Anyone else changing travel plans?

[justbob]

I just hope they don't hold elections in February. Last year my final weekend was alcohol free. Soi Cowboy shut down on a Saturday night.
JUSTBOB

[Buddy]

Word is that if another Thakskin protege gets the nod as interim PM (which is expected to happen on Monday) then the yellow shirts are heading straight back to the airport. Maybe the King will say something to cool them down in his upcoming speech but doubtful. It's not like the police should be expected to protect the county's main international airport from armed seizure. What a wild and crazy place.

[Looker]

(tampanugget_2001 @ Dec. 01 2008,13:48) Anyone else doing the same.  

I was booked to be in BKK from 2nd to 8th. Had to cancell the trip and come back yo Hong Kong instead, and (hopefully) getting a refund for the hotel I booked on Asiatravel.

[Guest]

The other factor is that the King is in poor health and won't be giving his birthday speech. What happens if he dies?

[Rocket J. Squirrel]

(Looker @ Dec. 04 2008,17:08)

(tampanugget_2001 @ Dec. 01 2008,13:48) Anyone else doing the same.  

I was booked to be in BKK from 2nd to 8th. Had to cancell the trip and come back yo Hong Kong instead, and (hopefully) getting a refund for the hotel I booked on Asiatravel.

Agoda gave me full refund with no penalty.

I'll start in Phuket now 2 weeks behind and head up to Bangkok after the holidays.

[Looker]

Asiatravel too will refund but I think they will impose 350 baht of so called penalty, over the total amount of 11,880 baht. But what a mess..an important meeting fucked up
However, some poor guys lost their lives in a bus crash trying to reach the southern airport, so I'm still not so bad..

[thaibound]

i was waiting to hear the King speak before deciding if i'd push my luck and try to get to BKK between xmas and new year's...but now i'm not sure -- is he even going to speak? is he *that* sick? is there a better guide to predict when and if the yellow vs red political dispute might next close airports and shut down thailand's economy for more than just a few awkward days? or worse?

[pacman]

(mardhi @ Dec. 04 2008,03:27) sometimes you need to step back and look at what we are visiting and how on earth its so tolerated.     lets face it, if the country became like the West, we would find it a very very different place.     And I am not saying thats really any better, just maybe give you an additional insight into this country called Thailand.  

I totally agree Mardhi, we take the Thais forebearance as our right, as something we are entitled to.

We arrive in LOS with less than noble ambitions & the argument that we pay for services rendered really is after the fact.

For all its faults, there is no other place that offers the quality of experience in an accomodating atmosphere as well as Thailand.

Let's all hope & pray these protests don't escalate into full blown civil war & stuff it up for everyone for a long time.

[Buddy]

If the King dies, and the yellows go hog wild again with one of the Thakskin boys becoming PM, then I would bet the army just does another coup and imposes martial law to restore order. With the king outta the picture Thakskin might even try to come back himself to install a republic. That would be his big chance. Hard to see a peaceful outcome. The yellows just don't want a democracy and they hold a lot of power/wealth. My big concern would be a coup happening over my holiday, or no coup but the yellows take the airport again.

[TiaoLang]

Etihad are on track to send there first plane into Bangkok, it is due to leave Abu Dhabi at 9.55am Friday.

A good indicator of what is happening is to visit http://www.abudhabiairport.ae/flight/flightdetails.asp - Etihad seem to be a lot more forward thinking and customer focused than some of the more established western airlines.

Regards.
Tiao

[SamplerDoc]

Good thread and comments.
This is just the calm during the storm guys...
Things will go amuk again but for the moment most airlines are claiming normal or near normal service effective today.
It is hard to believe they can get back to normal so fast considering security breaches and just general cleaning up.
Putting all the above aside, you still have a massive backlog of folks trying to leave as well as those coming in.....its going to be a while

[EyeMahk]

I am considering changing when I come back to BKK.  I want to wait a few days (like til after Dec 8) to see if these numbskulls try to do something that will wreck my travel plans for LEAVING LOS.

[Tomcat]

If you are travelling with EVA its still best to check with them as they just cancelled the London- BKK flight on the 11th for unknown reasons. probably a knock on effect.

[scorpioxxx]

F***! I'm booked EVA Air on the 11th! I was confident everything was going to plan after all the uncertainty. And the cherry on the cake is I checked my mail box and there is an E-greeting from EVA Evergreen club wishing me a Merry Xmas!

[scorpioxxx]

Panic over! Just spoke with EVA Air in the UK. They state certain flights to BKK are cancelled due to 'operational reasons' which could mean just about anything. Ebookers just refunded my flight and I booked another with Thai Airways for £30 cheaper. That's one extra ST in the holiday budget!