NEVER Flying CE Airlines Again

I was hoping to use the time on my first flight from Delhi to Shanghai to reflect on these last few weeks and prepare a blog post to share once I get WiFi in Shanghai. I wasn’t planning to have an enraging experience with China Eastern Airlines, leading me to this blog post instead. However, after such injustice, I have to share the story and help you, fellow Asia traveler, avoid this scenario ever happening to you. I apologize for the length, but it is important for you to understand the details in order to feel the anger I am feeling right now.

tl;dr: Smaller airlines are prone to have outdated information actually available online, and to have miscommunication among global counterparts.

Let me start from the beginning…

Around four-five weeks ago, I was starting to plan my luggage for this trip. My trip would be as follows: Toronto to New Delhi on KLM/Air France, and then New Delhi to Shanghai to Chongqing on CE Airlines. KLM/Air France clearly told me I would only be allowed one check-in (23kg), one carry-on, and a purse/laptop bag (total hand baggage = 12kg max). The CE website seemed to be a little misleading – I had some sort of feeling that my baggage allowance was not actually two check-ins (23kg/pc) and one carry-on (5kg).

To be sure, I called the CE customer care line, gave them my itinerary and clearly told them that, although I was calling from Canada, my flight was actually from DEL. They led me to the same section of the website and affirmed that I was, indeed, allowed two check-ins weighing 23kg/pc. They also told me to go to the “Ticket Verification” section of the website and I would be able to see my baggage allowance there – which also led to the same section that they just showed me.

Regardless, I left for Delhi abiding by the KLM policy. My dad had arranged himself an extra check-in for a small fee – the amount which, by the way, we later found out differs by the number of total bags you are at; i.e. first bag is 40 euros or around $55 USD, but the second bag is $200 USD (also misleading on the website, as we argued over the phone with Royal Dutch Airlines). My dad kept telling me before we left and through the first bit of the trip that I should have arranged a second bag for myself too, but I kept arguing that I wanted to keep it as light as possible and this would prove beneficial for me later in, traveling around, and coming back from China.

Eventually, towards the tail end of the trip, I decided I might as well make my big backpack a proper check-in since I’m allowed it anyway on CE. I still had my doubts and checked the website again. I had my sister and my friend do their research and triple/quadruple check as well. It all led to the same result. So I filled up both check-ins, coming to a total of 38kg. I did not shop at all in India and any gifts that I was given are with my dad, who will take them back to Canada with me. I came to India with that self-understanding that I was there to travel, not to shop, and my bags were full as it was. I was actually worried about my handbag as it was coming to about 7kg – and that was after hanging my camera and biggest lens around my neck and casually slinging my laptop bag around my shoulder too.

To my complete dismay, the person at the counter for CE Airlines told me I am only allowed one check-in weighing a maximum of 20kg. He said the carry-on is fine and did not question the laptop bag or camera. Now, here I am, having just said goodbye to my dad for a good six months or so, leaving home and full of emotions. At first, I was shocked and thought he was joking. I pulled up the screenshot of the section that their customer care line showed me. I told him exactly what confirmation measures I had taken. He understood, and called his supervisor, Mona. She firmly stated that none of this was possible, that she has the “printout” that states the baggage allowance policies, that Shanghai and Beijing never allow two pieces or 23kg on any airline, that she has been working for CE for eight years and has never seen this, and that the call centre is a third party.

Now, this is where I started to lose it. I explained to her exactly what I had told her colleague. I told her that she may have some printout but this is the result of the information available to me, just a regular passenger, and it should not matter how their customer care line is set up. She didn’t seem to understand that to me, the folks at the counter and those on the other end of the customer care line are representing the same company – a company with which I will never do business again. If they have miscommunication among themselves, that is their problem. They should not dissatisfy a customer who was just following the guidelines given to her by the company itself.

I got tired of repeating myself and asked her what is the next step here. She said to leave things here and I lost it again – look at my Visa, I’m going to China to study for six months, check it out for yourself. I prepared according to your policies as available to me and now you are leaving a girl who is leaving her home for six months helpless an hour before her flight. Still, nothing.

The only solution left with such constraints wherein my dad could not even come inside the airport and hear/see all this and help me out, was for me to pay for the extra 18kg. The total for that? About $457 CAD. Just shy of the ticket cost itself. I asked if I could use her phone to call my dad who was waiting outside for me to come to the window to wave and let him know I am going into security. I called him, explained to him the situation, and he told me to have Mona come up to the airport doors and talk to him. She was talking to someone so I said okay and hung up. Then, she says she is not able to do that. I said, okay, tell security to let him come in for a few minutes. No, still not able to do that. Okay, give me back your phone then; I’ll call him and you can talk to him on the phone. No, you are my passenger, not him, I will not talk to him. Okay, well the credit card is his so until you talk to him, I’m sitting here. Alright, here’s my phone.

My dad argued with her for a few minutes on the phone. They came to the conclusion that she would allow me to put 3 more kgs work of stuff from my check-ins into my carry-on, then knock off another 3kgs from the overage and have me pay for that. I asked her to do 12kg and she said no – but I still got away with 12kg and ended up having to pay for 9kg overage, totaling around $258 CAD.

Now, have you ever looked at your credit card machine receipts? They always have *****1234 with the last four digits of your credit card. It is a security feature to avoid fraud from the person at the other side of the counter. So how would you react after you’ve paid, received the receipt that accurately has the credit card’s last four digits, put away your credit card, and then get asked for the card back to write out the full credit card number for the purpose of the accounting department on a separate handwritten receipt? I was straightforward and questioned the purpose and security of this “requirement.” I told them to write the last four digits, just like every other credit card receipt in the world and they refused to let me go further until I gave them the credit card number. Perhaps it’s an Indian airport thing – but that is what makes me even more skeptical of the security of such a procedure.

I was happily taking my one check-in and carry-on until I had the thought that it might be more comfortable to distribute the same weight between two bags instead, especially since I have to change airports in Shanghai. (Edit: I successfully made the transfer and the check-in went smoothly, not a single question about the weight or carry-ons). It was their own miscommunication to me of the actual allowances that made me change my luggage plans.

I may be overreacting to Mona’s behaviour with her company’s policies, as she is just doing her job. However, what enrages me is the lack of integrity in this situation and her lack of responsibility as a supervisor to resolve such customer service issues. If there is one thing I learned from working at Enterprise, it is to put yourself in the customer’s shoes when answering any question or fighting any fires. Here, the customer is just another butt on a seat; it is not a source of positive or negative referrals, of gained or lost business. Perhaps the sheer population of this area allows the business to overlook such situations and say “on to the next one.” I’m not sure. What are your thoughts? What would you have done at any stage along this story? What would you have done if you were Mona? Any and all honest feedback is greatly appreciated.

Originally posted on www.gunjanmarwah.com