Scandals be damned, the world's travelers love Suvarnabhumi

The annual Skytrax World Airport Awards were announced in Brussels this week. No, Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport didn’t win the top prize. That went to Singapore’s Changi International Airport, and as would be expected they’re pretty pleased. 

But we were rather surprised to see that Bangkok did win some love from the 9.8 million passengers surveyed, coming in at number 10 on the list of 25. This, despite link delays, unscrupulous taxi drivers and duty-free scandals. And lest we forget that unfortunate incident in 2008 when the yellow-shirt protesters took over the airport, stranding thousands.  So really, when you think about it, Suvarnabhumi must be pretty darn good to still manage to make the top 10 in the face of last year's bad press.

Asian and European airports dominated the list, with only two North American facilities earning a place on the list of 25 world favorites. The poll ranks nearly 200 airports worldwide based on the passengers surveyed from over 100 countries. Respondents are asked questions about the airports relating to areas like check-ins, arrivals and transfers, duty-free shopping, immigration procedures, leisure amenities and security processing.