Koki Aki is really, really disappointed in his adopted home’s airport, and no one is really disagreeing with him.
The Japanese expat’s detailed report of his miserable experiences at Suvarnabhumi Airport, in which he suggests Thais should be ashamed of their national gateway, has been widely read to a stunning lack of outrage or rebuke.
“I can say Suvarnabhumi Airport is the disgrace of Thailand,” he posted online in both Japanese and Thai. “Thai people show terrible service to foreigners at their national airport, the very first entry point to their country.”
Aki, who claims to have worked here for over 10 years, listed everything that wrong at the airport, starting with the immigration checkpoint when he stepped off the plane.
“There is a long line at the immigration checkpoint, but the airport did not open the empty counters,” he said. “I ended up waiting 30 minutes.”
Sounds like a fast day at BKK immigration, but Aki wasn’t done yet. After that a taxi driver tried to rip him off by demanding THB700 for a ride to Saphan Kwai.
The taxi stand told Aki to get a bigger taxi and gave him a ticket, but instead he asked for the manager. The manager only asked him to return the ticket and told him it was up to him to work something out with a driver.
“That’s weird. The driver wouldn’t use the meter. This is a decision made by one side. It’s not a negotiation. You accept this kind of rip-off here? You don’t care about these bad drivers?” he complained to staff, who then proceeded to ignore him.
“This is Thailand’s national airport. This is the taxi stop at the national airport. Passengers are ignored and ripped off. What would foreigners like us do?” Aki wrote.
For the high tax charges it demands, Aki said the airport should not suffer from such long lines, broken elevators and terrible service.
“When passengers ask for information, staff just keep playing with their smartphones,” he said.
“Aren’t they a disgrace of this country? They show laziness and lack of generosity to foreigners.”
The post has been shared more than 11,000 times since yesterday and featured by several Thai media outlets.
Soon after it opened eight years ago, Suvarnabhumi proved unable to keep pace with demand and a series of expensive expansions have been under way.
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