Q&A: Bangkok air travel

Anti-government protesters have left Bangkok's main airports after an eight-day siege that has paralysed government and stymied tourism. What now for travellers hoping to fly in or out of Bangkok?

Can I travel to Thailand now that the protesters have left?

In Britain, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is recommending to "continue to avoid air travel into or through Bangkok for the foreseeable future. Regional airports in Thailand are likely to be congested and we advise you to consider carefully before flying into or through any other airport in Thailand. A temporary state of emergency has been declared at both Bangkok airports and you should avoid the airports and their vicinity until further notice".

They also ask travellers to check with their airline or tour operator if they had "intended to travel into or through Thailand". The Foreign Office website provides this link to the Tourism Authority of Thailand's relevant webpage with contact numbers, including those of major airlines.

Will my airline fly me out of Thailand now?

British Airways and Qantas, who are partner airlines, have been flying passengers to Singapore instead of Thailand, particularly those bound for Sydney, as the London - Bangkok flight is the first leg of the London to Sydney journey.

British Airways and Qantas have also, in the last few days, bussed over 600 people to Phuket, from where they flew them to Singapore, and onwards as necessary.

On Wednesday, 3 December, British Airways is sending a Boeing 777 from Heathrow to Phuket to pick up further passengers from Bangkok. The flight, capable of taking 272 people, will return from Phuket to Heathrow on Friday morning local time on 5 December. Free coaches will take travellers to Phuket. Passengers need to register their interest with British Airways directly.

Their website instructs their customers "affected by the disruption in Bangkok and requir[ing] repatriation to the UK, [to] please call us on local number 66 2 627 1701 in order to register your interest in taking this flight".

But I thought the airport was open again, why are flights not back to normal?

The Thai airport authorities named 4 December as the date for flights to resume from Bangkok's international airport. But that does not mean airlines are ready or able to do so straight away.

You need to check with your airline. British Airways, for example, will carry out its own detailed review of facilities at the airport before resuming flights. They fear that there has been damage done to some of the infrastructure. In particular, the IT infrastructure may need repairing before flights can be operated safely. BA will not commit to resuming flights until the airline is satisfied that safety is guaranteed.

Also, there is a question of crew. As the flights from London to Bangkok are scheduled to fly on to Sydney, that means that a certain number of the right kind of cabin and flight crew needs to be available at the right place, as crew can only work a fixed number of hours at a time. So these logistics need to be sorted, too, before flights can resume.

For people who have tickets for flights to Bangkok on, for example, 5 December, British Airways said their current policy remains the same. If on 5 December BA are unable to fly to Bangkok because BA have not yet satisfied themselves that it is safe to do so, then the same policy applies as it has had since the flights were stopped: they will fly you via somewhere else (such as Singapore), or refund you, or rebook your flight to a later date.

Passengers who opted to fly to Singapore, but still wanted to go to Thailand, must make their own way on to Thailand.

What about getting out through other airports?

Again, check with your airline. A number of carriers have been operating flights in and out of the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, or the southern resort of Phuket.

Some airlines have provided coaches to take passengers there, but other travellers have had to make their own way, for example on public trains or buses. Due to the high level of traffic accidents in Thailand, hiring private cars is not recommended.

A number of flights have been able to leave Thailand from the U-Tapao international airport, which is also a Thai Navy airfield. As U-Tapao, which is about 90 miles (140km) southeast of Bangkok, was not equipped to handle this volume of international passenger flights, the Airports of Thailand authority has supplied it with more x-ray machines and baggage handling equipment.

The airports authority also set up a check-in facility in central Bangkok, at the Bitec Convention Centre in Bang Na street, to reduce congestion at U-Tapao.

Passengers can check the rerouting of flights of different airlines by calling the Bitec centre at 0-2749 3974 or 0-2749 39 82. (Use the international dialling code of +66 instead of the 0 if dialling from outside Thailand).