Stop Complaining, China Tells Airline Passengers
Reuters | Dec. 22, 2006
The food's bad, the airport coffee costs too much, the in-flight service is terrible, the flight's delayed and your suitcase got destroyed in transit -- well, it's your fault for having unrealistic expectations.
China's civil aviation authority, seeking to head off an upsurge in consumer complaints about domestic air travel, this week issued a plea to long-suffering travellers to stop complaining so much.
"We hope to increase consumers' understanding about the special nature of the civil aviation industry, so that together we can create a cosier, more harmonious aviation travel environment," the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China said on its Web site.
"What must be stressed is that safety is at the root of airline travel, and on-board service revolves around this," it said.
"That is what restricts the type of food carried, as well as the fact that on-board food is frozen first for freshness then reheated, so naturally the flavour suffers," the statement added.
Chinese airline passengers have long got used to surly cabin crew, decrepit in-flight entertainment systems and mysterious delays where aircraft full of people are just left on the tarmac.
But passengers have fought back by refusing to leave aircraft until compensation is paid for late flights, storming runways in protest and breaking down locked doors when herded into lounges after unannounced diversions to remote airports.
The airlines counter that it is the passengers who are unruly and poorly educated about flying, adding they are spending billions of dollars on new aircraft and improving service, especially ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.