oholz

I have already read a lot about New Bangkok Airport since it opened last september.

Although there are several maps of the airport area and the terminal levels online, for me some questions remain.

After check-in for an international flight (TG) on level 4 and clearing passport control & customs I'll find myself on level 4 airside hardly in the center of concourse D. Towards east and west there are security screening points which have to be passed next.

After clearing one of these points I'll be either in concource D east or D west.

Now my questions:
- How do I get to level 3 now e.g. to make use of a lounge there??
- Can I get to all concourses on level 3 or does this depend on my departure gate and/or the chose of the security screening point on level 4??


Thanks for help!
oholz

chowder

Welcome to flyertalk oholz.

When I flew int'l out of BKK in Dec, it went check-in counter, pay 500b departure tax, passport control area, then you were in the D shopping hall. The TG lounge was a down-escalator ride (presumably to lvl3) from there. Quite nice. Back up the escalator when it was time to board. Baggage security screening occured at the gate area, past the shopping zone.

Incidentally, at SIN I noticed the same thing: an open shopping area, with security/baggage checkpoints at the boarding gate.

dtsm

Although the walk after landing to immigration can be as long as two par 5s', outbound it's not as bad. After immigration, there is no security at the concourse level, lots of shops in each 'terminal', and downstairs is the lounge section. The latter will be in same terminal as the gate for boarding, where there is the security check.

Not as big as others have made it out to be outbound....

gearsau

OK, after passport control, you walk into the main hall. To get to the main THAI lounge, you would turn" left" and walk about 60 meters or so. If you keep on looking to your left, you will see a ramp that actually leads up towards the passport control for business class . Get to the top of the ramp, and then you take escalator down to the lounge.

When you decide to go to the gate for your flight, you can either take escalator up and again, and walk over the metal ramp and get back into the main building / shopping area. Depending if you are departing from" C" gate, or " D" gates, you would either walk to your left or right. The security check is done just before you get into that particular section of the terminal.
I have been through the new terminal four times so far.

Alternately, if you walk through the THAI lounge, you can get to " C" section without going up into the main shopping hall.

It really depends if you want any last minute duty free.
I came back on 18th December, and decided to do some last minute shopping at a shop located down near " C" security check.

Well, there was four rows of passengers, and it took 15 minutes to get through security. I was worried that I would not make the plane, and I had given myself plenty of time too.

I feel that if I had been under the main hall, I would have gone through security much faster. In future, depending on my schedule, I will do all my duty free shopping, and take the " underfloor " walk.

Its rather dark and gloomy , but, faster.

All the best................Peter

Rampo

A bit OT: Overall I'm a fan of the new airport, but I must admit that the one thing I thought was worse than Don Muang was the security lines. I can't remember which concourse it was, but there were apparently several flights leaving at the same time as my TG BKK-JFK flight and security was a mess with hundreds of people crowding to get through the metal detectors. It took me about half an hour to get through; at Don Muang I don't remember security ever taking more than 5 minutes at any time.

Soju

Just one clarification. If you are traveling in business or first class on TG, you should check in at row A and use the dedicated fast-track immigration there. After passing through immigration there will be an escalator to take you down to level 3 at the entrance to the main TG business/first class lounges. If you are traveling in economy, then follow the other advice here.

The security checkpoint is on level 3, the same level as all the lounges.

In addition to the main TG lounge on Concourse D, they also have lounges on Concourse C and Concourse E, so depending on which gate your flight departs from, one of those lounges may be closer and also likely less crowded.

gearsau

Soju,

Yes, I am aware of check in at Row A..Very nice too..

However, there are two security check areas near gates "C" ( only speaking from my experience.)
One security check is on same level at THAI lounges, and the other is on same level as the shops.
In future, I will use the dark and gloomy security check on level 3, rather than the overcrowded one on the shopping level.

All the best from MEL...................Peter

Soju

I didn't know about the one on level 4 as I always go directly from the lounge to the gate. Guess I've been using the preferred checkpoint all along then.

indiahoosier

When I left on an early evening flight in December, I found the checkpoint on the lounge level had no lines--better than DM ever was.

MegatopLover

I think I detect in the OP's question a suspicion, based on the airport floorplans, that upon entering the shopping mall on Level Four, one must pass through the security screening points in Concourse D. As I will attempt to clarify, that is not the way it is.

After passing through one of the three main passport-control areas from the Departures Hall to the Level Four shopping mall (i.e., leaving aside the fast-track entrance described by soju, there is no security checkpoint for access to any portion of the concourse areas of Level Four. The airport is laid out like this: +-+, with the concourses lettered A-B-C-D-E-F-G from the bottom of the left-hand plus sign to the bottom of the right, which makes the D concourse the hyphen in the middle. Level Four of the hyphen, the shopping area with the big golden sculpture, is also in the hyphen but one floor ABOVE the D concourse gates. All of the gates/depatures area, in fact, are on Level Three, below the shopping mall. When you're on Level Four, you can walk to any and all of the concourses on Level Four without passing through security. You pass through security at the ends of the Level Four floor areas (i.e., the floor literally stops, replaced by air at that height for the rest of the concourse building) for A/B/C and E/F/G concourses, whereas for concourse D, the security points are on the sides of the hyphen in the middle of the shopping mall. After passing through each security checkpoint, you immediately descend to Level Three. On the A/B/C and E/F/G concourses, you have no choice because there is no more of Level Four. Going onto the D concourse, you've simply gone down to the level below the shopping mall. Because of this, when you enter the shopping mall and want to go to concourse B and look at the planes, or concourse F or wherever, or just walk around to your heart's content, you simply bypass the security checkpoints for Concourse D without getting screened, because you're staying on Level Four, not going down to the secure area of Concourse D on Level Three.

The lounges for almost all (all?) airlines are all also located on Level Three, mostly arranged around the centerpoints of the plus signs. You access the lounges best by going down the escalators/elevators at the centerpoints of the plus signs. As soju and others described, when you leave the lounge on Level Three and want to go to your gate, you can either go back up to Level Four and get screened on that level only to take the escalator back down to level three for the walk to the gates, or you can stay on Level Three and get screened at a supplemental security checkpoint intended for lounge-users that is located just below the main checkpoint on Level Four. Once you pass through the checkpoint on Level Three, you'll already be on the depatures walkway and be joined by other departing pax as they come down the escalators from the main checkpoints on Level Four. The checkpoints on Level Three are typically less crowded than the main ones on Level Four-- at least for now, as few pax who aren't in the lounges even know about the checkpoints on Level Three.

oholz

@ MegatopLover

You did it!! You exactly detected my problem in undestanding the concourse plans - now everything is (or at least seems to be) perfectly clear to me. Thanks a lot for your help!

Just a few words on the background of my question.

The main reason for asking was that (although I never had any real problems in finding the right way inside the airports I have visited so far) I like to be well informed about the areas I can access without further checks - and without problems when leaving again. This is, as you can imagine, because I like long walks before sitting for hours during the flight. So NBIA seems to be quite right for me. Second reason was that I'll be travelling in TG/economy this time and can only make use of one of the lounges accessible by Priority Pass or Loungepass. So it was important to know if there could arise any problems in getting to the different areas on level 3.

Bye, oholz

Soju

Wow, quite a detailed description there. Just to clarify, incase anyone is wondering, there are no international gates on concourses A or B, thus no security checkpoints on those concourses. Concourse B ends in just 'air' looking down on the TG Economy Transit Lounge.
That is correct. I've walked the entire airport and with regard to international airside, all the lounges I saw, either open or under construction, are without any exception on Level 3, and as you say mostly bunched up near the two intersections. Thus you can think of Level 3 as the Lounge Level. The domestic lounges (TG and PG lounges) are on Level 2, Concourse A, but not really relevant to this discussion being they aren't accessible by international passengers. The TG lounges on Concourse D and the Louis Tavern Lounge on Concourse A I think are the only lounges that are any significant distance away from the intersections.

Soju

BKK should be perfect for you. You could walk around for hours if you wanted, with lots and lots of long concourses without restrictions. Level 4 is a bit difficult to navigate between all the people and shops and is primarily just Concourse D. You can't walk so far out on the concourses on Level 3, being they have the security checkpoints. But Level 2 is a walker's dream. No security checkpoints and AFAIK you can walk to your heart's content all the way to the end of the concourses. Concourses C,D,E,F, and G are open on Level 2 to international passengers. Level 2 of Concourses A and B are for domestic use, so you cannot get into there, but can see the domestic passengers going to those concourses on the other side of the glass if you pass by there on Concourse D.