Bypassing BKK by using U Tapao [Pattaya] updated

[lonelywombat]

There are twice daily flight from Pkuket to U tapao {Pattaya} the morning flight also stops at Koh samui

www.bangkokair.com (http://www.bangkokair.com)

Both Phuket and Koh Samui have many international flights every day

I would suggest that most airlines would not hesitate to allow rerouting tickets away from Bangkok

I would not let the problems in BKK deter my plans

EVA is flying directly to Utapao from Taipei for at least the next two days. See you soon.

[catawampuscat]

I was shooting the breeze with some fellow farangs after a very nice Thanksgiving
feast at White Night restaurant in Sunee Plaza last nite..
The meal was a good value at 590B. and was reasonably good, especially for their first try.

A farang friend whom I hadn't seen in a long time showed up later and told us his story
of how he arrived by air yesterday..

He told us his flight from Narita was about an hour from landing at BKK when the cockpit
announced that they were turning around and going to land at Hong Kong instead due
to small arms fire and an unsafe situation at BKK airport. The airline put them up at a nice
hotel in Hong Kong and the next day the same problem still existed.. The airline offered one more nite in the hotel but the farang decided to try a different route.
He found a seat on Bangkok Air from Hong Kong to Koh Samui for about $US 500 one way,
(not cheap but neither would be a few more nites in Hong Kong hotels) and then a short
flight from Koh Samui to Utopao airport near Pattaya for another $US100 one way..

He was happy to have arrived and went looking for a lad to celebrate his first nite back in
Pattaya with.. He missed his Thanksgiving dinner at Amor due to his late arrival but he seemed
ok with that and managed to arrive dispite the airport problems...

Airport closures, small arms fire, extra high cost for re-routing. Will nothing delay the sex-tourists?

Airport closures, small arms fire, extra high cost for re-routing. Will nothing delay the sex-tourists? No

[lonelywombat]

Flying Jetstar from Aus does not give the option of a stopover in Phuket, and probably no other airline as well.

However for May bookings I would wait until February . Bangkok Air usually have reduced offers, currently "Thanks" on their website up to 31 March. It will also depend in the value of the $OZ at that time. My last flight with Bangkok Air was 1990 baht with the taxi supplied by Gems 500 baht [arranged by email]

I also like to drop in to Koh Samui for a couple of days which is on route one flight per day

Eva seem to be diverting the London==>BKK flights to Utapao.

How long would it take to travel from Utapao to Bangkok at around 17:00? 3~4 hours?
I think spending the first night in Pattaya would be the obvious solution.

[fedssocr]

I don't know exactly where Utapao is but the time from Pattaya to Bangkok is now about 1.5 hours since the expressway is finally finished. I think the news has been saying Utapao is 2 hours from Bangkok by bus. According to Sticky Rice the taxis going from Utapao are gouging people to the tune of Bt1000 to Pattaya and Bt3500 to Bangkok.

Hello lonelywombat, I didn't realise there was an airport in Pattaya. I am going to be flying from Bangkok to Phuket next year and after my stay I was going to book a flight from Phuket back to Bangkok to catch my taxi taxi ride to Pattaya for the rest of my holidays.

Pattaya airport is just 25 mins away from Pattaya so makes sense for me to book a flight to this airport..... yea?? advantages are saving on a 2hr taxi ride from Bangkok.


----------------Good idea but be sure and book a taxi to meet you at the airport as it is just a small country operation and has very limited facilities. For years I have been using "Gems and Phon" out of Pattaya. You can book by email. The following is from another BB:

Gems and Phon Taxi I have used used for many years. Not one disappointment. Not one missed appointment. They take good care of you and have very reasonable prices.

email: gemsphone@loxinfo.co.th
phone: (66) 0176164550
09-8332498

.

I don't know exactly where Utapao is but the time from Pattaya to Bangkok is now about 1.5 hours since the expressway is finally finished. I think the news has been saying Utapao is 2 hours from Bangkok by bus. According to Sticky Rice the taxis going from Utapao are gouging people to the tune of Bt1000 to Pattaya and Bt3500 to Bangkok.

A bus direct from Utapao to BKK via expressway would be a good solution, but my limited experience of Thai buses has involved them diverting into every small town possible, in the hope of picking up more passengers.

A trolleydolley's wife (ok - civil partner) of my acquaintence through the RAC, claims she (the TD) was shipped to Singers via a military airport. Could've been Utawhatsit.

This whole thing is really quite serious, doncha know.

[lonelywombat]

I don't know exactly where Utapao is but the time from Pattaya to Bangkok is now about 1.5 hours since the expressway is finally finished. I think the news has been saying Utapao is 2 hours from Bangkok by bus. According to Sticky Rice the taxis going from Utapao are gouging people to the tune of Bt1000 to Pattaya and Bt3500 to Bangkok.

A bus direct from Utapao to BKK via expressway would be a good solution, but my limited experience of Thai buses has involved them diverting into every small town possible, in the hope of picking up more passengers.

If you are desperate then a taxi from BKK to U tapao from Gems would make a lot of sense. Or cheaper is bus to pattaya and taxi to the airport

Here is a link to U Tapao airport which gives some idea of how small and where it is

http://www.utapao.com/index_en.html

We have friends who are dealing with Singapore Airlines ATM, and might have more info about flights.

Just received text suggesting

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g2 ... ngkok.html (http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293916-i3687-k2388182-Info_on_U_Tapao_please-Bangkok.html)

[lonelywombat]

From Sunday Bangkok Post


Rush to get out


By Post Reporters

Tens of thousands of stranded passengers have been squeezing into the only terminal at U-tapao airport to catch flights out of the country.

Tents have been erected outside the terminal to provide shelter to the passengers and more mobile toilets have been installed.

Traffic to the airport, in Rayong's Ban Chang district, has been backed up for several kilometres.

Capt Kiatkul Suwan, who oversees the airport, said immigration officers are working around the clock.

On average, about 50 international flights have left the facility daily after the airport was opened for commercial flights. Each flight can accommodate 200-300 passengers.

Transport Minister Santi Promphat said the air force base in Don Mueang has also been opened for commercial flights to held stranded passengers get out of the country.

He said authorities were also negotiating with neighbouring countries to see if they can reroute passengers to their airports and send them home. He said the government is doing its best to resolve the crisis after People's Alliance for Democracy supporters continued their siege of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports.

The tourism industry across the country has been dealt a massive blow with the shutdown of Suvarnabhumi, the country's main commercial gateway to the world, as well as Don Mueang airport, which mainly handles domestic flights.

Hotels, restaurants and other tourism-related business owners in key tourist destinations from Satun to Chiang Rai have reported cancellations.

They believe the shutdown of the airports has not only caused difficulties for tourists but has also undermined tourists' confidence in Thailand.

In Chiang Rai's popular Phu Chi Fah area, about 10 per cent of the hotel reservations have been cancelled.

More cancellations are expected as the crisis in Bangkok drags on.

Somkiat Chuenthirawong, the chairman of Chiang Rai's tourism association, said the tourism and service sector is losing huge amounts of income and any reopening of the two airports is nowhere in sight. He added that a massive drop in income from tourism is widely expected in the industry if the situation is not resolved soon.

Satun is already facing a grim holiday season.

About 50 per cent of the bookings during the Christmas and New Year festivities, mainly by foreign tourists, have been cancelled.

In Hat Yai, Songkhla's commercial district, a large of number of foreign tourists arrived to board planes out of the country.

The stranded tourists have headed to Hat Yai, from where they can fly or go overland to Malaysia and Singapore and return to their home countries from there.

"Several hundred buses to Malaysia and Singapore are fully booked. The tourists have been advised to come to Hat Yai for flights to Malaysia or Singapore and then return home," said Kriangkrai Samphankul, chairman of the Phatthalung tourism association.

"But some are taking the opportunity to explore Hat Yai as well while they are here."

Airlines who are managing to use U-Tapao airport are requesting to check-in 4 hours prior to flight departure.

There are extremely long lines of traffic into the airport as car park only handles 100 vehicles, and very little information when you get there.

There are buses out of the airport but have to wait for them to fill up which may not be a good idea after very slow immigration queues followed by painfully slow bags turning up (there is only 1 luggage bin lift for aircrafts at U-Tapao).

Image limo is offering trips to/from U-tapao Airport-Pattaya for 1600 Baht and 3300 Baht to/from Bangkok.
contact reservations@imagelimo.com

[jinks]

Bangkok Air are still running their schedule from U Tapao.

www.bangkokair.com/announcement/ (http://www.bangkokair.com/announcement/index.php?lang=en&id_page=cancel_flights)

[Beachlover]

What a farce... no wonder people are lobbing and launching grenades at the PAD.

I'd be tempted to do something if I was being held up for hours on end for something as routine as getting to the airport and jumping on a flight. This is terrorism. It isn't life-threatening terrorism but it is terrorism.

[anakot]

Forget about U Tapao... Total fuck up

[Beachlover]

Forget about U Tapao... Total fuck up

Yes, I heard it was "THE BIGGEST FUCK UP ....HAVE EVER SEEN"...

I am not surprised. And the worse part is, after making your way ALL the way out there (quite a distance) and waiting in line for so long, you couldn't get on a flight? What happened? I hope you didn't have to pay for the journey...

[jinks]

BANGKOK POST :-

At U-Tapao: 'They have killed tourism' By Newley Purnell, Agence France-Presse

U-Tapao - Not even the dancing girls provided by a local hotel could cheer thousands of travellers as they tried to flee protest-hit Thailand through this Vietnam-era airbase.

"This is my first time in Thailand and I probably won't come back," said Glen Squires, a 47-year-old tourist from England, casting a glum eye over the crowds.

"What they've done is shot themselves in the foot."

Since Friday, the U-Tapao naval base about 190 kilometres (118 miles) southeast of Bangkok has been the only way in or out of the country for tourists stranded by an anti-government blockade of the capital's main airports.

Travelers who arrived here found crowds of tired and angry passengers, armed guards, piles of garbage, mountains of luggage, and an increasingly tense and surreal atmosphere.

Built in the 1960s by the US air force and equipped with just one X-ray scanner for bags, the airbase can only handle around 40 flights a day, compared to the 700-flight capacity of Bangkok's gleaming Suvarnabhumi international airport.

But thanks to the demonstrations, it's all that Thailand has to offer.

"I think it's stupid," said Danny Mosaffi, 57, from New York City. "They have killed tourism in this country, the authorities should go do something. Nobody is going to come here."

Thai authorities say around 30,000 travellers a day -- both Thai and foreign -- have had flights cancelled since the occupation of Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday in what the protesters are calling their "final battle" against the government.

Some travel agents bussed passengers down to U-Tapao, which is near the tourist resort of Pattaya, but with information proving difficult to come by in Bangkok, others came on their own more in hope than expectation.

Huge traffic jams built up outside the sprawling compound. Thai soldiers with M16 rifles guarded the entrance to the airport to prevent anti-government protesters from gaining access, as travellers lugged their bags under the sun.

Once inside the terminal, it was standing room only. Travellers were unsure where they should check in. Long queues wound around the lone luggage scanner, where soldiers tried to hold back the surging crowd.

"It's complete chaos and pandemonium," said Bonnie Chan, 29, from San Diego, California.

"We've been given incorrect information from the airlines. The US embassy says they can't help us. We're high and dry. The airlines keep giving us the run-around."

With no departures board available, airline employees held up signs that said "Final boarding call, Moscow," while other staff stood inside the security area and pressed signs against a glass window calling for passengers to board a flight to Hong Kong.

At one point, a group of unruly passengers pushed their way through a door to the security screening area after an airport employee announced the final boarding call for a flight to Taipei.

One woman, caught in the surge, began to scream, and the soldiers forced the doors shut.

"We've treated six patients today," said Nan Soontornnon, 24, of Bangkok Hospital in Pattaya, standing with a doctor and nurse in a makeshift clinic.

"Passengers have had headaches, exhaustion, and other problems, like fainting. But this place has protection from the soldiers -- Suvarnabhumi doesn't," she said.

U-Tapao's only other selling point was when female employees from one enterprising Pattaya hotel, taking advantage of the captive audience, put on a traditional Thai dance performance.

The women later donned red and silver dresses with feather boas, singing: "You'll fall in love in Pattaya. There's no better place to be."

[RonanTheBarbarian]

Beachlover said:

"I am not surprised. And the worse part is, after making your way ALL the way out there (quite a distance) and waiting in line for so long, you couldn't get on a flight?"


To be fair to them, it looks like Thai Airways are trying to prevent this happening.

From the "Nation":

BANGKOK: -- Thai Airways International announced that it will provide 31 special flights to and from U-Tapao Airport to serve stranded tourist.

It said 18 flights will leave the airport and 13 flights will land at the airport.

It said tourists must check in at the Centara Grande Hotel at Central World five hours before departure.

[anakot]

Hi Beachlover
Yes it almost sounds like I'm screaming when I use caps. LOL

My taxi driver (me friend you) who has been running me around for years, an older guy, whisked me there and I 'knew' this was not gonna work as soon as we had got past the soldiers at the entrance. We came into this traffic jam of buses, privat cars, taxis etc with dozens ofpeople getting out and dragging their wheeled bags across the drains and grass on side area. He deftly drove his taxi along the side weaving and conniving as only he can. No road rage. If you tried this anywhere else you would be shot. We got to about 200 M and I got out and said 'you wait me'. Whidh he does faithfully.

I made my way up to the aptly named 'terminal' and saw "THE BIGGEST FUCK I'VE EVER SEEN'. You gotta laugh really. No one kniew anything. Struggled to info counter and asked 'Cathy pacific u thinai?" Blank looks. 'What cathay pacific?" .... Small chuckle for me and sub voce 'Only the biggest airline in Asia ya dopey cunt' ... Mai pen ria.

So struggle past drunk large and very large russian hulks and front bums (women) and went around all the 'counters' which in most cases were cardboard boxes inverted with a sign written on a piece of cardboard. No one had heard of cathay pacific. Not even a bunch of cantonese waiting at Eva Open Air Counter (in the drive way outside). And this was in my best Cantonese. (Tai Gwok hai bindou aa?) Blank looks again.

ANA 'counter' is nice cardboard box under trees by carpark on this side of portaloo trucks with a couple of hundred Japs standing patiently. Wonder what they are thinking?
Does she know where CP is? May be over the other side? Of what... the road?, the terminal? the fucking what? OOps sorry will try not to use universal language again*. So traipse around some more and finally give up. Close to getting heat stroke and as beer is more easily available to get than water i decide to return to BKK. Phone friend in PTYA as we pass by no reply and back in hotel at the regimes pleasure by 4:30pm.

My Taxi driver was great. When I got back I said OK how much i owe you now? His inimitable response... Up to you? Well what can you do but just pay generously for such service.

In the meantime wanted to go over to CP office in Ploenchit Tower and 'ave 'im but have decided to 'lelax' and take it easy . Current regime daily stipend covers room, breakky and dinner to 250baht. It could be worse!!

* Note on 'universal language' - A wonderful friend of mine who has worked in many countries says the 'FUCK" is one of those words that all people understand, especially when it vomits from the mouth of a drooling crazed FOQ. (not me dear)

[quiet1]

Since Friday, the U-Tapao naval base about 190 kilometres (118 miles) southeast of Bangkok has been the only way in or out of the country for tourists stranded by an anti-government blockade of the capital's main airports.
Technically not true, since Chiang Mai and Phuket airports have had international departures/arrivals unaffected, not to mention trains to Butteworth, or the dozen or so other border crossings, but who am I to spoil a good rant by the beloved Thai press...

[Davey612]

Since Friday, the U-Tapao naval base about 190 kilometres (118 miles) southeast of Bangkok has been the only way in or out of the country for tourists stranded by an anti-government blockade of the capital's main airports.
Technically not true, since Chiang Mai and Phuket airports have had international departures/arrivals unaffected, not to mention trains to Butteworth, or the dozen or so other border crossings, but who am I to spoil a good rant by the beloved Thai press...

Quiet. Don't give the PAD new ideas. Wait! No new ideas. The airports in Phuket and HatYai were previously rendered useless when they invaded the runway. The only safe airport, if at all, may be Chiang Mai since there is no strong PAD support over there.

[Beachlover]

Hi Beachlover
Yes it almost sounds like I'm screaming when I use caps. LOL

My taxi driver (me friend you) who has been running me around for years, an older guy, whisked me there and I 'knew' this was not gonna work as soon as we had got past the soldiers at the entrance. We came into this traffic jam of buses, privat cars, taxis etc with dozens ofpeople getting out and dragging their wheeled bags across the drains and grass on side area. He deftly drove his taxi along the side weaving and conniving as only he can. No road rage. If you tried this anywhere else you would be shot. We got to about 200 M and I got out and said 'you wait me'. Whidh he does faithfully.

I made my way up to the aptly named 'terminal' and saw "THE BIGGEST FUCK I'VE EVER SEEN'. You gotta laugh really. No one kniew anything. Struggled to info counter and asked 'Cathy pacific u thinai?" Blank looks. 'What cathay pacific?" .... Small chuckle for me and sub voce 'Only the biggest airline in Asia ya dopey cunt' ... Mai pen ria.

So struggle past drunk large and very large russian hulks and front bums (women) and went around all the 'counters' which in most cases were cardboard boxes inverted with a sign written on a piece of cardboard. No one had heard of cathay pacific. Not even a bunch of cantonese waiting at Eva Open Air Counter (in the drive way outside). And this was in my best Cantonese. (Tai Gwok hai bindou aa?) Blank looks again.

ANA 'counter' is nice cardboard box under trees by carpark on this side of portaloo trucks with a couple of hundred Japs standing patiently. Wonder what they are thinking?
Does she know where CP is? May be over the other side? Of what... the road?, the terminal? the fucking what? OOps sorry will try not to use universal language again*. So traipse around some more and finally give up. Close to getting heat stroke and as beer is more easily available to get than water i decide to return to BKK. Phone friend in PTYA as we pass by no reply and back in hotel at the regimes pleasure by 4:30pm.

My Taxi driver was great. When I got back I said OK how much i owe you now? His inimitable response... Up to you? Well what can you do but just pay generously for such service.

In the meantime wanted to go over to CP office in Ploenchit Tower and 'ave 'im but have decided to 'lelax' and take it easy . Current regime daily stipend covers room, breakky and dinner to 250baht. It could be worse!!

* Note on 'universal language' - A wonderful friend of mine who has worked in many countries says the 'FUCK" is one of those words that all people understand, especially when it vomits from the mouth of a drooling crazed FOQ. (not me dear)

Wow... sounds like quite an ordeal... if I had no urgent matters requiring my physical presence I would be inclined to just wait it out, instead of joining the scrum at U-Tapao Base.

At least accommodation and food is covered so you can lelax...

Had you booked to be on one of the Cathay Pacific flights before you left for the airport? Was it possible to book? I would be quite pissed off if I got there and found there was no Cathay Pacific counter/flight/signs/planes etc.

Ah well... you could be stuck in much worse places... make the best of it. I wouldn't mind being stuck in Bangkok or Phuket right now. I really wouldn't.

Had you booked to be on one of the Cathay Pacific flights before you left for the airport? Was it possible to book? I would be quite pissed off if I got there and found there was no Cathay Pacific counter/flight/signs/planes etc.

U got that right.

WELL LET ME JUST TELL YOU ALL THAT IF ANYTHING LIKE THIS HAPPENED WHERE I COME FROM THEN SOMEONE WOULD HAVE CERTAINLY BEEN FIRED BY NOW.

So I'm stuck here sneaking around internet cafes wondering what to do next

I most want to just gewt to Singapore and it looks like I could through my Thaiair but I better not 'til things calm down and that is just gonna add to my 90 days and @%$# up my plans in January.

Thursday night's traffic jam that ruined my turkey dinner. What I saw in a taxi cab before all this. My "boyfriend". oh god.