"DD Thai Airways" has explained the causes of baggage and flight delays, confirming measures to solve the problem by cutting it short, consolidating or canceling flights in advance, and transferring passengers to other airlines. Meanwhile, for baggage backlogs, they are coordinating with "Thailand Post" to expedite passenger deliveries.
On 29 Sep 2026 GMT+7, Mr. Chai Iamsiri, Chief Executive Officer of Thai Airways Public Company Limited, revealed that the main cause of delayed baggage affecting many flights is that employees were impacted by flooding at their homes. These employees require specialized skills. Thai Airways dispatched vehicles to pick them up from their homes, but some remained concerned about their homes and could not fully report to work. The shortage of staff caused a snowball effect, leading to accumulating baggage and cargo backlog at the airport.
Regarding criticism that other airlines also faced flooding, so why was Thai Airways more heavily affected, it was clarified that Thai Airways’ main operational base is in Bangkok with a high flight volume. Importantly, Thai Airways not only handles its own flights but also provides ground handling services for other client airlines.
"From on-site inspections, client airlines also faced baggage backlogs but not as severely as Thai Airways. When the crisis occurred, Thai Airways had to bear responsibility for both its own operations and those of client airlines simultaneously, resulting in the greatest impact," he explained.
Thai Airways has implemented corrective measures by accepting the reality and decisively cutting the problem to prevent it from becoming unmanageable. Currently, if a flight cannot be properly managed, it will be consolidated or canceled in advance, with passengers transferred to other airlines. For client airlines, cooperation and coordination are being arranged through Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AOT) to transfer some ground handling services to other operators to assist.
For passengers who did not receive their baggage or experienced communication issues at the site, it was acknowledged that communication was limited due to a shortage of labor to transport bags from the aircraft, making it impossible to provide passengers with exact times for baggage arrival. Therefore, Thai Airways could not immediately answer questions as it needed to verify accurate information.
However, Thai Airways has adjusted plans by advising passengers not to wait for baggage at the airport but to scan a QR Code to specify delivery locations instead. It was admitted that problems persist, as although Thai passengers can wait to receive baggage at home, foreign passengers with limited stay durations are more severely affected.
Thai Airways has received support from Thailand Post, which provided personnel and vehicles to help sort and deliver baggage back to passengers. Additionally, volunteer staff from headquarters have been mobilized to assist fully in terminal baggage areas and in-flight kitchen operations to accelerate problem resolution, with expectations to resolve the issues today.
"Thai Airways does not want to make excuses or have such incidents occur. But since it happened, we are committed to accepting the reality and working hard to solve the problem. I sincerely apologize to all passengers and customers for the inconvenience and impact caused," he concluded.