After planning dates and itineraries for the HKTDC tradefair in April 2011, the thing I was dreading most had to be done – planning the flights and internal trips in China. As part of the trip I decided to visit the shoe factory again – something I vowed never to do after my first trip there because of how bad the flights were!
Unfortunately the factory was located in the South Eastern part of China, which meant there was only one airline that took you directly there – China Southern Airlines! Last time I was at the factory, it was spring time and it was bloody hot! Being Australian with a Philippine – Taiwanese background, I am used to humidity and heat, but it was baking hot. This time around the weather was much more pleasant to my relief!
Image via Wikipedia
So I decided to take a Virgin Atlantic return flight as they had cheap deals and flew there on the way to London. I booked through www.bestflights.com, a site I have been using for years now as it gives you the cheapest flights with various airlines (Cathay Pacific would have been more expensive, Singapore or Malaysian was cheapest but very inconvenient with stopovers).
From there I flew to the factory, a small city with a small airport. Although a bustling and busy city, their airport had not kept up with the progress. The last times I flew China Southern, they were:
- a few hours late so I nearly missed my Sydney connection in Guangzhou,
- and another flight was cancelled so the half a dozen passengers had to wait for the next one!
There was also the option of rail, but it would take half a day as opposed to the hour flight with China Southern, so decided to risk it as it was a very tight itinerary
Thank god this flight and my other internal trips worked out well! So 1 out of 4 flights I took with this airline was actually on time! Not a great track record though!
I did end up chatting to the tall, stylish gay designer I was sitting next to at the departure gate, and surprisingly he said he had not had many problems with this airline
hmmm I must have all the bad luck!
mich
www.chinelasbymichelle.com
