rkkwan's 12-flight trip to HK/China

5/21 MU2386 SZX-CSX-LHW A320 B-2375
Horrible weather across much of China that day, and many flights were delayed out of Shenzhen (SZX), including ours, which was scheduled to depart at 1pm. Worst, they didn't even bother give us a revised time. There's free-wifi at SZX, and I found out that the inbound flight had no departing time into SZX either.

By around 2:15p, right after we've gone to 7-Eleven to get some sandwiches, a most extraordinary thing happened - A few workers wheeled out 100+ lunch boxes to the gate! Ha, that'd never happen in the U.S. And it's actually pretty tasty food catered by the Chinese restaurant at SZX, with fresh vegetables and everything; and not the regular airline food. We presented our boarding pass which they tore a corner off to get one of the lunch boxes, plus a bottle of water and a can of Sprite. How civilized!

Well, at 3p, suddenly, a guy in a suit but no particular uniform, showed up at the gate and told all of us going to Changsha and Lanzhou to follow him. We walked through the concourse, out the check-in lobby, and onto a 330 Airport Bus. 10 minutes later, we were given rooms to rest at the Orient Sunseed Hotel in Fuyong, behind the airport.

The phone suddenly rang at around 6p, telling us dinner was ready! Woohoo... Down to the hotel restaurant for a rice dish with pork and melons. And then suddenly, they told us to grab all the things and we'd head to the airport.

Eventually, our flight took off from SZX at 8:19p and arrived Lanzhou at 12:30a after an hour layover at Changsha. Only about 7 hours late. But free food and free hotel room due to weather!

rk, next time you're in the rc room, ask the ua person for a wifi card that you can use, i use it all the time, as i'm not a rc member. i hope you at least got the free drink coupon(2). even if you don't use it, give it to a friend who does, or bring it to a fodors gtg, and donate it as a prize.

kuranosuke - I definitely asked, and they said NO for a wifi card. They really treated some that get into the club (like with Priority Pass) as 2nd class citizen.

5/29 ZH9089 XIY-SZX A320 B-6297
Pretty uneventful trip except for the stupid set up at the Xi'an airport. If you look at the check-in counters, they're numbered something like 1, 2, 3,...,23. Then suddenly, there are 8 counters all numbered "35", and then 48 and 49. Our Shenzhen Airlines flight uses "35", but there's nobody working at the counter that labels "Shenzhen Airlines". Turned out we could use any of the "35"s... Go figure...

6/5 CZ3463 CAN-CKG-LXA A319 B-6209
First time I used the new Baiyuan Airport in Guangzhou. Flew out of the old one many times in the 80's, but never since. New airport is modern and its layout makes sense. One of the nicer airports in China I've been to.

Predictably, our flight to Tibet gets special treatment through security, with its own separate lane. Much more thorough than the regular checkpoints, while they need to jot down info and make photocopies of my passport and Tibet permit.

But what's stupid is that after that "special" security, we were dropped back at the regular gate areas. No one ever checked ID again; and same thing at Chongqing. So, what's the point? If the Dalai Lama wants to get into Tibet, all he needs to do is buy a separate plane ticket from Guangzhou (or Chongqing) that day, and then switch the boarding pass with me after getting through security. The whole separate check is basically pointless.

Well, LXA is one of the highest civilian airports in the world, at 11,710ft/3,570m. I was checking the barometer on my Casio watch through the flight, and found that cabin pressure was normal through most of the flight, at around 7,000ft equivalent. Then , starting around 20 minutes from touchdown, instead of increasing cabin pressure in normal flights, cabin pressure was decreased in several steps, until it matched the outside pressure at touchdown.

I noticed that the airlines that serve LXA - Air China and China Southern - basically just turn the plane around with the same crew. With such short layovers, the crew won't have altitude problem, and they don't need to be acclimated.

Until about 3 years ago, LXA is about 100km from Lhasa. But since 2 new bridges and a new tunnel were completed, the distance was cut to about 60km. About the same as Lanzhou, which I visited just 2 weeks prior. Those were two of the Chinese airports furthest from city centers.

Anyways, outside the terminal, a Tibetian hold a sign with my English name on it. I think that's the very first time in my life I was picked up at an airport this way.

6/27 CZ3214 XNN-XIY-SZX A319 B-6209
Uneventful flights other than being about an hour late, again due to bad weather across China. XNN is the latest "new" airport for me. In fact, this long trip to HK and China has been very "productive" for my list, as I added 6 - new airports in Guangzhou (CAN), Changsha (CSX) and Chongqing (CKG); plus new-for-me cities Xi'an (XIY), Lhasa (LXA) and Xining (XNN).

7/1 HKG The Wing
I could have used my Priority Pass and got into the mediocre Plaza Premium lounge at HKG, but my CX Gold cousin was also flying that morning, so he comped me into The Wing. Unfortunately, that holiday morning it seems like all of CX's elites are escaping from the city, and the noodle bar at The Wing was like a "Cha Charn Ting" in Hong Kong during lunch. They ran out of everything, including chopsticks. I couldn't get my "Ju Cheong Fun" either.

Fortunately, the crowd soon disappear, and the lounge is pretty comfortable, though some of the furniture and the shower room faucets are starting to look worn. Yes, I did get a nice shower there.

7/1 UA862 HKG-SFO B744 N173UA
Uneventful flight. Audio channels working this time, but no Ch9 on this flight.

7/1 SFO
Lots of Asian tour groups arriving on several flights, all around 9am. US Citizen/resident line was long but moved swiftly. The visitors' lines looked brutal - a lot of them also got sent to customs/agriculture, for whatever reason.

I went to the same RCC in Concourse G again for some breakfast. It was even more crowded then 6 weeks ago. Not worth the trouble.

7/1 UA883 SFO-PHX A320 N456UA
I was routed through PHX because it was a cheap ticket booked on USAirways. No big deal. I was so tired that I couldn't remember anything about this flight either. I even missed the drink service.

7/1 PHX USAirways Club T4, Concourse B
Nice and quiet at this club at around 1pm. Complimentary wifi from T-Mobile through USAirways. Really appreciate the space for rest, after having to transit landside from T2 to T4, and reclear security, with temperature around 104F outside.

7/1 US275 PHX IAH B733 N315AW
Delayed for almost an hour due to weather in Houston. This 23-year old 737-300 is so old that it actually still has operating ashtrays in the armrests. What a classic. And its A/C couldn't catch up with the 110F PHX sun while we were grounded for the delay. But otherwise, uneventful flight back to Houston.

How funny...I was on UA883 on July 1, too, and in the RCC beforehand (but the one on the domestic side, which was also really crowded).

ms_go - My Priority Pass could only get me into the RCC in Concourse G (or CO and AS clubs elsewhere at SFO). Otherwise, I would have tried the other locations; plus I could have gone through the security at Terminal 3 rather than at T4 with all those departing for Asia.

Love the report rk, and waiting for pictures. Good ones...

If you were at the gate right before boarding 883, then you probably heard that horrid agent boarding the Minneapolis flight at the next gate over. It was so bad that the agent at our gate was shushing her and shaking his head. Other than that, I don't remember much about that flight either; channel 9 was off, we got in about 20-30 minutes early, and it was HOT in Phoenix.

I did not realize that you were back in Houston. Permanent or temporary?

JaneB - temporarily permanent. I'm not in L.A. anymore.

RK, guess you're taking full advantage of CO's entry into Star?

Actually, I've been doing the same thing & have been pleasantly surprised at UA . . . Sorry your experience was subpar. I'll still walk before I take US, thanks.

Am also surprised at the RCC in SFO. I was in the RCC at LAX back in December (bought a day pass) & was given a complimentary WiFi card. Only complaint I had was with the old bags at the desk . . . They were quite surly & probably need to retire.

I flew on LAN from Madrid to Frankfurt and they had ashtrays on their Airbus A340. It looked like a new plane. Are they still making planes with ashtrays?

I think you should have flown on Cathay Pacific.

At London Heathrow at the new Terminal 5 airport, they said to cut down on noise, they would only announce the Final Boarding Call. What a great idea.