It seems that searching a POI by name does only retrieve elements that have a matching "name=xxx" OSM attribute.
It would be more than interesting to also match the other name attributes ("int_name=xxx", "alt_name=xxx" and "alt/name:<country code>=xxx"): when in a foreign country, that would help a lot! (especially when the original name is written in a character set not installed on the user's cellphone)
This is only change in the data conversion - so if you choose settings/advanced/early maps access you can try new Thailand (this should work for both 1.6.20 and 2.0.27).
Just to give an example: in Bangkok, you don't retrieve the international airport by searching "Airport" or "Suvarnabhumi" or anything like that. You would have to type "ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ" to find it.
I can confirm that POI are not localized (as streets, cities and administrative areas) in OSM processing (TomTom maps are localized). In your example it would mean name:en Airport Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi name:fr Aéroport Suvarnabhumi de Bangkok thanks Martin
OK, thanks - note, that the same process was used for all countries/regions, so the change should be visible everywhere (if there alternative languages).