How brash Chinese air passengers are taking the power struggle with America to new heights
Wenfang Tang says with bias and differing expectations about service already making air travel fraught, the rising number of entitled nouveau riche Chinese travellers adds to resentment on both sides
“Please don’t worry about making a mistake on your custom form, you can simply cross it out and put the correction next to it. We are not in China anymore and we can be a little different,” the flight attendant announced to the passengers on a United Airlines flight from Beijing to Chicago.
I looked around and saw that the majority of the passengers were Chinese. The flight attendant must be thinking that she was doing them a favour by liberating them from China’s autocratic control. I felt a little uneasy because I didn’t expect to hear such stereotypical political commentary about China on a commercial aircraft filled with Chinese nationals.
What if an Air China flight attendant were to announce: “We are about to arrive in Chicago. Please take off and hide your jewellery because people there get robbed and even shot all the time?”
The number of Chinese visiting the US has skyrocketed in recent years, yet the relationship between the two countries is by no means improving. The problem is partially rooted in the cultural differences and misperceptions on both sides. As a Chinese American who was born and grew up in China but has lived in the United States for many years, I have been witness to the constant clash of cultures during my frequent trips between the two countries.
When Chinese passengers, spoiled by the Asian service culture, board an aircraft of a US airliner and expect the same service, the crew surely see them as rude and condescending
The problem of the tactless political rhetoric becomes even harder to deal with when the Chinese passengers have to face the seemingly unfriendly American flight attendants. For example, they will not help you with luggage if the overhead compartment is full. “You are on your own,” I heard one flight attendant once tell a Chinese passenger who was asking for help.
