U-Tapao Airport - "It's Complete Chaos and Pandemonium"

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The following appears in the BANGKOK POST:

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At U-Tapao: 'They have killed tourism'

 

By Newley Purnell,

Agence France-Presse

 

U-Tapao - Not even the dancing girls provided by a local hotel could cheer thousands of travelers as they tried to flee protest-hit Thailand through this Vietnam-era airbase.

 

"This is my first time in Thailand and I probably won't come back," said Glen Squires, a 47-year-old tourist from England, casting a glum eye over the crowds.

 

"What they've done is shot themselves in the foot."

 

Since Friday, the U-Tapao naval base about 190 kilometres (118 miles) southeast of Bangkok has been the only way in or out of the country for tourists stranded by an anti-government blockade of the capital's main airports.

 

Travelers who arrived here found crowds of tired and angry passengers, armed guards, piles of garbage, mountains of luggage, and an increasingly tense and surreal atmosphere.

 

Built in the 1960s by the US air force and equipped with just one X-ray scanner for bags, the airbase can only handle around 40 flights a day, compared to the 700-flight capacity of Bangkok's gleaming Suvarnabhumi international airport.

 

But thanks to the demonstrations, it's all that Thailand has to offer.

 

"I think it's stupid," said Danny Mosaffi, 57, from New York City. "They have killed tourism in this country, the authorities should go do something. Nobody is going to come here."

 

Thai authorities say around 30,000 travelers a day -- both Thai and foreign -- have had flights cancelled since the occupation of Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday in what the protesters are calling their "final battle" against the government.

 

Some travel agents bussed passengers down to U-Tapao, which is near the tourist resort of Pattaya, but with information proving difficult to come by in Bangkok, others came on their own more in hope than expectation.

 

Huge traffic jams built up outside the sprawling compound. Thai soldiers with M16 rifles guarded the entrance to the airport to prevent anti-government protesters from gaining access, as travelers lugged their bags under the sun.

 

Once inside the terminal, it was standing room only. Travelers were unsure where they should check in. Long queues wound around the lone luggage scanner, where soldiers tried to hold back the surging crowd.

 

"It's complete chaos and pandemonium," said Bonnie Chan, 29, from San Diego, California.

 

"We've been given incorrect information from the airlines. The US embassy says they can't help us. We're high and dry. The airlines keep giving us the run-around."

 

With no departures board available, airline employees held up signs that said "Final boarding call, Moscow," while other staff stood inside the security area and pressed signs against a glass window calling for passengers to board a flight to Hong Kong.

 

At one point, a group of unruly passengers pushed their way through a door to the security screening area after an airport employee announced the final boarding call for a flight to Taipei.

 

One woman, caught in the surge, began to scream, and the soldiers forced the doors shut.

 

"We've treated six patients today," said Nan Soontornnon, 24, of Bangkok Hospital in Pattaya, standing with a doctor and nurse in a makeshift clinic.

 

"Passengers have had headaches, exhaustion, and other problems, like fainting. But this place has protection from the soldiers -- Suvarnabhumi doesn't," she said.

 

U-Tapao's only other selling point was when female employees from one enterprising Pattaya hotel, taking advantage of the captive audience, put on a traditional Thai dance performance.

 

The women later donned red and silver dresses with feather boas, singing: "You'll fall in love in Pattaya. There's no better place to be."

[Guest fountainhall]

This from the on-line edition of The Times of London.

 

While planes are starting to leave the tiny U-Tapao naval airbase south of Bangkok, it is taking passengers up to eight hours just to get through check-in and onto their planes.

 

Sitting in the heat and chaos of the small terminal, a furious Julian Lewis he swore he would never again contribute "a single penny" to the Thai economy.

 

"I won't even buy Thai bak choy at Tescos any more," he said. "And I will never again set foot on Thai soil."

 

The British property manager and surveyor was caught up in the mayhem spreading from the invasion of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport by anti-government protestors last Tuesday. His Thai Airlines flight left Heathrow for Australia on Tuesday, and was diverted to Bangkok's second airport, Don Muang, which was also subsequently taken over by protestors from the People's Alliance for Democracy. Mr Lewis was meant to spend less than two hours in transit in Thailand. He has now been here for five days. Other hot, thirsty and frustrated holiday makers have queued for hours, only to be told they will not be permitted into the terminal.

 

A number of furious Russian travellers shoulder-charged the glass doors into the tiny departure lounge, sending officials flying. An hysterical Pakistani businessman harangued airport staff at the top of his voice, and a group of Indians mobbed the information desk.

 

The military airbase has one small canteen, only accessible from inside the terminal, but the Red Cross had set up a table offering free water to the travellers waiting in the heat outside. There are inadequate sanitary facilities, but most importantly, almost no information for the crowds of frustrated and exhausted crowds waiting outside.