This can be funny (and reflective) when looking backwards, that’s why I’m posting about it only 7 months after it happened. There’s are posts on the Internet that go like this: “[11, 10, 7] ways to avoid getting ripped off by taxis in Bangkok”. Can you believe this? Impossible not to think how many ways there exist for getting ripped off by a taxi, sounds like I need training!
Anyway, this is not an uncommon topic, if you’ve travelled to Thailand in southeast Asia you know getting a taxi is really complicated. But I still want to tell my story because Internet won’t make justice to my experience. Yes, I got scammed by every single taxi I took in Bangkok except one in a time span of 5 days! In one way or another, they always did it. I love traveling, but I must admit this time being a tourist sucked! Not because of the money “lost” on those scams as the quantities were low in relative comparison to my original travel currency, but because of the lack of transparency and all the lies involved :’)
It all started in the airport. We were standing in the official taxi queue. We all needed a paper ticket to show to the driver picking us up. All good so far. Suddenly, a guy out of nowhere appeared with one of those paper tickets saying we could take his as it was from a couple of tourists that had left the airport already, and we wouldn’t have to wait any longer. This would sound absolutely fine and even kind in any other country, but I offered a hard NO after having read multiplicity of blogs warning tourists about this traditional scam. If you accept, they take you on a private/luxury taxi and charge you double fare! I felt so proud of myself for being able to dodge the bullet being less than 2 hours in the country!
Anyway, our turn eventually arrived to take the airport taxi to our hotel. Driver had its license in place, everything seemed legit. First thing he says: “airport has a fixed price of 350 TBH to go to the city”. Given we were in an official taxi from the official queue, we accepted without further due. My trust started to fade away when I suddenly noticed the taximeter was marking 240 TBH by the end of our trip, 110 TBH less than what we had agreed (and payed)! The real airport surcharge (we found later over the Internet) was only 50 TBH, so he scammed us with 60 TBH, which to be honest, is not a lot of money, and I’d happily pay it if it were the real official price. The upsetting part is the dishonesty and the disrespect you feel as a tourist. Since it was our first time in the country, we considered this just an unlucky welcoming and forgot quickly about it.
But of course, that wasn’t the end.
Over the next few days, every single taxi ride became a negotiation battle, or a trap. Some drivers flat-out refused to use the meter. Others agreed to it and then “accidentally” took detours. A few even stopped mid-route to renegotiate the fare, as if halfway through the ride was a reasonable time to reopen the contract. It became exhausting. I started dreading the moment we needed to go anywhere.
At one point, I gave in and tried using Didi, the rideshare app popular in Southeast Asia. It worked better, no need to haggle, and drivers at least followed the map, but it came at a price. Didi’s surge pricing made some rides two or three times more expensive than what locals would pay. So I was left wondering: is this what fairness costs?
And that led me to the uncomfortable question: are tourists really being scammed, or are drivers simply trying to make a living in an economy that underpays them? Maybe refusing the meter is less about tricking us and more about surviving. When official fares barely cover fuel and food, isn’t everyone losing?
It doesn’t make it right. Lying to customers and taking advantage of their unfamiliarity will always feel wrong. But now, with a few months of distance, I see the bigger picture. It’s not just about bad drivers, it’s about a broken system. One where the tourist is a walking dollar sign, and the driver is cornered into bending the rules to get by.
Would I take taxis again in Bangkok? Is there a choice? I guess I’ll just mentally prepare myself for the ride, not just the physical one, but the cultural and ethical one too.
Thoughts? Stories? I’m listening.
Random Lessons 