You would have thought that you’ll be looked after if you have a domestic flight connecting to an international flight on the same PNR, especially if it’s the same airline and more so if you're a business class passenger. But that wasn’t the case with China Eastern.
It all started yesterday in Dalian, China. We were booked on a flight in the afternoon from DLC-PVG then PVG-SYD. But this morning we woke up to thick fog/smog/pollution, whatever you want to call it. Concerned, the concierge checked our flight for us. Apparently the fight was still operating but it was delayed by 2 hours. That was ok. If we missed our 20:20 PVG-SYD flight, there was still a 23:55 fight.
When we got to the airport later in the afternoon, it was chaos. We found out that no flights had been leaving Dalian due to the weather. After waiting around for a couple of hours, the announcement finally came that all flights had been cancelled and no flights were departing Dalian that day. We were also informed that due to the cancellation being weather related, the airline didn’t take any responsibility for accommodating us overnight. So we booked a hotel ourselves and got a hotel transfer arranged. While waiting for the car to arrive, and on advice from CWT, we joined the scrum at the China Eastern ticketing desk to make sure we were booked on flights home. After some pushing and shoving, we were told to arrive for the same flight the next day.
The next day when we arrived at the airport (again) and tried to check in, we were told that we were booked on a later flight to PVG and connecting to the later 23:55 flight to SYD. This flight to PVG was then delayed by 3 hours which meant sitting around at the airport (thank god we had lounge access) for 6 and a half hours. It also meant that our connection in PVG would be tight.
Arriving into PVG (45 minutes before the scheduled departure of our flight to SYD), we quickly found the transfer desk to get boarding passes for the onward flight, but of course, it was closed. So we headed to the exit and straight to the check in area to find that check-in had closed. But luckily there were a couple of agents still there making arrangements for some passengers who didn’t make it onto their flight to SIN due to an overbooked flight. The agent first arranged for our bags to be come out as it was originally checked all the way through to SYD. He then gave us the number of their reservations office and told us to give them a call in the morning :shock:. Ummm, don’t think so. We insisted on knowing which fights we were moved to before we left and that China Eastern had the responsibility of proving us with accommodation as it was their inbound flight delay that caused us to miss the flight. We were then advised that all flights to SYD the next day on China Eastern in J was fully booked and then there was silence... We were waiting for him to continue with something like ‘so we have…’ but nothing. Breaking the awkward silence, we suggested that maybe they put us on another carrier. So now we’re on Air China PVG-SYD and we’re staying at the dingy airport hotel in PVG where my room stinks of cigarette smoke.
Being business class passengers, I would have thought that we would be looked after much better than this. Communication was poor, they showed no initiative and didn't really seem to care. The only reason we have tickets for Air China in our hot little hands (they initially told us to just show up at the Air China check in counters) and a bed to sleep in (though smelly) was due to our insistence and standing our ground that it was the the responsibility of China Eastern to look after us.
But on a positive note, this means that I can do a trip report for Air China in J
