Thunderstorms in Shanghai on Friday caused massive flight delays and more than 100 cancellations in the city's two major airports, Hongqiao and Pudong, and as you might expect, tempers boiled over. We don't know how many dozens of arguments broke out in terminals around the city, and how many of those turned into fights, but at least one was caught on camera. It involved -- yes, once again -- China Eastern Airlines.
"My name is Daniel Morgan Perry, born March 12, 1978."
On United Airlines Flight 116 from Hong Kong to Newark on Monday, Daniel Morgan Perry, born March 12, 1978, demanded the plane be diverted to Canada, according to passengers, claiming his life was in danger. Also, something about poison and the CIA.
This is first-class: on a plane stuck on the Beijing airport tarmac for three hours yesterday, a quartet of musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestras took out their instruments, gathered in the aisle, and serenaded passengers. The music starts at the 1:11 mark in the above.
Fun fact: three of the stories we’ve posted in the past two days have been from Shenzhen. It’s where Alicia and I happened to be this weekend (for Ultimate Frisbee), and on Sunday we attempted to fly back.
Attempted and succeeded — but barely. A separate Shenzhen-to-Beijing airline ended up being delayed until 2 am, while our flight was only set back two hours, to 11 pm. (To the best of my knowledge, it wasn’t because of bomb threats.)
It’s 8:40 pm on a Friday. We’re lined up at the China Eastern Airlines counter a full ninety minutes before takeoff, and I have everything I need for a great, just-quit-work weekend: passport, check; cleats, check; Frisbee, check; baijiu-Fanta mix, check. But just then, China decides to remind me where I am. Ahead of us in line, an argument begins to stew, froth, and bubble. The verbal combatants are an elderly couple, possibly from the countryside, and two overdressed, overly made-up, and apparently overconfident young women.
The initial dispute is over whether a luggage cart bumped into an ankle, but it gets ugly fast: one of the girls taunts the old man's ability to speak standard Mandarin Chinese. Airline employees break up the verbal sparring as quickly as they can, but the tone for the evening has been set. At the counter, a friendly but frazzled attendant tells me my flight doesn't yet have a gate, and I already have an idea of what I'm in for.
These are the worst type of stories. The. Worst. What we have is a foreigner (laowai) and Chinese person arguing at Sanya Airport in Hainan province. (What is it with Sanya? We saw another foreigner and Chinese person tussle earlier.) The foreigner, wearing a fannypack, accuses the Chinese of cursing and "beating" him. The Chinese guy, presumably the one filming, posts this nationalistic tripe on Youku (a video that's been viewed 225,000 times in the last 11 hours):
Ever wondered how safe your valuables are when you’re onboard an international flight? There might be reason to be careful, especially if you’re traveling in southeast Asia – gangs from mainland China are supposedly targeting unsuspecting airline passengers. What first brought this to our attention was a story reposted by Lost Laowai. The original, which... Read more »
China’s air travel bubble is bringing out its fair share of violent characters, many with the burning desire to take out their frustration on airport personnel. January saw riots at Kunming’s new Changshui Airport, and a month later, CPPCC delegate Yan Linkun lost his cool. So what’s new in airport violence? See: Guangzhou gate agent in the fetal position.
We know the ship sailed on this one before the weekend, but here's a second look at CPPCC official Yan Linkun's epic meltdown at Kunming Changshu International Airport. This video carries sound and is brought to us via the always interesting blog Language Log. This is the discussion they had with the above as a prompt:
Huh. A man tried to check in a bag containing a real human leg, Guangzhou Daily reported on Tuesday. Unfortunately for him, the leg was spotted in the X-ray scan, and was seized by airport security. “There are restrictions for transporting human organs by air,” reads the second part of the GZ Daily headline.
