"I would rather not answer that. You'll have the chance to ask questions in the press conference," says a middle manager from a European airline, with a wary smile.

One might have thought he was being urged to betray confidences about alleged embezzlement or extramarital scandals. But he was responding to a fellow journalist's innocent ice-breaker, "So how long did it take you guys to finish up the lounge?"

An uncomfortable spell of suspicious silence follows, as we are herded towards the Promised Land.

The new lounge that we have all been summoned to admire still smells of paint, and there is a feeling of treading carefully - not because of the new décor, but because this is Suvarnabhumi Airport, after all. And to measure one of these hideaways against the others - no matter how gently - one feels obliged to nose about in a few more of them.

There are plenty of airline lounges at Bangkok's new international airport. But most of them seem to have employed the same designers, or perhaps they sourced their furniture from the same suppliers.

However, Eva Air's new lounge is decked out in glorious wooden panels, which, on the surface - and based solely on first impressions - could easily put certain other airline lounges to shame. Perhaps the Taiwanese have the right underdog mentality to come up with a welcome improvement to first and business-class convention.

But one must put these lounges into their proper socio-economic context. What purpose do they serve?

"These are welcoming lounges for our business and first-class customers," explains Siriporn Yongpiyanan, Thai Airways International's deputy director of product and service support. "Our first-class customers can just sit back and our staff will take care of the checking in." Both business and first-class flyers with THAI have very private immigration fast-track counters. No need to queue with the commoners.

THAI's Royal First Class customers who fancy sleeping for the entire duration of the flight can feast over marble tables at the airline's a la carte dining place while someone else is checking them in. Can't have such passengers waking hungry at their destination.

If lounges were cars, then THAI's lounge is the Bentley of Suvarnabhumi. And, it being THAI's turf, its lounges are just an escalator ride from immigration, complete with smiling receptionists and muted jazz piano.

In the toilet-scarce airport, paintings of half-naked nubile women adorn the walls as one bathes in warm scented water at THAI's Royal Spa lounge. To top it off, one can rejuvenate a tired body under temperature-controlled simulated rain showers.

Tucked away beside the main Royal Orchid Lounge hides a colourful children's playroom, where pre-flight brats can cuddle purple monkey dolls while their parents indulge in gourmet refreshment, all the while watching one another through transparent walls.

"I would rather not board my flight. Can I stay here for three days?" quips a bearded Australian journalist in the press entourage.

While airport lounges have always been the realm of the privileged few, Bangkok Airways is the only airline to have broken that seemingly sacred social barrier.

A handful of tired tourists sprawl about on geometric couches and sofas. The colour scheme is straight out of an Almodovar movie; blue and orange dominate, accentuated by grey and black. More college common room than lounge, which is precisely why it feels rather cosy - and, shall I say, boutique.

There are computers with Internet connection for passengers to check their e-mails - briefly, though, and that means doing it standing up. Next to the computer bar there are refreshments. Nothing special, just lemon or orange juice, or iced coffee. If one fancies hot coffee, it is boiling away in the kettles. This is not Starbucks.

Positioning itself as "Asia's boutique airline" and catering mainly for European holidaymakers, Bangkok Airways' lounges are best described as egalitarian. It has retained its accessibility, despite the recent launch of a new business class, called the Blue Ribbon Club, which is currently only available on the last flight on the Bangkok-Phnom Penh route.

"It is not so much a business class,' corrects media-relations man Natdanai Yuvaboon, in an effort to quash any conclusion that Bangkok Airways has an economy class, or has forgotten about its main clientele.

A major disappointment, although perhaps unfairly, is Cathay Pacific's lounge, which is rather sterile - a far cry from its award-winning lounges at Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport, which feature personal living spaces, shower suites, freshly blended juice, gourmet coffee and the notorious Noodle Bar.

What were exceptional at Cathay Pacific's new lounge, however, were the carefully wrapped Oreo biscuits. Washed down with a generous gin and tonic, the statistics pages in the handy selection of leading business publications begin to take on a whole new meaning.

On the way out of Bangkok's new aviation hub, past the bazaars of enticing goods luring a final few baht out of tourists, past the gigantic mythical sculptures and the happy snappers, the number of public benches can be counted on two hands - and perhaps two feet. This excludes the seats in smoking rooms.

Gone is the abundance of seats offered to ordinary travellers at dear old Don Muang.

One public-relations woman tells scornfully of an episode where her friends had to sit on the floor while waiting for a delayed flight.

Pessimists with weak legs among the ordinary economy-class public, beware!

Ki Nan Tsui

The Nation