China Law Blog

I have another complaint about Beijing Airport - the worse than normal airplane food that comes out of its catering service. Last year I frequently travelled via air to Nanjing and I couldn't eat the food that came out of Beijing. I remember that the food's packaging indicated that the Beijing Airport catering service was responsible for this travesty.

Xiao Zhu --

Thanks for checking in, but seeing as how we are talking about airplane food, I have trouble mustering much sympathy. I'm trying to remember if the food I've eaten coming out of Beijing is any worse than what I've eaten coming out of any Chinese airport and I cannot say that it is. Then again, I cannot say that I've ever eaten any food on a Chinese plane as I generally strive to avoid that.

I actually had a great experience flying from Beijing to Dalian. The terminal was clean, employees were friendly and spoke English. Really, I couldn't find a thing to complain about.

So, I'm pretty sure it was some other airport than the main one. This was my first week in China (ever) so I was still a bit disoriented.

Chris --

Dalian is actually a decent terminal, though I very nearly missed a flight out of there about five years ago. I was sent back (way back) to pay an airport tax and then had to hustle back to my gate. I sat down at my gate and then started realizing that there were not enough people hanging around. I asked what was up and learned that my gate had been changed. Ran to the plane, barely made it. Not sure to this day how the change was announced, but I was given to understand it was only over the loudspeaker in Chinese. They never changed it on any monitor.

It is certainly not out of the realm of possibility to be batting 1000 (1 for 1) out of Beijing. Chalk it up to luck as it almost certainly was Beijing Capital into and out of which you flew.

Maybe this problem is more acute in Beijing, but it's not consistent with my overall experience in China.

I've flown in and out of lots of airports in China including Beijing, Yantai, Shanghai, Haikou, Harbin, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'An, Urumqi, and Lhasa and, although some flights were delayed, it wasn't anything worse than what I've experienced in the States.

The most striking difference feature of air travel in China is the each-man-for-himself mentality at boarding.

I have to confess that I almost always fly first class in China. The cost difference is usually surprisingly minimal (I think it is an extra $15 or so from Qingdao to Shanghai) and the benefits, including avoiding the "every man for himself" boarding is well worth it.

Seems to me just about every domestic flight I've ever had out of Shanghai has left at least an hour late.

Being an optimist and living 3 miles from PEK, I can remember the significant improvement in service that came when Terminal 2 opened and they had about 4 months to work the kinks out. Of course, that was 8 years and a lot of growth ago.

So I'm once again hopeful that when the monsterous Terminal 3 opens next year (effectively increasing the size of the airport's passenger handling ability by 120%, including the new gates and parking stands), things will get considerably better well in time for the Olympics.

BTW, I think PEK is SUPERIOR to Shanghai Hongqiao by almost any measure.

And for international flights, PEK is great on departures and pretty good on arrivals.

David --

Thanks for checking in. I too am an optomist, on just about everything but air travel. Here's where Shanghai tops PEK: renegade cabbies and ease of finding a cab. I am always assaulted by cabbies IN PEK and that does not happen in Shanghai. Also, the line for cabs is always so much longer at PEK than Shanghai and (maybe I'm just dreaming on this) but the cabs themselves seem to be in better condition in Shanghai also.

I've noticed that in the last year or so there has been an increase in the number of times at Beijing airport that the plane parks in a remote place and you need to be bussed to the terminal.

It's my belief that because they know T3 will be opening within 18 months, they are already increasing the number of flights in anticipation. This means that at the moment they are really working beyond capacity, using more busses, and having more queues for take-off and landing.

As already mentioned, this squeeze will be released as soon as T3 is open. Also does anyone know when the third runway will become operational? Presumably this can be quicker than the completion of the terminal building.

Martin --

Thanks for checking in.

Nothing worse than a 10-12 hour flight and then having to take a bus. But I cannot recall ever coming in to Beijing from anywhere other than Shanghai, so I have not had to suffer through that. Actually, there is something worse: landing in Seoul, Korea, Inchon Airport, after a 12 hour flight, and then having to get into a bus to go to Seoul's domestic airport, Kimpo, for another flight. I did that once, but never again. I am convinced that took a year off my life.

I have no idea on when the new runway will become operational. Anyone know?

Came across an article on the possible reasons as to why the pudong airport shut down on Friday afternoon and also mentioned why there are always delays in the (profitable) airports of China- according to this shanghaiist article, several reasons including without limitation to that there are not enough jet ways, but the interesting part is there seems a "tuff war" between the airports and the Chinese air force where the Chinese air force wants to grab its share of moneys from the airports by way of "flying jets around disrupting everything".

Surprise surprise, if this is true. Oh I shouldn't be too surprised- isn't the army the most corrupt and bureaucratic among all the powers these days?

For the aritlce said above, the link is here: http://www.shanghaiist.com/archives/2006/12/02/did_greed_and_p.php

Wei --

Thanks for checking in and thanks for referring us to the Shanghaiist post. Their explanation makes some sense and it serves as a good reminder that we must always be mindful of different branches/factions of China's government (not that this is really any different than governments elsewhere).

The old joke goes: A plane is flying over Macau and has electrical issues and asks what time it is. The tower replies that they did not catch the name of the airlines or the transponder data and went on: "If you are Singapore Airlines it is 1400 hours; if you are United Airlines it is 2 O'Clock; if you are China Southern the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 2; and if you are Dragon Air it is Tuesday....

Lon --

Boy are my arms tired.