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Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh" from me

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  • Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh" from me

    jjpb3
    Founding SQTalker
    Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh" from me
    « Thread started on: Oct 23rd, 2006, 12:26pm »


    Thought I'd continue the thread on the transition ( http://sqtalk.suddenlaunch3.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&num=1154246 125&start=15 ) with a new thread on the actual experience.

    My brother and I went through there last week (ah, how time flies). Changi shouldn't be too worried about competition from BKK as a transit point right now. I think it's an improvement over the general feel of Don Muang, but there are numerous points of friction that need to be solved.

    Outside the airport's design does look very distinctive and modern, with the roof shapes complementing rather nicely the new TG livery. The walk to immigration was a lot shorter for my flight (SQ68) than for my flights in the past, but the vaunted new levels of efficiency wasn't there that evening. It's the only immigration point so far in all my travels where I was asked for the boarding pass from my incoming flight. Huh? (Yes I had filled in the requisite section of the landing card.) Even Heathrow officers just ask verbally about your point of origin.

    The luggage carousels seemed to be all working (with good signage) when we were there -- reminded me of the setup at HKG, actually -- but my brother and I decided not to risk elevated blood pressures and only brought hand luggage.

    The arrivals hall was, well, madness. No natural flow of arriving passengers so it was like being gaseous molecules in a hyper-pressurised chamber: people pinging around in multiple directions. CGK was very spot on in his warning to me. We were finally found by one of a roving group of people who offered limousine rides to take us to the Royal Orchid Sheraton. It was a nice civilized ride, although there was nothing to buckle our seat belts into at the bottom of the seats.

    On the return, I was thankful to have printed out the directions from the SQ website. The signage is pretty dismal for a new airport. Once you're through Area 5 doors, there is a sign for *A airlines (LH, UA, etc.) which omits SQ. I had to spot the Golden Bird from the signs on top of the checkin counters. FYI, SQ checkin is right next to Orient Thai, so it's easy to miss the familiar red First Class and blue RAFFLES class carpets through the thicket of tour groups with their mountains of luggage.

    The entrance to the departure hall is much more dramatic now, with a huge sculpture about one of the events in Thai mythology. It was, IMO, a novel way to remind travellers about the uniqueness of Thai culture, but (1) I wondered how it would look many months from now [would it look unremarkable and a waste of foot space?] and (2) I was bemused by the quick transition to the non-unique (but pleasurable to shoppers like me) experience of shopping for international luxury brands like Ferragamo .

    One thing that struck me was how narrow the passageways between the two ends of the airport seemed, and no travellators to ease the walking for those travellers who are still in the middle of their journeys. Again, I didn't detect immediately a natural direction for passenger foot traffic. I imagined that during peaktimes, the foot traffic in front of the premium stores would degenerate into another gaseous particle experience.

    I also noted that the white floors already had smudges, which detracted from the clean, spacious feel that I suspect was intended.

    I have to say, kudos for SQ for determining how the present layout and signage could be confusing to its passengers. Strategically positioned signs (with prominent Golden Birds) and ground staff would have made it impossible to know in which direction to head for the lounge and for the departure gate.

    Off to the operational Silk and First lounges. We entered through the Silk lounge and could walk through a narrow (what's with Suvarnabhumi and narrow passageways?) corridor and see for ourselves how nearly every seat was taken. Fortunately, we then reached the common entrance for the lounges and got through to the First Class Lounge.

    This was what Lounges are supposed to be like: serene, with little nooks for groups or individuals who preferred not to be in the common seating area. The food selection paled in comparison with the SKL's but it has potential. There's a bar where you can place orders and they would bring the drinks to your seat. (I liked that.) Now my beef: they also flip through the selections on the flat panel TVs for you then take away the remote control. Huh? Bizarre set-up. We ended up watching a broadcast of women's golf with Thai commentary. Damn my brother's TV addiction.

    Off we went to our gates, where there was a line to get processed for security. I guess it was par for secondary screenings: slow.

    The departure lounge was definitely something SQ could work on. Large as it was, it was full when we got there, and when boarding was called, there was no effort to enforce priority boarding. I missed the enforcement at LHR and MNL. There was a mad stampede by all passengers (including some very pushy queue-jumpers from China [at least ones with recognizable Beijing accent in Mandarin] with green boarding passes and no status), which experience was eased by a chilled glass of Krug from the cabin crew.

    So my grade for the Suvarnabhumi experience: B at best. It could be worse, but it definitely could be lots better. Then again, maybe I just needed more days in Thailand relaxing somewhere before flying back to Singapore.
    « Last Edit: Oct 23rd, 2006, 12:31pm by jjpb3 »

    KeithMEL1985
    Founding SQTalker
    Re: Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh" from me
    « Reply #1 on: Oct 23rd, 2006, 1:37pm »
    Cheers for the extensive review.

    Given the poor signage and the vastness of the new airport (the general feel I get from reviews I've read), do you think it'd be hard for people with tight connections to find their new gates on their first visit?

  • #2
    jjpb3
    Founding SQTalker
    Re: Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh"
    « Reply #2 on: Oct 23rd, 2006, 2:01pm »
    on Oct 23rd, 2006, 1:37pm, KeithMEL1985 wrote:
    Cheers for the extensive review.

    Given the poor signage and the vastness of the new airport (the general feel I get from reviews I've read), do you think it'd be hard for people with tight connections to find their new gates on their first visit?

    I don't think it's finding the gates that would be the problem. It's getting to the gates (looong unaided walks + potentially inefficiently guided foot traffic + unexpectedly long processing times at the secondary screenings).

    P.S. It didn't feel that vast. To me, HKG felt more spacious and spread out (but also a lot more passenger-friendly).
    « Last Edit: Oct 23rd, 2006, 2:08pm by jjpb3 »


    shortfinals
    Founding SQTalker
    Re: Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh" from me
    « Reply #3 on: Oct 23rd, 2006, 4:12pm »


    T.I.T.............


    This is Thailand

    Sawasdee Krup!

    MovieMan
    Founding SQTalker
    Re: Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh" from me
    « Reply #4 on: Oct 24th, 2006, 11:30am »
    on Oct 23rd, 2006, 12:26pm, jjpb3 wrote:
    ...it was like being gaseous molecules in a hyper-pressurised chamber...

    How very descriptive. LOL!
    « Last Edit: Oct 24th, 2006, 11:33am by MovieMan »

    CGK
    Founding SQTalker
    Re: Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh"
    « Reply #5 on: Oct 24th, 2006, 2:15pm »
    on Oct 23rd, 2006, 2:01pm, jjpb3 wrote:
    P.S. It didn't feel that vast. To me, HKG felt more spacious and spread out (but also a lot more passenger-friendly).

    Agreed. Even ICN and NRT looked more spacious.

    MANFlyer
    Founding SQTalker
    Re: Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh" from me
    « Reply #6 on: Oct 24th, 2006, 2:19pm »
    Have you both experienced these reported queue's at immigration there ?. I've read the immigration hall is quite small and causes a build up of people very quickly. Bizarre with the size of the place that they would design it like that.
    « Last Edit: Oct 24th, 2006, 2:20pm by MANFlyer »

    jjpb3
    Founding SQTalker
    Re: Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh" from me
    « Reply #7 on: Oct 24th, 2006, 2:25pm »
    on Oct 24th, 2006, 2:19pm, MANFlyer wrote:
    Have you both experienced these reported queue's at immigration there ?. I've read the immigration hall is quite small and causes a build up of people very quickly. Bizarre with the size of the place that they would design it like that.

    Yes there is a buildup at the queues, despite the multiple counters open. The problem is that they quiz people for a long time. I got the question about the boarding pass for my incoming flight. A friend got questioned why his Malaysian passport didn't have enough stamps showing entry into Malaysia (he's a permanent resident of Singapore and hasn't been back to Malaysia in years). A friend with a Thai residency visa in his British passport took a long time to be questioned as well.

    Really bizarre, IMO.

    KeithMEL1985
    Founding SQTalker
    Re: Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh"
    « Reply #8 on: Oct 24th, 2006, 2:51pm »
    on Oct 24th, 2006, 2:15pm, CGK wrote:
    Agreed. Even ICN and NRT looked more spacious.

    Hmm, ok. I thought it was supposed to be vast and spacious because the terminal looked so big from the outside and the media reported that it's the biggest single terminal or something along those lines.

    I guess it's bad designing that makes the airport look cramped and non-user friendly?






    Comment


    • #3
      Jubilee777
      Founding SQTalker
      Re: Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh" from me
      « Reply #9 on: Oct 24th, 2006, 6:56pm »
      Was on official trip to NBIA last week and managed to talk to one airport official, one ICAO guy, one ground handler and SQ's station manager in BKK.

      Looks like the transition from the old airport to the new one was generally smooth, with no major hiccups. Main problem is that the current capacity of the public areas of the airport is not designed to handle the curious Thais who just wants to take a look at the new airport.

      You guys should have read about the problems of moving the equipment from the old airport to the new airport...no thanks to the roads in BKK and also of a downpour in the wee hours which delayed the move of the equipment.

      For those who had departed on SQ from BKK with checked in baggage, SQ adopted a different system of managing their baggage in event of Baggage Handling failure. Every SQ bags are tied with a coloured ribbon and a different colour is used for a different flight. in case of BHS failure, the handlers for SQ flights will just grab the coloured ribbon bag. Thats why SQ had only a few mis-handled bags during the major breakdown ( which was caused by power failure to the BHS).

      Some pics of the new airport below for you to enjoy (will try to arrange it when I have the time)....

      http://sg.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/yankeat77/album?.dir=ba1cscd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=ht tp%3a//sg.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

      jjpb3
      Founding SQTalker
      Re: Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh"
      « Reply #10 on: Oct 24th, 2006, 8:47pm »
      on Oct 24th, 2006, 6:56pm, Jubilee777 wrote:
      For those who had departed on SQ from BKK with checked in baggage, SQ adopted a different system of managing their baggage in event of Baggage Handling failure. Every SQ bags are tied with a coloured ribbon and a different colour is used for a different flight. in case of BHS failure, the handlers for SQ flights will just grab the coloured ribbon bag. Thats why SQ had only a few mis-handled bags during the major breakdown ( which was caused by power failure to the BHS).

      That's exactly what the checkin agent explained to me when I asked about the differently-colored ribbons as I was checking in. As I've said before, good ol' SQ. (She wouldn't give me one of the ribbons as a souvenir, though, the bitty. )

      SingaporeAir
      SQTalker
      Re: Suvarnabhumi: for now, it's an "ugh" from me
      « Reply #11 on: Oct 24th, 2006, 9:10pm »
      Oh I was about to say, You should have stolen some ribbons for me Jubilee 777!

      Waaaa. Nice photos. A shame our checkin signs are ruined by a humongous AOT logo.

      Comment

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