| | I don't know what's haps lately with all the anger and all the Koreans, but the journey continues. Min and I spent 5 days in Seoul for Chinese New Year. It was a really nice and relaxing time. Lots of places were closed for the holiday and the city much emptier than usual, but we liked it that way. We spent an inordinate amount of time in some of Seoul's omnipresent fancy coffee shops, chillaxin' with coffee and (in my case) booze. We also ate tons of delicious food (including one trip to Outback!) and checked out some sites around Seoul. A highlight was our trip to the DMZ. As a Korean, Min can't go to the Joint Security Area without a special visa, but we visited other DMZ sites, like a tunnel that the North Koreans had dug almost all the way to South Korea before the South Koreans discovered it. The whole situation between North and South is just insane, and seems even more so when visiting in person. It really is a shame. I blame the Japanese :) Somehow though our delightful trip was overshadowed by the crazy goings on at the airport on our way back. We arrived at the airport at about 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon for a 6:20 flight with Air China. We expected smooth sailing as the flight between Seoul and Beijing is only an hour and half. Upon arrival at the airport, we were told by the airline that all flights to Beijing were currently grounded because of heavy fog in Beijing. Fair enough. They told us to check back at the counter at 8pm, so we went to eat some food and kill some time. We checked back at 8 with the other passengers and were told we could check in a for a 10:30pm flight. I, being American and used to insane flight delays and poor airline customer service, didn't hold my breath but checked in with the others. They gave us some meal vouchers also, so of course Min and I ate again after going through security check-in. Then we waited at the gate. 10:30 came and went and no word. The crowd started getting restless, but I didn't notice much at this point because I was in the zone with "My Year of Meats" (thanks Amy!). 12:30 rolled around and Air China finally informed us there would be no flight tonight. The passengers surrounded the agent desk in a circle 20 deep and demanded hotel rooms for the night. One man, whom Min and I then referred to as WAB, demanded that the airline provide warm water and blankets to us while we waited, to which Min responded, "What are we, in Afghanistan?" I was suprised that the passengers managed to get hotel rooms because my experience in the US is that airlines won't provide hotel rooms for weather delays. The airline finally got buses to us at the airport around 1:30am and drove seemingly forever to a Korean "love hotel." We arrived at the love hotel around 2:30am and got to bed around 3:30. At 9am, we were woken by a phone call from Air China telling us the bus would pick us up at 9:30. We scrambled to get ready and the bus took us back to the airport. It was 10:30am and the Air China staff told us they didn't know what was going on with our flight and to check back at the counter at 12:30. Annoying, but Min and I left to once again eat airport food. We came back to the check-in counter a little before 12:30 to find that most of the passengers had never left and were slowly forming an angry mob. It started with a few individuals screaming at a few airline employees, but soon escalated into a roiling mob. The leaders of the pack then proceeded to jump on the check-in counters to better rally the passengers and better threaten the airline employees. Fist fights were threatened, lighters were requested to burn the mother down, attempts to block every check-in counter for every airline were made, cries of "uppah" rang throughout the airport (uppah is apparently loosely quivalent to "turn this place upside down!"). I was certain that many arrests would be made any moment, after all the military police were called in (as well as a few news crews), but to my surprise the crowd kept roiling and no action was taken by the police. I guess Koreans have more control over their cops than Americans. Min and I stayed close to the roilers for couple of hours, but then decided to leave to eat again (the airline handed out more meal coupons in an attempt to disband the crowd - I think Min and I are the only ones who were lured away!) When we returned from yet another meal, the crowd was still in the same state. The check-in counters were blocked, so people for Thursday flights were now being delayed because of our flight and were getting pissed and forming their own bands of discontent. Our flight was by this time demanding compensation for every further hour of delay (one man cried out that we should receive 1 million USD for each extra hour we were kept waiting), and demanding that Air China sign a passenger-drafted contract to this end. This deadlock continued for hours, followed by a storming of the Air China business office in the back annals of the airport by hundreds of passengers. Dozens of people crammed into the office and demanded 2 things: 1) monetary compensation for our delay, with a signed contract guaranteeing it, and 2) a 90 degree apology from the Air China manager (meaning an apology accompanied by a bow from the waist of 90 degrees). After literally screaming at the manager for over an hour, they managed to get a signed contract and a 90 degree apology. Everyone then returned to the check-in counter and finally checked in for a 10:30pm flight. I thought we'd never get our money from the airline, but in fact we did get it at the gate. The refund was $220 per passenger - and the entire round trip ticket was only about $300! Amazing, a bit frightening, a bit empowering, and completely true. Apparently Koreans have a history of this kind of behavior. They demand top-notch customer service at all times (perhaps even times when their demands are riduclous). It was kind of insane, and at times I thought the passengers were being completely ridiculous as our delays were mostly due to weather, but it was refreshing to be in a country where consumers have that level of power and won't be beaten by the cops for using it. Below are some pics of the fun: 
One of the leaders of the passengers rallies the crowd in protest. 
Some MPs guard one of the main targets - an Air China employee (in the end, he's the one who made sure we got our money, apologized profusely, gave every passenger his cell phone number, etc.). 
Storming the Air China office. |
