State-Owned Retardedness
The following is an actual phone conversation that took place with state-owned Hainan Airlines today:
Me: "Hello, I need to reschedule my flight from Kunming to Ningbo since the flight is canceled due to the typhoon in Ningbo."
Operator: "Okay, let me check on this for you."
(Five minutes later)
Operator: "Who told you the flight is canceled?"
Me: "Nobody told me, but there is a typhoon in Ningbo, they have just evacuated the city, you can't fly there today, its too dangerous."
Operator: "But the flight is not canceled."
Me: "So we are going to fly into a typhoon? That would be suicide."
Operator: "Yes, I know."
Me: "So the flight is canceled, right?"
Operator: "Please wait for a while."
(Five minutes later)
Operator: "Sir, the flight has not been canceled, you should go to the airport."
Me: "Well, I don't want to die and I also don't want to waste my time."
Operator: "Yes. You should go to the airport because the flight is not canceled."
Me: "But they will just cancel the flight, you can't fly into a typhoon, right? It's too dangerous, right?"
Operator: "Yes, I think its too dangerous."
Me: "Okay, so they will have to cancel the flight and I will be wasting my time at the airport right?
Operator: "Yes, I know you will waste your time."
Me: "Okay, so I would like to change my reservation."
Operator: "But you can't do this until they cancel the flight."
Me: "Well, when will they cancel the flight? It is supposed to leave in 3 hours."
Operator: "You can check back one hour before the flight leaves."
Me: "But I don't want to go to the airport when I know the flight will be canceled. There is a typhoon you know.
Operator: "Who told you there is a typhoon?"
Me: "I just read online that they evacuated half the city this morning."
(Silence on the line)
Me: "Okay, how much will it cost to change my flight to Wednesday?"
(Operator looks some things up)
Operator: "Ninety RMB"
Me: "Okay, please change my flight to Wednesday"
Operator: "You have to go to the airport to change your flight."
Me: "So what is it that you do exactly?"
Operator: "Excuse me?"
Me: "Thank you for your time, I better go to the airport now."
Operator: "Okay, have a safe journey sir."
Labels: china, my favorite posts
posted by Ryan Petersen @ 4:39 PM
6 Comments
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6 Comments:
Wow..that is actually pretty funny (and unbelievable). I'm surprised you didn't cuss the guy out.
It never pays to get angry with an airline agent, no matter how frustrated you get. The nicer you are, the better the chance they will bend the rules to help you. As soon as you lose control, you will be totally screwed...that's one of the best lessons I've learned from my mom.
Yet countless Western businessperson insist on believing that it is better to do business SOEs, without realizing that times have changed in China. I have ten of these stories.
Ugh!
Doing business with state-owned enteprises would certainly have its advantages (i.e., major guanxi) but I do wish there was an alternative in terms of flying...Apparently there is a new privately owned airlines in China called Okay Air. If they can offer decent customer service, they should be able to wipe these state-run firms off the map...
I really enjoyed looking at your site, I found it very helpful indeed, keep up the good work.
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it is so chinese.
and also very funny.
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