Airport Lift Traps Tourists For 40 Minutes

[george]

Airport lift traps tourists

SUVARNABHUMI: -- It took 40 minutes for staff at Suvarnabhumi Airport to rescue five people, including two foreign tourists, from a malfunctioning elevator yesterday.

Sasaphak Mangmool, a tour guide, said two airport staff finally arrived after she kept pressing an emergency button inside the glass elevator for 15 minutes.

"They stood and watched but did nothing to help. Five or six security guards showed up after quite a while, but none of them did anything to help us," she said.

She said some of them kept looking inside and smiling the whole time, for reasons she did not know.

She said she and the others trapped with her had to put their noses up to the overhead fan inside the elevator to get some air, because the temperature rose uncomfortably. After 40 minutes, two maintenance workers arrived and opened the elevator doors.

Sasaphak said her two foreign clients, a honeymoon couple, complained to her about the staff's unprofessional manner in handling such an emergency. She demanded to see the supervisor, or anyone else of higher authority on duty, but nobody appeared.

"No apologies or anything were offered to us for the delay," she said.

An official told her the elevator frequently stopped working, making her wonder why it was not shut down for full maintenance.

--The Nation 2006-11-23

[pjallittle]

Life is full of little inconveniences. Security guards were just trying to be friendly, that's the Thai way. They aren't elevator mechanics, after all.

Much ado about nothing. We all have to learn to take the good with the bad and the honeymoon couple will now have another interesting story to tell their grandchildren if they make it that far.

[risky11]

hmmmm, I was there on Nov 4, 5, 8 and 9. am glad i avoided the elevators.

when going to catch my NWA flight home to Florida (via Tokyo and Minneapolis), I went down to gate F6. I had to walk through an entire mall of King Power shops and it took perhaps 15 minutes to get there. When i arrived and no one was there, i discovered my error - I need to go to gate C6! I asked someone about the quickest way over there, since i was running out of time. He said, go down to the second floor and use the moving walkways - excellent advice. Bypass all the duty free shops. Which reminds me of another issue. We were told onboard the flight, while being offered more duty-free items, that anyone entering the United States must clear customs in Minneapolis. No liquid items would be allowed to be carried onto our conecting flights. So we must stash any such items into checked baggage or forfeit them. Something to keep in mind. Good travelling to you!

[rcav8r]

Airport lift traps tourists

snip ..... After 40 minutes, two maintenance workers arrived and opened the elevator doors.

Sasaphak said her two foreign clients, a honeymoon couple, complained to her about the staff's unprofessional manner in handling such an emergency. She demanded to see the supervisor, or anyone else of higher authority on duty, but nobody appeared.

"No apologies or anything were offered to us for the delay," she said.

An official told her the elevator frequently stopped working, making her wonder why it was not shut down for full maintenance ..... snip

[/b]TIT

[cobra]

From what I understand and from experience, elevators doors can be opened manually without that much force, you may have to improvise a tool to gain enough access, but once you sufficient clearance you can use your hands to open them fully.

Of course if the lift is stalled between floors you still have a problem, as the lift may inadvertently start while your trying to egress. I'd only try this as a last resort.

[rcav8r]

Life is full of little inconveniences !!!

Security guards were just trying to be friendly, that's the Thai way. They aren't elevator mechanics, after all.

Much ado about nothing. We all have to learn to take the good with the bad and the honeymoon couple will now have another interesting story to tell their grandchildren if they make it that far.

Hmmm ! A somewhat lightweight reply, don't you think ? If you had been in the lift, I'm sure you would feel differently about what happened. And I'm not going to book MY honeymoon trip with you, that's for sure !

BTW, your opening sentnece should have been ....

"Lift is full of little inconveniences"

Ouch !!! MalcolmL

[dotcom]

That whole monkey circus out there is a disgrace.

Elevators? What do we need those for?

We can retrofit those in 5 or 10 years when we install toilets. TIT baby!!!! Where ripoffs are SOP. 555

[rcav8r]

That whole monkey circus out there is a disgrace.

Elevators? What do we need those for?

We can retrofit those in 5 or 10 years when we install toilets. TIT baby!!!! Where ripoffs are SOP. 555

You're right and I just love your atavars !!! MalcolmL

[khall64au]

That whole monkey circus out there is a disgrace.

Elevators? What do we need those for?

We can retrofit those in 5 or 10 years when we install toilets. TIT baby!!!! Where ripoffs are SOP. 555

You are SO right.... this is only the year 2006 we are talking about in a brand new airport where even the ELEVATORS DON"T WORK!!!!!

I swear, if Santa doesn't show up on time this year - I"M GOING HOME TO MY MOTHER!!!!!!!!

[Oliver Reed]

Welcome to Thailand, land of smiles

[barhopper]

T.I.T

[sriracha john]

Five or six security guards showed up after quite a while, but none of them did anything to help us," she said.

*** zzzzzzz....is that an emergency alarm blaring?.... naw... couldn't be.....zzzzzzz ***

[tom21]

Five or six security guards showed up after quite a while, but none of them did anything to help us," she said.

*** zzzzzzz....is that an emergency alarm blaring?.... naw... couldn't be.....zzzzzzz ***

The security guards are most likely not trained in lift rescue and doing as they were directed. The first step when this happens is to cut the power and then put it back on this can reset the controls and the lift may start up ok. The second is use a key to open the door to check where the lift is and if not at a floor to release the brake to raise the lift to the floor. 40 min is within reason for maint to attend and lift rescue is relatively easy and selected staff should be trained in it

[cclub75]

She said some of them kept looking inside and smiling the whole time, for reasons she did not know.

It's rather tasty that a thai could make such a statement...

[khun_j]

""They stood and watched but did nothing to help. Five or six security guards showed up after quite a while, but none of them did anything to help us," "

i´d say that is obvious for anyone who knows the thai ways - they couldn´t do anything else at the moment and tried to reassure the trapped ones by smiling, that everything is taken care of and they need not to worry...

as i once was trapped in an elevator in europe (alone with my baby), i would have been more than happy if someone would have cooled me down like that...it took there at least 5 minutes before someone even heard the alarm and 45 for the caretaker to arrive...THAT is a long time and almost anyone can get a light claustrophobia. so i think it was the best the guards could do!

and suvarnabhumi is suvarnabhumi; who expects everything to work properly yet ;o)?

[juleschester]

Oh, fantastic photo.

Sums up the Thai way of life perfectly!!

[leisurely]

When we use the airport - and we have three times, the escalators are the way to go IMHO

[aussimike]

Life is full of little inconveniences. Security guards were just trying to be friendly, that's the Thai way. They aren't elevator mechanics, after all.

Much ado about nothing. We all have to learn to take the good with the bad and the honeymoon couple will now have another interesting story to tell their grandchildren if they make it that far.

'pjallittle' what a stupid comment -- well i guess you have never been stuck in a lift anywhere before -not the most exciting experience for anyone - and I for one would be very annoyed and totally p***** off to have a group of security guards just standing there smiling at me -and having to wait for 20 mins before help arrives, this guide is being totally professional as she is thinking of her clients - guess you dont have them to worry about either --- why bother to post comments like this I dont know!

This project seems to be plagued with problems ---- especially reading they knew that this lift stopped on a regular basis -- ya why not get it fixed or take it out of service

[tallthai]

I got stuck in an elevator in Singapore in the 1970's for over 3 hours. It seems that these elevators were designated either for even or odd numbered floors only even though they all were capable of stopping at all floors. Singapore got around this by stationing a little Indian fellow in each elevator. I climbed aboard at the lobby floor to go to an even numbered floor along with another gentleman and three female office workers. When the other gentle man pushed a button for an ODD numbered floor, the Indian elevator monitor hit the emergency stop button and chastised the rule breaker. After he finished his lecture, he attempted to restart the elevator. Needless to say it would not restart and we spent the next 3 hours waiting for rescue. Only in Singapore

[Scott]

I feel for the people in that elevator. I am sure some of them were thinking they landed in the 18th century.

Sorry to all of you TIT, and how wonderful the Thai smile is etc. There are places where things need to work, hospitals and airports are a good place to start. A bunch of guards doing nothing and smiling belong at the zoo admiring the monkeys--they need to go and get help.

Some of you, if you missed your flight, might not be so pleased with this 'little inconvenience."

[taxexile]

Sasaphak said her two foreign clients, a honeymoon couple, complained to her about the staff's unprofessional manner in handling such an emergency. She demanded to see the supervisor, or anyone else of higher authority on duty, but nobody appeared.

"No apologies or anything were offered to us for the delay," she said.

An official told her the elevator frequently stopped working, making her wonder why it was not shut down for full maintenance.

lack of anticipating problems and breakdowns.

the resultant lack of training to deal with those unanticipated problems.

grinning uniforms standing around doing ....well just grinning

lack of apologies when things do go wrong

non appearance of supervisors

little or no maintenance of faulty equipment

no procedures to follow in the event of a problem

these things may be par for the course around much of the country ,but when they occur at the "pride of thailand" , "the gateway to thailand" , the countries brand new flagship project , they only confirm to many people that thailand is still a third world destination , albeit with 21st century architecture.

why even bother to leave the airport after arrival when it is possible to have the full thailand experience right there.

the incident illustrates perfectly just what is wrong in this country , and how easily , with a little forethought , things could be improved so much for the benefit of all.

[john b good]

Life is full of little inconveniences. Security guards were just trying to be friendly, that's the Thai way. They aren't elevator mechanics, after all.

Much ado about nothing. We all have to learn to take the good with the bad and the honeymoon couple will now have another interesting story to tell their grandchildren if they make it that far.

Much ado about nothing

Yes providing it wasn't you in the elevator, otherwise it might be a different story.

[moskito]

I was trapped in an elevator on famous INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PHUKET for about 30min while my german friend used the stairs... afraid of elevators lights were down and it starts smelling like a cable fire .....after ringing the bell for 2min a friendly voice get back to me, told me..MOMENT....another 5min later I start ringin the bell again while by buddy realized I was still in that cage..unfortunately not a glassed one.....Nobody said Sorry to me, why should they?? I made THEM work. ....ohh and they dont put something on the door for the next idiot like me, they only opened the elevator, let me out and go away.

Phuket International is a shame for the richest province in Thailand, broken Info screens same old Elevators since I remember....only things workin is the minibusmafia wihich still brings tourists first to a small WHAT KIND OF ROOM YOU WANT shop before u can reach your destination

[BigSnake]

Thank goodness it ended well. NOW, authories: please note and fix the problem.

[pattyboy]

"An official told her the elevator frequently stopped working, making her wonder why it was not shut down for full maintenance."

I'd say she was quite justified in wondering that.

Fortunately, I rarely use elevators when only going up or down a few levels (not for fear of them but rather the fitness aspect) and when I'm at the airport next month, I'll definitely keep to my practice.

[tigerfire]

Does anyone know if they have ever done a full-scale emergency evacuation drill at Suvarnabhumi? I can just imagine a horrific scene of people struggling to get out of those huge revolving doors. Why put revolving doors at an airport? btw the last time I came through 3-4 days ago, one of them wasn't working. The 'award winning' architect who designed Suvarnabhumi should give a press conference in Bangkok... wonder why he isn't.. if it were that amazing he would be showing off about it right?

[sriracha john]

Sasaphak said her two foreign clients, a honeymoon couple, complained to her about the staff's unprofessional manner in handling such an emergency. She demanded to see the supervisor, or anyone else of higher authority on duty, but nobody appeared.

"No apologies or anything were offered to us for the delay," she said.

An official told her the elevator frequently stopped working, making her wonder why it was not shut down for full maintenance.

lack of anticipating problems and breakdowns.

the resultant lack of training to deal with those unanticipated problems.

grinning uniforms standing around doing ....well just grinning

lack of apologies when things do go wrong

non appearance of supervisors

little or no maintenance of faulty equipment

no procedures to follow in the event of a problem

these things may be par for the course around much of the country ,but when they occur at the "pride of thailand" , "the gateway to thailand" , the countries brand new flagship project , they only confirm to many people that thailand is still a third world destination , albeit with 21st century architecture.

why even bother to leave the airport after arrival when it is possible to have the full thailand experience right there.

the incident illustrates perfectly just what is wrong in this country , and how easily , with a little forethought , things could be improved so much for the benefit of all.

the eloquence that can only come from taxexile....

extremely well said

Personally, I'm becoming convinced that the airport's adventures are all part of my signature message plan.

Surely, the latest episode of the Airport Show will be forever stamped into the honeymooners' memories.

[Dakhar]

Five or six security guards showed up after quite a while, but none of them did anything to help us," she said.

*** zzzzzzz....is that an emergency alarm blaring?.... naw... couldn't be.....zzzzzzz ***

Dude, wake him up.... the soaps started!

[mitrapaap]

Life is full of little inconveniences. Security guards were just trying to be friendly, that's the Thai way. They aren't elevator mechanics, after all.

Much ado about nothing. We all have to learn to take the good with the bad and the honeymoon couple will now have another interesting story to tell their grandchildren if they make it that far.

I couldn't agree more with you. Western life is so perfect, that people don't need a brain anymore. You can poor your coffe over your legs and if it burns them it's McDonald's mistake. The western society is slowly going braindead and can't accept reality anymore. The elevators are all of glass so it's not really the worst elevator scenario that can happen to you. What I also wonder in the report is why the precision that 2 of the 5 people were foreign tourists. What does it matter whether the people are tourists or not. Do you think the 3 Thais did enjoy the problem or suffered less? They probably only didn't make such a story about it because they know how to deal with imperfection. We could learn a lot from them, rather than trying to implement western perfection.

[taxexile]

i think the reason so many people criticize the new airport is that for the past few years the thai authorities have been forcing down all our throats that this new airport is going to be best thing sinced sliced bread and that thanks to the hard work of the government the thai people will be able to hold their heads up proudly because of it.

the reality of the place is somewhat different by all accounts and it is only natural that criticism will be forthcoming.

you are wrong when you compare the compensation culture of the west with the situation of people trapped in lifts in a government owned and run building with so called security personell standing outside grinning at those trapped inside.

it hardly inspires confidence in the travelling public who pay high enough taxes to use this airport and its services.