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This question seems off-topic to me: How can I report taxi drivers who refuse to use the meter at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport (BKK) to the Thai airport authorities?

While it has to do with an airport, it doesn't otherwise seem to really be a travel question. I can vaguely understand if it was about how to use a Bangkok taxi, or whether they need to use the meter, or some other question that travelers to Bangkok might wonder. But I'm not really clear about what the travel-related question is in this case.

I can't think of a better SE that it would fit on... it's not really a Law question either, and I don't know of any other more appropriate locations.

I'm interested in other opinions on this question. Am I entirely wrong? Am I right? Does it maybe need refinement or rewording?

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I’d consider this to be on-topic. Using taxis is certainly a valid topic, and how to react if you’re the target of a common scam is also something that’s been covered on the site regularly. How to report that scam specifically to the airport authorities is perhaps a slight step beyond that, but seems a very reasonable topic for the site to me

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  • I think it’s the step beyond that trips me up. It seems to me to be an extra level removed from normal taxi use to be a useful question and seemed mostly hypothetical about the semantics of the rules. Although the OP did say in the comments that it was apparently not hypothetical. I appreciate your point of view, thanks for sharing.
    – Matthew FitzGerald-Chamberlain
    Commented Jul 12, 2020 at 21:22
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    @MatthewFitzGerald-Chamberlain hypothetical? Come to BKK :)
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Jul 13, 2020 at 16:12
  • @FranckDernoncourt My remark about hypothetical was in regards to the question itself. Reading "I read on <url>" and "I assume one could" it seemed that it wasn't about a real event. However you clarified that it seemed to be. Please don't get defensive, I am asking in Meta so that I can gain hear some other (non-OP) perspectives.
    – Matthew FitzGerald-Chamberlain
    Commented Jul 13, 2020 at 16:38
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As the OP of the question you mentioned, it is on-topic for the following two reasons:

  1. [short-term, self-centered reason] Showing to the problematic taxi driver that one is aware of how to contact the Thai airport authorities and thereby threaten the certification that the Airports of Thailand issued them may help convince the taxi driver to agree to use the meter.
  2. [long-term, altruistic reason] Travelers are a common target by scammers, and I believe it is one of the responsibilities of travelers to report such scammers to the proper authorities to reduce the odds that travelers are affected.
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  • If I'm confronted with an obvious scam in an environment I'm not familiar with my instinct is to avoid confrontation and remove myself from the situation as quickly as possible. I'd regard the advice given in point 1 as potentially dangerous. The advice I read elsewhere is to ask the driver to stop, get out, and not pay. If everyone did this the taxi drivers would quickly learn that they're wasting their time. No confrontation, and less danger.
    – user105640
    Commented Jul 13, 2020 at 0:49
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    @Arthur'sPass If aiming to optimize safety, better not enter the taxi and instead ask the price from outside. Some scams won't let you exit the taxi that easily e.g. see travel.stackexchange.com/a/129006/1810. I had in mind to do point 1 from outside the cab (it's typical to discuss meter from outside the cab in Bangkok to ensure that they use the meter), which is quite safe given it's in BKK, likely with other passengers and BKK employees nearby.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Jul 13, 2020 at 0:57

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