guys, who appeared disinterested.

Didn't have any problems during a three week visit in December. Twice departing the airport and twice arriving...on each occasion it was metered.

IIRC no "one-way" gates at arrivals.

Did you mean departures :confused: Where taxis drop pax off ;)

Yes, sorry, I meant the departures level (where you escape the 50B airport taxi fee) not arrivals. Speaking Thai exclusively for the more than a week has frazzled my language synapses :D

Incidentally, appears you can also snag a taxi at arrivals level on the outer most lane (next to the the parking garage). I've not done this but witnessed at least 2 passengers pull this off last week.

Curious if taxi is already in the arrival level why would they want to pick up pax from the outer most lane and lose the thb50 they get maybe by waiting a few minutes ..
UNLESS ofcourse they are many taxis in queue already ?

I was thinking the same thing. The wait must be pretty long or they wouldn't pick up at Departures for a metered fare either.

I think I am correct in thinking that in the past only the green and yellow taxis (mainly driver owned) could pick up from the official arrivals queue, but that may have changed now.

Any licensed metered taxi can enter the dispatch lot at the transportation center - they are supposed to be "approved" by the AoT, but not sure what the criteria are? Doesn't matter the color, taxi company, or if the the rig is owner operated. Many taxis are rented by drivers for a 12 hour shift, and then handed off to another driver, typically at 04:00/16:00.

There are often hundreds if not thousands of taxis queued at the transpo. center for dispatch to level 1 at the main passenger terminal building. The wait might be upwards of a several hours. Drivers dropping pax off at the airport may not want to, or have the time, queue at the transpo. center, hence they loiter about hoping to get a fare rather than dead-heading back to some other location.

I think the drivers have to pay a portion (20 ~ 30 baht?) of the 50 baht when entering the queue, and they are supposed to meet some minimum number of qualifications, but who knows if those are really enforced?

I am not sure I care about saving 50 baht after spending way over $1000 and 20 plus hours to get to BKK ,

At least downstairs there is a record that you were there and they right down the hotel in Thai for the driver ,

At least the week before Christmas there was NO line downstairs

aha.. this is what I didnt know.. since whenever I used arrivals, I always found taxis arriving and departing with pax pretty quickly..

There's a record that the driver was there but not of you per se. If the driver were to disappear you there'd be no record you ever got into the taxi (becuase the slip would still be with you).

And last week there were huge lines at the door 4 stands but few if any lines at the door 7 stands.

I love when that happens....passengers with tunnel vision just go straight ahead and hop into a queue when, if you look down the walk a few meters, there are no lines at all.

While I agree with what you say, I am sure there would be many pax would stand in queue as it would be their 1st time in BKK and they don't have a clue and wanna play it safe..

'Catching A Taxi At Bangkok Airport' Discussion Thread' Amazing no ? - 79 frigging pages. When it gets to 100, should we have a 'Catching A Taxi At Bangkok Airport' Do at Louis Tavern ? I think a single post by some traveller every 3 months would probably be sufficient, yet I've probably posted here 20X ! I guess I like to hear myself talk (silently in print fortunately). Considering it's popularity, you would think it was a 'Catching A Kardashian At Bangkok Airport Thread' !