kkjay77

I've heard a lot of negative comments about taxi queue at new BKK airport. I've heard people waiting for over 2 hours to grab a taxi. I wonder if the situation is improved? I will be arriving at around midnight, so traffic should not be a problem, but I don't wanna wait 30 minutes just to grab a cap to hotel after 24 hours of flight from NYC. Has anyone have good or bad experience with taxi queue recently?

seanthepilot

You'll probably wait a bit.

When they designed the airport, they had NO taxis planned to come to the main terminal. They were all to wait at the satellite.

During the soft opening they discovered that people expect taxis to pick them up at the terminal building and the new stands were invented. The taxis were to 'trickle' in as people need them.

Of course, this has been a minor headache. You will still find taxi's refusing to pick from the line and asking someone off the curb for a flat rate.

You should be able to get a taxi without too much trouble. I waited in the line a few times... the longest wait was about the same as old BKK, about 20 minutes. The next time, I waited only 3 or 4.

Expect disorganization, but it shouldn't be too bad.

travelinterpreters

Sean, would it be better to just get a car from ACC limo or have another car waiting for you? My wife and I arrive in about 4 weeks and I thought about having ACC or Julie Taxi pick us up. Is it worth the extra $5 to do it this way or will it be about the same as waiting in the taxi line? Two years ago when we went into the old airport we had Julie Taxi pick us up, but we had never been to asia before and was a little nervous! Thanks for your help. Jeffrey

USDHS1984

In two visits so far I did not see any appreciable queue for a taxi downstairs out front at the official desk. I haven't been through there enough to say for all times but at ~2:00am and 10:00am things were moving right along. That’s my admittedly limited experience anyway. It was actually pretty orderly and the only issue is it might not be immediately obvious where you grab a meter taxi since you have to head down a level from arrivals. Also if you arrive during the day when there are still departures going on it was still very easy to shoot up to the departure level and catch a cab that just dropped someone off. In fact probably easier to do that here then it was at Don Maung since some Bangkok taxies do not have the required permit to pick up passengers at the official queue so they either pick someone up at the departure level or else head back to Bangkok empty handed. Suvarnabhumi to Sukhumvit is ~180-~200 Baht on the meter. Obviously only go if he will run the meter. This was not even an issue for me on two rides so far although others have mentioned being asked for a flat rate of 400 Baht. Two toll booths for like 25 and 40 baht. Plus 50 Baht airport surcharge if you catch one at the taxi queue. It takes ~25 minutes to Sukhumvit with no traffic. Longer if there is traffic. In other words things are not much different than they were at Don Maung.

Trajan

I agree with the previous post....I came in again on Monday last (Oct 23) afternoon...arrivals was very busy (Monday was also a holiday in Thailand, so lots of additional arrivals after long weekend breaks it seemed)...but taxis pick-up was surprisingly smooth...

a. First right after customs exit you are on Level 2....just go past the greeters crowd (they are thankfully mostly behind ropes now) and take the escalator down to Level 1

b. At Level 1 just get in a line for the taxis (they might look a bit long at peak hours but they move rather quickly)

c. While in line, a bilingual attendant will ask for your destination and then right it down in Thai wording on a slip of paper and then hand it to you (for you to give the attendant at the head of the line)...I find that this saves hold-ups at the front of the line....

d. If anyone else approaches you when you are in line and asks you if you would like a ride...just politely decline (they are freelancers or touts)

e. When you get to the head of the line (which was surprisingly fast given the length of the line when I first joined it--and there were several lines)....just hand the slip of paper (with your destination written in Thai) to the attendent who helps you to the first available taxi at the front...

f. The attendant then hands you a large slip of paper which explains the rules (50Baht airport surcharge on top of the metered amount payable to the driver as well as freeway tolls payable to the driver)....also there is a phone number and the number of your particular taxi (scribbled in pen) in case of problems or complaints...

g. Make sure the meter is on before you close the door...then off you go...

h. There are two tollways from the airport to the Central Business District of Bangkok (the aggregate of the two tolls is 65Baht-----I think 25 Baht for the first toll booth and 40 Baht for the second one)...

i. Give the driver the amounts when you reach the toll booths...if you dont have change dont worry...the toll booth will give the driver the resulting change and then he gives it to you..

j. When you reach your destination, pay the meter amount plus 50 Baht.....I paid about 200 Baht (on the meter) to Wireless Road near the Hilton Conrad Hotel plus 50 Baht for the surcharge....

actually not too bad.....they just need to organize the lines a bit with ropes so that they snake around instead of blocking all other ped traffic... but that will eventually come around...

rjh

This is a very interesting observation since there was supposed to be heavy enforcement against this practice.

HKtraveller

I arrived in BKK last saturday and have never been in Town so fast. The flight touched down at 4:08pm and I was in Sukhumvit Soi 20 at 4:54pm

Got the taxi upstairs at the daparture level. Including the 50 Baht surcharge and 25 Baht tollway I paid a total of 255 Baht plus 10 Baht tip.

The driver explained to me that going to the airport there is absolutely no need for any expressway or Tollway from Suk soi 20. Just go from Ashok to Rama nine and then the highway is free. Just coming into town needs 25 Baht.

rjh

Why did you have to pay the B50 surcharge? I thought that was only if you got a taxi from the queue?

dtsm

This was very common practice at the old airport and given they're still troubleshooting new airport, this seems like the best way to go.

Friends on a different forum confirmed quickest way is to head up to departure floor and hailing a taxi. I'll be there in about 3 wks and plan to do exactly the above.

HKtraveller

Until now I am not sure about this. Even in the old airport some taxis would charge this but most would not. It is written on the ratesheets and since I saw taxidrivers at the departure levels pay off the guards, I thought that this is some part of the game.
Now since it is the first time that I took a taxi from the new airport and the driver initially asked for it to open the meter, I didn't want to argue. Anyway I considered it as a self drawn tip, so I didn't tip exept rounding up to the next 20. And I only rounded up, because the driver turned out to be very informative.

Any further information on this 50 Baht rule would be appreciated.

Toady11

I was at BKK a few weeks ago and had no problem getting a cab - just make sure you get the metered cab and not the negotiated price one.

ajc1970

deleted

USDHS1984

Update, as of a couple of days ago the situation with how they are handling taxies in arrivals still seems to be a little in flux.

As for catching a meter cab on the lower level at the official desk it remains unchanged and I still have yet to see a significant queue. In fact it seems very orderly down there and I can't imagine that anyone would have a problem. The only long queue I have seen so far, is a long queue of empty taxies waiting to pick up relatively far fewer passengers.

But on the subject of upstairs at the departure level. A couple of weeks ago taxies were just dropping people at the curb and the cops were pretty lackadaisical if they hung around for a while so long as they weren’t really blocking things. This time they were rigidly enforcing that taxies must drop passengers at the outer curb across the inner lane of traffic and although some taxies were loitering about, most were shooed away pretty quickly. So in fact the old "driver pay airport loitering surcharge to the cop" is quite possible in effect now.

In any case it is really a trivial issue of whether you want to hassle over 50 baht or not. The taxi system is working very well.

HKtraveller

The problem with the Thais is that if you don't hazzle over 50 Baht today, it will be 100 tomrrow.

jpatokal

C'mon, I think 50 baht is a reasonable price for the service you get: your destination is translated into Thai, and you get a slip with the taxi's details so they can't rip you off. Most airports around the world have taxi surcharges, usually much more than US$1, and they usually don't provide either service!