Huge mess at Chiang Mai airport... thank you Lanterns

[arithai12]

Those departing CNX these days beware... the evening flights have been rescheduled due to the recurring danger of the flying lanterns. Unfortunately, this has resulted in too many flights within a short afternoon slot, many more than the ground staff, the check-in counters, and the immigration counters can handle. Today I had to queue 1 hour for check-in (when it normally takes 3 minutes), and worse 1+ hour for immigration, see picture. Of course, we also took off one hour late, making the whole point of rescheduling the flight rather useless.

[Loaded]

I heard they were looking for the buffet thread that went missing this afternoon

[mania]

To be fair.............It is Loy Krathong

[lovelomsak]

The number of people at the airport as compared to number of people enjoying Loy Krathong makes me think the consensus goes with the lanterns and Loy Krathong. People shouild be out enjoying Loy Krathong not flying about in airplanes.

[mania]

The number of people at the airport as compared to number of people enjoying Loy Krathong makes me think the consensus goes with the lanterns and Loy Krathong. People shouild be out enjoying Loy Krathong not flying about in airplanes.

My thoughts exactly.......

[Puwa]

I heard they were looking for the buffet thread that went missing this afternoon

See what I mean about the supernatural influence of the old Muslim graveyard? Fortunes disappear, investors disappear, buffets disappear, and now entire topics.

[cnx355]

I have been in Thailand for the last 8 years, mostly in Chiangmai,,,,I have never heard of an aircraft major incident caused by the lanterns.

This is a famous Festival that brings tourists and money to the area....

Airport crew may have to inspect the runway more often to remove a few lost lanterns on the ground,,,,

[Chiengmaijoe]

I have been in Thailand for the last 8 years, mostly in Chiangmai,,,,I have never heard of an aircraft major incident caused by the lanterns.

This is a famous Festival that brings tourists and money to the area....

Airport crew may have to inspect the runway more often to remove a few lost lanterns on the ground,,,,

Next year you should pop into Chiang Mai Traffic control in early November and tell them about your extensive experience (it will be 9 years by then) and maybe they'll employ a few more runway sweepers so they can run a regular schedule. I'm sure they, and the passengers will appreciate your advice. Don't forget to mention how much money it brings in.

[heybruce]

Loi Krathong predates the Chiang Mai airport, and aviation in general, by many years. Evidently the airlines have not yet figured out how to schedule flights around this predictable annual event. Why are you blaming the lanterns?

[Chiengmaijoe]

Loi Krathong predates the Chiang Mai airport, and aviation in general, by many years. Evidently the airlines have not yet figured out how to schedule flights around this predictable annual event. Why are you blaming the lanterns?

Sky lanterns were nothing to do with Loi Krathong until about 10 years ago. Loy krathong, when I first saw it, was about putting a Krathong on the river. Not a sky lantern to be seen.

"Loy Krathong - The name could be translated as "to float a basket", and comes from the tradition of making krathong or buoyant, decorated baskets, which are then floated on a river".

Chiang Mai now has far more regular flights than even a few years ago, and don't forget that until not that long ago the only domestic carrier was Thai. Now we have so many budget airlines and international flights, which again are a recent phenomenom. Although they did cancel plenty and do some re-scheduling, it will invariably lead to the chaos that was described by the op, because they presumably have problems fitting the re-scheduled flights in. The problem for the airlines is that the festival is during the high season and brings in many more passengers, so re-scheduling flights isn't easy.

Limiting the sky lanterns to one night is the sensible solution, and shouldn't be that big a deal, I'd have thought. I did notice that in the last few years the numbers of Krathong were way down and the river was not the mass of lights that it used to be.

[4evermaat]

Loi Krathong predates the Chiang Mai airport, and aviation in general, by many years. Evidently the airlines have not yet figured out how to schedule flights around this predictable annual event. Why are you blaming the lanterns?

The laterns could be foreign object damage to the aircraft engine intake. So delays for safety reasons is understandable.

Chumphon is much different. 1 or 2 daily flights max. Not sure how popular the latern thing is near the airport.

Edited November 26, 2015 by 4evermaat

[heybruce]

Loi Krathong predates the Chiang Mai airport, and aviation in general, by many years. Evidently the airlines have not yet figured out how to schedule flights around this predictable annual event. Why are you blaming the lanterns?

Sky lanterns were nothing to do with Loi Krathong until about 10 years ago. Loy krathong, when I first saw it, was about putting a Krathong on the river. Not a sky lantern to be seen.

"Loy Krathong - The name could be translated as "to float a basket", and comes from the tradition of making krathong or buoyant, decorated baskets, which are then floated on a river".

Chiang Mai now has far more regular flights than even a few years ago, and don't forget that until not that long ago the only domestic carrier was Thai. Now we have so many budget airlines and international flights, which again are a recent phenomenom. Although they did cancel plenty and do some re-scheduling, it will invariably lead to the chaos that was described by the op, because they presumably have problems fitting the re-scheduled flights in. The problem for the airlines is that the festival is during the high season and brings in many more passengers, so re-scheduling flights isn't easy.

Limiting the sky lanterns to one night is the sensible solution, and shouldn't be that big a deal, I'd have thought. I did notice that in the last few years the numbers of Krathong were way down and the river was not the mass of lights that it used to be.

"Sky lanterns were nothing to do with Loi Krathong until about 10 years ago."

Really? So the stories my 30-something friend told me about floating lanterns during her childhood were just her imagination?

You are correct that sky lanterns aren't associated with Loi Krathong, they are associated with Yee Peng, which happens to occur at the same time as Loi Krathong. I'm pretty sure the Yee Peng tradition of sky lanterns is more than ten years old.

Also, while I'm sure airlines would prefer that traditions be suspended to accommodate flight schedules, I think the airlines should be able to deal with a few days variation in their schedules to accommodate established traditions. After all, a great many of those flyers are coming to Chiang Mai for Loi Krathong/Yee Peng. Downsizing the festival to make it easier to fly people to the festival strikes me as a false economy.

[Chiengmaijoe]

Loi Krathong predates the Chiang Mai airport, and aviation in general, by many years. Evidently the airlines have not yet figured out how to schedule flights around this predictable annual event. Why are you blaming the lanterns?

Sky lanterns were nothing to do with Loi Krathong until about 10 years ago. Loy krathong, when I first saw it, was about putting a Krathong on the river. Not a sky lantern to be seen.

"Loy Krathong - The name could be translated as "to float a basket", and comes from the tradition of making krathong or buoyant, decorated baskets, which are then floated on a river".

Chiang Mai now has far more regular flights than even a few years ago, and don't forget that until not that long ago the only domestic carrier was Thai. Now we have so many budget airlines and international flights, which again are a recent phenomenom. Although they did cancel plenty and do some re-scheduling, it will invariably lead to the chaos that was described by the op, because they presumably have problems fitting the re-scheduled flights in. The problem for the airlines is that the festival is during the high season and brings in many more passengers, so re-scheduling flights isn't easy.

Limiting the sky lanterns to one night is the sensible solution, and shouldn't be that big a deal, I'd have thought. I did notice that in the last few years the numbers of Krathong were way down and the river was not the mass of lights that it used to be.

"Sky lanterns were nothing to do with Loi Krathong until about 10 years ago."

Really? So the stories my 30-something friend told me about floating lanterns during her childhood were just her imagination?

You are correct that sky lanterns aren't associated with Loi Krathong, they are associated with Yee Peng, which happens to occur at the same time as Loi Krathong. I'm pretty sure the Yee Peng tradition of sky lanterns is more than ten years old.

Also, while I'm sure airlines would prefer that traditions be suspended to accommodate flight schedules, I think the airlines should be able to deal with a few days variation in their schedules to accommodate established traditions. After all, a great many of those flyers are coming to Chiang Mai for Loi Krathong/Yee Peng. Downsizing the festival to make it easier to fly people to the festival strikes me as a false economy.

Yes, I'm telling you that sky lanterns as a major part of the Loi krathong festival is a recent thing. Try google and see if you can find me an article mentioning sky lanterns, or a picture of a sky full of lanterns from, let's say 2005. Loi krathong was all about floating a basket on the river. If they released sky lanterns during Loi krathong they were far and few between. Whereas Krathongs and the river were the main focus, it now seems that Sky Lanterns have taken over. I have an old VHS movie of Loi krathong from about 25 years ago, if I can find it, I doubt if there will be any sky lanterns on it. Possibly a few were released from the temples, but nothing compared to the thousands of Krathongs on the river, which would be a mass of lights.

No mention of Sky Lanterns here...

http://www.tour-bangkok-legacies.com/loy-krathong-2007.html

https://www.flickr.com/photos/inbangkok/2059210529

http://thai-travel-info.blogspot.com/2007/10/loi-krathong-festival-of-light-2007.html

Whilst I accept your argument that the Loi krathong festival pre-dates the airport by many years, the tradition of releasing thousands of sky lanterns all over the city certainly doesn't.

Edited November 26, 2015 by Chiengmaijoe

[Lantern]

Wasn't me, honest, I dindu nuffin.

[Puwa]

At my first LK, 25 ÿears ago, there was nary a sky lantern to be seen. True, there is an old tradition of constructing and flying lanterns, but these were few, let off by temples as part of ceremonies, and not necessarily during Yee Peng. The mass production, mass marketing, and mass release are very recent phenomena, driven by a few clever capitalists who have learned how to privatize the gain and socialize the pain. One of those pretty little things sucked into a jet turbine on approach or takeoff (the lanterns, not the capitalists) would make for quite the fireworks display, and quite the headline.

[cnx355]

I have been in Thailand for the last 8 years, mostly in Chiangmai,,,,I have never heard of an aircraft major incident caused by the lanterns.

This is a famous Festival that brings tourists and money to the area....

Airport crew may have to inspect the runway more often to remove a few lost lanterns on the ground,,,,

Next year you should pop into Chiang Mai Traffic control in early November and tell them about your extensive experience (it will be 9 years by then) and maybe they'll employ a few more runway sweepers so they can run a regular schedule. I'm sure they, and the passengers will appreciate your advice. Don't forget to mention how much money it brings in.

I agree that this Festival cause some " administrative" problems but let see the statistic about how many incident were reported to Aviation authorities in the last 10 years. As you know, pilots and airport control are required by law to report incidents ( serious or not ) and those have to be investigated. Up to now, the only reports we see are in the newspaper and social Media. If you know how to get access to those official reports , please let us know the result .

[TheSiemReaper]

At my first LK, 25 ÿears ago, there was nary a sky lantern to be seen. True, there is an old tradition of constructing and flying lanterns, but these were few, let off by temples as part of ceremonies, and not necessarily during Yee Peng. The mass production, mass marketing, and mass release are very recent phenomena, driven by a few clever capitalists who have learned how to privatize the gain and socialize the pain. One of those pretty little things sucked into a jet turbine on approach or takeoff (the lanterns, not the capitalists) would make for quite the fireworks display, and quite the headline.

Umm... no. One of those things sucked into a jet engine would do nothing. Birds (which are substantially more solid than paper lanterns) are regularly dragged through jet engines and shredded.

[alant]

I have been in Thailand for the last 8 years, mostly in Chiangmai,,,,I have never heard of an aircraft major incident caused by the lanterns.

This is a famous Festival that brings tourists and money to the area....

Airport crew may have to inspect the runway more often to remove a few lost lanterns on the ground,,,,

Next year you should pop into Chiang Mai Traffic control in early November and tell them about your extensive experience (it will be 9 years by then) and maybe they'll employ a few more runway sweepers so they can run a regular schedule. I'm sure they, and the passengers will appreciate your advice. Don't forget to mention how much money it brings in.

I agree that this Festival cause some " administrative" problems but let see the statistic about how many incident were reported to Aviation authorities in the last 10 years. As you know, pilots and airport control are required by law to report incidents ( serious or not ) and those have to be investigated. Up to now, the only reports we see are in the newspaper and social Media. If you know how to get access to those official reports , please let us know the result .

I agree, I have looked for incident reports but only find newspaper stories nothing real. This year had rather fewer lanterns but the chaos seemed more. The lanterns fault? Not in my book.

[Ricardo]

http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-flight-grounded-in-chiang-mai-by-new-year-lantern-50407.php

describes the problem encountered last year, by a Bangkok Airways flight, at Chiang Mai.

[mesquite]

I heard they were looking for the buffet thread that went missing this afternoon

Yes! What happened to that one? It was a humdinger!

[NancyL]

The airport was this way Monday afternoon with everyone coming in. You can't really blame the flights being rescheduled because of flights being cancelled on Wednesday so the lanterns could fly.

Naively, I went out to the airport around 3:30 pm so I could talk with the people at the Korean Air office on Monday when they opened at 4 pm. Once that mission was accomplished, I went to the arrival hall and was met with a solid wall of people and a taxi line that that must have had a over a hundred people in it. So, I thought I'd be smart and go out to the curb and grab a song thaew. Sure, there were songthaews quickly filling themselves up to overflowing with more savvy travelers and locals who knew how to use them and they weren't charging a high rate, but I had the privilege of riding all around Chiang Mai for 1-1/2 hours and chatting with everyone while the driver dropped off everyone else saving the best (me!) for last.

[dotpoom]

I thought Lanterns were banned near Airports etc.,...read it earlier this month.

[menzies233]

The Chinese lanterns have been flying at Loy Krathong in Chiang Mai for years, I first experienced them the first time I came here in 1997.

I also took a morning flight out of Chiang Mai to Bangkok the day after Loy Krathong about 10 years ago and the plane went up like a rocket, the steepest climb I have ever experienced and was zig zagging as it went up. Only when we got to about 20,000 feet we became aware that there were extinguished lanterns floating around all around the plane. It was pretty eerie to see these things at this height and I certainly wouldn't fancy being in a plane if one of these got sucked into the engine, bearing in mind these are not soft bird flesh, these are held together with loops of steel wire.

I still think that the festival comes first.

[whatproblem]

Doesn't take many years here to become a ' tradition' ,just like the 30 feet of speakers for parties ,in my ex wife's village they didn't have electric 20 years ago now any party needs massive speakers and noise because it's their 'tradition'

[tropico]

The number of people at the airport as compared to number of people enjoying Loy Krathong makes me think the consensus goes with the lanterns and Loy Krathong. People shouild be out enjoying Loy Krathong not flying about in airplanes.

I think it is time to act more responsibly while still enjoy a festivity. Many people just don't care about anything besides entertainment. Look at the rivers this morning!!! Full of plastics, and all other foreign remains floating. I think people should be more responsible and don't just say: "well, it's loy kratong" or whatever festivity.

[mesquite]

The number of people at the airport as compared to number of people enjoying Loy Krathong makes me think the consensus goes with the lanterns and Loy Krathong. People shouild be out enjoying Loy Krathong not flying about in airplanes.

I think it is time to act more responsibly while still enjoy a festivity. Many people just don't care about anything besides entertainment. Look at the rivers this morning!!! Full of plastics, and all other foreign remains floating. I think people should be more responsible and don't just say: "well, it's loy kratong" or whatever festivity.

Talk to the Thais. Tell them what you require.

[Loaded]

I heard they were looking for the buffet thread that went missing this afternoon

See what I mean about the supernatural influence of the old Muslim graveyard? Fortunes disappear, investors disappear, buffets disappear, and now entire topics.

I was told by a mod that threads couldn't be deleted, only closed; so I guess you are right: it's those bloody piis at work again.

[Tywais]

I thought Lanterns were banned near Airports etc.,...read it earlier this month.

Chiang Mai made an exception for the 25th only as they rescheduled flights to allow them.

BTW, my wife and I sent off our 1st Khom Fai at least 15 years ago.

[puukao]

Reminds me of the traffic jam for the parade after my team won the championship. This lady got mad for hours.....

Reminds me of the moment of silence for all lost in the war....hundreds of millions.....This old bloke got soo mad it was delayed..

Reminds me of when all planes stopped during 9/11......This lady said she would miss an important lunch!!!

And the traffic jam after they closed the school because of a bomb threat.....man did this parent go rant on facebook!!!!

and finally it reminds me of someone who planned to travel during a known day and then complain....

Edited November 27, 2015 by puukao

[MobileContent]

In our area the lanterns have been banned. Not one to be seen this year.