Stressed? Chinese tourists in Thailand, facing 10-hour flight delay, sing the national anthem in departure hall
Dozens of mainland tourists, faced with a 10-hour delay, vented their anger by singing the Chinese national anthem in an airport departure hall in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday.
The flight was scheduled to take off from Don Mueang International Airport at 5pm but was delayed until 3am the next day, the Shanghai-based news porta Thepaper.cn reported.
“They were scheduled to take a flight by Orient Thai Airlines, but the fight was delayed and the [Chinese] tourists were quite discontented,” said a woman airport worker.
“Thirty three of the passengers refused to leave [the departure hall after the others boarded.”
The worker, who did not want to be named, told Thepaper.cn news said the passengers began to sing in the departures hall. She was not sure what song it was, but guessed it “was propably their national anthem”.
She added that she was not aware that any of the passengers had been taken away by Thai police, as claimed by some internet users.
An internet user from Chongqing who uploaded the video on in his Weibo account wrote: “Flight delayed, Thai airport employees force Chinese tourists to leave [the departure hall], so the Chinese tourists sang the national anthem together,” he wrote.
“This was no disrespect by Thailand to tourists. It is China being belittled.”
Orient Thai Airlines did not reply to inquiries from the Post.
As China has emerged as the world’s biggest source of tourists, reports of bad behaviour by some mainland tourists have appeared around the world.
In April, the China National Tourism Administration announced that it would “blacklist” of travellers who behave inappropriately or illegally abroad.
