Two Totally Different Stories

There was a severe air traffic control on Sunday and my flight was delayed for three whole hours without any information. It reminded me of two stories totally different from each other.

My story is a bit complicated.

On the evening of the terrorist attack in Paris in November 2015, I was on a flight to Europe. My itinerary was Beijing – Frankfurt – Stockholm – Amsterdam – Paris – Marseille – London – Beijing, among which the Beijing – Frankfurt and London – Beijing legs were operated by Air China, Frankfurt – Stockholm by Lufthansa, Stockholm – Amsterdam by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Amsterdam – Paris – Marseille by Air France, and Marseille – London by British Airways. I was so lucky that the ticketing agent was a friend of mine and she managed to have all the flights, except the two by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and British Airways, on the same ticket through government procurement. This saved a lot of red tapes and also baggage issues. The reason for such a complicated trip was that I was supposed to meet a group of colleagues in Stockholm for business in Sweden and the Netherlands, and meet anther group in Paris after sending the first away in Amsterdam. The second group was visiting France and UK for a study tour.

Everything was quiet and peace when I boarded the plane, and I was especially happy that I managed to get a bulkhead seat with extra legroom. The spacious Boeing 777-300er landed in Frankfurt safely in the early morning although the flight was delayed for approximately 20 minutes. Since I did not have much time left for the connecting flight to Stockholm, I went through the EU boarder clearance and security check quickly, and stormed to the boarding gate. Finally I was there after an exhausting walk. There was still some time left, so I sat down, took out my phone and got connected to the airport wifi – messages stated to flood in.

“Are you all right, David? There’s explosion happening in Paris. Are you still going there?”

“Paris had a terrorist attack! Be safe!”

……

Messages from my friends warming me up in the chilling morning. I replied to them that everything was fine with me and it seemed Germany had little influence after that. Besides, my first stop was Stockholm and I would not be in Paris until next week. I also sent message to colleagues of the second group to confirm whether they would like to cancel their trip given the bad situation.

Things were going mostly smooth in Sweden and news about the attack was overwhelming the TV. I can still remember one interview on the street although I am not able to recall his full words now (he was speaking French and I was reading the subtitles in English). His point in brief was that they should go on with their peaceful life although the tragedy had happened in a sudden, and it would be exactly what the terrorists wanted if they would panic. I was moved really.

On the morning when we were leaving Stockholm for Amsterdam, news came from colleagues of the second group that they would like to postpone their trip and I should modify my itinerary to go back too after sending off the first group – there started the nightmare. I called my friend, the ticketing agent, to change my ticket. She was not able to change that on her own because the government procurement system did not allow her to do that. She called Air China for me and was told to visit the airline office for modification. She was very kind to go to the airline office for me.

I quickly canceled accommodation and transportation I have booked for the second group, packed up my luggage and left for the airport. My friend called again. She told me that the airline could change my ticket to Amsterdam – Paris – Beijing with the first flight leg operated by Air France, and I only needed to pay a couple of hundreds Chinese Yuan, but they need my organization to pay by cheque, corporate credit card or bank transfer. I asked my friend to put the airline agent on phone to ask if she could change my ticket immediately. I would ask a colleague to go to their office with a corporate credit card right away. She replied that their business hour was close to end, and I could ask my colleague to visit them the next day. I confirmed with her again that tickets would be still available at that time. She promised that she had reserved seat for me and I would not need to worry about that.

We arrived in Amsterdam in the afternoon. On our way to destination, the car had a flat tire on the express way. The driver tinkered for a while and was not helping. He called for help and the road patrol arrived first. I was quite surprised to see the Rijkswaterstaat sign on the car because it has been a close partner of my organization for quite a long time. Rescue quickly came too and we were able to continue our trip with their help. It was all dark when we arrived at our destination.

I was woken up by my phone in the midnight. My friend had a negotiation with the airline office and they agreed that I could pay them afterwards if my friend could leave as much cash as deposit. When my friend visited them again the next morning, she was told that my reservation had been canceled and there was no ticket left anymore! The last straw finally crushed me. I criticized her harshly and demanded that her manager to solve the issue for me because they could have fixed everything yesterday. Her manager agreed to ask for help for me from the airline. I waited in anxiety. About another two long hours later, my friend called again and the tickets had been changed to Amsterdam – Frankfurt – Beijing, with the first fight operated by Lufthansa, and I need to pay more than two thousand Chinese Yuan, for which she had already left as much cash at the airline office. I was barely able to sleep a bit more when it was dawn and my alarm went off. My colleague who was staying downstairs my room asked at breakfast: “Whom were you quarrelling with in the midnight, young man?”

When all things were finished and my colleagues sent off, I went to check in for my own flight. I was astonished to discover that I was on the stand-by list of that flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt! Air China sold me a stand-by ticket! I spent the next hour trying to fix things while I did not know whom I should go to because Air China told me I should go to Lufthansa who is operating the flight actually, and Lufthansa told me I should call Air China for help since they sold me the ticket …… I was so relieved when at the last minute of boarding, I was finally given a seat on the flight. I was so exhausted after finally boarding Air China’s Boeing 777-300er registered as B-2088 in the drizzle of Frankfurt.

My colleague was much luckier.

My colleague was supposed to go to Copenhagen for a meeting. Since the direct flight between Beijing and Copenhagen was operated by Scandinavian Airlines, she had to take a flight from Beijing to Frankfurt by Air China, and take a connecting flight to Copenhagen by Scandinavian Airlines, so as to comply with the rules of government procurement.

Everything went smooth as silk until she was told her father-in-law passed away and she had to come back in advance for the funeral. Again it was the payment through corporate card/cheque/bank transfer issue, but she was lucky to be able to get help in time.

She went to the airport for leaving and found boarding postponed – a bird flew into the aircraft engine! Flight delay was announced time and again yet no sign was showing things were getting any better. She had to go to SAS staff for information because she could barely catch the second flight if this one was going to be delayed any further.

– Could you please let me know when is this flight leaving?

– I am extremely sorry but a bird is in the engine and our technicians are still working on that.

– Is there any further information? I really need to go to Frankfurt because my flight back to Beijing is leaving!

– You are going to Beijing, right?

– Yes!

– In this case, shall I put you on the direct flight to Beijing?

So she arrived ahead of her original schedule.