Cool heads must prevail despite the frustrations of air travel
Some travellers and expatriates can be the bane of their country's image abroad. Think of the ugly American, the title of a book and later a 1960s movie starring Marlon Brando about Americans in Southeast Asia.
Some travellers and expatriates can be the bane of their country's image abroad. Think of the ugly American, the title of a book and later a 1960s movie starring Marlon Brando about Americans in Southeast Asia. It became a pejorative term used to refer to the loud and ostentatious type of visitor who made compatriots cringe. Now China is getting a different kind of taste of what it is like, thanks to smartphone images and social media coverage of uncivilised and dangerous incidents on international and domestic flights.
In one of the latest, passengers on a China Eastern Airlines flight from Kunming in Yunnan province to Beijing opened three emergency exits "to get fresh air" just moments before take-off after becoming irritated at delays caused by snow. Bad weather had already caused a three-hour delay to the first leg of the flight, from Dhaka in Bangladesh. As a result, some passengers initially refused to board the Beijing-bound flight, and became unruly and abusive before opening the exits.
Last month, a Nanjing-bound flight turned back to Bangkok after four passengers made a scene over seating, scalding a flight attendant with hot water from instant noodles. Days later, a passenger on a Xiamen Air flight from Hangzhou to Chengdu opened a door shortly before take-off to "get some fresh air", and there was a brawl on a Hong Kong-bound flight from Chongqing over a crying baby.
All of these incidents involved defiance of directions from flight and cabin crew and reckless disregard for the comfort and safety of fellow passengers.
They do nothing to calm jitters about aviation safety concerns following the loss of an AirAsia and two Malaysian airliners with hundreds of lives. And they tarnish the reputation of mainlanders generally, sparking calls from Beijing officials for more civilised behaviour. Long, fully booked flights and delays call for sensitivity and tolerance from passengers, and timely communications from airline staff about delays that put these values to the test.