MORE than 200 Singaporeans and other travellers had their travel plans to Bangkok disrupted on Wednesday by the anti-government protests in the Thai capital.

Scores of them turned up at Changi Airport early on Wednesday morning and found that their flights to Bangkok had been cancelled.

At about 6am, a long queue formed behind two counters in Terminal 1 after Jetstar Asia's cancelled flight 3K511 to Bangkok. The travellers were seeking alternative travel arrangments or refunds.

Many of them said they were not aware that Jetstar Asia had suspended their flight and only found out when they reached the airport.

Jetstar Asia said that passengers affected by the flight cancellations could change their flight to another date at the same fare or change destination, paying only the fare difference, or get a full refund.

Among the affected travellers was Mrs Connie Cheong, 51, who was going to Bangkok to shop with her 51-year-old husband and two teenage daughters.

The family opted for a refund of their fares and would take a coach to Kuala Lumpur instead.

'We are disappointed of course... but it's good we got the travel refund. If the flight was still on, I think we would still go ahead. I think the shopping area is quite safe,' said Mrs Cheong.

Another disappointed traveller was civil engineer Mr Annalingam Selvakumar, 43.

He had planned to spend about six days in Bangkok with his 38-year-old wife and three- year-old daughter.

'We did not watch the news last night... but my Thai friend said the place is okay,' he said.

He is still bent on taking his family to Bangkok and has switched his travel dates to Thursday as he had already paid for the hotel accommodation there.

Although the last Jetstar Asia from Bangkok to Singapore managed to take off on Tuesday night, Jetstar Asia's commercial head Raphael Saw said about 20 passengers missed the flight due to the protests.

At 7am, over at the Thai Airways counter in Row 3, passengers who turned up for TG402 flight were thrown into confusion as the screen counters showed that their 8.10 am flight had been cancelled. They later found that it had been delayed to 11am. But even this flight was scrapped later.

Singaporean secondary school teacher Tanveer haider Khan, 33, who was travelling with his 17-year-old sister Jumanah, was going to transit through Bangkok to Dhaka but they decided not to take Thai Airways flight at all.

'Our Dad told is asking us to go back home...he heard that they might bomb the airport,' he said.

But the teacher was reluctant to change his his travel plans entirely and decided to switch airline.

He managed to book a Singapore Airlines flight on Wednesday night at no extra cost, as Thai Airways is a partner airline in the Star Alliance network. Another group of travellers who had their Bangkok holiday disrupted was Ms Akira Rotjanawongchai, 35, an Australian citizen originally from Thailand.

She was travelling with her young daughter, a relative and a friend.

She had travelled from Adelaide to Singapore, where she spent two days, and was taking a Singapore Airlines flight to Bangkok.

Singapore Airlines has arranged alternative accomodation for the four of them at a hotel here for a day due to the cancelled flight, Ms Akira told the Straits Times.

"But we'd still prefer going to Bangkok today if we could," she added.

Cathay Pacific Airways, Singapore Airlines and at least three other carriers cancelled Bangkok flights after anti-government protesters stormed the main terminal of the city's airport, closing it down.

Thai airport authorities cancelled all departing flights after protesters surged into the Suvarnabhumi airport, Asia's fourth-busiest by passenger traffic. Four people were injured by a grenade on Wednesday morning at the airport.

The authorities have warned of flight chaos for thousands of passengers today as the People's Alliance for Democracy group will wait at the airport for the return of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, whose resignation they are demanding. The protests and cancellations are hurting the country's tourism industry.

Read also:
Protestors in control
10,000 tourists stranded
SIA cancels Bangkok flights
Protests to have severe impact
Airlines cancel flights
Travel advisory to Bangkok