Follow-up flight

Chittapon Kaewkiriya / Shutterstock.com

Although the Thai does not really differ much from the average Dutch person, you sometimes experience something in Thailand that you will not easily experience in the Netherlands. That's what this series of stories is about. Today: Continuation flight.

Follow-up flight

Twenty past twelve my EVA flight departed according to schedule to Bangkok where I arrived almost half an hour early after less than eleven hours of flying at 04:05h. Now it was time to buy another ticket for the onward flight to Ubon. I hadn't done that in the Netherlands yet because I wasn't sure if I would make it to the Thai Airways flight at 06:00. If not, I would take the next flight.

I was confident that there would be enough space because after all it was a time of crisis (the story dates from 2009). To be on the safe side, I had checked the week before whether there were still enough seats available on that week's Saturday flight. But even of the cheapest seats, at least four were still available.

Although I was well in time to catch the 06:00 flight, I still hurried to the suitcases and customs. At 04:40h I had done that and at 04:50h I was at the check-in desk of Thai Airways to ask where I could buy a ticket. That turned out to be 30m away, but the lady added that the flight was already fully booked. We went to the Thai Airways office anyway, but it turned out to be unmanned; moreover, it was stated somewhere that the office would not open until 06:00. And that would be too late for a flight with a departure scheduled at 06:00 and a boarding time of 05:30. So I returned where I was told that the office would open in 5 minutes, at 05:00h. So I went back to the office where there was still no one and at 05:10 am still not there either. Yet again obtained information from someone else; who told me that there was another Thai Airways office 100m away. It turned out that 3 counters were already manned, but there was also a queue of 3 people waiting for me (mind you: it was still night!). At 05:20 - when I was finally helped - I was dismayed to hear that not only the six o'clock flight but also the 13:40 o'clock flight was already fully booked, but that there was still room on the third Thai Airways flight . But yes, it would only leave at 17:15h.

In desperation I asked if I could be put on the standby list of the 06:00 flight. That was possible, and I was handed a note with the instruction to join me at check-in desk C12. Arrived there at 05:25h, three fellow sufferers were already waiting: 2 older Thai ladies and a young Thai. We would hear at 05:40h if there was still room. At 05:40h there was indeed room for the two older ladies. There was still a third place available and strangely enough I got it, probably because of my advanced age.

I gratefully accepted that offer, although I feared that my 4 kg excess weight would cause new problems. But luckily that wasn't too bad and my luggage disappeared on the belt, but I didn't get a boarding pass yet. I did get another note pressed into my hand with the request to hand it in at the Thai Airways office 30m away, which luckily turned out to be open but where a queue had formed by now. With some pushing I managed to make the desired payment (unfortunately the main prize of over €60) after which I received another note to finally get my boarding pass at the check-in desk.

In the meantime, however, it had become 05:46h and I still had to take several obstacles. The first was gun control. However, I was not allowed to just walk through the control gate because I first had to take off my belt and hand in my hand luggage. I flew through the control gate, which therefore only gave a very short beep (at Schiphol, my shoes turned out to contain metal and they even had to go through the metal detector separately). Fortunately, they took that short beep for granted, but they had discovered something illegal in my hand luggage. So I had to walk with an officer and open my bag myself. Of course it turned out to be my bottle of whiskey which luckily was still in a sealed bag so that I could still walk through. But yes, I only had 10 minutes left and gate A6 turned out to be the very last gate of the new airport in Bangkok. There were moving walkways to gate A6, but they wouldn't get me to the gate in time. So I took off like a rocket with my hand luggage in my right hand and my belt, passport and boarding pass in my left. My condition soon forced me to slow down a bit. However, even at that more moderate pace, the airport's air conditioning was not up to the task (in Thailand you never see anyone running) because I arrived drenched in sweat just before six o'clock at the gate in question where I was the last to board the plane. At least that's what I thought, but 5 minutes later the young Thai (who apparently had also received a ticket) came relaxed and completely dry and boarded the plane after which we could leave.

So you see, in Thailand everything always ends up on its feet, although you sometimes wonder how that is possible.