SUVARNABHUMI RANKED THIRD FOR FOOD
I was a little surprised to hear a story on Radio Thailand yesterday revealing the Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport had been ranked third in the world for dining in the Skytrax World Airport Awards.
Hong Kong is ranked top with Singapore second and Suvarnabhumi third in the 2009 awards.
The airport, which opened in September 2006, was plagued with teething problems. It's fair to say that facilities have improved greatly since then. There is certainly a greater range, both land and air side, but the high prices aren't reflected in the quality of what's on offer. What you can buy for 50 baht in central Bangkok is two or three times that at the airport.
I know that's often the same at most airports around the world, but if Suvarnabhumi really is the third best in the world for food then I'd hate to see some of the worst.
6 comments:
Wow. Surprising to see them ranked #3. I had breakfast there on Tuesday morning and had a BIG ROACH run across my table. I was in the Thai/Asian place near the D gates.
The waitresses all screamed when I pointed it out and then one had the guts to bring a towel and remove the critter.
The cashier wasn't too happy when I checked the bill carefully and asked whether I had been charged extra for the roach.
Mai Pen Rai!
Great story. I can imagine the scene.
I recall from my last trip about a month ago that both Coffee World and Burger King (air side) were double the price you'd expect to pay in downtown Bangkok.
When you look at the variety at places like London Heathrow there's simply no comparison.
What's also puzzling about this story is I've not seen it anywhere in the mainstream English language media in Thailand. I only heard it by chance on Radio Thailand's 7pm news yesterday evening. I would have thought this award would have been great PR material for Tourism Thailand, etc.
According to Skytrax: "an official 3-Star Airport"
http://www.airlinequality.com/Airports/Airport_forum/bkk-suv.htm
Airports Ranked in a 3-Star status are listed below - for detailed Airport rating, click on link.
- Abu Dhabi Int'l Airport
- Bahrain Int'l Airport
- Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport
- Doha International
- Dubai International
- Johannesburg Int'l Airport
- Kuwait Int'l Airport
- London Heathrow
- Madrid Barajas
http://www.airlinequality.com/AirportRanking/3-Star.htm
Malo - thanks. Perhaps my comparison with Heathrow is not valid as both airports are rated as three-stars. Yet this overall rank makes it all the more strange that Suvarnabhumi is placed third in the world for its food.
Unbelievable. The best value for money thing i've ever had at Swampy is Burger King, but price is still a bit of a rip-off.
Third in the world for what?Chicken wholewheat sandwiches at 250baht a go?
Stephen, thanks for your comment.
Anyone who has met me will know I'm somewhat of a fast food connoisseur. :-) I take the price of my BK Bacon Double Cheeseburger very seriously, and I remember being shocked at the Suvarnabhumi premium they were asking. The sad thing is that last time I flew out it was jam-packed.
I think newspapers and magazines are just about the only thing I can think of that you don't pay more for. Whoops ... perhaps I have just given someone somewhere an idea.
In all seriousness though, I don't think the range, quality, price, etc is anywhere near deserving enough of being ranked third in the world !
Post a Comment