Okay the latest policy as of 1100 on Tuesday 19th May allows roundtheworldflights.com passengers worried about travelling to Bangkok to either avoid Bangkok or to date change their Qantas RTW tickets free of charge. The details are here.

Due to continued civil unrest/political tensions in Thailand, the following outlines the options available to Qantas passengers who are holding a valid ticket on Qantas for travel on or before 26 May 2010 and who wish to make changes to their bookings.

Passengers may, without penalty:

• Defer travel to/from Thailand
• Return to the origin port via the most direct routing using Qantas.
• Bypass Thailand as a stopover point and continue to the next ticketed destination via the most direct routing using Qantas. A stopover in SIN/HKG may be  substituted.
• Change destinations. The value of the existing ticket can be used towards the purchase of a new ticket. If the new fare is more expensive than the existing ticket fare, the fare difference is payable by the passenger. Applicable taxes may apply.
• Retain the value of the ticket in credit for future travel within 12 months.
• Refunds will be offered where travel has not commenced and fees waived for tickets issued prior to 19 May for travel between 19 – 26 May 2010.

Conditions:

• All changes to travel dates must be made on or before the original ticketed departure date.
• New travel dates must be prior to 30 June 2010.
• If the same booking class is not available, the lowest available class within the same cabin may be booked (e.g. O/Q/S/L/M etc).
• Any third party costs/penalties, such as hotel or other ground operator fees incurred will not be waived by Qantas.
• All other rules and conditions of the ticket remain unchanged.

Refunds:

• Any refund fees will be waived for tickets issued prior to 19 May 2010 travel between 19–26 May 2010.
• This excludes fees imposed by suppliers or third parties.
• To request a refund, return your ticket to the original point of purchase prior to 31 July 2010.

Ticket Revalidation:

• The Agent can revalidate the ticket for a date and/or time change.
• Additional fare/tax/change fees associated to the fare do not apply.

More FCO info here

In summary for those in Bangkok - stay indoors - the temptation is to go and have a look about. is strong - resist that. Experience says a lot of people will head down to the islands in the south or to neighbouring countries such as Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam.  Airlines are still catching up on their schedules after the ash cloud crisis but they are working at full pelt to get people out. This advice does not affect Bangkok Airports but we advise keeping a close eye on our news pages and through the BBC here

If anyone needs to reroute or date change their ticket please call or email us - obviously this a fluid fast changing situation but we are open till 7pm tonight . All our opening hours are here