Airport Lift Traps Tourists For 40 Minutes

[taxexile]

rather than trying to implement western perfection

how about eastern perfection then.

what is wrong with trying to improve things..

[george]

Many people who complain about the new airport has never been there, one wonder.

[mitrapaap]

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.

Okay, one question: what should the security guards have done in your opinion? They obvisously can't repair the elevator (is not their duty nor their skill). They obviously did call the technician as they arrived and resolved the problem (temporarily or permanent, I don't know). They could have walked away after having made the phone call, then we would blame them for irresponsibility now. So they stay there, stand by and try to keep a friendly smile - so we blame them for stupid grinning at the gorillas in the elevator. Well, well, one thing is for sure, Thais can do whatever they want, some farang will yell and blame. Might be difficult for some westerners to interprete a simple friendly smile while in the homecountry you must think twice before smiling at somebody as it could be interpreted as sexual harrassment. Anyhow, again, tell me what should they have done?

[terry57]

hate to tell you this boys but ive done a few lift rescues in my time.

by the time we get the call at the firestation, get out to the scene, hunt down the elevator room and get the emergency keys its fairly close to 40 minutes.

nobody can do anything except us or the machanics.

security gaurds will always just stand there as there powerless.

at least at the new airport the trapped punters could see outside.

imagine being inside a highrise building on the 40th floor.

you'd feel you were inside a coffin and if you need to go to the toilet, well thats another thread all to gether.

ive had cases where we could not do it, had to call the elevator company and frigging wait for the machanics to get there.

bad news as its ages before they rock up.

only other way is to start ripping the doors apart with our cutting gear and that never happens unless someone is dying.

cheers.

[Soju]

at least at the new airport the trapped punters could see outside.

imagine being inside a highrise building on the 40th floor.

you'd feel you were inside a coffin and if you need to go to the toilet, well thats another thread all to gether.

No, just imagine having nature call while in the glass elevator. Everyone can look at you and say, "look at that guy, he's soiled his clothes, wonder how bad it smells in there." At least without the glass only he and his fellow elevator passengers will know, or at least until he's rescued.

[Screws]

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

Welcome to the Land of Smiling!

(One of the reasons I came here)

[sriracha john]

No worries about the misinterpretation of the Thai smile... there's certainly no reason to focus on that.

It's the least of the many major problems that taxexile pointed out that eminate from this incident.

[mikew]

who cares.thats why we love it.

[had enough]

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.

Come off it, mate! This was not just an inconvenience but another from the long list, now being compiled, of incidents at this new airport. Unprofessional, irresponsible, ineffective, rude, non-functioning, non-cooperative, insensitive, ineffective - from the list of adjectives which are used to describe the airport staff.

[jobsworth]

I have never been to this new airport

but expect that I will have to one day.

I have yet to hear a favourable report from anyone.

From what I understand this new airport has provided

a lot of job oportunities for the poor Isaan people

who live in the North East of Thailand.

One of their charactaristics which I have noticed

is a sadistic pleasure in the misfortune of others.

They are not really Thai people.

They used to have their own country called Champassek

which was taken over half by French Laos and half by Thailand.

Yet these are the people who get all of the tourist type jobs

in the hotels, the gogo bars and now the airport.

The Thai smile from Isaan people has a different meaning.

Just as the mayor or Pattaya said to all of the hotel employees,

they must learn to be polite, friendly and welcoming to tourists

and not just to have their hands stuck out demanding tips.

[bioxx750]

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. dry.gif

Very good advice, specially the last part.

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

Very stupid advice, 1. glass lift, you know where it is, 2. brand new lift gets stuck, <deleted> tells you that the breaks work. The above version is an option but might cut somebody in half like the autor admits. The safety standard (yes I know it's LOC) allows only one option for those low level things. Manually lower it to the ground floor and then you can look for the "keys" to open the doors.

The breaks work on the four guide rails and need proper adjustment (unless it's a hydraulic lift). I have yet to meet a thai engineer who could explain to me how to this properly. And we had 3 of them trained in our company.

[sriracha john]

I appreciate your insider truth... thank you.

[Soju]

I have never been to this new airport

but expect that I will have to one day.

I have yet to hear a favourable report from anyone.

You must not have read very many reports then. Just read through the posts in this forum. There are lots of people who gave favorable reports and said the airport is just fine for them.

From what I understand this new airport has provided

a lot of job oportunities for the poor Isaan people

who live in the North East of Thailand.

One of their charactaristics which I have noticed

is a sadistic pleasure in the misfortune of others.

They are not really Thai people.

Didn't you just say you've never been to the airport? Please reserve judgment on the workers until after you've visited and get a good chance to view them and interact with them. I find your characterization of all poor Isaan people to be highly biased and absolutely do not agree with your view. My wife came from a poor Isaan background, as have many of this board's member's spouses and friends and such comments as yours are likely to cause a lot of offense.

[Krub]

I have never been to this new airport

but expect that I will have to one day.

I have yet to hear a favourable report from anyone.

From what I understand this new airport has provided

a lot of job oportunities for the poor Isaan people

who live in the North East of Thailand.

One of their charactaristics which I have noticed

is a sadistic pleasure in the misfortune of others.

They are not really Thai people.

They used to have their own country called Champassek

which was taken over half by French Laos and half by Thailand.

Yet these are the people who get all of the tourist type jobs

in the hotels, the gogo bars and now the airport.

The Thai smile from Isaan people has a different meaning.

Just as the mayor or Pattaya said to all of the hotel employees,

they must learn to be polite, friendly and welcoming to tourists

and not just to have their hands stuck out demanding tips.

This an offending statement and stupid generalisation

I was trapped in an airport lift at Paris Roissy airport. It also took more than 30 minutes to be 'rescued'. It does not seem too long. I can assure you it is very unconfortable and I would not like to re-live it.

[jasreeve17]

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

Only in Singapore or in Siam Square - pick an odd or even lift, if you are mistaken the "little Thai fellow", stationed in the elevator, will inform you so.

Elevator story - Singapore 1970's. Thailand 2006.

Airport story - Singapore 1970's. Thailand 2006.