Chinese Airline Scams Are Standard Practice

My uncle went to China on a business trip.  Before leaving the US, all the bookings, hotel and airline tickets, were done and paid for.

Upon arriving, things were okay.  But when he was trying to take a connecting flight from Xiamen to Hong Kong, he was told that all the rest of his tickets were cancelled.  Needless to say, he was shocked.  When asked what option was left, he was told to buy a very expensive ticket right there and then. 

Obviously, he did it because he had to make the meeting in HK  When he arrived, he called us and told us about the situation.  We called our travel agency and inquire about this. 

According to them, everything was fine.  Nothing was cancelled. 

Apparently, this is a scam that is run by the airlines in China and a practice that is sanctioned.  It's standard practice and I'm beginning to think, after some googling, that it is not just isolated to their airline industry. 

I thought I just share this with you.  I like to think that ordinary Chinese people are good people but my faith in mind set has wavered over the years. In doing business with China, both public and private settings and dealing with ordinary citizens, well, let's just say, I've yet to meet Chinese there who did not have an agenda or looked for ways to change agreements just to have an advantage over you. 

Think my opinions are bigoted?  I'm ashamed to have such thoughts but when I told my Chinese friends, ones who grew up with in the US, they told me they've had personal and business experiences that were far worse than what we went through.  And their parents grew up there!

Having written this post, I feel that I've vented enough and feel better.  I think I'll stick with my faith that ordinary Chinese people are good folks and that we just have had unfortunate meetings to attract the unsavory elements of that society 

Back to the airline scams, or any other that can occur in China, do your homework first.  Talk to folks.  Google.  After doing business with the Chinese for more than twenty years, new and interesting things like this still can pop up.