Flight into crisis

She has been working as a flight attendant of Thai Airways International (THAI) for 19 years. But A, her alias, has never seen herself in a crisis like this.

Throughout the 12-hour service at the Vibhavadi headquarters on Saturday, she encountered many passengers who were rushing to the counters with their personal reasons on why they should be allowed to board the first available flights.

"One passenger has a father who needs medication, which is not available in Thailand. One passenger had a son who suffers from bleeding. Though they are sent to hospitals, they still want to go home," A, whose flight was cancelled following the shutdown of Suvarnabhumi Airport, says.

Many passengers are ready to buy new tickets for available flights, despite knowing that they could only refund the old tickets at a discount.

Some ticketing officers have to teach attendants about flight re-routing and rescheduling, as more computers are installed to accommodate the enormous number of passengers.

'I almost cried'

"I almost cried seeing some staff feed others, as they had no time to leave the counters for meals," says A. "The mothers of some staff even cooked for us."

 "You know, we have something we call 'THAI home-stay'. Some flight attendants brought passengers home. This happens particularly to backpackers who have no spare money for fancy hotel rooms," says A.

"Right now, 160,000 tourists have been stranded. But THAI has about 10 planes. Those planes could be used to transfer these tourists to nearest destinations like Laos, Singapore or Malaysia, from where they can find their flights home."

 She informs that THAI had announced there would be 31 flights yesterday, but these include incoming flights. That means the number of passengers to board departure flights would be a few thousands.

"As a Thai citizen, I plead with the PAD to release the aircraft at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang. I know they are protesting for a cause, but these foreign travellers do not deserve to suffer for our domestic problems," she says.

She urged the Royal Thai Air Force to supply its passenger aircraft, which includes C130 and an Airbus.