"Some countries are taking steps to repatriate people,” the 27-year-old said. "We just want to go home and get back to work. We went to the embassy today, they said they were lobbying Gulf Air. But somebody rang the Foreign Office on my behalf and Gulf Air is not listed among the airlines that are being lobbied."

Among the countries that have taken action to evacuate citizens is Italy. Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, said the government had asked Alitalia to send an aircraft this evening, which would be followed by "four or five" further planes "in the next few days".

Meanwhile, Spain is to send three flights to evacuate about 300 of its citizens who have been stranded in Bangkok since last week. China has reportedly repatriated up to 2,000 Chinese tourists already on four national airlines, with China Southern Airlines, the nation's largest carrier, due to send another flight on Monday.

The relief flights have been using U-Tapao airport, a military airbase 90 miles south of the city. The airport opened at the end of last week, and up to 20 airlines have received authorisation from Thailand’s Civil Aviation Department to commence flights, with Eva Air the only carrier currently offering direct flights to the UK.

Passengers who have been able to get on the Eva Air flights have been forced to check in at a conference centre two hours away by coach because the airport is so congested.

U-Tapao has a small terminal with one X-ray machine and two sets of wheeled air-steps. Some 40 flights a day are now leaving the airport, but conditions are poor and flights are full.

TUI, the tour operator, has been bussing its mostly German passengers from Bangkok's Suvanabhumi airport to Phuket, 8 to 12 hour’s drive to the south. Around 250 TUI passengers were flown out of Phuket on Saturday.

The operator says this is now the preferred route because U-Tapao is hopelessly under-equipped for mass tourism. Toilets are over-spilling and the approach roads are jammed with 2,000 buses carrying up to 15,000 passengers, according to reps.

The company is negotiating the extension of hotel rooms in Phuket. "Better keep everyone static for as long as we can rather than ferry them to non-working airports," said one German rep.

British Airways is also bussing passengers to Phuket. Together with alliance partner Qantas, the carrier has organised a fleet of buses for nearly 600 customers over the next two days from Bangkok hotels to Phuket. Two more relief flights, which can seat 297 people, are being organised by Qantas between Phuket and Singapore, from where passengers can get flights to the UK.

Another option is to get flights out of Chiang Mai, which is served by Thai Airways, Air France and Lufthansa, but this is another gruelling overland journey of up to 12 hours and cost of these flights, which could run into thousands of pounds, would have to be met by passengers.

Adding salt to the wound, almost 40 flights have taken off from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport since last night - but the planes were forced to leave empty.

A spokeswoman for Airports of Thailand said: "Thirty-seven aircraft have left Suvarnabhumi. International airlines will have to contact us to take those stranded aircraft out of Suvarnabhumi."

Twelve planes belonging to foreign airlines are still stranded at Suvarnabhumi, as well as 29 from Thai Airways, 16 of Thai Airasia, 15 from Bangkok Airways, and 22 aircraft from other airlines.

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