New Bangkok Airport - Opening
 

Does anyone have an update please as to when the new Bangkok International Airport will be open ?

The government is standing firm on the 29 September date, but a lot of the people in the industry seem to doubt everything can be ready by then.

BTW, there was an article in Thursday's Nation about Thai's plan for their lounges. They want to take back the top spot from Cathay, so they're promising spa treatments, day beds, full meal service and a whole lot of other really nice sounding stuff.

Thanks MichaelBKK. We have an 11 hour stopover on 03 November. My question is, if we book a hotel near the present airport but in fact land at the new airport - while we will obviously lose the advantage of being "nearby", is the distance significant ? Thanks.

Yes, the distance is very significant. Don't book a hotel until you know which airport will be the active one. Or, alternatively, book a hotel in town. How much of a stopover do you have in Bangkok?

This shows the new aiport, be patient with the website as it takes a long time to load up

http://www.bangkokmasstransit.com/im...orkMap1000.gif

bigarm

Your options at the new airport would be the Novotel Suvarnabhumi which opens Oct 1st or the next nearest the Novotel Bangna so you might opt just to go to one downtown.

Is it an overnight 11 hrs, sounds long for a daytime connection (?)

Thanks for the responses. We arrive at 6.30 am and depart again at 5.30 pm, so I didn't want to travel all the way into central Bangkok. Seems your advice of waiting until nearer the date before booking, is best.

Picked this up from todays Bangkok Post

"Suvarnabhumi Airport will require us all to adopt a new mind set. When we drive families to the airport, technically there is no waiting on the five-lane flyover that sweep along the length of the 500-metre long terminal. We will have to drive to the 5,300 capacity short-term parking garage. Then if we play by the rules, as explained by AoT, arriving passengers will go to the parking garage for a car pick-up, to the train station or they will board the airport's low-rider shuttle buses to the remote taxi ranks and bus stations, three kilometres from the terminal building.

That means the landside transfer to the taxi ranks would use similar buses as those used, airside, to transfer passengers to aircraft parked at remote bays. Interesting concept when you also have your luggage in tow."

It should be interesting to get feedback from travelers on the trail run flights in July. And of course the high speed train link will not be available for several years.

You should definitely wait to see where you'll be. Given the facilities promised at the new airport, you may just want to consider staying in the terminal. If you're not flying business or first class, you might want to think about getting a Priority Pass. At the old airport, the lounges available to Priority Pass members have showers, foot massage and day rooms available.

Out of couriosity what is the deal with a priority pass? What is the cost and what is available?
J

For information on the priority pass check out this site.
http://www.prioritypass.com/Lounges/...ort-Lounge.cfm

The priority pass sounds interesting. We have some very long 5-6 hours in LAX and in BKK. We are flying Thai Airways from LAX to Bangkok premium economy class which I do not believe gives us business/1st class lounge previlages. Has anyone used the priority pass for LAX. It says the lounge for international terminal would be the Mexicana one. Although you can use several others in other terminals. Any feed back would be appreciated.

Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel is only a five minute walk from Bangkoks new international airport (opening early December 2006), via a 300 metre underground walkway. The hotel features 612 rooms, 4 restaurants, 2 bars, a swimming pool, fitness centre and health spa. Banquet and convention facilities include 6 meeting rooms and a 850 square metre ballroom for up to 800 people.

Found this online and thought it was interesting

the priority pass is about $99 per year to join per person and $24 per person per visit....this may or may not be an expensive purchase??? the costs above are for the basic plan

I found this when doing a search http://www.bangkokairportonline.com/

I agree the Priority Pass is an expensive purchase unless you have a lot of longish layovers.
J

In time this may be a good site for the new airport information (hopefully before it opens) but right now is not much use. The Novotel is supposed to be opened in sept and the rate for a standard room is 3710 baht net with breakfast until the end of oct. Then it goes up to over 5000 baht.

accordinng to FT news. airlines are worries about the quick opening of the airport. Some people say PM Taksin whents it open 2 weeks before the elections to give him a boost

unfortunatly the article gone into th FT.com archives and you need to subscribe to real it.

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?rid...b51d3138244bed

Novotel themselves have some promo rates, though after opening as Scotters said I think it's 5,000-5,500, however, that is not so bad when you compare with the rates for the current Amari Airport hotel and the Novotel is linked by walkway, so compared with the high rates for the 'direct access hotel' at the current airport the Novotel at the new airport is not bad at all
Put in Bangkok and it lists their BKK properties.

http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click...ovotel_special

James A,
since I did not cut and paste the article I posted about above. I can not remember when the airport is supposed to open, is it september, 26 or so?.

It's the 28th, I 'think' that means officialy 0300 hrs on the 28th when they move all the final equipment across. ( or that could be 0300 on 29th ) , it actualy is getting close now, another 6 weeks so that is getting 'near'!