Two foreign tourists have drawn criticism online after abandoning rental motorcycles outside the passenger terminal at Phuket International Airport, despite visible restrictions on vehicle access and parking.

Incident shared online

Images of the incident were posted on April 22 by the Phuket Times Facebook page. The accompanying caption stated that the men had ridden their motorcycles up to the second floor of the airport, an area where both entry and parking are prohibited.

Photographs showed the two individuals appearing to be in a hurry as they removed personal belongings from storage compartments under the motorcycle seats. They then transferred their items onto airport luggage trolleys.

According to the post, the men left the motorcycles unattended before entering the terminal building to proceed with check-in.

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Questions over enforcement

The incident prompted a wave of comments from Thai social media users, many of whom questioned how the men were able to reach the restricted area.

Several commenters pointed out that security personnel are typically stationed outside the terminal and suggested that enforcement may have been inconsistent. Some alleged that authorities tend to act more quickly when dealing with Thai nationals.

Others raised concerns about whether airport staff had failed to intervene before the motorcycles were abandoned.

Mixed reactions online

Among the responses, a Thai woman who identified herself as a car rental business owner said she had experienced a similar situation. She claimed that a Swedish customer had previously left one of her rental vehicles outside the airport terminal and asked her to retrieve it.

Not all commenters agreed with the criticism. One foreign user said they had seen Thai motorists engage in similar behaviour and suggested that witnesses should address such situations directly rather than posting images online.

However, several Thai users rejected that claim, stating that local drivers rarely violate airport parking rules due to strict enforcement. Some asked the commenter to provide evidence to support the assertion.

No official response yet

At the time of reporting, there had been no statement from police or airport authorities on whether the two men would face any penalties.

It is unclear if any action will be taken, particularly as the individuals may already have left the country. There was also no confirmation on whether the motorcycles had been recovered by the rental provider.

A similar case occurred in Krabi in July last year, when two foreign nationals rode stolen rental motorcycles to Phuket and failed to return them on time. They were later arrested and prosecuted.

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  Adapted by ASEAN Now · Source · 22 Apr 2026

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I totally agree.. enforce the laws but for everybody. Thais as foreigners and wait till the netizens start to complain again. Easy to see what others do wrong, while own shortcomings are ignored

I'll bet these two were Arabs, they drive around as though they own the place anyway. If they were western farangs the column would have stated this as usual.

The rental shop didn't insist on a huge deposit (or passport)? Most unusual.

13 hours ago, ASEAN NOW News said:

Two foreign tourists have drawn criticism online after abandoning rental motorcycles outside the passenger terminal at Phuket International Airport, despite visible restrictions on vehicle access and parking.

Incident shared online

Images of the incident were posted on April 22 by the Phuket Times Facebook page. The accompanying caption stated that the men had ridden their motorcycles up to the second floor of the airport, an area where both entry and parking are prohibited.

Photographs showed the two individuals appearing to be in a hurry as they removed personal belongings from storage compartments under the motorcycle seats. They then transferred their items onto airport luggage trolleys.

According to the post, the men left the motorcycles unattended before entering the terminal building to proceed with check-in.

Get today's headlines by email

Questions over enforcement

The incident prompted a wave of comments from Thai social media users, many of whom questioned how the men were able to reach the restricted area.

Several commenters pointed out that security personnel are typically stationed outside the terminal and suggested that enforcement may have been inconsistent. Some alleged that authorities tend to act more quickly when dealing with Thai nationals.

Others raised concerns about whether airport staff had failed to intervene before the motorcycles were abandoned.

Mixed reactions online

Among the responses, a Thai woman who identified herself as a car rental business owner said she had experienced a similar situation. She claimed that a Swedish customer had previously left one of her rental vehicles outside the airport terminal and asked her to retrieve it.

Not all commenters agreed with the criticism. One foreign user said they had seen Thai motorists engage in similar behaviour and suggested that witnesses should address such situations directly rather than posting images online.

However, several Thai users rejected that claim, stating that local drivers rarely violate airport parking rules due to strict enforcement. Some asked the commenter to provide evidence to support the assertion.

No official response yet

At the time of reporting, there had been no statement from police or airport authorities on whether the two men would face any penalties.

It is unclear if any action will be taken, particularly as the individuals may already have left the country. There was also no confirmation on whether the motorcycles had been recovered by the rental provider.

A similar case occurred in Krabi in July last year, when two foreign nationals rode stolen rental motorcycles to Phuket and failed to return them on time. They were later arrested and prosecuted.

Join the discussion?

Already a member?

  Adapted by ASEAN Now · Source · 22 Apr 2026

View full article

Their names are known obviously. So ban them from entering again lifetime. Contact the embassy and sue them in their country, if possible

Would they have done this in Dubai, Singapore or say China? Not a chance.

THey have their photographs.

Bring them back. Fine them. Deport.

The sooner the message is sent to these arrogant type trash tourists the better.

In America they would definitely detain you for questioning. People understand you could be late for a flight but could also have committed a crime and are fleeing and exiting before an alert spreads to the Police and airports.

This is a pretty big security breach. Not good.

As for the 2 entitled nutters? Was the rental underwritten by a credit card? Just empty the card to pay for the retrieval, and extra for fines and maybe a basic security 101 training course for the "security" team at the airport.

It takes a pretty significant degree of both ignorance and lack of consciousness to do something like this. Likely total self-absorption by lowlife Gen Z tourists, who are so self-absorbed they never once stopped to think of the kind of inconvenience this would cause the shop.

They should be added to a blacklist and banned from Thailand for life. The authorities need to start figuring out ways to eliminate the true dregs of tourism, as it seems their numbers are climbing by the day.

Wow, the crime of the century, meanwhile in Thailand 60 more people died that day as happens every day while riding a motorcycle due to NO enforcement of the law regarding wearing helmets, going through red lights, not looking before entering a main road from a side street, having one to four people on a bike and having a very poor level of driving/riding test which a ten year old kid could pass.

The farang tourists must be the most stupid tourist in Phuket by hiring a motorcycle when there are ample Taxis, TuK-Tuks, self drive car hire etc which are much cheaper to hire than a taxi/car back home.

Phuket does have millions of tourists a year so we must expect some of them will be totally stupid.

Seems like a tempest in a tea cup. Let the owners of the bikes sort it out with the authorities and then go back after the guys who rented the bikes from them, parked them illegally and didn’t return them properly. I’d be surprised if they didn’t have a cash deposit or a credit card number on file.