Stephen

Ramblings of a seriously bored person in Hainan, China

Beijing Airport Scam

It's been awhile, I know. I thought I would post a recent event that occurred to some friends of mine. I hope this hasn't happened to any of you so let this be a warning.

A couple of friends of mine recently returned to Hainan from the States. They flew into Beijing's new airport. No problem. Picked up their luggage and then proceeded to the domestic section of the terminal. No problem. Arrived at Air China's check in desk, got their e-ticket. No problem.

They gave them the luggage and now we have a problem - THE SCAM!!!!!!

Let me set this up so you'll have a better idea of what the scam is. There were two men at the desk that are, or should I say, supposed to be, Air China employees. One was working behind the desk, the other was standing in front. Both of these have uniforms on though they are different on color. Now when my friends handed the man behind the counter their luggage, he muttered in broken English that they were overweight. He then handed their tickets to the man standing in front of the desk. That man, in broken English, tried to explain to them that they would have to pay 1,000 RMB for the excess weight. They discussed this for awhile, but refused to pay. The guy behind the desk did take their luggage to be placed on the plane. Then the man standing in front of the desk said they needed to go to the overweight office. They take off walking and they pass that office and head for the customs sections. When they reach that point, the man said, "See, I took care of it for you. Now pay me the weight charge." Took care of what was the reply and my friend reach out and lifted up a loosely pinned name tag. The name tag was the Beijing Garden Hotel! Needless to say, he didn't get any money. He even tried to get them to pay a tip for walking them to the Customs Gate! What arrogance!!!!

Apparently, these two guys were working together. One Air China employee and one hotel (friend) guy were working together to rip off foreigners. Now it has come to my attention that this sort of thing has happened to other teachers that have come to Hainan.

We called the airport to report them, but as usual, complaints go no where in China.

With the Olympic Games coming to China, I can see a lot of people getting ripped off and the gov't. doing nothing about it.

If this has happened to you, let me know. If you know of someone, let me know.

But make it known, there are scams in Beijing's Airport and nothing is being done. Be careful and warn your friends if they come to visit you!!!!!!!!

posted by: stephenthegreat at 21:14 | link | comments (2) |
china, hainan, haikou city, teaching english