"Terminal" redux for Iranians stuck in Bangkok

By Darren Schuettler

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A week after protesters shut down Bangkok's international airport, Ali Golbabaei sits at check-in row "T," waiting for a flight home to Iran.

"We are so tired. When can we go?" the 25-year-old said, recounting his real-life version of Hollywood movie "The Terminal."

He and two other Iranian friends are among 100,000 foreign tourists stuck in Thailand after anti-government protesters seized the Bangkok's two airports last week.

The government is providing free hotel rooms and meals for the stranded, but Golbabaei said he was told the vouchers had run out, and they had no money left after holidaying in the beach resort town of Pattaya.

"Nobody is helping us. We are the last tourists in this airport," Golbabaei, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, told Reuters as his two friends slept on the floor wrapped in blankets.

In an ironic twist, The Terminal -- in which Tom Hanks plays a travelers stuck in New York's JFK airport after his passport is revoked -- was inspired by the true story of an Iranian man who lived in Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport for 18 years.

The three work at Tehran airport for IranAir, which arranged a charter flight on Monday to carry 460 stranded Thai Muslims to Saudi Arabia for the haj.

That flight was due to leave around midday from U-Tapao naval airbase, 150 km (90 miles) southeast of Bangkok, where airlines have relocated. Travelers have complained about massive delays at the small terminal, which has only one luggage scanner.

An IranAir spokeswoman said Golbabei would have to wait for another flight to get them out. "They have to be patient. We have not forgotten them," she said.

Suvarnabhumi's general manager said on Monday it would take at least a week to re-open the $4 billion airport after the current sit-in by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) ends.

The Iranians said they were treated well by PAD supporters, who gave them meals, water and blankets.

But as he watched a group of yellow-clad protesters walk by, Golbabaei admitted he was perplexed by this latest escalation in Thailand's three-year-old political crisis. "I don't know what it's all about. It's a Thai problem. I just want the airport to open so I can go home," he said.

(Editing by Ed Cropley)