Air China sucks and I smell like smoke: Is Beijing Airport ready for 2008?

Aug 3, 2007 18:27

As I wrote on my blog, me and my brother just went to Beijing for a couple of days, mostly so he could check out the Great Wall. My impressions of Beijing Airport on the way back were, shall we say, less than stellar.

I'm a little skeptical that Beijing (more specifically the Airport) is fully prepared for the world to arrive on its Olympic doorstep next year. While I sincerely hope I'm wrong, here are a few of my concerns:

Weather and delays at Beijing Airport

If this summer is any indication, evening thunderstorms and rain might be plaguing the airport with delays and cancelations come next summer. For much of this month, Beijing airport has been backed up with flights that couldn't take off, which would often push delays and cancelations to the following morning and afternoon despite the fact that the rain has stopped.

Weather is a variable that Beijing likely cannot control, despite its best efforts in the science of cloud dispersal (no, I'm not kidding). It would be unfortunate if Beijing were hurt by similar evening rainstorms in 2008.

Customer service: Air China sucks

While weather cannot be controlled, customer service can. And my concern is how some airlines react to these canceled or delayed flights. On his arrival in Beijing two weeks ago, my brother had just gotten off a 16-hour flight from Toronto, and before that a 4-hour flight from Newfoundland to Toronto, with a 5-hour stopover. So you'd think that if his connecting Air China flight from Beijing to Dalian was canceled, they'd give him a place to rest after 25 hours on the road. Sure they would, right? It'd be cruel if they didn't.

But no. Not only did Air China refuse to give him some place to rest, they also refused to send him to Dalian on a flight 8 hours later with the rest of the passengers. The reason? "You have an e-ticket, and we can only issue you a new ticket for the same flight 24 hours later."

When he asked to speak to a manager, he was flat out refused. I also spoke to Air China over the phone from here in Dalian, and I asked if someone could come help my brother--due to his lack of Chinese, the desk staff's lack of English, but mostly because he was dead tired and in no position to fight for his ticket. When I repeatedly asked, "Is management refusing to meet my brother?", I got a long Chinese pause, and then a very hesitant "yes".

The result: He did fly out the next night (over 30 hours later), and I even booked a flight going to Beijing that night in the hopes that if his flight could not get out, maybe my flight could take off and I could get to him.

But luckily, he did take off.
TOTAL TRAVELING TIME: 55 hours from his doorstep to mine.

Thanks for caring, Air China! (NOT!) I know the weather can't be helped, but tired and exhausted passengers should be taken care of. We made it very clear how long my brother had been traveling, and they chose to do nothing.

I hope other airlines do better.

Sweeping the dirt under the rug

While the international terminal seems to have improved, it's still pretty crowded at times with not a lot of seating room. Smoking rooms appear to have been eliminated. Or have they? The downstairs level of the domestic gate in the far terminal not only still has a small smoking room, the flock of Chinese smokers that head over there have taken to using the entire gate next to it as a smoking area. If you have a flight going out from gate A18, you'll be sure to smell a nice and smoky flavor by the time you board.

Oh, one last thing--I hope they do a better job of cleaning the bathrooms down in the basement restaurant areas. (1) You gotta refill those toilet paper dispensers, guys, and (2) please wipe the dirty shoeprints from the toilet seats. Sure, some Chinese don't like western-style toilets, but if they're gonna stand on the seat and squat over them, please make sure the dirty footprints get wiped off.

Sorry for the rant. I just thought I'd share our personal experience, which I really hope is the exception more than the rule.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on Beijing Airport?

Aug. 31 Update
Here's another person who thinks Air China sucks.

Meanwhile over at China Law Blog, Dan reports on various promises Beijing Airport is making with regards to customer service.

When pigs fly, I say...

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