50 minutes connection in BKK airport, enough?

I will be flying in at international terminal, clear custom, hop over to domestic terminal and catch a flight to Chiangmai. Is 50 minutes enough, or should I book a later flight to Chiangmai (next flight is 4 HOURS later!! really don't want to sit in airport for 4 hours)....
any opinion?
Thanks.

[elephantspike]

I'd suggest booking the flight to Chiang Mai for a day or two later, assuming you have a week or two to spend in Thailand. It'll give you a chance to decompress in Bangkok, and then you can be fresh for the short flight to Chiang Mai. 50 minutes is cutting it close at best. You'll have to clear immigration and customs, and those lines can be long. Then you have to make it from the international to the domestic terminal. I wouldn't put very good odds on making that connection. 4 hours is way too long to spend at the airport, and yet not nearly long enough to get into Bangkok and do anything interesting and get back in time for your flight.

There are hotels right at the airport. I suppose you could book a room in the Hilton (I think it's a Hilton?) that has an entrance right in the airport and book a room for the day and just use it to unwind for a few hours, but if you do that, you might as well take a whole day.

Scott,

If there is any wait at all in Passport Control or if your international flight is a few minutes late, you will not make a 50 minute connection. I would wait the four hours. Are you sure there are no other flights to Chiang Mai? Many airlines are now flying that route.

I really don't think this is enough, even if you are not checking your main bag in. The queues at immigration seem to take an eternity. If manyl 747 flights come in at the same time, as they do at certain times of the day, immigration for farang can be very busy. Recently the immigration introduced photography and that seemed to add to the delay.

The "hop" to domestic is anything but. It's about a mile walk or a wait for a transfer bus. Will you get checked in at your origin? ...so theres another delay.

You might just do it in four hours but ES's suggestion of one night in Bangkok has a lot of merit.

BTW the walk-in Amari at the airport is poor value and really best only used when technical problems bring your flight back to Bangkok (as happened to my flight to frankfurt in 1987).

If I'm laying over in Bangkok for one night I use that place with the pool behind the Sukhothai. At least you get well scrubbed and a comfortable bed. At most ...

[orson]

i have a 10 hour stop over in bkk. will i be able to go to the city. will immigration allow me? will there be extra charges aside from the 500bht terminal fee?

If you are on transit on the same airline and assuming there's no delay in your incoming flight, you might have a good chance of connecting your domestic. Thai will give you a boarding pass from your international departure point .....eg LAX-BKK-CNX.
If you are travelling on two different airlines, then I strongly suggest you take the later flight. Another thing to consider, you might be able to make it but your luggage will most probably misconnect the domestic flight.

[Smiles]

The thing about the international terminal(s) is they regularly offload mostly widebody 747's, 777's, A-340's etc etc which usually means 300-400+ weary souls each. If it's a late morning or afternoon arrival then the immigration area could potentially have 1000's of people lined up ... all bitchy as hell (and that's just the Thai immigration dudes :blackeye: ).

My usual (UAL from Seattle) flight gets me into Bangkok at around 11:30 at night and the wait line is quite subdued and speedy. My flight in April (EVA) will get me into Don Muang at 11:30 in the morning and I'm expecting a chaotic mess ... got to get my "mai bpen rai" face on.

To answer your original question ... if I had a connection coming together with this latter flight, I'd sure make certain the leeway was quite a bit longer than 50 minutes. The 4 hour wait sounds more reasonable.

Cheers ...

The hotel that is connected to the Airport is the Amari which is OK in an emergency if you're stuck with a delay and don't want to travel away from the airport but I wouldn't recommend it otherwise. It's actually quite expensive and seems to be aimed at executive travellers, it has an indoor pool etc.

50 minutes is way too short a time even if your flight is on time. You can wait that long at passport control on a bad day.

Jon

[Dick]

I don't know how far ahead your visit is, but do double check your domestic flight is still valid a week or so before you arrive, in case they alter their schedules.
I booked a flight to Chiang Rai with TG departing supposedly 3 hrs after my international arrival at Bangkok. Sailed through OK to domestic, met the bf, presented ourselves at the TG checkin with e-tickets in hand, only to be met with bewilderment on the face of the check-in staff. TG had changed it's service/timetable, and the last flight to Chiang Rai had taken off as I landed in Bankok! I had booked the ticket by internet 2 months earlier... TG hadn't bothered to tell me they had cancelled my flight.
So after a few 'OMG' exclamations, the attentions of the supervisor, and a little voice in my head repeatedly having to remind me to 'keep calm' Thai style, there was just enough time to get on the last flight to Chiang Mai that evening, which they transferred us to. They phoned our hotel in Chiang Rai not to bother sending a car to meet us at the airport, and to advise them we would be arriving late. When we landed at Chiang Mai, we were escorted to a waiting limo with 2 drivers (one to drive and one with local knowledge to direct him to our hotel - figure that out?) to take us on to Chiang Rai. We were cold throughout the drive - no heater in the car... That thought hadn't occured to me before, living as I do in a country where cars are fitted with a heater as a basic feature. We arrived at midnight after a 3hr drive. But at least we got there that evening... just.
As it was nearing Christmas I had booked business class for the domestic trip, and boy was I glad I did. I don't think TG would have made much effort had we been flying economy. The cost of business over economy wasn't that expensive, and was worth every penny if only to watch the bf scoff 'a lot' from the buffet in the pre-flight lounge whilst waiting for the flight to be called. When I cast him a knowing look he smiled and said 'its free!'

With this sort of thing you have to take the optimistic position of Murphy's 12th Law (it might have been 13th) which states that arrangements in any given travel plan, if they can go wrong... they will. And remember that is the optimistic position. I would take the additional view that things going wrong tend to come in clusters... so do not leave yourself open to a cluster cock up as you seem to about to do.

[Bob]

I think it's Friday that Thai doesn't have the 1:15PM flight to Chiangmai so I'm guessing that's when you go there. In
that case, you could book air asia or 1-2-Go or other airline (I had the same thing last trip and flew the 1:15PM (?) flight on another airline without problem).
If you only have 50 minutes between scheduled landing and takeoff - and given you have to go through the line at Thai Air to get your boarding passes (and may have to get your luggage), it's cutting it too close in my opinion. If you try to make it, you better grab a cab quick and fly to the domestic terminal as you'll be a wet mess trying to hoof it over there through the rather warm interconnecting walkway.

[Brad the Impala]

The recommended minimum time between International arrivals and internal departures is 2 hours. However I have done it with less, loads of times, without a problem. If your international and internal flight is with Thai you will definitely be fine, as you shouldn't need to clear Immigration in Bangkok, but in your ultimate destination(at least that's what I have found with connections to Phuket).

Whatever airline you come in on, if you need to clear immigration quickly in Bangkok, go to one of the VIP channels, attract the attention politely of the Immigration Supervisor, and explain your problem. She will fast track you. Hey who needs to spend four hours in Bangkok Airport. You shouldn't need to worry about your baggage, that will be checked straight through.

If the worst happens and you miss the first flight, you will be first in line for the following flight.

[CHAOTOU]

I have flown from LAX to Chiang Mai on TG before. When we arrived in BKK, Thai Airways employees escorted me to the flight to Chiang Mai bypassing immigration in BKK. Then I arrived in Chiang Mai I cleared Thai Immigration and customs there. So, I would say that it can be done in 50 mintues if you are arriving on TG of a member of the Star Alliance.

I would say that it can be done in 50 mintues if you are arriving on TG of a member of the Star Alliance.
And your in-bound flight is on time

[Davey612]

Actually, you don't need to be on a Thai international flight to transit BKK on your way to a domestic Thai flight. All it matters is whether the airline you are flying in has a contract agreement with Thai. I remember using Cathay Pacific and connected with Thai Airways domestic flight to Chiang Mai. I cleared immigration and customs in Chiang Mai. In any case, this works only with those domestic airports that also have immigration and customs desk (Chiang Mai & Phuket, I think).

So, the 50 minutes is workable provided your flight to BKK arrives on time, your airline has a contract with Thai airways, and you run to the transit desk.