I cross-posted this in my diary, as well as damn near having it tattooed on my forhead.
I will never take a Chinese airline again.
I will never take a Chinese airline again.
I will never…
(Repeat 50x until committed to memory)
While I’ve yet to take my finger out of the plug that’s holding the dam of what happened to Sarah and I on our way to L.A. a month ago, I promise to do so soon – trust me when I say it was the worst experience I have EVER had with an airline. Worst. Ever.
So now, after 16 hours on a flight with no TV sets (one per cabin, fuzzy) and no bar (you had to beg for a beer), I have been stuck in this Beijing waiting area (no food, water) for 2 1/2 hours with the crew saying ‘Shanghai weather is bad’ and giggling when asked ‘How long is the delay’ before saying ‘No one knows’.
Ugh.
For a year, I was paying more to fly Japanese airlines (’cause, to be honest, AA wasn’t a whole lot better than the Chinese-run) and I’m not quite sure why I ever stopped.
…and, oh yeah, Flickr is now completely blocked (even with the plug-ins that were previously circumventing the Great Firewall of China) as well.
Fuck.
Here’s Flickr’s response:
We are aware that images from Flickr are being blocked for users in China and definitely care very much about our friends who cannot access
pictures. Our technical staff has looked into this and determined it is not an issue from our end. It appears that the Chinese government is
restricting access to Flickr, although we have not received confirmation from them. We are checking periodically to see if the block is still in
place, but haven’t detected any change. We hope that it will be a temporary issue.
Fantastic.
And oh yeah, I lost a shoe.
Update (3 hours later)
So – they finally fed us (eggs and porridge) and an hour later took us all the way thru the airport, luggage claim and to check-in again, only for us to hear ‘wait for a moment’. 45 minutes after that, we were told that the new flight would not be going to Shanghai that evening and we were stuck here for the night – thank fuck I had friends in Beijing (well, Collin’s actually staying at mine in Shanghai, so got his keys) and that Sar gave me cash to change into USD for her or I would have been proper-screwed. On the cab ride home, I did have to remember the newest tattoo I got and what it stood for – sure, the delay sucked and I’d have to wait yet another night to see my girl, but hey – I have friends in another city that I can crash and drink with, I was lucky enough to have some cash on me and I did know my way around… despite all the bullshit, I can still say ‘Isn’t this exciting?’.
Update (17 hours later)
They checked us in, informed us that it was clear skies in Shanghai, we stood in line to board…and of course, ‘there’s a problem with the airplane – please stay seated and we will inform you when it’s corrected’.
Oh. Wow.
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