If there’s anything that we can all agree on, as a species, it’s that flight delays are the absolute worst. Who wants to be stuck in an airport for 12 hours, surrounded by thousands of cranky people, forced to watch CNN on mute and with your only sustenance coming from trail mix and M&Ms from the Hudson News?!
Travelers in Shanghai were forced to experience this horror firsthand on Monday, July 21, as more than 200 flights were cancelled by just midday at two major Shanghai airports, the Pudong International Airport, and the Hongqiao airport. And plenty more were delayed.
There was no warning to anyone that this would happen and no clue as to when flights would resume. The reason given for the delay: “High-frequency drills of another user.” What kind of explanation is that?
And it’s not just Shanghai. Twelve airports, including in Nanjing and Wuhan, are going to be randomly experiencing this kind of delay until mid-August. So who are these mysterious “other users”?
Well, no one knows. It’s almost like being in a totalitarian state where decisions are opaque and explanations don’t actually explain anything. It’s mostly assumed that these are military drills being conducted by the People’s Liberation Army.
However, the day before this latest shutdown, two men were arrested for talking about a similar shutdown on July 14 under a new law that serves up jail time for “spreading rumors online.” According to state-run Beijing Youth Daily, they had said that authorities were shutting down flights to capture a high-level official attempting to flee a corruption investigation. That’s actually pretty believable.
But if it is the military, that raises some questions. Why are the drills in the airspace above major cities? Why would the shutdown be so sudden and unannounced? And why do it while Chinese leader Xi Jinping just happens to be overseas on a foreign tour?
So what can you do if you find your flight randomly cancelled? Well, a flight attendants’ organization in China suggests: “Before you take a plane, please prepare enough food and water, and better bring your sleeping bag as well … If you want to take a plane, it will definitely be delayed. Better choose the high-speed train instead!”
That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.
For more China Uncensored, please visit youtube.com/ntdchinauncensored.
____________________
Related Articles:
• The Story Behind Air China Flight CA981 and Other Tales
• China Flight Turnaround Caused by Fleeing Communist Official, Says Source
