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Gruelling trip for Britons stranded in Thailand
Andrew Drummond04.12.08
Two hundred Britons set off from Bangkok today to board the first British Airways rescue flight from Thailand.
But even though Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport is now open nine days after anti-government protesters took control, they will have to make a gruelling 33-hour journey before they touch down in London.
The passengers checked in for flight BA10 at desks set up at the city's Shangri-La hotel and then boarded buses taking them on a 10-hour journey south to Phuket.
From there they will join 72 others and board a Boeing 777, which will fly them first to Chennai and on to London, arriving shortly after 2.10pm tomorrow.
Geoffrey Hyde, 54, from Eastbourne, was worried about his job.
"I have taken unpaid leave and was due back at work this week," he said. "There has been a lot of confusion. The airline told us we could not go home until 10 December"
Both British Airways and the Foreign Office have been criticised for not coming to the aid of the Britons. Other airlines, including Holland's KLM, Italy's Alitalia and Air France, have already flown their nationals out of Thailand. But BA refused to fly in.
"This was due to safety and security considerations", a spokesman said.
Reader views (5)
What regional airports are you referring to with flights to KL or Singapore? Do you have any idea just how big Thailand is for a visitor to be galavanting cross country! These stranded folks are on holiday there with limited means available to them there & are unfamiliar with the geography. With most airline offices providing little or no information, how exactly was a tourist supposed to start making these arrangments, especially never knowing if the closure would last a day or months - just my few unhelpful calls to BA and I have come back with a whopping phone bill. Thank God for the Kings birthday because I believe that was key to bringing this standstill to an end. All 2 Bangkok airports were closed, so was Chiang Mai and very few airlines were operational for airbase at UTapoa. Phuket was the only viable airport vaguely operational and the limited flights from there were already booked up days in advance. With everyone resorting to road and train travel most coaches required 3 day advance booking to get a seat (at least that was the case in Chiang Mai where I was). My criticism of BA is that they were the last airline to resume normal operation in Thailand 7 days after the protest ended!
Thank God for Thai civility and a true show of people power because if this had happened anyone else the consequencies would have been much dire.
- Jj, UK
NJ-yeah they could have done that I suppose for an extra grand or so. Obviously that's just petty cash to you, but maybe those irresponsible adults were trying to not have to cough up an insane amount of money to pay for something twice?
- Ted, london UK
The trips that you will remember and tell of for years to come, are made of events like these in Thailand.
- Trunk, US
Why did these idiots just sit around waiting for other people to sort them out? They could have gone by road to regional airports that were unaffected and got flights to Kula Lumpur or Singapore to fly home, have they never heard of personal responsibility?
- Nj, London
Well, I hope that , at least, one of those returning will be inspired by the excercise of the mass Democratic Voice. What a wonderful demonstration; what a wonderful outcome. they show us up for our lack of spine and respect for our own democracy.
- Maria, London
