Beijingers Behaving Bizarrely (at 40,000 feet)

Chinese air passengers have hit severe turbulence in recent months over their cabin manners. Air rage by Communist party officials captured on video; the beating of flight attendants reported on Weibo; a pair of sozzled businessmen bagging mini bottles of booze from the Air France trolley as they disembarked – “they’re free, innit (hic)!”

But is it really such a big deal? Anecdotally, this flyer has witnessed the use of mobile phones seconds before takeoff, the scramble for luggage seconds after landing, or the watching of movies on laptops without headphones. It’s hardly Con-Air; more ‘Disgusted at 40,000 Feet’, with, one suspects, a dab of snobbery toward  the Chinese by those more seasoned flying nations. New money, eh?

Actually, this brazen disregard for air-etiquette can have its awesome side, as witnessed by Bespoke Beijing on a recent British Airways flight from Beijing to London.

Next to the rearmost WCs of the 747, past ranks of headphoned-faces on grumpy, squeezed shoulders, a crowd had gathered around the tail-side emergency exit. Oh here we go. Heart attack? Woman giving birth? A brawl?

Hell no. A few passengers had draped the flat shelf of the emergency exit with a BA blanket, boiled up their instant noodles, erected impromtu seating and were engaged in a jovial game of cards. As anyone who’s strolled through Beijing’s hutongs has surely witnessed, a crowd had gathered to observe proceedings. Here was a group of Chinese passengers, linked only by flight number, refusing to let the fact that they were seven miles above Siberia get in the way of their fun.

The cabin crew didn’t mind. “Well, as long as they’re not bothering anyone,” reasoned Jill, a veteran British Airways stewardess. So next time you hear a furious tirade on the manners of Chinese flyers, pray, don’t be too quick to judge. More often than not it’s the actions of the privileged minority, probably on the upper deck. It’s a bit like Titanic, come to think of it. Down in Economy, folks are making their own entertainment, and making the best of  a long-haul economy flight. Hutong Airlines, if you will. Smiles all round.

 

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About the author: Tom O’Malley is Propaganda Secretary at Bespoke Beijing. A lifestyle journalist, guidebook author, glutton and bon vivant, Tom is a tireless crusader for fine food, hospitality and tourist experiences in China’s capital.