Chaos at U-Tapao Airport Near Pattaya

I am going to deviate from the main format of this blog to report on the current situation at U-Tapao International Airport Near Pattaya. The two airports in Bangkok have been closed by the thugs of PAD and U-Tapao is being used to get stranded people out of Thailand. What follows is a report of my experience getting out of Thailand. At the end there is a video showing the chaos inside the terminal.

On the 29th of November I was booked to leave on a flight from U-Tapao to KL. I received the flight details from the airline the previous day with no further details. I arrived at the airport at 9am for an 11:10 departure.

After arriving at the terminal I went to find out where I needed to check in. I entered the terminal and the place was chaos. There were people everywhere and information was scarce. I looked at a sad excuse of a departure screen and did not see my flight. I then approached the information desk that had people 3 deep trying to get information. Eventually I got the attention of one of the people behind the desk only to be told that my flight had been cancelled and that there was a later flight with the check in opening at 12pm. As the terminal the packed I headed outside to consider what to do next.

I tried to get in contact with the airline. I had been trying to do the same for the past two days with no success. I was not confident that I would get them to answer the phone but I guess I got lucky. I was told that the flight would be leave and to wait in the terminal. So I headed back in.

Once inside the terminal I tried to locate one of the airline staff. Eventually I noticed a small sign above a single check in counter with my flight on it. This is where the real fun started. Had I known what would take place over the next 6 hours I would have taken up the offer of one of the many taxi touts to get me the hell out of there.

I had no idea how to get to the check in counter so I headed into the human jungle that blocked my path to the check in counter. I didn’t know exactly where to go but headed in the general direct in which the crazy crowd seemed to be wanting to go. I eventually found myself against a barrier. On the other side of the barrier I could see there was a single x-ray machine through which the bags of the people entering the check in area had to go through. It looked painfully slow. To my horror I could see a few military guys trying to hold back a heaving crowd of people trying to push their way through the small opening allowing access to the x-ray machine. It reminded me of what it must be like when a hundred people suffering hunger are trying to get into a single bag of rice.

I managed to wriggle my way to the cordon of military guys. This is where it got quite scary. Certain groups of people thought that a solution to their predicament was to push and shove their way through the crowd. I am glad that the security guys were disciplined as if it was me I would have used the baton that they had to sort out some of the fuckwits. I am used to the warm weather but it was very hot and stuffy in that crowd. I was rammed up against a pylon for a while before I was eventually let though.

After having my bags x-rayed I worked my way to the line for the check in counter. I had hoped that things would improve but I was wrong. One fuckwit thought that it was reasonable for him to push his way thought the crowd with a large box shouting move, move. It was the same guy who I seen doing the same thing before I entered the line for the x-ray machine. It was at this point where I told him to shut up and stop being an idiot.

I found the end of the line and began the wait. I thought that this didn’t look too bad. After about 30 minutes I found that I had yet to move anywhere. The line was moving very, very slow. I was disappointed to find that the queue was not a line but more like a very flat pyramid. Here again it was hot and tempers were getting frayed. It was not all bad there were a few people around me that made the time a bit more pleasant.

Eventually the airline got the use of the 2 counters on either side of the one they had opened. Unfortunately soon after they removed the sign for my flight and replaced it with a later flight. I resigned to the fact that I was going to arrive at my destination even later. At a few times I considered pulling the pin on the crazy idea and go back to Pattaya. If it had of been easy to get out I would have done just that. I was hot and the dark atmosphere in that terminal was taking its toll on me.

I don’t really remember what time I managed to check in but I think it was about 2pm or maybe 2:30pm. After checking in I navigated my way out of the check in area. I viewed the crowd trying to get into the immigration area. I looked at it and just couldn’t face it right then. I headed outside, got a drink and called the girlfriend. I mustered some more strength and headed back into the terminal.

Now if I was at home I would know that they would be calling flights through as they were needed. However, I was in Thailand and knew things could be different. Luckily I found someone who works in the airport and I asked him how it worked. His advice was to get into the immigration as soon as I could. Why didn’t that surprise me? So into the crowd I went.

Soon after I entered the heaving crowd I heard someone calling through people on my airline. This gave me a target as there were 2 doors and I was unsure which to head for. The call also gave me some leverage to wriggle though the crowd. When I got near the door I found that the flight they were calling through was my original flight. I cold have made my original flight! While I was waiting there I found that people were even resisting letting through elderly people or a couple of people in wheel chairs. Anyway, I was close to the door by then so the next time they called through that flight I made my way into the immigration area. That brought the end of what was an extremely stressful experience as things got better after that.

While I was waiting to be processed by immigration I could here shouts from people to stop pushing there way into the immigration area. There was then a surge of people as some people broke thought. Luckily security got control of the situation again quickly.

It didn’t take too long to get through immigration and security. It still wasn’t a pleasant experience but after the earlier experiences it was much better.

The waiting area after security was packed with people but at least I no longer had people pushing against me. I managed to secure a seat and settled in for a wait. While I was sitting there I felt the tiredness as a result of the day’s stress. I waited about 2 hours in the waiting area before boarding the plane. On the bus on the way to the plane I saw the many planes waiting to get off the ground.

To add to the day’s woes we have to wait for an hour to get a tow backwards as the plane is blocked from going forward. The plane finally departed at 7pm only 8 hours after I was due to depart.

For anyone considering using this airport to leave Thailand I would say only do so if you have no other options. It is chaos and people are being seen to by first aiders as a result of conditions in the terminal. If someone is not seriously injured in the terminal I will be pleasantly surprised. I think the situation could get even worse that those that I encountered.