"Bus-gate" - red faces as international passengers from Vietnam bused to Domestic Terminal by mistake

[snoop1130]

"Bus-gate" -  red faces as international passengers from Vietnam bused to Domestic Terminal by mistake

 

 

Red faced immigration and airport staff at Don Meuang were forced to admit that a plane load of incoming passengers from Vietnam were taken from the aircraft to the domestic terminal instead of international arrivals.

 

The service from the runway - known as Busgate - caused officials to scurry about issuing a series of "everything is OK" statements and denials.

 

The much shared story came to light when a post appeared on the Pantip page that startled netizens. 

 

Under "Busgate" it was announced that nearly all of the passengers on the flight had entered Thailand illegally.

 

Deputy immigration spokesman Cherngron Rimphadee was forced to issue an embarrassed explanation but denied that any one of the 130 passengers had entered Thailand illegally.

 

He said that flight FD 659, that Thaivisa understands is an AirAsia flight from Ho Chi Minh City, arrived late Tuesday night. All 130 passengers were taken to the domestic terminal by mistake.

 

From there they were taken back to complete immigration and baggage claim formalities at the correct terminal.

 

No one entered Thailand illegally and all passengers were processed by 1.45 am, Thai Rath quoted Cherngron as saying.

 

He assured the public of the high level of service at Don Meuang though it is understood certain people had their knuckles wrapped.

 

However, he asked for people posting stories on social media to be more careful about their veracity so as not to scare the public. 

 

Source: https://www.thairath.co.th/content/1133510

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-11-22

[GuiseppeD]

1 minute ago, snoop1130 said:

He said that flight FD 659, that Thaivisa understands is an AirAsia flight from Ho Chi Minh City,

FD is obviously an AirAsia flight.  

[jaiyen]

Not a big deal. They would have to be taken back to International to get bags so would have to go through Immigration to get there.  Just typical inefficiency by drivers or more likely their supervisor who told all the buses to go there.

[samjaidee]

12 hours ago, GuiseppeD said:

FD is obviously an AirAsia flight.  

It may not be obvious but it is in fact true. :-)

 

[steven100]

All sorted .....   no problems ... !! 

[monspencer]

The article says "though it is understood certain people had their knuckles wrapped"

 

So I suppose they had them 'rapped' so hard they then had to have them 'wrapped' in bandages 

 

Isn't it about time that TV got themselves some good English speaking proof readers for their News Team?

 

[klauskunkel]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

caused officials to scurry about issuing a series of "everything is OK" statements and denials.

"We deny that everything is OK"

[Jonmarleesco]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

He assured the public of the high level of service at Don Meuang

Are there two Don Meuangs?

[Khun Paul]

Again a veiled warning to post carefully................BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU .............If you screwed up you WILL be posted about ..live with it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[overherebc]

A long time ago when working on a Statoil platform in the north sea the trip back was chopper - airport - flight to london - flight to Aberdeen arriving domestic with baggage checked through all the way.

Quite a few cigs got through until they realised and stopped it after only a few trips.

[Stargeezr]

What about those passengers, were they all first time travellers, and no one spoke Thai or English?

  I hope the airport workers involved, did lots of apologies to all the passengers

Geezer

[AlQaholic]

1 hour ago, samjaidee said:

It may not be obvious but it is in fact true. :-)

 

In fact, it is actually the correct assumption to make.

[RichardColeman]

Least there was no big hills with curves on route

[Bangkok Barry]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

However, he asked for people posting stories on social media to be more careful about their veracity so as not to scare the public. 

Why would the public be scared about a bus going to the wrong terminal? Presumably the story has lost something in translation.

[ratcatcher]

42 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Least there was no big hills with curves on route

As you are probably aware, there are no big hills or curves on the Don Mueang airport, except a few small hills on the golf course. We can assume that the bus went from one terminal building to another?

[ratcatcher]

1 hour ago, Jonmarleesco said:

Are there two Don Meuangs?

Yes, the other Don Mueang is the half brother of Don Quixote and Don Corleone.

[YetAnother]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

he asked for people posting stories on social media to be more careful about their veracity so as not to scare the public. 

this is his analogous version of the military's use of 'in the interests of national security'

[Happyman58]

1 hour ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

What about those passengers, were they all first time travellers, and no one spoke Thai or English?

  I hope the airport workers involved, did lots of apologies to all the passengers

Geezer

Geezer ever heard a Thai say sorry?  If they do they never mean it  This is a bit of "where Am i " By the bus driver

[Srikcir]

19 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

denied that any one of the 130 passengers had entered Thailand illegally.

To recap, if one enters Thailand sovereign land without first passing through immigration control, it is not illegal. I presume with the excuse by immigration is that the subject passengers did so unintentionally?

So if the next group of foreigners like the Rohingya or Uygurs do the same, albeit declaring they did so unintentionally, they too would have entered Thailand legally? That's not been the case.