Top 5 Recent Crazy Airplane Antics in China

Top 5 Recent Crazy Airplane Antics in China
Jun 19, 2013 By Kate Williams , eChinacities.com

Earlier this year, Boeing delivered its 1,000th airplane to China, making it the first country outside of the United States to pass this threshold. As you may know, along with this tremendous growth in China’s air transport industry has come a number of unpleasant on-board occurrences and unruly passengers. These types of stories are readily available in the media, but for those who missed them, continue reading for a recap of China’s in-flight craziness. I now invite you to sit back, relax, and enjoy these tales from a mile high.

1) Objectifying the flight attendants 
In China and throughout Asia, becoming a flight attendant is serious business. Pageant-style competitions are held to recruit new classes of stewardesses and airlines base their brand image on young, attractive flight attendants (although according to CNN, the jury is still out on whether a sexy flight crew actually sells more seats). If you have “X” or “O” shaped legs, you can kiss a career with China Southern Airlines goodbye – and the same goes if you have visible scars or a less-than-ideal weight-to-height ratio. Spring Airlines flight attendants are so lucky, they get to wear this cosplay-inspired uniform on a regular basis...fun!

This difference in aesthetics between the East and West has received its fair share of criticism, but I’m quite confident there are a number of people who have nary a bad thing to say about these beauties strutting their stuff up and down the aisle while serving soda pops and mystery meat. But it’s not all glitz and glamour as one might think. Apparently some of these twenty-somethings weren’t aware that their job duties would involve scrubbing toilets – a Global Times articlereported that attrition is a serious issue in the industry. And an interesting sidenote: Flight attendants make the most undesirable marriage candidate for Chinese men, while Chinese women prefer not to marry farmers, according to a survey done by a Chinese research organization.

2) Trying to bring weird things on flights
I recall watching a woman at a New York City airport have a real hissy fit when a security official told her that her bottle of water wasn’t allowed past the security checkpoint. After witnessing this, I thought I had experienced some real weirdness. But no, apparently a man in Guangzhou was caught carrying his own severed leg through customs so that he could bring it back to his hometown and keep all his body parts accounted for the day he gets buried.

Another lovely story out of Guangzhou, a woman was stopped for a bottle of liquid in her carry-on which apparently contained tadpoles that she quickly tried to hide in her mouth to keep them from being confiscated. Rounding out this collection is a man who started an illegal immigration operation by using special aircraft compartments to smuggle Chinese into the United States. The operation illegally transported 33 Fujian citizens to the US, but was later broken up and the leader and his crew were sentenced to prison terms. Next time you get annoyed with your travel companions and their excessive luggage, just be thankful there aren’t any severed limbs on board.

3) Inappropriate behavior
There is one thing Chinese citizens aren’t taking lightly and that’s the inappropriate airplane behavior demonstrated by some of their fellow countrymen. Netizens were quick to speak out after a boy’s parents allowed him to defecate in the airplane’s aisle instead of using one of the three bathrooms on board. And apparently this boy wasn’t the only one who couldn’t keep his pants up. An airport in Jiangxi province was closed after a naked man snuck on to the apron of the airport after an apparent fight with family members. I bet the folks on the 15 delayed flights weren’t happy campers.

While some take to streaking out of anger, others let out their aggression in a more destructive sense. A mining official from Yunnan was suspended after throwing a temper tantrum at Kunming Airport after he missed his flight for the second time in one day. In the next story, a military official tried to delay a Hong Kong-bound flight in order to buy cigarettes for her boss. Of course her request was denied and the strong-willed flight attendant’s reaction was commended by netizens after a post went up online. I wonder what the military officer’s boss said?

4) A ridiculous amount of bomb threats
“Sir you can’t say bomb on an airplane”. Apparently some people in China didn’t take this “Meet the Parents” advice to heart. As seen in the media, there is no shortage of plane bomb threats taking place in China these days. On May 17, 2013, Shanghai airports received 11 separate bomb threats, bringing the nation’s total for the month up to a whopping 16 threats and costing airlines at least 1 million RMB.

Let’s take a look at a woman who went to extreme measures to avoid missing a flight home to visit her sick mother. After getting caught in traffic on the way to the Guangzhou airport and realizing she wouldn’t make it in time, she phoned the airport informing them that there was a bomb on the plane. Well, she was later arrested at the airport and faces a light one year prison term – she was apparently very cooperative during the proceedings.

Next up, the story of a young woman who caught a last-minute flight to Shenzhen after a fight with her boyfriend. The only problem was, her boyfriend wasn’t going to let her get away that easily. In an attempt to keep the plane grounded, he phoned the airport security office and falsely reported that his girlfriend was carrying explosives. That must have been one heck of a dispute. We can just be thankful that none of these threats amounted to anything.

5) Disregard for the general ‘rules of flying’
If you’ve been on any domestic flight around China or traveled by plane in the company of some of the local type, you’ve probably observed an astonishing disregard for the ‘rules of the air’. For example, keeping your seatbelt fastened until the plane has arrived safely at the gate and the captain has turned off the seatbelt sign. Well in China, some travelers practically spring out of their seats the moment the wheels hit the asphalt, or concrete, whatever it is. And how about the cell phone rules; how often have you seen people using them during takeoff and/or landing? These rules, bothersome as they might be, are something that most people wouldn’t dare disobey. Yet many travelers here just blatantly ignore them. Maybe they’re impatient? Eager to have a cig? I don’t know, but we’ve all seen it. Although these situations generally don’t make it to the media, Chinese netizens are quick to react to these badly behaved travelers. They are speaking out and even engaging with the Civil Aviation Administration through social networking sites. One post mentioned a particularly interesting situation on a flight to Shenzhen, when a man reportedly opened the emergency exit door during takeoff procedures because he needed some fresh air. Why does that not surprise me one bit?

Going forward, making progress

As mentioned above, many Chinese citizens have zero tolerance for these types of behaviors on airplanes. They are ready and willing to speak out in hopes that changes will be made and airplane behavior will gradually improve. As Malcom Gladwell discusses in his work on social epidemics, these little things can make a big difference and proactive individuals can bring about great sociological change. Of course it’s important to note that China isn’t alone when it comes to crazy airplane antics – I’ve read a fair share of stories in the American media of passengers requiring restraint after behaving inappropriately. Although it might feel like these types of situations are witnessed more here than elsewhere, who really knows? The good news is that China’s aviation industry is rapidly developing, creating hope for the future.
 

Related links
Boy Defaces Egyptian Relic: The Latest in a Series of Badly Behaved Chinese Tourists
10 Ridiculous Reports Published by Chinese Media Recently
Prepared for Take Off: What’s Behind China’s Airport Boom?

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Keywords: airplane antics in China

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