Jetstar Asia flight 3K512 was supposed to leave Pattaya at 9.15am yesterday, but it flew out of U-Tapao International Airport at 4pm - seven hours behind schedule.

The plane was waiting for passengers stuck in chaotic traffic in Bangkok.

Even then, not all passengers who were supposed to be on the flight made it.

Singaporean civil servant Kathirvelu Krishnan, 41, and his family did, but only because they left their hotel at 2am.

It would typically take about three hours to drive from Bangkok to Pattaya.

When Mr Krishnan arrived in Changi Airport at 6.30pm yesterday, he was extremely relieved.

'We had to wait for two days and 10 hours before getting home,' he said of his family holiday.

Jetstar Asia's CEO, Ms Chong Phit Lian, told The Sunday Times that U-Tapao is not equipped to deal with commercial flights, and luggage had to be loaded onto the planes manually by the airport's ground staff.

Ms Joyce Teo, 30, an optometrist who was on holiday with her family, said: 'There was only one canteen in the hot and stuffy airport and it served only water.'

The family had made arrangements to travel to Kuala Lumpur in a hired car and were prepared to fork out 20,000 baht (S$850). But Jetstar called in time to tell them there were available flights.

The budget airline also sent an empty carrier to U-Tapao at 9.15pm last night to fly more travellers home.

Ms Chong urged travellers stuck in Bangkok to call Jetstar Asia's call centre for the latest developments on 800-6161-977 in Singapore or 1800-611-2957 in Bangkok.