The Chinese take flight

Due to having a greater amount of Yuan than Dollars, it seemed more logical to buy my plane ticket home for Christmas on AirChina, a member of the Star Alliance. What does this mean? I can pay in Chinese money, get a (slightly) cheaper ticket, and get United Mileage points.

After purchasing my ticket, my friend Stacey returned from New York for Thanksgiving on AirChina and shared a few "interesting" stories from her experience. One of the more interesting being that the ticketing agents would not seat the middle of the plane because they were afraid it would nosedive. As a result, the entire economy section was jammed into the last 30 rows with the middle/front of the plane completely empty. After take-off Stacey, a 100-lb. 5'2" woman, moved to the middle...but had to move back for landing, due - of course - to her weight. Stacey's reaction to the experience was one that tried to balance feelings of frustration (nosedive??, who is running this airline?) versus fear (nosedive!!?!, what kind of plane is this?).

This was the scenario I had in mind when I arrived early to Beijing's beautiful T3 terminal last Wednesday. Checking in wasn't much of an issue (besides being constantly rammed in the back of the ankles by the cart of an eager patron waiting in line behind me). When the agent asked me if I wanted aisle or window, I replied that I didn't care, but would prefer a row that didn't have other people in it yet. (The ultimate is to have at least one seat next to you so you can attempt to lay down and sleep.) I assumed that with this information, the agent would place me in an empty row with four seats and hope for the best.

After going through security (and having my sterling silver hair accessory taken away as a possible martial arts weapon) I made my way to the gate. We boarded without much incident and as usual, I was intentionally one of the last to board. Upon arriving at my seat, I realized that the agent had placed me in the very rear of the plane in one of four rows on the entire aircraft with only two seats. Needless to say the other seat was filled. To try and describe the feeling of panic at this realization is difficult. The prospect of 13.5 sleepless hours crammed next to someone who wants to practice their English, smells, and will likely spit on my foot is daunting. (Are these sweeping stereotypes? Yes. Have they happened to me the majority of times on a Trans-Pacific flight? Yes. The simultaneous realization that I would finish the only book I had brought within 3 hours and then be bored out of my mind watching Chinese movies was unbearable. I did an about-face and made my way back towards the front of the plane where (by the grace of God) I found a four-seat row with a foreign woman sitting on the far end. To my great fortune, she was a "sitting-sleeper", my favorite variety of seat-mate. I was able to stretch across three seats and catch many a "Z" in the intervals between the lights and music coming fully on for video-led group stretching to avoid soreness from sitting. I guess nothing's perfect...