is BA cut out for China

This morning I can SEE this plane, but it will not be cleared for departure until 17:35 (11 hrs. from when we arrived today).

While I thank them for the hotel, British Air was really quite awful managing the delay. Almost no communication from BA-- the staff look beleaguered and I feel for them some, but the passengers look worse.

The conjecture is that the very thin BA staff (8 people? ).... has zippo yank in Shanghai. The Brits seem to be put last in line for just about everything. Including De-Icing which was the final nail in the coffin yesterday.

200 some people have put up with a lot of waiting and almost no communication. There wasn't a BA person to be found when questions came up. Think of the 50 odd pissed off first and business class travelers who pay huge money to ride up front. By the looks of it many won’t fly BA again, or at least not without trying to book someone else.

Im fine with handling delays and all that-- travel is often bumpy and inconvenient-- but in the semi-final anaysis (we're still not leaving) this crowd is getting angrier and angrier and no one from BA seems aware... BA should learn how to do business in Shanghai, or they should close down the meager operation they offer.

Live from Shanghai

Weather has quickly stopped being the story. the story is people.

stranded people.
I'm with tens of thousands now trying to find aircraft to leave china.


There are 170 million trying to find a train/car/bus etc. to get home. The systems that usually manage this have been swamped.

Moreover it seems like this is acceptable. No public accountability i've seen. TV news doesn't even show the mess, I read about it from the new york times.

But I can see it in living color now. This morning the commute to the airport was 2 -1/2 hrs. We were stuck in monster traffic jams as people inched towards home or the airport or the train station.

The airport is jammed with people. (and PuDong is a pretty crap airport in the grand scheme....)

This said, and despite the length of the trip ahead, i've got it easy compared to most everyone else trying to get from pt. A to B today.

Snow in Shanghai

Millions are put out. Millions saved for months to afford a train ticket home for new year, and have been left at the station.

I took some pleasant pictures before I heard of the horror show that is the transportation system (though I can't upload pictures -- for some reason. )

My flight was canceled.
Now i'm one of the Millions.

But at least i'm in an airport and reasonably sure that if I wait long enough i'll be able to get home.

China's been undone by a bit of snow, go figure.