Colorful taxis in Bangkok

It would be wise to avoid the touts that offer taxi rides as you emerge from the arrivals area which is in Level 2 at the Suvarnabhumi. There is a line of taxis at Level 1, but you have to be extra vigilant when boarding them.

Typically, a just-arrived traveler goes down to this level and heads to the official taxi booth to be properly directed to the waiting taxis. The official at the booth issues a printed receipt with the traveler’s destination and the taxi license number and points the passenger to the direction of the transport. The driver then takes the traveler’s luggage while the passenger boards the taxi.

Sometimes the traveler is too tired to bother whether the taxi meter was turned on or not. Thinking that he was issued a receipt, the passenger also assumes that the fare has been determined by the official at the taxi booth. Taxi drivers take advantage of this assumption, so they ask the receipt from the passenger in the hope of misleading the latter to assume that the fare has indeed been determined back at the booth. The passenger should not give the receipt for two reasons: The driver has no right to ask for this piece of paper, and the passenger would have no record of his trip details should he decide to lodge a complaint.

This should already be red-flag to the unsuspecting passenger. Often, taxi drivers, after not turning the meter on and while speeding down the traffic, would casually mention that the fare is such and such, making it difficult for the passenger to switch taxis or even to negotiate. Or, the driver would pretend to not know where the hotel is and drive the passenger along a circuitous route to justify the exorbitant fare he is going to charge later on. Or, at the end of the trip, the driver would just casually mention the overpriced fare expecting that the passenger would oblige without much protest.

The flag down fare of Thai taxis is 35 Baht, although there are proposals to increase this to 40B and even up to 50B. In any case, you should request the driver to turn on his meter first before closing the door.

A metered fare from the airport to anywhere in the city should not go beyond 400B, excluding the 50B surcharge and tolls. For shorter distances, 200B is just about right. Other travelers even report paying only 100B for really quick rides.

You can altogether bypass the long line of waiting taxis at Level 1, and just head up to Level 4 and hail a taxi that has just dropped off passengers. You will not, however, be issued a receipt of your ride, because Level 4 is the departures area. This is also where locals hail a cab, so you are less prone to scamming than when you take a ride at Level 1. Hailing a moving cab than a waiting one is always better, as this suggests that the former is not that in dire need to compensate for lost time waiting for a passenger.

Photo by Christian Haugen

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