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Airport taxis the stumbling block That most important transfer from airline seat, through the corridors of an airport to a taxi at kerbside is usually a blur, the kind you get when you fast-forward a video tape. I admit to racing through the corridors, wheelie bag in tow. I just hope a turn of speed will help me beat 400 odd passengers to the immigration counters. Not once have I considered any of the finer details of Don Muang's layout or architecture on the way. My only thought was get to the taxi as fast possible, hopefully in time to reach home to watch Premier League football. Suvarnabhumi Airport is not getting that kind of treatment. It is under intense scrutiny. I noticed observant journalists were even writing about how many toilet seats or urinals were in place at the new airport's passenger terminal. Quite a serious report noted there were four rest rooms for men and we can assume, under equal opportunity laws, that the new airport has an equivalent number of relief stations for women too. There are also 100 plastic seats according to the same report, scattered around the passenger terminal just in case you need to rest before check-in. This focus on Suvarnabhumi Airport reminded me that I have been using Don Muang Airport for 35 years and I never counted the toilets or the seats in the passenger terminal. Exactly a week from now Don Muang will be a part of the country's aviation history. Its three terminal buildings, all built in a vain attempt to catch up with passenger demand, will be empty, not a passenger or suitcase to be found on the premises, unless they are left behind when the last flight departs at 1am. Therefore, on my last visit to Don Muang I took my time. I wandered around the departure hall and discovered that it has almost to a stall the same number of toilets as Suvarnabhumi, while the difference in seats, between the new airport and the two international terminals at Don Muang, you could count on one hand. Of course, we are being fussy. We know there are buildings three metres too high close to the Suvarnabhumi approach path and not a word has been said about lopping the top floor off before commercial flights begin, but a lack of seats that's breaking news. AoT officials make no secret of their intention to squeeze a huge profit out of Suvarnabhumi Airport far beyond the already obscene profits that Don Muang garners. Seats are counter productive in a zone the airports call "land side." It's a dead area supplied to the airlines for a fixed rental. Profits are reaped in the airside zone, beyond immigration counters, where duty free shops dominate the floor space. This was exactly the case at Don Muang. It had the same quantity of seats, but there was just less space to squeeze in the retail outlets. Again AoT officials hit the nail on the head when they refer to the new airport as a mega shopping mall. It prompts comparisons. Don Muang's clutter was akin to Chatuchak, with its endless booths and kiosks resulting in market hall chaos, while Suvarnabhumi is decked out like a Siam Paragon clone. The result is the same. AoT views us as shoppers, not travellers. Shoppers are like marathon runners. Give them a mall and they are game to set a record. Seats and toilets are obstacles in this endeavour, distractions in the pursuit of retail therapy. After a few visits to Suvarnabhumi, the halls of Don Muang do look more like the rows of Chatuchak market, fun but very tacky. I will have no regrets when it closes, even though my taxi ride will increase from 12 to 55 kilometres. We are all worried about the taxis. At Don Muang they park three deep and there are spaces for no more than 20 vehicles between the parking lots for the airport bus and the authorised limousines. We pay a 50 baht surcharge and during peak hours we can wait about 40 minutes to get to the head of the long queue. Taxis are called up to Don Muang Airport's ground floor kerbside by radio from a parking lot three kilometres away. It probably never occurs to us that our taxis spend hours at a remote parking area. AoT made a just a few variations to this process at the new airport. Public taxis along with the buses and rental cars are stationed at a remote parking area four kilometres from the passenger terminal. Initially AoT drew up a plan that required arriving passengers to board a bus at level 2 and transfer to the bus station and taxi ranks. Only limousines and the airport express bus would be allowed to park at the arrivals hall kerbside. AoT has now ditched that plan for the Don Muang model. Since September 15, 20 taxis park at the ground floor ( level 1) of the terminal building, next to the kerbside spots for tour buses. Taxis are called up in batches to meet passenger demand with 15 to 20 parked at all times. If you prefer a public taxi to a limousine, descend from the arrivals level 2 on the escalators that can accommodate trolleys, to the ground floor air conditioned foyer where you will find plenty of seats. The taxi queue is directly outside at the inner kerbside. The 50 baht surcharge remains in place. Limousines and the airport express bus, to four tourist districts in downtown Bangkok, park at the outer kerbside of arrivals hall level 2. When all the fuss is over, we will have essentially the same transport system we enjoyed at Don Muang. There is just one addition. If you don't want to queue for a taxi at the ground floor, you can board a free shuttle bus service from the arrivals hall level 2 to the bus station and taxi ranks. If you are booking a car rental, the companies operate their own free shuttle services from level 2 to the car rental parking lot next to the bus station. As for the AoT shopping mall concept, I for one will resume my mad dashes through the concourse, head down and blinkered to defy the statistics that insist we are all very silly shoppers when we pass the golden portal to a seductive airside. |