Guest fountainhall Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Not so. If you look at pictures of the Airport express you will see that the leading power car in one direction only (The HK end) is not a normal passenger car, but a specially sealed baggage car. That's really curious. I do not wish to query your facts because I simply do not know. On the other hand, I have travelled by the Airport Express at least 120 times in both directions. From the Hong Kong station I usually sit in an end car, the exact one depending on which airline lounge I'll be in or which security and immigration line I wish to take. Next to the last passenger car at each end of the train is the driver's cabin, and I have seen drivers enter and exit many times. Never in all that time have I ever seen luggage being loaded up! And since none of the train is hidden from view, I have no idea how or where the loading takes place. Weird. I am also curious as to why so much luggage was delayed that day there was a Black Rain Storm warning in effect and the road was partially flooded. If the baggage travelled on the train, why would thousands of bags have been delayed? When my bag did not arrive in Shanghai, the Dragonair staff told me it was because of the flooding and the baggage not being able to get to the airport on time. Quote
Guest Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 I have used in-town check-ins wherever possible and, as gwm4asian says, I find them exceptionally useful, especially if I have a late night flight. I agree that the Makkasan terminal has a lot of problems at present, but if there was even the slightest concern about safety of baggage, the pilots unions at THAI and Bangkok Airways, to say nothing of IATA officials, would be shouting it from the rooftops. 1 This is Thailand. I would want evidence of baggage being handled proficiently and not being lost for at least a year or so before trying it myself. 2 I'm sure they can scan the baggage in Makkasan. What I'm less sure about is their ability to get it on my plane. The pilots would not care much about the loss of my bag. After all, why should I trust a company that spent several years building a railway, then took an absolute age to get trains operating and they STILL don't have the ticket machines working at the airport end? No, my bag stays with me until I hear the system works. Of course if this was Japan or Germany, I would give it a go. Quote
Guest gwm4sian Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 And since none of the train is hidden from view, Ah, but it is. Look very carefully, and when the train arrrives if the HKG airport, the last carriage (the trailing one) is still hidden in the "tunnel" In fact it has stopped in its own sealed area for baggage handling, the automated chutes are right there on the platform. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 when the train arrrives if the HKG airport, the last carriage (the trailing one) is still hidden in the "tunnel" Fascinating! Many thanks for pointing this out. I will be in HKG again at the end of next month and will look out for it. Quote
Guest HeyGay Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 I have used it several times, I don't call 65 baht from the stop before the Airport to Sala Dang in 40 minutes very expensive or a long time. I have been in a Taxi many times to Sala Dang same distance it costs 400 baht one way, with Motor way fees and has even taken 3 hours, when they decide to go off the Express Way 1 or 2 hours when they stay on course at least. The other wonderful thing thats good about it is all the Most Handsome guys eyeing you up and groping you when its full, yummy! worth the trip for that alone. Quote
macaroni21 Posted January 22, 2011 Posted January 22, 2011 I have used it several times,I don't call 65 baht from the stop before the Airport to Sala Dang in 40 minutes very expensive or a long time. Do you have luggage with you? I just saw two overweight farang women struggle with their equally overweight luggage through the stairs between City Line Phaya Thai and Skytrain Phaya Thai. Quote
Guest gwm4sian Posted January 22, 2011 Posted January 22, 2011 I have used it several times, I don't call 65 baht from the stop before the Airport to Sala Dang in 40 minutes very expensive or a long time. The other wonderful thing thats good about it is all the Most Handsome guys eyeing you up and groping you when its full, yummy! worth the trip for that alone. I fear HeyGay is confused. and not talking about the Airport Express. There is no "stop before the airport" and the airport express has never been full enough to cause anyone to be groped. I think he means the City line, a totally different subject Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 31, 2011 Posted January 31, 2011 I was Phayathai Skytrain station on Saturday and spent ten minutes watching transfers between the BTS and the Airport Link Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 Well, should we be surprised? The Airport Rail Link has been suspended for several days as a result of - wait for it! - a lack of spare parts! BANGKOK (AP) -- Service on an express train to Bangkok's main airport has been suspended for several days while spare parts are delivered from Europe. The Airport Rail Link's operators say the nonstop train between the capital and Suvarnabhumi International Airport stopped running Sunday and is expected to remain out of service for at least the remainder of the week. The SRT Electric Train Company said Wednesday that the local train to the airport known as the City Line was still operating but on a scaled back schedule. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Bangkok-suspends-service-on-apf-3757054727.html?x=0 The parts in question are quoted as "power-connecting carbon brushes". Would it not be reasonable, don't you think, to assume that the operators of any new facility with essential elements which were manufactured overseas - like trains, to have in stock a constant supply of spare parts for just such an eventuality? So the Transport Ministry's attempts to get more users on to the much-underused service have gone temporarily up in smoke. Well, once again, this is Thailand. And haven't we've heard it all before! Quote
Guest Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 I think you will find that's just SRT incompetence. Some of the other Thai transport operators are significantly more capable & professional. That includes airlines & bus companies. Also, from my admittedly limited experiences, the BTS lines get the basics right. SRT should be relieved of their responsibility to run the airport link. The opened late, without proper ticketing & the interconnections are a farce. Under no circumstances should this organisation run any new high speed lines. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted June 29, 2011 Posted June 29, 2011 Well, I suppose no-one will be surprised, given the host of negative comments that have filled this Board and much of the local media about the major faults at the Makkasan in-town air terminal, that the Airport Link company is to spend more resources in marketing the terminal’s check-in services. Amongst the new measures will be more assistance for passengers with heavy luggage and a promotion to tour agents which will also include better baggage assistance. Why they have left it to this late date, goodness only knows. The fact remains that Makkasan has been a total disaster for most travellers wishing to check-in for the faster non-stop airport train. I frankly cannot see these new measures doing much to attract more to check-in there. In announcing the new strategy, the Thailand PR Department’s News Bureau has released staggering figures – staggeringly awful. The number of passengers using the terminal’s check-in services has dropped to less than 20 per day! Bangkok Airways recently closed its check-in desks there when the average number of users dropped to “1 – 2 people per day.” THAI averages around 15. What a horrendous waste of money! http://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news.php?id=255406280020 Quote
Guest aot87 Posted June 29, 2011 Posted June 29, 2011 On my next stop over , im staying at the holiday inn on silom , which is approx 300 mts from the express way , so its a taxi for me, and i hope. just a short 30min ride Quote
