[Flight Report] UO 703 Bangkok - HK

Worried with Bangkok's rush hour traffic after a nasty drive out to Ayutthaya the previous morning, I took no chances and stayed away from taxis and Grab cars to head to the airport. Luckily, my hotel is close to the MRT and it is only a short ride to the airport line.

Bangkok's train lines are not integrated. The metro and skytrain run on separate fare systems, while the airport line is entirely different, too. I can't buy a through-ticket but at least the metro takes credit cards. Setting off at 4:30pm, the pre-evening rush hour traffic was not too bad, and I made it to Phetchaburi for the long transfer to Makkasan station on the airport line. I first exit to street level, where there are signs pointing to a long skybridge to cross the street. I then had to pay cash to buy a new ticket to enter through the fare gates again.













The airport line is just a simple commuter train with bench seats, but it is reliable and doesn't take long to reach the airport.



Unfortunately, the trains stop at the basement level, which is neither the arrivals nor departures floors. I had to go from B1 through a bunch of escalators to the 4th floor for the check-in counter. By now, it is only 5:30pm though. Suvarnabhumi's airport design is not so user-friendly. I had to fight through the huge arrivals crowd along the way and the departures floor wasn't much better. The infrastructure is showing its age and hasn't been well maintained. The floors looked quite scratched up and dirty while many travellers were sitting on the floor for some reason on the intermediate floors.



2.5 hours before departure is quite early indeed. There was barely a line for check-in and the surly agent weighed my hand carry case and affixed the cabin baggage tag to it. I asked if they have a window seat but instead of answering my question, she asked for my booking reference, which I wondered why she couldn't see in her system. Out spat the boarding pass with my aisle seat that I got at online check-in. No explanation provided. This lack of customer service is a good summary of the state of this airport, which never made the top ranks in the region since it opened not that many years ago.





Tourism has returned to normal in Thailand with many foreigners on the streets and this airport buzzing with activity.







With my boarding pass on hand, I went looking for dinner. There are few restaurants on the downstairs intermediate floor between departures and arrivals with familiar faces such as Starbucks and Subway. Prices are inflated from the city but still reasonable. If I wanted to get Thai food, expect to pay about 200 baht in a sit-down restaurant. Not satisfied, I asked about the food court, and was directed to gate A on the 1st floor, which is at the end of the terminal building.

After a long walk, I found a small food court but with quite a lot of options. The central seating area was tightly packed but I was able to find a seat quickly after ordering a pork fried rice for only 60 baht - city food court prices. Similar to the mall food courts, ordering and paying for your meal is grossly inefficient. You first buy a cash card at the counter, and use that card for payment. If they don't want the shops to handle cash, why not just put up a contactless payment device instead and fire the 2 cash attendants. Welcome to 2024.







Not taking any chances again with such a huge crowd, I opted to clear security early hoping there won't be surprises. It surprisingly didn't take long, although everyone had to take their shoes off and for some reason, my shoes got rejected by the scanner, although the staff didn't do any additional screening on them plus my case and sent them all back to me.

Then I had to go downstairs for immigration. Staff were already on hand to direct people to the automated machines instead of the manual line. Similar kiosks in Hong Kong and mainland China let the next person scan their ID first while the machine is in use by the person in front, saving some time. These machines in Bangkok are a bit more stupid. The first lad needs to clear his/her face recognition entirely and exit the kiosk first before the next person can scan his/her passport. This adds a few seconds for each person's processing but when you multiply that across a huge volume of people, the delays will start mounting.

My kiosk experience was a fail and I got sent to the manual line. It is entirely a repeat of the arrivals experience. I had to scan 4 fingers on my right hand, 4 fingers on my left, then thumbs, then take off my glasses for the photo. I've never exited a country with so much processing.

Air-side was busy with lots of shops and restaurants. I saw a McDonalds and Burger King here but I filled up already so scanned around for last minute souvenirs. Prices are a lot more expensive than the Big C in the city so I held off from more shopping. Instead, I looked for a charging point to juice up my phone. Hong Kong Express is a low cost airline. There is no entertainment on board and no charging ports either.









I saw quite a few people on flight with bags of mango sticky rice to bring home. Hong Kong doesn't have a lot of restrictions for importing food, including fruits, but this pack is quite expensive compared to the city.







Connecting to the wifi, I saw a message that I have internet for an hour. What a stingy airport.

Next up - the actual flight. More on my website : https://www.globalphotos.org/uo703.htm