On January 14th I flew from Baotou in Inner Mongolia to Beijing. That night I stayed in the Beijing Aulympic Airportel and next day flew to Hong Kong where I connected with a Qantas flight travelling to Brisbane Australia.
The three and a half hour flight from Beijing was quite pleasant, and I spent a reasonable amount of time talking with 'Vaibhav' an Indian who was returning home to India after a month of working in Beijing.
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| Photo curtesy of Captain Sandy Stewart |
In Hong Kong I transferred to Qantas Flight 98, which left Hong Kong at 22.45 local time on it's 8.5 hour trip to Brisbane.
I have traveled Qantas countless times, but never have I witnessed the 'extra security precautions' that were taken in Hong Kong. We were all made to line up single file and be 'inspected'. We had to produce our passports to the first inspector, and then 'some people' (not specifically mentioning ethnic persons of the Muslim persuasion) were quizzed by a second officer.
Once we had our boarding passes checked, we headed down the ramp to board the plane. Then we discovered that we were to undergo individual hand luggage inspection. Having security officers looking through your unmentionables is bad enough without having everyone else having a gander as well.
I realise that security is necessary, and that perhaps the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation had received a 'tip off' about some specific matter, but I gotta tell you folks, all that 'strange' security was a little unnerving.
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| R.P. BenDedek in Yancheng |
With that out of the way however, we passengers settled down for our flight. Now as I have said, I have traveled Qantas many times, and I always enjoy talking to the staff. I am one of those passengers who simply cannot sleep on a plane, not even in the fancy type of business class section (you know - the one almost like 1st class).
Additionally my legs cramp and swell, and so I am constantly walking up and down the aisles to keep the blood circulating. I therefore always appreciate the friendliness of Qantas staff.
It can't be easy for them having to get from the galley past those queuing for the washrooms and those of us blocking the aisles.
I can honestly say that I have N-E-V-E-R encountered a surly, impolite or obnoxious Qantas staff member and simply don't understand why it is that from time to time, Qantas staff get a bad rep in the press. They are always very friendly, and except for this specific trip, have always been female.
I was to discover on this trip however, that most of the attendants were male. There was John, Craig, Terrance Chin, Lucas, and there was also a Brendan, but I can't read my notes so I can't remember if that Brendan was the pilot Capt. Heslin, or another person. There were two female crew as well, but I only got one name, that of Gabrielle.
You might well ask if I usually go around taking down the names of the crew. Well actually I don't, but the flight started with such a laugh, and the crew were such characters that I did in fact write down their names.
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| R.P. BenDedek at Rainbow Beach |
So how did the flight start with a laugh? Well - it was like this.
As we were taxiing out to the tarmac for take off, an announcement was made, and it went like this:
- 'Ladies and Gentlemen, we are just going to dim the lights a little to enhance the appearance of the Cabin Crew'.
Everyone on the plane burst out laughing at the announcement and so I figure that it was just the right thing to say after scaring us all out of our wits with the extra precautionary security checks. I might also add that dimming the lights didn't enhance the cabin crew's appearances.
Throughout the flight I made frequent trips to the galley area, and at various times talked with different staff members. They all appeared to get on very well together. During one brief discussion with an attendant, the subject of Google's troubles with the Chinese government was raised. I mentioned the troubles I had had with my own website, and that led to mentioning that I am a contributing columnist for a 'newspaper'.
As a joke, that attendant told another that I was a journalist with 'The Australian' newspaper, and that I was doing a story on Qantas Flight Attendants. I joined in by saying that within a few days my article and comments on the staff would be posted and everyone would know what the standard of service was like. The joke was kept up for the rest of the trip. I never did work out if anyone bought that story, but in the final analysis, although not published in 'The Australian', this is that article.
Congratulations to Qantas for a job well done.
Footnote:
We arrived at Brisbane Airport 10 minutes early and as a result had to sit and wait to disembark - and that is when I finally fell asleep. Go Figure!
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| R.P. BenDedek on Yancheng TV. |
R.P. BenDedek
Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com
Thanks to Sandy Stewart for the photograph of the Qantas Plane.
Other articles related to this trip include:
Articles by Captain Sandy Stewart
R.P.BenDedek is the pseudonym of the Author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' (www kingscalendar com), and is a guest columnist at Magic City Morning Star News. An Australian, he is currently teaching Conversational English in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China.
Stories from China at Magic City
"The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the (Essene) Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls.
