A Thai taxi driver practically won the lottery jackpot when he brought a tourist to the wrong airport. In an urgent rush, the passenger promised him a ‘special payment’ if he made it to the right airport on time.
The driver successfully made it to their destination in under 30 minutes. The tourist thus handed him two 500 Euro notes (S$1,456), startling the driver.
He told the driver to keep the change and left. The actual taxi fare was around 677 baht, or S$25.54.
Commenters cast suspicion on the legitimacy of the story, but the driver produced receipts as proof.
A Thai taxi driver picked up a tourist intending to head to the airport. Unfortunately, when the taxi pulled into Don Mueang Airport, it turned out to have been a mix-up.
He was actually supposed to drive to Suvarnabhumi Airport. According to Google Maps, the two airports are 45km apart and would take roughly 37 minutes by car.
For a more local context, this would be akin to asking to go to Changi Airport to catch a flight only for the driver to drop you off at Jurong East.
Obviously, this proved quite a major error.
However, the foreigner promised the taxi driver a ‘special payment’ if he could ferry him to Suvarnabhumi Airport in just 30 minutes.
The driver agreed. In a comment, he theorised that the passenger had some important business factor hinging on catching his flight that would cost more to miss than any special payment.
Although the driver did not know what the reward would be, he did not make any demands and ran the taxi meter as normal.
Source: Facebook
As seen from the Google Maps route, the driver had a tough task. Fortunately, he found the usual highway route uncongested and arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in time for the flight.
The taxi fare ended up at roughly S$25.54 (677 baht), which is fairly high.
However, the passenger simply handed the driver two 500 Euro notes, equating to S$1,456 or 38,632 baht. He said “I gave you change”, insinuating for the driver to keep the change, and left to board his flight.
The surprised driver took to Facebook, showing a photo of the two notes in front of the taxi meter, which still read 677 baht.
Source: Facebook
Such a payment was equivalent to winning a prize in Thailand’s official national lottery.
Source: Wikipedia
Numerous commenters cast doubt on the story. One questioned if the notes were authentic, commenting that they looked fake and that it was difficult to find 500 Euro notes.
Source: Facebook
Another noted that the 500 Euro banknote was no longer being produced.
The taxi driver countered these by producing a literal receipt. It showed that he had exchanged the Euro notes for 37,600 baht.
Source: Facebook
He also said he was initially afraid to take the money as he was not familiar with the currency and was wary of being scammed.
Furthermore, while the 500 Euro note was no longer being issued, it remains legal tender. An estimated 281 million such banknotes persisted in circulation as of July 2023, according to Wikipedia.
Ultimately, the remarkable payment certainly came as a pleasant surprise to the driver. It also proved itself as a silver lining stemming from an initial mistake that the driver successfully corrected.
Last year, a local man paid a plumber S$100 for unclogging his toilet in five minutes, ultimately judging the price as worth the work done.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and Facebook.
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