Arrival time in Dalian, China
I am meeting some people at Dalian and, having offered to pick me up at the airport, they asked me for my arrival time. On my ticket I only have the departure time so I can only estimate when I will arrive. Now when I was buying the ticket I did asked them about my arrival time but was only told that the flight would take about an hour. Not very precise, is it? Usually you would expect to get a printout with your flight schedule but I only got the ticket itself which says nothing about arrival. Seems kind of symbolic -- the airline only wants you to be out of here, yet they do not guarantee that you will actually arrive. Kind of like the post office.
In any case, I am trying to figure out what to do. The first idea is to use the Internet and find out the schedule. A quick Google search shows that there is no easily accessible time table for Southern Airlines. Very well, I will try then the airline's home page and try to figure it out there. I take my time with the complex interface and enter the flight number, date, departure date, number of passengers travelling, etc. Good, pressing the "Search for flights button" makes my computer hang for about 5 minutes. After this, I get a "Page cannot be displayed" error. Hmm...
I decide to use the English interface and try my luck there. Now I have two different buttons I can choose from: "Online reservation" and "Flight schedules." I go for "Flight schedules" because that is what I am interested in. Again, after a few minutes, my screen resolves to the same "Page cannot be displayed" screen. So I go back and try to the "Online reservation" button. Here at the end of the mandatory wait I just get an empty white page.
What's next? I don't despair but look up the airline’s phone number and make a call. A lady with a sleepy voice picks up the receiver. "Wei?" I began to explain that I want to ask about the flight on the 25th to Dalian. "You want to buy an airplane ticket?" asks the lady. No, I just want to ask the arrival time, I already have a ticket. "Everyone keeps calling me about tickets," says she in despair. "I don't know why and how someone listed my phone number somewhere but I now people keep calling me about tickets."
I appologize and hang up. She is having it much worse than I am, having her home number listed as the phone number for a major Chinese airline. So I go back to the home page and check the phone number. No mistake, this is the number listed as the HOTLINE for the airline. I don't know how many calls she gets a day but judging from her feeble it is a significant number. She was not sleepy, after all, just depressed.
What can I do? I do another Google search using my flight number and the word "Dalian" and come across the "Airport Memorabilia" page of the Dalian Airport.
Great, the airport's home page must have my flight! I am somewhat puzzled by the menu choices (Sales of Passenger and Cargo - Oh my God, they are selling the passengers! And the cargo!) but after some deliberation choose the "General situation" tab, since nothing else fits my purpose.
I get to some introduction page with a "Comparison Table of National Top 15 Civil Airports with the Business in 2004." There is nowhere to go from here. I go back to Google and find a page on the same website with the Domestic Arrival List. Bingo!
I quickly locate my flight and see that it departs at 09:55, whereas my ticket says it departs at 10:20. I get a bit annoyed here, having spent the last 40 minutes trying to find out when I arrive, only being able to find that I don't even know when I am leaving.
I scroll down to the bottom of the page to see if there is a date on it, knowing that this page could easily be 4 years old. There is no date, only a copyright claim "Dalian International Airport. All rights reserved." Good for you, guys! Keep up the good work!
Clicking on the only link of this page, which says HOME, takes me to a page with lots of other links. But I notice a section which says "Importance Telephone." Not being amuzed by the Chinglish anymore, I decide to call them. But after realizing that this would be a long distance call for which I would have to ask my hotel to grant my phone line long distance privileges, which would also mean that I would have to go down to the reception and pay a deposit, I change my mind and try to find another solution.
... This is a long story by now so let’s get to the end of it. Eventually, I use the Chinese language version of the Dalian Airport website and find an Arrivals table where my flight is listed with the same departure time as on my ticket. I also learn that today's flight is 40 minutes late but at least I know when it is supposed to arrive, even if I will actually land at a different time.
In any case, I am trying to figure out what to do. The first idea is to use the Internet and find out the schedule. A quick Google search shows that there is no easily accessible time table for Southern Airlines. Very well, I will try then the airline's home page and try to figure it out there. I take my time with the complex interface and enter the flight number, date, departure date, number of passengers travelling, etc. Good, pressing the "Search for flights button" makes my computer hang for about 5 minutes. After this, I get a "Page cannot be displayed" error. Hmm...
I decide to use the English interface and try my luck there. Now I have two different buttons I can choose from: "Online reservation" and "Flight schedules." I go for "Flight schedules" because that is what I am interested in. Again, after a few minutes, my screen resolves to the same "Page cannot be displayed" screen. So I go back and try to the "Online reservation" button. Here at the end of the mandatory wait I just get an empty white page.
What's next? I don't despair but look up the airline’s phone number and make a call. A lady with a sleepy voice picks up the receiver. "Wei?" I began to explain that I want to ask about the flight on the 25th to Dalian. "You want to buy an airplane ticket?" asks the lady. No, I just want to ask the arrival time, I already have a ticket. "Everyone keeps calling me about tickets," says she in despair. "I don't know why and how someone listed my phone number somewhere but I now people keep calling me about tickets."
I appologize and hang up. She is having it much worse than I am, having her home number listed as the phone number for a major Chinese airline. So I go back to the home page and check the phone number. No mistake, this is the number listed as the HOTLINE for the airline. I don't know how many calls she gets a day but judging from her feeble it is a significant number. She was not sleepy, after all, just depressed.
What can I do? I do another Google search using my flight number and the word "Dalian" and come across the "Airport Memorabilia" page of the Dalian Airport.
Great, the airport's home page must have my flight! I am somewhat puzzled by the menu choices (Sales of Passenger and Cargo - Oh my God, they are selling the passengers! And the cargo!) but after some deliberation choose the "General situation" tab, since nothing else fits my purpose.
I get to some introduction page with a "Comparison Table of National Top 15 Civil Airports with the Business in 2004." There is nowhere to go from here. I go back to Google and find a page on the same website with the Domestic Arrival List. Bingo!
I quickly locate my flight and see that it departs at 09:55, whereas my ticket says it departs at 10:20. I get a bit annoyed here, having spent the last 40 minutes trying to find out when I arrive, only being able to find that I don't even know when I am leaving.
I scroll down to the bottom of the page to see if there is a date on it, knowing that this page could easily be 4 years old. There is no date, only a copyright claim "Dalian International Airport. All rights reserved." Good for you, guys! Keep up the good work!
Clicking on the only link of this page, which says HOME, takes me to a page with lots of other links. But I notice a section which says "Importance Telephone." Not being amuzed by the Chinglish anymore, I decide to call them. But after realizing that this would be a long distance call for which I would have to ask my hotel to grant my phone line long distance privileges, which would also mean that I would have to go down to the reception and pay a deposit, I change my mind and try to find another solution.
... This is a long story by now so let’s get to the end of it. Eventually, I use the Chinese language version of the Dalian Airport website and find an Arrivals table where my flight is listed with the same departure time as on my ticket. I also learn that today's flight is 40 minutes late but at least I know when it is supposed to arrive, even if I will actually land at a different time.
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