Airport Review: Suvarnabhumi Airport Bangkok (BKK)

I was pleasantly surprised by Bangkok’s airport (Suvarnabhumi Airport – BKK) on my recent trip to South East Asia. I actually was using Bangkok as a hub for my trip (THAI International helped) and also stayed in Bangkok for three days. I hence went thru the airport four time over the two weeks. First, I landed at BKK to stay in Bangkok for three days. Second, I left from the airport to go to Manila. Third, I changed flights at Bangkok on my way from Manila to Kuala Lumpur and forth, on my way back to the US, I changed flights from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo at Bangkok. (My complete trip was documented in an earlier post).

The airport is beautiful. It is large and spread out, but in a neat H-shaped layout (see picture below), so, there is only one terminal with seven concourses. It does take a lot of walking (no moving walkways), to go from one concourse to another, but at least there are no trains or shuttles to be taken (My primary airport is Washington Dulles – enough said). While not as Chic and upscale at Singapore or Kuala Lumpur airports, it has a charm of its own.

One does need to go from one floor to the next when changing flights – all arrivals are on one floor and departures on another – and that does require going thru security. The main check-in hall outside is also one massive hall with all the airlines. Get ready for a lot of walking, if your taxi drops you off at the wrong end.

The airport has several shopping and eating options all over. I did not however use any as I spent all my waiting time in THAI airways Royal Orchid lounges, which too there are many off. In fact, on Concourse C and E there are two THAI lounges right opposite each other, probably to make up for no lounges in Concourse D and G. I visited two different lounges over my multiple trips – in concourse A and E. They had great food and drink options (both warm and cold food) and good speed WiFi, and of course, being THAI airways, excellent service.

Some of the gates of the airport do not have jetways, probably because of being in the corner of concourses. They use buses to on-board passengers mid-field.

Pictures of the king at the airport entrance.

Beautiful Hindu mythology and Thai art work is there all over the airport.

Fresh Orchid in the THAI Royal Orchid Lounge.

I will post pictures I took of aircraft around the airport in my next post. Anyone else have experiences to share from Bangkok airport? Please leave a comment and share.