Suvarnabhumi Airport Domestic Departures: Disappointing

Sometimes my sense of perspective switches off and I become a cantakerous old fart. At other times, I'm just a mature traveler who likes her comforts. At Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport today, I suspect there was a little of both going on.

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The domestic terminal of Suvarnabhumi Airpot in Bangkok is disappointing. Perhaps it's because I was expecting better. Perhaps it's because I've been in and out of Singapore's Changi airport enough to know where the bar is set for airport facilities. 

Our driver drops us off quite early for our flight to Chiang Mai. The tour company is moving on to service others now. No matter. We'll entertain ourselves in the quiet of the business class lounge which is one of the reasons we subscribed to a platinum American Express card and Priority Pass card. For a $25 USD fee, we can enter designated business class lounges. As we've grown older, we seek out business class lounges for comfort and quiet and are prepared to pay a premium.

No such luck here at the domestic terminal. The lounges do not accept Priority Pass - "only at the international". 

We try to upgrade our ticket to Chiang Mai to business class. "No can, Madam. Full."

We try another strategy. Let's find a lounge that accepts the American Express Platinum card. At an annual fee of $500, we get some perks, among them, admission to certain lounges worldwide for a fee. We approach the Bangkok Air lounge.

Sorry madam. We only accept American Express Platinum that is issued out of Thailand."

I can feel my blood pressure rising. We've written American Express before to complain about the practice, which we discovered in Delhi, of the official American Express lounge there only accepting cards issued out of India. AMEX wrote back to say that should not happen. We have news for AMEX. It does happen, whether they choose to acknowledge it or not. 

We decide to do some shopping and since this is the only time I'll be at the airport before leaving the country directly from Chiang Mai, I'm eager to make my gift purchases at the Jim Thompson store.

But I don't see it.

"Madam, it's upstairs."

We walk half a kilometre and cannot find the stairs. We ask again for help.

"You cannot go upstairs, Madam. That is international. Jim Thompson store is only in international departures."

I need a pill.

There are no quiet restaurants at the domestic terminal to park for three hours, untangle my nerves and calm myself. There is a noisy, crowded, grease-smelling food court with McDonalds and a few other eateries of that ilk.

We head back to the information booth to get a free wifi card, accepting the inevitable that we'll be spending time in the food court.

Neither card works for our respective computers. To McDonald's credit, we get their own wifi card and it does work.

As an independent traveler, I have choices. Chiang Mai has an international airport now, as does Phuket so I don't have to fly domestically anymore out of Svarnabhumi to those locations. Let me remember that in the future.

OK. I'll try to be reasonable. There is one good thing about this domestic terminal (and it is not the washrooms close to the food court). It's the  "Coffee Club" in the food court. The coffee is excellent and the tables lining the window overlook the garden which is soothing. I sit here, awaiting my flight, reflecting on what it would take to acquire the Thai cool heart, that quality of being by which nothing frazzles them.