Thai Airways Cuts About 30% of Its Bangkok Flights as Floods Leave 5,600 Bags Stranded at Suvarnabhumi

Thai Airways is cutting about 30 flights, roughly 30% of its planned departures from Bangkok, on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, after flooding kept its ground handlers from reaching Suvarnabhumi Airport. Chief executive Chai Eamsiri told reporters the reduction would last at least three days, Reuters reported.

Around 5,600 bags from Thai Airways flights were still sitting at the airport on Tuesday, Chai said, and he expected them to be cleared within 72 hours. “Almost 100% of flights over the past two days were delayed, with fewer than 3% on schedule,” he said.

How a flood that did not close the airport grounded an airline

Bangkok took around 12.6 inches (320 mm) of rain over two to three days last week, close to what the city normally gets in all of September, according to Reuters. Suvarnabhumi Airport itself never closed, and flights kept taking off and landing through the weekend.

The problem was people. Many of Thai Airways’ ground handling employees live in eastern Bangkok, where floodwater rose above 3 feet (1 m), and some could not get to work even after the airline sent vehicles to collect them, the airline said in a statement reported by Khaosod English.

With staff below the level it needed, bags and cargo began piling up. Some of the airline’s baggage carts were also out of service, which left fewer workers moving more bags with less equipment, according to Thai Examiner.

Thai Airways said baggage from 52 flights operated on September 26 and 27 was still being sorted and delivered on Tuesday. The airline also logged 34 delayed flights on Monday, September 28.

The Royal Thai Air Force sent 69 personnel to the airport on Monday to help sort the backlog. Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul put the military contingent at more than 100 and criticized the airline’s management over its handling of the crisis.

Why the backlog spread to other flights

Ground handling is the part of an airline’s operation that turns an aircraft around: unloading bags and cargo, loading the next flight’s, pushing back. When it slows, the damage compounds, because every late turnaround pushes back the next departure on that aircraft.

Surasak described that effect directly. Aircraft still carrying undelivered bags could not operate normally, he said, and outbound passengers’ bags could not be loaded.

Thai Airways is also a handler for other carriers at Suvarnabhumi, and Chai said that role added to the strain. The airline asked Airports of Thailand, the airport’s operator, to arrange for other ground handling companies to take over some of that work.

Airports of Thailand president Paweena Chariyathitipong said the airport’s other ground handlers did not suffer the same breakdown, which helps explain why the disruption landed so heavily on one airline’s passengers while the rest of the airport kept moving.

Which flights are affected, and what passengers can do

The airline’s Facebook notices, as listed by The Thaiger, dropped round trips from Bangkok to Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Phuket, Hanoi, New Delhi and Singapore on September 29. Round trips to Munich (TG924/TG925) and Brussels (TG934/TG935) were canceled for September 30.

Tickets issued by September 26 for Thai Airways flights to or from Suvarnabhumi between September 26 and October 11 qualify for one date change without a change fee, on the same route and in the same fare class, Time Out Bangkok reported. The new trip must be finished by October 11. Passengers whose flight is canceled can ask for a full refund, the airline said in its original waiver.

Passengers still missing bags can register a delivery address through the airline’s QR code, and staff call or email before sending the bag out. Those who would rather collect in person can go to the Baggage Service Office on Level 2, in front of the domestic arrivals exit, from 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Chai apologized to passengers and said the airline would keep monitoring until every delayed bag was delivered. Bangkok’s other airport, Don Mueang, has also stayed open, which matters for travelers weighing a switch to one of the low-cost carriers based there. AeroCorner’s guide to Bangkok’s two airports explains how they divide the city’s traffic.