Transferring between Bangkok's Two Airports

[Guest fountainhall]

We have quite a number of threads on the airports themselves, but the issue of transfers will become a topic of increasing interest as we get close to October 1 when Don Mueang (DMK) takes over more lccs. So a new thread seems sensible.

 

You'd have thought that someone, somewhere would have been beavering away finding a solution to the problem of transfers. Well, an announcement was recently made that the BMTA has been doing just that. Wonderful! Ah, but don't jump the gun! This being Thailand, the solution that has been arrived at is, frankly, another utter botch up. If you are in the mood to work out a puzzle, read on. If not, pass on to another thread

 

From the beginning of this month, the BMTA has arranged for its existing bus route No. 555 (which starts at Talat Rangsit beyond Don Mueang) to enter Don Mueang to drop off passengers at the Arrival Hall. Passengers wishing to go from DMK to BKK can get on this bus here. It then proceeds along Vibhavai Rangsit Road before entering the expressway at Rama XI and on to Suvarnahumi.

 

If that sounds like a good solution, think again! First, the route is presently served by all of just 15 buses and operates only between 4 am and 10 pm. Second, journey time is estimated at (i) 15 – 30 minutes actually waiting for the bus and then (ii) 90 minutes for the ride. Third, the bus is not designed to take large luggage! But there is one piece of more optimistic news – the number of buses on the route will be more than doubled by the end of this month. That may shorten waiting time to a more reasonable 7 – 15 minutes, I’d assume, but not help with the actual on-road transfer time or your pesky luggage.

 

If that all sounds complicated, then worry not, for you can take the 554 private bus. However, absolutely no information is provided as to whether that will be permitted inside DMK. So you may find yourself waiting in the rain for this public bus to stop on the highway outside!

 

What about transiting in the reverse direction? Well, sorry to say, that’s a totally different problem. You’d think the AOT would actually be working closely with the BMTA to ensure problems for its transit passengers would be simplified. Wrong again! It so happens that the AOT does not allow either routes 554 or 555 access to the BKK terminal building. Why not? No-one has explained. So, having arrived from your multi-hour intercontinental flight, you have to wait an estimated 10 minutes to catch a shuttle bus which will take you to a Bus Station. How many shuttle buses there are and what capacity? No idea! So I suspect the wait may take more than a lot more than 10 minutes if there is a long queue.

 

But not to worry! Once you have spent 20 minutes on the shuttle and are at the bus station, you can hop on to either 554 or 555 (without space for luggage, remember) to whisk you over to DMK. Total journey time is estimated at 2 hours - but I’d certainly allow a good bit more.

 

Am I being pessimistic? Perhaps I should not worry because the AOT has another solution for the BKK to DMK transfer! There’s a “public van” (whatever that means – I assume a minibus) that it does permit too access Gate 8 on the first floor of BKK (I assume this is Arrivals level and not taxi Level which is one floor below) to pick up passengers for DMK. No need to shuttle to a distant bus station. Wonderful! But – yes, there has to be a ‘but’! – the AOT planners do not permit that “van” access to the DMK terminal building. So once you have reached DMK, you have to de-bus at the public bus stop on a public highway on the wrong side of the road - and then somehow have find your way across whilst carrying your luggage.

 

That’s not all. That “van” service operates only from 6 am to 6 pm. Evening connections? Forget it!

 

http://www.bangkokpo...abhumi-launched .

 

So there you have it: the solution dreamed up by the two public bodies whose job it should be to get you from one airport to the other quickly, in relative comfort and with peace of mind. But then, this is Thailand, the holiday destination for millions where public bodies do not speak to each other and the interests of the passenger and the tourist are far less important than the trouble of working out a transfer system that the innocent visitor can actually comprehend! A total and utter cock-up!

 

My advice for keeping it simple? For the sake of your sanity, just take a taxi. Or get the cheaper City Line train to Ramkhamhaeng or Makkasan (both fairly close to the expressway) and then take a taxi from there.

[Guest]

Or get the cheaper City Line train to Ramkhamhaeng or Makkasan (both fairly close to the expressway) and then take a taxi from there.

The city line train connects with the BTS, so it would also be possible to take the BTS to Mo Chit, then take a taxi. Just make sure your taxi driver goes to the correct airport.

[Guest fountainhall]

z909 is correct. If you take the CIty LIne to Phaya Thai, there is a pedestrian bridge link to the BTS station which takes you to Mo Chit. There is, however, one problem with getting a taxi from Mo Chit. The road there is one way with about 6 lanes crawling north towards a very busy intersection about 600 meters or so ahead. In the middle of an afternoon when there was no rain, traffic was stacked up way behind Mo Chit and I was stuck in traffic for a good 20 minutes before being able to cross that intersection. That alone cost at least half what I'd have paid had I got the taxi in the city. What that intersection must be like in the rush hour and in rain, I hate to think.

 

In my view, it is essential to get on to the expressway going north much further back towards the city. If you go westwards from Makkasan, the only way you can do that is getting out on to the open road at Phaya Thai and hope you don't have to wait too long for a taxi. But you are not close to an expressway there, and so you may also be snarled up in traffic. Far better to pay a few baht more to pick up a cab at Ramkhamhaeng (which is very close to the expressway) or Makkasan.

[Bob]

Is it possible that any carrier will maintain any flights at all between Chiangmai and Suvarnabhumi? The last time they moved the "domestic" carriers to Don Muang, both Thai and Air Asia still had some flights from CNX and BKK and I'm hoping that at least one of them will do that again.

[Guest fountainhall]

TG and Bangkok Air will stay at BKK. TG has to keep CNX flights to feed to/from their international routes.

[Bob]

TG and Bangkok Air will stay at BKK. TG has to keep CNX flights to feed to/from their international routes.

 

That's good. But, given most of Air Asia's business is international, it would seem to make sense that they too would stay at least in part at BKK. We'll see.

[Guest fountainhall]

No, all Air Asia flights move to DMK (check the website). That will encourage Air Asia and Thai Air Asia to synchronise their schedules to make inter-line connections more convenient.