Don Muang ready?

[Bob]

Somewhat interesting article today: http://en.isnhotnews.com/?p=21725

 

While I don't normally cut and paste, I'll quote a part of the article:

 

“It is absolutely not ready. There is too much inconvenience for passengers,” the frustrated South Korean executive told the Bangkok Post.

Among the problems faced by T’Way are too few check-in counters, no refund facilities for value-added tax (VAT), breakdowns of luggage carousels, lax security and a shortage of immigration officers."

 

Immigration officers? That puzzles me as I thought Don Muang was going to be used exclusively for domestic flights. Apparently not.

[billyhouston]

All AirAsia flights are due to move to Don Muang and I've had several notifications that my (2013) Yangon flights will depart from there. I was hoping that immigration queues might be a little shorter at DMK. Wishful thinking perhaps?

[Guest fountainhall]

Immigration officers? That puzzles me as I thought Don Muang was going to be used exclusively for domestic flights. Apparently not.

 

DMK is designated as the lcc and charter airport. So it will handle a lot of daily international flights from October 1 when, as billyhouston points out, Air Asia and its subsidiaries move there. I had no idea any international flight was landing there until then. Orient Thai's International flights still use BKK even though the domestic flights use DMK.

 

Having been through DMK recently, it's remains a breeze for domestic flights. You can see where they are making changes to accommodate international arrivals (new glass wall partitions on the corridors to separate domestic and international passengers, for example).

 

That said, if they sent one of this Korean airline's flights there and were not ready, the criticism is entirely justified. I'm no fan of the AoT and it would be entirely in character for it to make a seemingly arbitrary decision to send one international flight to DMK and then assume a couple of check-in desks etc. would be all they'd need.

 

On the other hand, why on earth would the AoT make an lcc airline which already has just one daily flight operating out of BKK operate a second (temporary) one out of DMK? That does not make any sense whatever as it would involve certain key local staff shuttling back and forth between the two airports every day. I realise the airline could contract out its check-in and baggage services to another carrier already based there. But the airline is from Cheju in Korea, its website is only in Korean and so it's highly unlikely most of the passengers speak more than very basic English, if any at all. Some of the airline's Korean staff had to be there.

 

Besides, I have major doubts that some of the criticisms are correct. To suggest that "Luggage weighing scales seemed uncalibrated" means the captain could not be certain of his take-off weight. To take-off under such circumstances is illegal! So "seemed uncalibrated" sounds like a bit of gilding the lily, as it were. As are other comments. "While seven immigration officers were promised, only two were provided for departures and two for arrivals, resulting in very long queues. So you had one officer serving 180 passengers, which is overwhelmingly unacceptable." If you have two at arrivals, how is it that only one serves passengers? And to suggest that passengers passed through security totally unscanned because officers were late arriving has to be a joke! The AoT has many faults, but endangering the safety of an aircraft is so far-fetched as to be virtually ridiculous.

 

The manager adds he will never use DMK again. Sorry, my friend, that's not your call! As an lcc, you may end up with no choice, especially if your permit to use BKK is not renewed!

 

Lastly, I wonder - who is ISN? And what is its credibility? That's mere curiosity on my part as I can't find out much from the web - apart from facebook which I do not subscribe to. Personally, I doubt the accuracy of another of its comments -

 

Many other international budget airlines have, in fact, not found the incentives offered by AoT in terms of discounted landing, parking and space rental fees enough to make the move to Don Mueang worthwhile.

 

Whilst I don't place much faith in the reporting of Thailand's two English newspapers either, an article in today's Bangkok Post does indicate that "14 airlines" are planning to return to DMK.

 

http://www.bangkokpo...es-step-forward

[billyhouston]

This morning, following my post last night, there was a large number of e-mails from AirAsia concerning the dozen, or so, flights I have with them over the next seven months. Having previously received a number of texts telling me of the move, there now appears to have been a complete reissue of itineraries for all my flights which are in/out of, or through, DMK. These were booked a long time ago and I guess AirAsia are making certain that nobody has an excuse for turning up at the wrong airport.You can't blame them for that!

 

One thing's for sure, if I'm arriving from Europe and flying directly to Chiang Mai, I shall be using Bangkok Airways for the final leg of the flight. They code share with both EVA and AirFrance and even though their flights, booked well enough ahead, can be cheaper than AirAsia, nobody has ever accused them of being an lcc.

 

The code share allows you to check the bags to CNX and, as a transit passenger, avoid the immigration queues at BKK.

[Guest fountainhall]

there now appears to have been a complete reissue of itineraries for all my flights which are in/out of, or through, DMK

 

I suspect this is mainly the change from Summer to Winter timetables. If you book far ahead, your flights are timed to the schedule then in operation. But almost all airlines change schedules a couple of times a year, and so there is every likelihood that you will not be travelling at the time printed on your ticket.

 

Since all Air Asia's flights are moving to DMK and DMK presently has so few flights, there would not seem to be much other reason for them to start playing around with schedules. But it does highlight the problem with booking on lccs. All of them have the right to change schedules at will - and passengers have no comeback whatever.

 

if I'm arriving from Europe and flying directly to Chiang Mai, I shall be using Bangkok Airways for the final leg of the flight

 

In wonder if TG and Bangkok Air will now start raising domestic prices ex BKK?

[ceejay]

In wonder if TG and Bangkok Air will now start raising domestic prices ex BKK?

I recently booked a Bangkok Air flight for the last week ion October,, one way from BKK to CNX, for baht 2250.00 all in. I chose them this time because the scheduling suits me better on that particular day. With the baggage upgrade I would have needed, Nok would have cost about 200 less so, at the moment, Bangkok Air are still pretty reasonably priced for the convenience of flying direct to/from Suvarnabhumi. There's an early morning flight that was even cheaper - that'd probably be the one to use if you were making a connection.

[Guest fountainhall]

According to the Bangkok media, Air Asia's switch to Don Mueang yesterday went without a hitch. Well, just a small hitch! Apparently five passengers forgot about the change of airport and missed their flights. So, please remember - all Air Asia and Thai Air Asia flights now land and take off from Don Mueang.

 

Hopefully - and I am sure that is what a lot of people in the airline business are saying - floods will not come to Don Mueang this year. But the Bangkok Post reports that a tropical storm is on its way in from the South China Sea and should bring heavy rains to Thailand on Saturday and Sunday. The central area of Bangkok should not have much problem, but outer areas may be prone to some short-term flooding. The Post has a photo of a floodwall being erected yesterday in front of Don Mueang. Why that was not put up earlier in the year, goodness only knows!

 

Photo: Bangkok Post

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/transport/315009/tropical-storm-raises-deluge-fear

[pong]

last year iondeed the floods hit north of BKK-incl the DMK fields (where the office aginst the floods was located at that time..............) and also K-male (and likely more) a (well, my personal favorite) male-massage shop, just to the south of it and pretty well under the rumble of its apporach lanes-so that will mean much more noise there.

BUT; these were not flash floods due to extra big rains-but a giant blob of water that came down (like on the map) from central TH into BKK-roughly all along the main Chao Praya river-up to 20/30 kms on both sides. Then suddenly logic thinking as the BMA seems able to do came in, they won from that flood-burocrazyness and started to pump-and saved central BKK from those waters.

Which means it would be daft easy to foretell when the waters would come back ths year.

[Guest xiandarkthorne]

I love Don Muang (phooey to Swampypoo Airport) but I wonder if Bell is going to have a desk at DM. I hope so because it's so much easier for me to go directly to Pattaya that way.