Suvarnabhumi Airport Being Blocked

[aussiestyle1983]

I remember the PAD forced the closure of the airport back in Nov / Dec 2008. Many people must have thought how much of a joke the airport and Thailand was - how can such a large airport and gateway to a country that relies on tourism be allowed to be closed down by protestors?

Anyway, I will be traveling to the USA via BKK in a few months. Stupidly, at the time I booked my flights, I found it to be cheaper to fly from Sydney to Bangkok return, and then from Bangkok to Texas return. Rather than just flying straight from Australia to the USA return, I thought, 'why not have a short stay in Thailand before and after our trip to the USA - that way we can visit family in BKK'. I thought the price was very good so I booked. My tickets are non-refundable so if we can't get to BKK - we can't continue on to the US.

Now, I wonder with all the political issues happening and the Taksin saga, that the airport may be taken over again. What are the chances of this ever happening again, and do you think ihere is likely to be trouble in the next few months?

I just don't believe that a government would allow the airport to be taken over again, but again, This Is Thailand...

[Mario2008]

It seems the army is on standby and I indeed don't think that the government will allow the airport to be taken over again. But guarantees can never be given.

Blocking the airport will also have a negative impact on how people see Thaksin, just a at a moment when he wants to appeal to the world court. That wouldn't be a smart thing to do.

[Nio]

What are the chances of the sky falling down?

I cannot believe you would even think that any sane person could answer this question?

"What are the chances of this ever happening again"

My guess is 1 in 55,593,876 chance

I used a really scientific formula for my predictions, combined with tons of data, pc crunching and some Thai speculation thrown in

Is is close? Did I win a prize?

I really want to meet the person you can predict whether or not the airport will ever be take over

[wileycoyote]

I believe that Suvarnibhumi is vulnerable ,just as before it gets media attention,disruption also enflames discontent.

I hope the Army can contain any problems before they kick off

[britmaveric]

Well you just never know in Thailand - unpredictable and chaotic. If someone would have told me the first time that airports or govt buildings were seized I would have said you must be mental.

[citizen33]

I'd imagine there would be a very different response from the army today should the red shirts try to close Suvarnibhumi, and I'd be amazed to see it happen.

Not being based in Bangkok I have no first hand experience of the previous occupation, but I recently heard an interesting story from a couple of Thai sources. As we know the police didn't do much to halt the protest, but according to this account the taxi drivers (who often have red sympathies) did try to block the access road. They quickly found that the occupiers had come 'tooled up' for the job and had to beat a swift retreat. Don't know if this is fiction or an old story well known to TV members?

Edited March 3, 2010 by citizen33

[bobo42]

I'd imagine there would be a very different response from the army today should the red shirts try to close Suvarnibhumi, and I'd be amazed to see it happen.

Not being based in Bangkok I have no first hand experience of the previous occupation, but I recently heard an interesting story from a couple of Thai sources. As we know the police didn't do much to halt the protest, but according to this account the taxi drivers (who often have red sympathies) did try to block the access road. They quickly found that the occupiers had come 'tooled up' for the job and had to beat a swift retreat. Don't know if this is fiction or an old story well known to TV members?

On that day I had the misfortune of being in a taxi, on the access road, just a little behind where the yellow shirts first blocked access leading to the departures terminal. I saw plenty of "tooled-up" and masked yellow-shirt enforcers there. Though they were obviously ready for violence (and apparently willing), I didn't see any show of resistance on the part of anyone at that point, the yellows simply grouped their vehicles together and began stopping together to block traffic. I didn't see anybody trying to take a stand against them - there were so many of them there, so quickly, I can't imagine an impromptu coalition of taxi drivers would have stood a chance. If there were any that did try, it was so small and quick that it didn't cause enough of a stir for me to see.

A few of the "masked-enforcers" actually began directing traffic, telling the taxis on the road to drive around on another route to get to the bottom level of the terminal. Luckily, my driver was able to channel Mario Andretti that day, and pulled a pretty amazing combination of racing, lane swapping, off-roading, and sidewalk-skating and got me to the arrivals level. I was still able to check in and get out on my flight, just barely. I was on one of the last flights to take off before they completely closed the place down.

And yeah, while we were stuck in all that gridlocked traffic, awash with both armed and unarmed yellow-shirts slowly blocking the access routes, there was no shortage of police and military on the scene, dutifully leaning against walls, keeping them from falling, or vigilantly holding down their chairs, making sure they didn't fly away.

What a fun day that was.

[aussiestyle1983]

What are the chances of the sky falling down?

I cannot believe you would even think that any sane person could answer this question?

"What are the chances of this ever happening again"

My guess is 1 in 55,593,876 chance

I used a really scientific formula for my predictions, combined with tons of data, pc crunching and some Thai speculation thrown in

Is is close? Did I win a prize?

I really want to meet the person you can predict whether or not the airport will ever be take over

It was a simple 'what do you think' or 'what is your opinion' question - of course no one can answer it, but that does not mean I am not interested in the opinions of others. It is a possibility and I believe if it happened again it would do more long term damage to Thailand's tourism industry than last time.

But, I can't answer if your brilliant scientific prediction is close or not, but you must be oh so smart given that you obviously worked out a formula to come up with an answer. You actually might win a prize - would you like a gold medal in maths? science? or, perhaps a prize for bring a clown? Also, given you prediction, it seems that I have more chance of getting a b/j from you than the airport getting closed down...

[aussiestyle1983]

I'd imagine there would be a very different response from the army today should the red shirts try to close Suvarnibhumi, and I'd be amazed to see it happen.

Not being based in Bangkok I have no first hand experience of the previous occupation, but I recently heard an interesting story from a couple of Thai sources. As we know the police didn't do much to halt the protest, but according to this account the taxi drivers (who often have red sympathies) did try to block the access road. They quickly found that the occupiers had come 'tooled up' for the job and had to beat a swift retreat. Don't know if this is fiction or an old story well known to TV members?

On that day I had the misfortune of being in a taxi, on the access road, just a little behind where the yellow shirts first blocked access leading to the departures terminal. I saw plenty of "tooled-up" and masked yellow-shirt enforcers there. Though they were obviously ready for violence (and apparently willing), I didn't see any show of resistance on the part of anyone at that point, the yellows simply grouped their vehicles together and began stopping together to block traffic. I didn't see anybody trying to take a stand against them - there were so many of them there, so quickly, I can't imagine an impromptu coalition of taxi drivers would have stood a chance. If there were any that did try, it was so small and quick that it didn't cause enough of a stir for me to see.

A few of the "masked-enforcers" actually began directing traffic, telling the taxis on the road to drive around on another route to get to the bottom level of the terminal. Luckily, my driver was able to channel Mario Andretti that day, and pulled a pretty amazing combination of racing, lane swapping, off-roading, and sidewalk-skating and got me to the arrivals level. I was still able to check in and get out on my flight, just barely. I was on one of the last flights to take off before they completely closed the place down.

And yeah, while we were stuck in all that gridlocked traffic, awash with both armed and unarmed yellow-shirts slowly blocking the access routes, there was no shortage of police and military on the scene, dutifully leaning against walls, keeping them from falling, or vigilantly holding down their chairs, making sure they didn't fly away.

What a fun day that was.

Interesting story. My mother in-law was here in Oz during that time and was due to fly back on a day the airport was closed. It was just a waiting game with the airlines and we had to call back daily to find out when she would be returning. So, even though we wern't there, it was a pain in the but because we had to change plans here in order to accomodate our visitor for longer. I know things are very different in Thailand and the police and military don't really take orders and sort of do what they want, but if a large group tried or even managed to take over an airport in many, many other countries, I believe the militarty would use all the force it needs to clear everyone out and re-open the airport as quickly as possible.

[shawndoc]

My guess is if they do manage to shut down the airport, everything will just be moved to Don Muang. I'm guessing they've got the plans in place to do it quite quickly after what happened last time.

[Carmine6]

Low odds. That shut down was a big hit to tourism, as well as affecting businessmen and politicians. I think even many supporters of the cause had a problem with that either during or after.

Note that one of the reasons or maybe the main reason the airport was targeted was to prevent the then Prime Minster from coming back from an overseas trip. It wasn't just a random target.

It caused such a fall off in passengers in the following months that I decided to book a flight for the last part of Songkran on short notice. Got a good price on that and the plane was kinda empty. I don't think anyone wants to see that much disruption again.

[aussiestyle1983]

Interesting. I forgot that they were trying to stop the PM from comming back in to Thailand.

Having DM is always a good option, but if they close the airport to cause a disruption, I would think the protestors might try to close both airports if they found out that DM would just take over. However, I don't know if they'd have much succes in trying to close down that military airport, is it (Utapao in Chonburi?), if that were used.

I just wonder how much more damage it would cause if it happened again. I mean, it might have put off many tourists, but I'm sure people will eventually get over it. But if it happens twice, I would think there would be more long lasting damaging effects to the economy. I for one would be very careful about traveling there and like another poster mentioned, wait until the last minute to book tickets.

[bobo42]

My guess is if they do manage to shut down the airport, everything will just be moved to Don Muang. I'm guessing they've got the plans in place to do it quite quickly after what happened last time.

I'm sure that this was thought of the last time, but as you may not remember, the PAD had already had a large presence at DM for quite some time and they didn't just let everything get moved to there.

Hard as it is to believe, on the same day I nearly didn't make it out of Suvarnabhumi, my wife was scheduled to fly out of DM just a few hours after she dropped me in BKK. I had to pay our fearless taxi driver 3000 baht to jump back into the lion's den and brave the prospect of getting her out of BKK and back through another yellow-shirted crowd to DM to catch her flight. Lucky for us (and very lucky for the driver), she later told me that while there was a considerable yellow-shirted presence at DM, they weren't blocking any access there at that time.

The yellows certainly had their bases-covered when it came to crippling international travel and trade, I have no reason to believe that any other group would leave such an obvious loophole open. I do think, however, the current govt wouldn't let things escalate to the level they were at that time without a fight. I think the chances or the reds being able to copy the strategy of the PAD are very slim. That plan had the element of surprise the last time, everybody's looking for it to happen this time.

[Carmine6]

Interesting. I forgot that they were trying to stop the PM from comming back in to Thailand.

Having DM is always a good option, but if they close the airport to cause a disruption, I would think the protestors might try to close both airports if they found out that DM would just take over. However, I don't know if they'd have much succes in trying to close down that military airport, is it (Utapao in Chonburi?), if that were used.

I just wonder how much more damage it would cause if it happened again. I mean, it might have put off many tourists, but I'm sure people will eventually get over it. But if it happens twice, I would think there would be more long lasting damaging effects to the economy. I for one would be very careful about traveling there and like another poster mentioned, wait until the last minute to book tickets.

I think he came back through Chiang Mai. Phuket and Samui are other options. So there's no reason to target the airport again and it didn't even work the first time.

A second airport closure would be really bad. All the other things that are claimed to be the end of tourism (crimes, scams, exchange rate, visa issues, etc.) really affect at the margins. Because those are potential issues all over and they don't severely impact most people. But outright inability to enter or leave a country when desired is pretty catastrophic. When's the last time in the world that has happened that wasn't due to a natural disaster or weather? Pretty rare, so two in short order is a big deal.

[LuckyLew]

There is zero chance the airport gets taken over by protestors again

On the 12 or 13th the Army will put a large number of troops

at swampy to prevent this.

At the first sign of trouble caused by anyone the police

and army will put a very quick stop to it.