sbsm32

I am flying in on Thai Airways to BKK and need a connection flight to Koi Samui on Bangkok Air that same day. Can someone tell me a reasonable amount of time to allocate to clear Thai customs and make the transfer from Int'l to Domestic terminal so I do not miss the connection without having to rush to catch the connection?

Also, I think BKK air flies out of the same airport as Thai Air. Please confirm. Thx.

Cicerone

Customs will take you no time, you merely walk through the green channel (assuming you have nothing to declare), it is IMMIGRATION where you can find lines, esp if you arrive at the same time as a lot of large aircraft coming in on long-haul flights.

If you are flying Thai Business Class, there is a special line at Immigration just for Thai Business Class which is much faster, go all the way over to the right. (Sometimes you have to find a Thai Airways agent and get them to open the desk.) Otherwise, and to be on the safe side anyway, I would say to have at least 2 hours between flights to allow for a long line at Immigration, and just in case you have to wait for baggage as well, as you have to walk your bags through Customs yourself, they won’t be transferred first. Also, if you were not able to get Thai Airways to issue you a boarding pass for your Bangkok Air flight, you will also have to check-in for that flight and there could be lines for that too.

It is possible that Thai Airways will check your bags all the way through to Koh Samui; however you will still have to go take them through Customs in Bangkok, so you have to collect them at baggage claim and walk them through Customs. After that, you can put them onto a belt to go right to your Bangkok Air flight. If you were not able to check the bag through, you will have to go to find the Bangkok Air counter and check them in, which again will take some time, as this may entail going up to the Depature level.

As for the airports, you have to check this yourself. International flights arrive into the new airport Suvarnabhumi. However, Bangkok Air does have some domestic flights out of the old airport. The call letters for the new airport are BKK. The call letters for the old airport, Don Muang (now used for some domestic flights) are DMK.
Websites for all the airports are at http://www2.airportthai.co.th/airpor...ex.asp?lang=th . You might check your Bangkok Airways flight number to see what airport it will go from.

Hanuman

I think Cicerone is mistaken as there are no Bangkok Airways flight out of Don Mueang. I would give it between 2 - 2.5 hours for your connection time.

Cicerone

I could easily be wrong on Bangkok Airlines no longer operating out of Don Muang. Thai Air still flies out of both, so the only way to be sure is to check the ticket or with the airline.

MichaelBKK

Bangkok Air absolutely positively never returned to the old airport after the new one opened. Your Samui flight will be out of the new airport, and if you're arriving on an international flight, then your arriving flight will land at the new airport as well.