I will be spending a couple of hours in DM on Friday.
Coming in domestic, going out international.
I have not been through the airport since Swampy was opened & was looking for eating & drinking advice from anyone who had been through it lately.
I see from the airport site map that there is no longer the long trek between domestic & international that I used to know & love, but have no other information..

Any advice concerning anything about the airport will be welcome...

I've only used the domestic area since it re-opened,Bob.
It was refurbished after Air Asia decided to make it their hub in late 2012.
There are one or two eateries,including BK,a couple of coffee places and also a 7/11.I cant remember a bar that had alcohol but there could well be one and,certainly you could get a beer at 7/11.
Theres also a small Duty Free shopping area and one or two other shopping options.....not been there this year so could well have developed more.

I would think that the International Terminal will be along similar lines.

I found it a lot more relaxing and cheaper than Suvarnabhumi.....more like the Udon experience with hardly any queue at check in.

Have a good trip.Hope to see you later in the year in one of your occassional visits to Udon !

We were at DM last week. It is not too different from the hustle and bustle of Suvarnabhumi now. Flights are no longer handled out of the domestic terminal. All domestic flights now are from and to the old international terminal. At the ticketing area you can take the escalator up to the second flood food court area and have several options. Once you have cleared document check and security scan there are additional fast food outlets in the gate area. (Subway, BK, Coffee shops), the usual stuff.

Wifi connections at the gate areas. Don Mueang is not the small, easy, convenient and relaxing place it once was.

Don Mueang is not the small, easy, convenient and relaxing place it once was.

That's a laugh. My memories of DM are of a inconvenient sprawling mass of people standing in endless lines at check ins or waiting to get served in the far too few (overpriced) bars and food outlets. As soon as you stepped outside the doors you got hit by a wall of heat and pollution. Can't ever remember spending one "relaxing" minute in the place whether arriving or departing

Don Mueang is not the small, easy, convenient and relaxing place it once was.

That's a laugh.

Sorry I did not make myself clear stattointhailand. I was, of course, referring to Don Mueang when is was just a domestic service airport after the primary relocation of all other operations to Suvarnabhumi. Sort of like Zidane remembered it. It was a piece of cake to fly in and out of DM at that time. Very easy.

I assumed that was what you meant Shado, but when you said "it once was" all the memories of endless hours there came flooding back.

Never actually been to Swampy, so can't compare them

I'll actually be in Dom Muang in a few weeks time so will be interesting to see how it compares to the end of last year.

Swampy.....you aint missed much,statts.....good for International connections and road trips to the likes of Pattaya or Koh Chang but thats about it.

BobHelm wrote:I will be spending a couple of hours in DM on Friday.
Coming in domestic, going out international.
I have not been through the airport since Swampy was opened & was looking for eating & drinking advice from anyone who had been through it lately.
I see from the airport site map that there is no longer the long trek between domestic & international that I used to know & love, but have no other information..

Any advice concerning anything about the airport will be welcome...

I came through DM a few weeks ago domestic there are all your normal Mcdonalds, BK, Starbucks and also a food court in the domestic departures. In the check in area there are some coffee shops and Thai food resturants + some of the FF places listed above.

Dont know what is on the international side departures.

See you for a beer later.

The big changes at Don Mueang happened after the flooding of October 2011. Prior to the floods everything was handled at the old domestic terminal and it was pretty convenient. I was at DM during the flood period and local flights were then being transferred to the old international terminal. Had to walk forever. The airport was never the same after that. I just got bigger and busier. I doubt that it is much different now than it was at the end of last year.

Well, on balance, I think that I preferred the new DM to the current Swampy..

It was quieter & quicker to get around & through without the general shortage of seating that exists at Swampy.

The food & drink offerings were better also, as after the 'chain stores' there were smaller independent outlets selling cold drink & food. The food was of the sandwich variety but tasty & reasonable value. The small cans of Leo were 90 baht however, which is steep even for an airport - but at least you could actually have it if you wanted after you had cleared all the official bits..

My main gripe was that on both arrivals I had to be bused from the plane.
I wouldn't mind that so much if they then actually dropped you somewhere near where you needed to go.
They don't...

Immigration was a breeze coming back, but maybe that was because I managed to out sprint the hordes of Chinese following flag wavers that were also on my flight...

Bob

Bus trips from the plane are why the fares are cheaper....as they dont pay for the air bridge fee.

90 Baht for 037 , PANG ,

What happens for severely disabled/wheelchair paying customers,are there extra staff available to help them

Take the airconditioned walkway to the Amari Hotel and Henry J. Bean's Bar and Grill.

Jetstar in Oz limit the number of physically disabled pax due to reduced ground staff and extra workload.

Sadly Thailand hasnt even got out of the dark ages when it comes to supporting people with disabilities

On a recent trip to Bangkok I had a slight accident that reduced me to a very slow hobble before my return flight home on Bangkok Air. Alighting from the taxi at Suvarnabhumi a porter, noticing my plight rushed out with a wheelchair and wheeled me into the building to the departure lounge, where he left me. At check in the Bangkok Air staff summoned another chair for me and I was wheeled through all the formalities to the airline lounge, from there another attendant took me right onto the plane. At Udon a chair was waiting at the planes exit door, from where I was taken via baggage arrivals to right outside whilst my wife went to get the car. The porter waited with me until she arrived and helped me to get in , putting the bags in the back as well.Although my wife did tip there was no obvious expectation of one .My first experience of being disabled but I was very impressed at the care and attention I received . =D>

Last month I had to go down to Bangkok for the day. As we used to live in Don Muang, (before moving to Udon last year) and I also had various work reasons requiring me to use the airport frequently, before Suvanabhumi came in to operation, I have always been interested in the place.
I found it to be a "work in progress", but can say it is far better than coming into Suvanabhumi in most ways.
It still looks a bit old fashioned, but is nowhere near as busy (at the moment).
Another thing I discovered was a very convenient and regular express bus service (every 10 minutes) between the terminal and Mo Chit BTS station. It cost THB30. From experience, I know a Taxi would have been around THB120.
I arrived downtown (Asoke area) in less than 1 hour and early for my appointment.
My return journey to the airport and then back to Udon later in the day, was equally trouble free.