I left my home in BKK to fly to SGN on 26 October which was my first foray into the new BKK airport.
I'd agree with everything already said plus, if I were Thai, I'd be mighty upset with the obvious corruption. Having said that, something this BIG (and, I am talking about the airport now), is bound to have teething problems as opposed to real 'organic' problems;
(A) For example, every 20-30 meters, there are huge, "stereo speaker"-looking things almost 2 meters high. They are air conditioning units separate from whatever else is there. TEETHING PROBLEM.
Because 'whatever else what is there' isn't working, inbound/outbound passengers lean on these units to cool off. There are large sections of this HUGE airport terminal with temperatures in the mid 30s C.
(B) Nearly all of the flooring is dirty, scruffed up and looks as if it has been in place for well over a decade. Clearly, unlike (A) above which is a teething problem, (B) is no teething problem. There obviously was no oversight, no accountability and repairing this would be many millions of dollars. They'll just have to live with it but it is a potent symbol of the structure of the airport being poorly managed. ORGANIC PROBLEM.
(C) The lack of toilets/urinals (sometimes as few as 2 terminals off of major arrival gates) is pure Thai corruption. They knew it! And now, a BKK Post article says that adding 50 more toilets will cost THB 40 million (just over US$1 million). This is a typical way a vendor skims off more money. Between TEETHING and ORGANIC depending on how quickly they correct it.
Architecturally, it is a really beautiful airport. Last Thursday, when I was in it, it was bright blue skies and the light coming through was really extraordinary. They've thought that out very well.
As a private pilot with an expired license, my fear is that they (AOT) cut so many corners in getting this airport up and running that safety was compromised.
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