On the morning of November 1, when my parents set off for Beijing Capital International Airport for a flight of less than three hours to Guangzhou, little did they know they were about to face more than 30 hours of hell.
Both in their late 60s, they were stranded in the cold airport waiting area, then boarded the aircraft, then were kicked off the jet back into the cold waiting area. When they finally took off, it was the afternoon of the next day, last Monday.
Like tens of thousands of passengers that day, they became hapless victims of the massive man-made chaos triggered by a huge man-made snowstorm. Ironically, highly respected Conde Nast Traveller magazine had just named Beijing's one of the best 15 airports in the world for its layout and flight information, among other things.
My parents' horrible experience says a lot about the mainland's crisis-management mechanism, lack of co-ordination among government departments and utter failure to put into practice the government's much trumpeted motto of 'putting the people first'. The cash-rich mainland may have the best facilities, including gleaming modern airports and new jumbo jets, but its soft power, as projected in services, is still way off.
When my parents arrived at the airport more than an hour before the 11am scheduled take-off of Air China flight 1315, the snow was already heavy. But the airline's ground staff mentioned nothing about a potential delay and checked them in.
Lacking the wisdom of frequent fliers, they then began a long wait in a cold waiting area. They were given no food or drink, contrary to state media reports of such a service provided to delayed passengers. And they were stonewalled when seeking flight information.
At around 5pm, they were told their flight had been cancelled, and they were bumped to another flight. Then they were taken by bus to a Boeing 747 along with more than 300 other passengers. From 6pm to 2am, they sat in the plane before being told the flight had been cancelled and they had to leave. Confused, hungry and angry, my parents, along with other passengers, engaged in intensive arguments with the airline ground staff, who refused to say when the next flight would be available and would not take them to a hotel.