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 Bangkok International Airport, about 25 kilometers north of the city center, is generally a trouble-free experience, though Thailand's popularity as a tourist destination can mean congestion at immigration counters - a foretaste of what the visitor will experience on Bangkok's grid-locked roads. Baggage handling is fairly fast and efficient. Passengers usually find their bags waiting once they come out of immigration.
Don Muang airport, as it's commonly known, handles 160,000 flights, 25 million passengers and 170,000 tons of cargo a year, way above its designed capacity. Since its construction in the 1920s, the airfield has grown to be one of Asia's busiest crossroads. Two large, airy international passenger terminals plus a domestic terminal are strung out north to south along the east side of Vibhavadi Rangsit Road. Relief for the bottlenecks at immigration will be provided by the new Nong Ngu Hao airport emerging from paddyfields and cobra-snake swamps on Bangkok's nondescript eastern fringe.
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