Bangkok airport taxi scam continues

Unsuspecting visitors arriving at Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi airport are still being hustled and deceived into taking the airport’s overpriced limo service into the city. Despite more than a year of criticism about the lack of transparency and fairness behind the taxi set up at the airport, the scam appears to be continuing.

Large signs on the luggage concourses and a prominently placed transportation counter in the arrivals hall warn passengers to use the official airport limousine service for their own safety despite the fact that the regular metered taxis are available outside at a third of the cost and are equally official and safe. Furthermore, the large number of ‘agents’ who loiter outside continue to accost new arrivals, encouraging them to hire these over priced services.

The limousine service, which is part owned by Airports of Thailand (AOT) who oversee the management of the airport, enjoys preferential treatment. Regular metered taxis are equally entitled to operate from the airport and must be made available to the public. They are levied a 50 baht fee for entering the airport pickup area, which is passed onto the client. Until recently they were only allowed to pickup passengers from the official taxi rank in the basement area, but persistent complaints and calls for greater transparency lead to the airport management moving them to the ground floor where arrivals exit, while the limousine services were relegated to the basement.

The cost of hiring the AOT limousine service is between 700 and 900 baht, depending on the city destination, while a metered taxi costs about 300 baht including toll fees. Despite this, the limousine service continues to receive aggressive promotion which many have described as ‘deceptive’.

Says Michael Mense, a travel agent who regularly uses the airport; “this bad practice is still going on, last week I exited the arrivals hall and was confronted by six agents in the space of two minutes, all trying to sell me an overpriced taxi service. It’s a disgraceful welcome to Thailand�?.

A taxi line is found outside the terminal’s ground floor exit, where an efficient service provides registered and safe taxis without much wait.