Little Old Lady Kidnapped By Airport Taxi

[Swelters]

A 70 year old lady aquaintance arrived at Don Muang the other night, 1 am, "no need to pick me up, I know just how to do it." Thaivisa told her all about it, you don't take the ordinary taxi where they tell the driver where to go and record the taxi and destination, you go upstairs and "bargain" with the guys on the upper level. In other words, why not do something illegal with illegal guys the first five minutes you arrive and don't have any clue what's going on?

No need for a meter, of course, and "why I go here this soi? because you nice lady I take you my house you can stay very good price." After a frightening hour of this and a shouting match finally over outrageous demands for money, she was (thankfully) dropped at her hotel.

Sooo..., guys, maybe this isn't the best advice in the world to save what? 50 baht?

[English Noodles]

And who exactly gave out that advice may i ask?

[Swelters]

And who exactly gave out that advice may i ask?

Dunno, but it was posted here as "important tips for newbies" or the like.

[Totster]

From what I remember, posts I have seen advising this have normally been followed by posts making people aware of the possible dangers of doing this.

totster

[solo siam]

Does a 70 year old woman even know what a newbie is?

I'm sure shes seen a lot of the world, just because people are old doesnt necessarily make them weak, feeble or in-danger.

I personally can't imagine someone of that age deciding to research on the internet for a holiday that she is taking on her own in Thailand at that age.

Do 70 year old women just decide to get up and come over to Thailand with no prior knowledge of the country and no contacts here? and if they do, I cant imagine them using the internet to find out how to save 50 baht.

[danone]

the taxis in the 50 baht queue are not better.

had one once who tried to hide a big knife once we left the airport.

others asked for additional additionals.

I usually go by the newness of the car. the newer the better, simple rule of thumb.

[Heng]

The one's in the queue at least can be tracked down easier as they have their tags noted by the queue. The body dumpers are more likely to be the ones who know their details are completely unknown.

So, use the queue if you want your body discovered (as revealed by the taxi driver) faster.

[stumonster]

Sooo..., guys, maybe this isn't the best advice in the world to save what? 50 baht?

I usually go by the newness of the car. the newer the better, simple rule of thumb.

I always go upstairs and grab a nice new taxi that has just dropped some one off. you can take the ancient heaps of cr4p downstairs operated by the airport taxi mafia and stick them up yer date.

obviously she did not know what she was doing even though she proclaimed she did. when my sister came for a visit I went to the airport and took her to her hotel in town as she was not staying with me for the first part of her stay. its not about saving 50 baht .

[TRIPxCORE]

I have to concur with Stumonster on this one. Everytime I arrive at the airport I head right up to the departure level and grab a nice, new taxi and head into town. Been doing it for years and never had a problem.

People catch taxis in BKK all the time. If a taxi driver wants to make trouble with the passenger, they can do it anywhere they pick up people. It seems to be that people only think when you catch a taxi at the airport that you have to worry. You have just as much of a chance getting robbed by a taxi you got on Sukhumvit as you do at the airport.

[Totster]

I usually go by the newness of the car. the newer the better, simple rule of thumb.

Not always... the newer the car the faster he can drive !

totster

[leftcross]

head upstairs and take a normal taxi as soon as you arrive. the ''official'' method downstairs is just a rip-off

[kenk3z]

From my experience the official queue isn't much protection from extortion attempts. And I haven't seen anyone taking down tag numbers either - certainly not at the booth. And I doubt the person collecting the 50-Baht fee is writing down anything either, although the tag recording may be happening there.

Make sure, before they put the luggage into the car, that they will use the METER.

kenk3z

[sriracha john]

The body dumpers

...

[sriracha john]

I usually go by the newness of the car. the newer the better, simple rule of thumb.

Not always... the newer the car the faster he can drive !

totster

BUT.... the older the car, the faster the driver THINKS he can drive....

[lampard10]

A 70 year old who uses computors and can navigate round Thai Visa? Sounds pretty streetwise to me....................................or made up.

[bkkmadness]

A 70 year old who uses computors and can navigate round Thai Visa? Sounds pretty streetwise to me....................................or made up.

I thought that was kinda obvious myself.

BTW Lampard10, how does someone of your age navigate round here?

[daleyboy]

A 70 year old who uses computors and can navigate round Thai Visa? Sounds pretty streetwise to me....................................or made up.

I thought that was kinda obvious myself.

BTW Lampard10, how does someone of your age navigate round here?

His name is luke and he uses the force Bkk.

As for the other story, well personally i think you are a troll. Your trying to tell me that a 70 year old is going to be bothered to hump bags up to departure to save 50 baht, give me a break

[leisurely]

My personal thought on this is Troll too. Imagine a 70 year old woman declining the offer of someone meeting them at the airport. They are either mental or made up

[Donz]

Who knows, some 70 yr olds are known to be losing there minds.

[daleyboy]

Who knows, some 70 yr olds are known to be losing there minds.

So are some 30 year olds who post on forums about 70 year olds

[coldcrush]

From what I remember, posts I have seen advising this have normally been followed by posts making people aware of the possible dangers of doing this.

totster

I agree Totster, its an old round battle on the board for info and opinions. However a 70 year old lady trying to do it on the cheap 1st time round is by any standards a gamble. Any fool would have met her at the airport, if it was my friend or granny I would have been there at arrival.

IMO.

[Donz]

Who knows, some 70 yr olds are known to be losing there minds.

So are some 30 year olds who post on forums about 70 year olds

Lucky im still in my 20's

[daleyboy]

Who knows, some 70 yr olds are known to be losing there minds.

So are some 30 year olds who post on forums about 70 year olds

Lucky im still in my 20's

Well i am going to be 30 in May, guess i better make the best of the few months i have left.

What were we talking about?

[Donz]

i have no idea

[lopburi3]

1. It is not legal for a taxi to pick up pax in the departure level and causes congestion.

2. Airport officials log driver/taxi information and video tape drivers of those in official taxi queue.

3. The "we use off the street argument" is not valid. The arriving pax will most likely have both cash and goods of value as almost a sure thing. A much more attractive target. And they have been targeted in the past - even to the point of having false pax in taxi so they can "cruse" the departure gate.

4. Although I admit the chance of a problem is very low indeed I see no reason not to use the established system and not inconvenience other pax trying to exit taxis at the departure level.

[daleyboy]

What does pax stand for Lop?

[Greer]

So exactly what do you save or prevent happening by going up to Departure level and jumping the queue? Oh...I see...THAT'S it...

By the way guys - my dad is 92 and downloads emails from my brother and I, keeps and updates records of payments for credit cards etc on a spreadsheet, then attaches it to an email and regularly sends me the updates wherever I may be in the world.

I would imagine that it is absolutely no problem for a 70 year old woman to do whatever she d#mn well likes on the internet.

/edit to replace ###### with d#mn - please note that d@mn is NOT swearing!

Edited March 7, 2006 by Greer

[Totster]

What does pax stand for Lop?

PAX = Passengers

totster

[Doza]

Waitin in that queue for ages (often) and getting in some old bomb with the boot strapped down by elastic and barely working aircon AND paying extra for it because someone is "supposedly" taking down ALL the details of everyone picking people up which can be easily traced if I am robbed, murdered and dumped in a creek??? Yeah right.

I would much rather just go upstairs (where the security lets you) and get a ride in a nice new taxi on the meter as if I was anywhere in the city.

There are a lot richer people than me getting taxis all over the city with valuables in their Gaysorn / Emporium / Paragon shopping bags, rolex watches, gold amex cards etc for taxi drivers to worry about WITHOUT anyone "taking down all their details as they drive off".

The problem arises when you negotiate. You are more likely to try to be scammed than robbed or killed.

[toptuan]

I think most of you dudes underestimate 70 year olds, some of whom are still healthy and mentally alert. Not all of them are using walkers, taking heart pills, and fighting off Alzheimers. The more advances in medical science, and the more people who learn to exericse and eat right, then I think you'll see even find more of these active septuagenarians who don't act their age.

Case in point: My friend's mother (75 yrs.) in good health, and mentally sharp. regularly travels by herself. Yes, she uses a computer and is pretty streetwise. I'd hate to be a con man trying to pull a fast one over her. Alone, she went to Alaska last year, and plans to solo it through France this year.

Reason why she travels alone? "All my travel mates kept dying off, so I decided that's not gonna stop me!" Younger travel mates stopped going with her because she wears them out.

Granted she isn't part of the backpacker crowd, but neither does she like traveling in a cultural cocoon with 25 other little old ladies from Paducah, Kentucky. Her comment: "I hate traveling with old people. All they do is complain about their aches and pains!"

Second case in point: In my snow-skiing days (definitely not in Thailand), I regularly ran into an 80+ year old skier on the chair lift at Mt. Hood, Oregon, USA. What an inspiration. His legs were bowed with age, but he still reveled in the physical activity of schussing down the mountainside on his boards. One day, when I remarked about his age in a chair-lift conversation, he assured me that when he "kicked the bucket, " he definitely wanted it to happen on his beloved ski mountain with a smile on his face. That was 20 years ago. I hope his wish was granted.

Would to God, I would be so healthy and adventurous in 20-30 years! So stop making fun of the little old frail lady, would ya? This gal you're talking about could probably run circles around half the balding, beer-bellied, brain-pickled, armchair referees populating this forum (now that I've insulted half our crowd, I think I'd better go... )

Edited March 7, 2006 by toptuan