Travel from Suvarnabhumi to Don Muang and Back

[Khor tose]

I am spending the month of July in Chiang Mai, but I have to fly into Suvarnabhumi. Thai Air does not have a flight until 1700 that night. One to go has the perfect flight but I have to get to Don Muang. Do I go to the regular Taxi stand, or downstairs and catch one dropping off a passenger. Do I pay a meter or a flat rate, and are there tolls for the expressway? How hard is it to get to one airport from the other, time wise? Oh, I will be traveling on a Friday around 1230 hours.

[Bob]

So you know, Air Asia flies between Chiangmai and Suvarnabhumi....departing Chiangmai at 08.20, 12.25, 15.40, and two later flights. When I use them, I pay the extra $5.00 for express boarding so I don't have to be trampled when the say "everybody load at once!" So I'd use them rather than taxi from Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi (which, due to possible rain or traffic could be anywhere from 40 minutes to who knows what).

[Khor tose]

Thanks Bob, I enjoyed our visit when we last met. I owe you big time, and drinks are on me. I got the perfect flight, and I do not have to deal with the taxi, etc. As soon as you defrost join me in CM.

[Bob]

Yo Khor.....yep, enjoyed our prior chat and will have to connect again (I'll likely be back in October and then, if I'm lucky, the 3 or 4 months after Christmas).

I'd rather fly Thai but they moved the 13.15 flight over to Don Muang and I'm not sitting in Suvarnabhumi for 4-5 hours. But Air Asia will get you there.In the interim, of course, I'll be jealous of you going sooner.

Btw, a new, very up-scale, massage place just opened. Place is named Mystic Orient Massage and is located about 2 blocks due east (toward the Ping) from Sompet Market and just east of Chiang Moi Kao Road. Your mission, Mr. Phelps, is to check it out and let us know your thoughts. Of course, you're there to simply investigate and pray.......

[TrongpaiExpat]

There is an express bus between the airports but I don't know anyone that ever used it or how long it takes.

Bus Number 554 - Suvarnabhumi Airport - Don Muang Airport (Expressway)

www.bangkokairportonline.com/node/56 (http://www.bangkokairportonline.com/node/56)

SWhen I use them, I pay the extra $5.00 for express boarding so I don't have to be trampled when the say "everybody load at once!"

You might try my strategy: when they call "all aboard", go have a cocktail, do some last-minute shopping, or just sit there watching the water buffalo wrangle for position.

When they are about to close the door of the plane, saunter aboard at your leisure and take your choice from the seats remaining. 99% of the time, the water buffalo will all be crammed into the front of the plane, with plenty of room to stretch out at the back. The other 1% of the time, you can still find a an aisle seat. Often, when a couple has taken the window and the aisle, and see that a large, sweaty farang is about to take the seat between them, they will relent and offer the aisle seat to you.

Life is too short to be trampled, especially for no purpose.

[Bob]

But, for $5.00, the express boarding deal is pretty nice.....they usually take you out to the plane in a van ahead of the entire crowd and then you have you're choice. Usually, there's only 4-5 people that do the express thing.

This past year, on a flight from BKK to CNX, the only other "express" people besides me was the band Carabao (everybody except the big cheese Ad/Aed himself) and it was kinda interesting to ride to the plane with them and sit with them at the front of the plane. I'm guessing they figured I had no idea who they were until I started playing one of their concerts on my laptop. That broke the ice a bit and a few of them wanted to watch some of it (strange as it may seem, a couple of them acted like they never saw it before). Anyway, it was fun.

Never figured out why being at the front of the plane was preferable to being at the back. I'd rather have a whole aisle to myself at the back (as happens quite often), then be squashed in with people trying to be at the front. What's the deal with that? I always head straight to the last row in the plane, where no one else seems to want to be. Which is just fine with me. And I've watched enough Air Crash Investigation shows to know that it's the safest part of the plane to be in.

[Bob]

Lol. The safest part of the plane? Does that mean that I'll die a moment or two before you do? Sure, there are some survivors of bad crashes but not often enough to worry about it; besides, most planes don't crash more than once...

In the back, sometimes you have to wait interminably to get off the plane. I'm just eager to get off the damn thing.

I always head straight to the last row in the plane, where no one else seems to want to be. Which is just fine with me.
The last row is usually against a bulkhead to the toilets on most planes. Not the place to be, other maybe than on a very short haul flight, with the toilet being flushed every few minutes. However, if that's what turns you on, go for it ! :cheese:

If express boarding only costs $5 and has about 5 people only, you must be guaranteed a choise of a front row or emergency exit seat. $5 or ┬г2.50 for double++ leg room seems like good value to me.

I've had good results this way with Ryan Air.


As for the other point, about 1 in 3 fatal air crashes have some survivors.
For reputable Western airlines, the probability of a fatal air crash is about 8 million to one.

The odds are probably worse in Thailand, but it hardly justifies ordering the coffin in advance.

[krobbie]

There is no such thing as a safe seat on a plane.

This is from an air safety programme on the TV last week in New Zealand.

Some accidents the tail snaps off and careens off killing all inside, some in over wing seats get toasted, some in the front die immediately on impact. Most however die at the scene.

You pays your maoney and takes your chances. However, people are over 100 times more likely to die from an accident in their own homes (kitchen, bathroom).

Cheers
krobbie

[TrongpaiExpat]

Why pay US$5 for express boarding? On Nok Air you can reserve a seat in advance like a 'real' airline, and getting to Don Muang is no more difficult than getting to Cobra Swamp, unless you're arriving there on an international flight.

Because Air Asia sometimes is considerably cheaper than Nok. Personally I perfer Nok out of Don Muang and will pay more if it's not too much.

Next month I priced two RT flights to Phuket and Air Asia was about 3000B cheaper than Nok, so Air Asia it is.

Air Asia is now going to change 30B per checked bag, 15k limit.

[Bob]

I only started using Air Asia when most of the domestic flights moved to Don Muang (and I have no desire to taxi from Suvarnabhumi to Don Muang if I can avoid it). Simply a matter of taking what flights are reasonably/timely available.