Traveling through airports is always fun when one is loaded with money; the Hermes, the Louis Vuittons or the various restaurants offer great place to spend one's time and possibly get a place to sit.
Bangkok's celebrated Suvarnabhumi airport, which aspires to be among the world's best, had a bite of reality not too long ago when some tourists complained about the steep price of food there.
The media, including the Bangkok Post, went all out to criticise the extortion of a captive market in the capital's two airports. The social pressure prompted ministers to make visits and declare that both airports had a rat hole oops canteen for those looking for cheaper food.
Umesh Pandey is Editor, Bangkok Post.
After the alternative that is the rat hole food court was made known to the world, the media failed to point out that a person who has checked in for a flight would not be able to eat there, and what the prices are of eateries available to passengers after they check in.
The Airports of Thailand (AOT) recently became one of the most valued airport operators in the world thanks to the high number of tourists arriving in this country.
Suvarnabhumi airport, as the busiest transit point in Thailand, is at the centre of this increased valuation of AOT, but if one takes a close look at this masterpiece built in 2006, one will notice that there are a lot of faults.
Suvarnabhumi has become a mint for AOT and its concession holder, King Power. The concession holder was also in hot water not too long ago when it occupied the central part of the departures area walkway, the exits and even near the washrooms for commercial purposes.
A public outcry then helped clear up these areas and created more space for the general public to walk, but it wasn't long until some pop-up booths arrived on the pretext of being "temporary" fixtures. Yet they continue to "pop up" to this day.
Just a few years ago there were some plants and seats put in place when the AOT and its concession holder got tired of minting their money. Mortals like myself who do not have gold cards for the various airlines to use their lounges, nor travel in business class to get the lounge access, were delighted to see the seats.
The thought was that at least there was some place where one could take a rest rather than sit in a restaurant, bar or coffee shop and add more weight to our already chubby bodies.
It is surprising that the aspiring Suvarnabhumi has very little green area within the airport and very little seating arrangements. If one looks closely, the only proper seating available at Suvarnabhumi is right before one reaches the gates and some right in-front of the lounges.
There is no children's playground unlike in Singapore's Changi or Hong Kong International, and any seating that was there in the past for passengers is being replaced by more shops.
My latest trip on Friday surprised me further as I noticed that around the areas near the gates, right before one goes down the escalator, the previous seating area has started to be replaced with more restaurants.
Both the left and right sides areas before one takes the escalator to Zone F has now been occupied by The Coffee Club and Sushi Go. Initially I thought it was just for the Zone F area; after all Burger King, Pizza Co and host of other restaurants were near Zone F, so I decided to take a walk to Zone E and was surprised to see the same development. The left side before descending to the gates area in Zone E is now occupied by Gloria Jean's Coffee, although the original passenger's seating remains right opposite.
No one doubts that utilising the commercial space is paramount, after all the market capitalisation of AOT has dropped from just over 1 trillion baht to 993 billion baht. How can the shareholders be happy? A loss of more than 7 billion baht in market capitalisation is unacceptable and if that means making the passengers suffer, so be it.
But AOT is forgetting something in this whole process. This is that more shops and eateries are not going to get it the crown that it so desires for Suvarnabhumi. AOT's lack of understanding of what is needed to be a real market leader in the industry will never allow it to overtake the likes of Singapore's Changi, which makes passenger comfort and convenience its priority with all its natural light, greenery and space for passengers to sit and relax.