State Department warns Americans about unrest in Thailand

The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert today (Nov. 26) to warn Americans heading in or out of Thailand about “the continuing large-scale political demonstrations … that have resulted in the disruption of services as well as isolated incidents of violence. ”

Thousands of protesters broke through police lines Tuesday night and seized Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, a busy regional hub, with demands that the prime minister call new elections to resolve the political crisis, L.A. Times staff writers Paul Watson and Charles McDermid reported. The prime minister has rejected those demands.

The State Department alert reads: “At this time, Bangkok’s international and domestic airports have ceased flight operations due to the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protests at those locations. It is unclear when normal flight operations will resume.” It will remain in effect until Dec. 1.

The State Department also advises Americans who are heading to Thailand to contact the airlines for more information before they embark on their trip.

Many international carriers have diverted or canceled flights to Thailand as a result of the occupation of Bangkok’s main airport. (For a list of airlines, go to “Thailand update: Bangkok airport unrest forces airlines to divert, cancel flights.”

EVA Air joins the list of carriers to cancel flights today, Thursday and Friday. EVA Air had scheduled flights today from Bangkok to London (connecting from Taipei) and to Vienna (connecting from Taipei). It also canceled flights from London and Amsterdam to Bangkok. Contact EVA Air to learn the status of upcoming flights.

— Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo: Rungroj Yongrit / EPA]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 5:01 pm by Mary Forgione and is filed under Airline travel, Asia, Business Travel, China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.