Momo’s Stem-Cell Blog

Coming to China: A Tale of Two Airlines (2/18/08)

February 21st, 2008

After months of eager anticipation and planning, we boarded a United Airline flight from Tampa in the early morning hours on Feb 17, 2008 for Momo’s treatment at the Stem Cell Transplantation Center at Zhejiang Xiaoshan Hospital near Hangzhou, China. The treatment, accommodation, and other arrangements were handled by Beike Biotech, a private company based in Shenzhen Province, China and supported by a consortium of leading regional research universities including Beijing University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Beike has been doing stem-cell treatment for people with spinal cord and brain injuries for two years now, but started treating optic nerve atrophy patients only recently.

Our flight to Chicago O’Hare Airport was uneventful. It was a bright chilly morning in Chicago with temperature in the teens (Fahrenheit), but little did we know that our nightmare at O’Hare had just started.

Upon landing at Chicago, we were informed that the United flight to Beijing was delayed until the next day due to non-availability of crew. I have experienced airline delays due to bad weather, engine malfunction, and such, but never because the crew did not show up for work! In fact, the customer service person said quite nonchalantly that such delays happen once or twice every week on the Beijing flight. We were given hotel and meal vouchers, but being stranded in the sub-freezing Chicago cold with a hyperactive child with limited mobility was challenging and stressful, to say the least. With no assistance from the airline or the airport, it took us several hours to navigate through the terminals, gates, and ground transportation to reach our hotel. To top it all, the United customer disservice staff rebooked our connections to Hangzhou on a flight that would have departed Beijing before we reached there, then booked us on the right flight but forgot to issue tickets, and finally got us the tickets at the third attempt. Then it took them 40 minutes to get a wheelchair for Momo, apparently because the wheelchair assistant was waiting at the wrong place. What a display of incompetency!

The following morning, our 8:00 am flight to Beijing departed at 10:20 am because of water dripping from a door that was not shut properly. The airline gave us a written apology for the 21-hour delay with a promise of sending us a “friendship kit”, which I hope is not a bag of body lotions, baby oils, and hair gels. The crew was asked to be “extra nice” to passengers, which they were. And finally, after 13 hours of flying in cramped economy-class seats, over the North Pole at -72 F, we finally arrived at Beijing. A wheelchair was waiting for Momo at the gate when we landed, and we were whisked through immigration, baggage claim, customs, ticket counter (where we were issued new tickets and baggage tags), security, and to our departure gate, all in under an hour. Now that’s probably why Asian airlines consistently rate higher than most North American or European airlines in customer service and satisfaction.

Beijing airport was not only huge, but also incredibly clean and with all the modern amenities expected of a large international airport. There were over 30 immigration counters to check travel documents for incoming international passengers, which I had seen at Newark, JFK, and other US gateway airports, but not in other Asian airports. Surprisingly, all airport employees seemed to be in their 20’s or 30’s. Is this age discrimination? Further, all airport employees, from our wheelchair assistant to the elevator staff, were dressed impeccably in formal dark blue suits. I’m not sure if this is the real thing or window dressing for the upcoming Beijing Olympics, but it was very professional and refreshing!

Our connection flight to Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport was a 2-hour flight on Air China, which reached the destination 15 minutes ahead of schedule at 5 pm local time. Johnny, an international liaison for Beike and a vivacious and friendly young guy who spoke broken English, was waiting to pick us up at Hangzhou airport and drive us to the hospital. I converted some foreign exchange at the airport (1 USD = 7.15 RMB), and I was so relieved to find that the denomination of each bill was in English. I had earlier noticed during our Beijing flight that even when they showed the text in the Chinese language, the numeric quantities (e.g., temperature, time to destination, etc.) were always in English. I guess that there are no numbers in the Chinese language. Also, interestingly, unlike US bills bearing pictures of various US presidents, all Chinese bills of all denominations bore the picture of only one person: Mao Zedong, the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China.

We then drove 25 minutes from the airport to the hospital in downtown Xiaoshan, through a multi-lane highway lined with old mid-rise apartment buildings painted in an assortment of colors, zigzagging between traffic and jumping a couple of red lights. It seems that people in China have little regard for traffic rules than in most Western countries. We passed billboards bearing the picture of Yao Ming, the NBA superstar, who is apparently a huge Chinese icon. However, what impressed me most was that a clock on each traffic signs counting down to zero, showing exactly how much time is left until the green light turns yellow or red, or vice versa. I suppose this helps drivers plan accordingly and avoid accidents since there are many pedestrians on the streets and crossing busy intersections. Maybe this is one feature our urban planners can borrow from China.

By the time we checked in, our 24-hour journey has taken over 48 hours, and we were exhausted and completely famished. Johnny escorted us to our room on the 20^th floor and gave us our schedule for the next day – it was a busy schedule full of tests, evaluations, and such. We unpacked, took showers, and immediately went to bed. Our long journey to China was finally over. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

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