Singaporeans are pulling out of planned trips to Bangkok

According to most of the 10 agencies interviewed, about 70 per cent of their Bangkok-bound customers have asked for a refund or opted to pay the difference and fly to other places in the region.

Chan Brothers Travel, which had 40 holiday- makers due to fly to Bangkok this weekend, saw 30 cancellations, said senior marketing communications executive Jane Chang.

'As most of them had planned to leave this weekend, many are unable to decide on an alternative destination. They would rather cancel first and decide at a later stage where they want to go.'

When it came to picking alternative destinations, Ms Alicia Seah of CTC Holidays said that her 20 passengers who were scheduled to leave this week have opted for locations such as Hong Kong, the Philippines and Vietnam.

She added that the agency is also helping 10 customers stranded in Bangkok. Half of them have already made plans to take an express bus within the next couple of days to Penang and fly home from there. The other five are staying put, hopeful that the airport will re-open soon, said Ms Seah.

The agencies said that for now, travellers' plans to other Thai destinations such as Chiang Mai and Phuket have not been scuppered. They also have yet to receive cancellations from travellers heading for Bangkok next week.

Some, like Thai-born Singaporean housewife Wanthong In Kaew, 45, are still keen to make the trip. She was supposed to board an AirAsia flight to Bangkok on Wednesday to visit relatives but changed her departure to yesterday, thinking that flights would have resumed. Yesterday, her 21-year-old daughter Kanokwan Leong went to Terminal 1 to make another switch, this time to next Monday.

But most travellers are staying clear of the Thai capital. Administrative executive Susan Teo, 51, who is scheduled to leave on Tiger Airways tomorrow for a five-day holiday with her family, is now going to Ho Chi Minh City instead - but not without some difficulty.

She had to pay a $300 fee for switching destinations and has managed to secure a booking for only a night's stay in the Vietnamese city. 'This has really messed up our plans. We thought we could relax, now our holiday's turning out to be very stressful.'