http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/256681
Posted Jun 28, 2008 by Owen Weldon

Passengers sleep on plane after flight cancelled


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The flight was boarded by passengers at 8 p.m. and they were flying from Beijing to the eastern coastal city of Yantai. After three hours of sitting on the tarmac the airline than decided to cancel the flight.

A newspaper reported that most of the 200 passengers disembarked to complete flight transfer procedures but a woman by the name of Mrs. Shi, one of the 52 passengers who stayed behind, refused to get off.

Mrs. Shi told airline workers that she and her colleagues were on a tight schedule and that they had to get to Yantai for a meeting and they could not accept the cancellation of the flight.

The airline finally caved in around 3 a.m. and told the remaining passengers that they could take a 7:30 a.m. flight to Yantai.

The report said that the people aboard spent about 12 hours on the plane and that the crew continued to serve them, offering food and drinks. Chinese media often reports stories of badly behaved passengers refusing to get off of delayed planes or running amok at airports following delays. Chinese media also criticises airlines for not giving enough information to passengers about delays.

Billions of dollars has been spent by the government and airlines in an effort to upgrade airports and buying new aircraft but service standard have struggled to keep up.

As the summer Olympics approaches, Beijing is worried about poor service at airports and on airlines.

I understand why people would get mad about delays but I mean if the weather is bad than passengers should know that there is a chance of a flight being delayed or cancel. I mean would these people drive in a hurricane or blizzard? Probably not, so why should a plane be any different.