As planes land and glide across the tarmac to their berths, most passengers are only too glad to unhook their safety belts, grab their luggage and find the quickest way to deplane. But today, no one wants to get off. . . .

Remembering the situation that night at Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport, passenger Chen Fu-yong's gets agitated: "We could see passengers on other airlines being taken to hotels, but even after repeated requests, we were unable to find out exactly what was going on." When the hands of the clock pointed to midnight, Kai Tak closed down, and the passengers resigned themselves to spending an uncomfortable night in the airport.

Camping in the Airport

Seasonal fog can often last for three or four days. That night, it rolled in from the sea to blanket northern Taiwan, covering Chiang Kai-shek Airport in a dense shroud, completely socking in the airport.

China Airlines had six flights at Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport, all scheduled to fly to Taipei. Airline staff were as nervous as the passengers, knowing that if the planes failed to make it to Taipei, the entire airline schedule for the next day would also be hugely affected. But Mother Nature remained in an uncooperative mood.

That left seven or eight hundred passengers stranded in Kai Tak's waiting rooms. The earliest flight had been scheduled for 7:00, but the clock already showed midnight. The airline, waiting it out, still clung to a shred of hope, while the increasingly hopeless passengers became fretful and restless. The airport became quieter and quieter as the weather cooled in the early spring evening. The passengers thronged around the service personnel, clamoring all at once.

Businessman Chen Fu-yong volunteered to negotiate with the airline. He first asked for blankets to keep the passengers warm-two per traveler, one on the floor and one for a cover-but the airline was unable to come up with the thousand-odd blankets required. He then asked for food and drink, but the airline was unable to rustle up meals for seven or eight hundred. The service personnel were not authorized to arrange for food or lodging for the hundreds of passengers affected. After the fruitless negotiations, the hungry and tired passengers could only make do with one blanket each, and stretch out as best they could on the floor or the seats to try and get a little rest.

After an uncomfortable night, the travelers finally got back to Taiwan, but this did little to relieve their discontent. In their view, the minute they disembarked from the plane, they would lose their sole bargaining chip in negotiations with the airline. As a result, many passengers decided to remain on board until an agreement could be reached with the airline. In the end, the China Airlines gave a US$500 voucher to each passenger, and the travelers got off the plane.

Disorderly and dangerous

This kind of on-board "sit-in" strike has been staged a dozen-odd times a year in Taiwan since 1993. Seen as a kind of airborne grievance procedure, the practice has given Taiwan's air travelers a notorious reputation internationally. In February, during negotiations between US and Taiwan, the US asked that Taiwan solve this problem quickly, and threatened 301-like retaliation-partially restricting flights from Taiwan to the US-if relevant laws were not completed by May of this year.

As soon as a planeload of passengers begins a sit-in, the action affects not only the on-time status of the next flight, but also reduces necessary time for inspections and repairs, possibly creating a safety hazard for the next plane. As a result, Taiwan has already attracted international attention due to the frequency of such strikes.

The only way to completely eradicate the problem of airline passengers taking matters into their own hands to demand redress for basic breakdowns in service is to begin with the source of the problem-the airlines. Daniel Chen, vice-chairman of the Chiang Kai-Shek airline representatives council, says that airlines typically inform passengers of the current situation if a delay goes past 30 minutes. If the delay occurs during a mealtime, the airline should provide food and drink to the passengers; if it is between ten p.m. and six a.m., the airline should arrange lodging.

In Taiwan, a set of procedures for the handling of emergency situations is currently on the drawing board. In the event that an impasse is reached between an airline and a group of passengers, the CAA and the airport would review the evidence and determine the airline's liability. If passengers still refused to leave the aircraft, the CAA would then notify aviation security, who would "request" that the passengers deplane.

Notorious Taiwanese passengers

Daniel Chen, deputy general manager of United Airlines, feels that to codify fines for flight delays is unfair. He says that some airports outside of Taiwan get snowed in under blizzard conditions for several days-how can airlines ever make compensation for such episodes? "Foreign passengers just don't have sit-ins as Taiwanese passengers do," he says.

Worldwide, Taiwanese air passengers are the sit-in champions. Even Korean travelers say they learned the techniques from Taiwan. Just what is going on?

Continental Airlines Director of Public Relations Juan Li-ju says that there are a few passengers who have seen the examples of Philippine Airlines, Pacific Airline, and Continental, which give a US$200 award to settle disputes, and "decide to complain a bit themselves. If the airline comes up with an award of a few hundred US dollars, the sit-in is concluded."

But those wishing to accumulate "frequent striker dollars" are a minority. Strikers willing to waste time on a sit-in are not generally motivated by a mere impulse.

No news, no service

On the day of the Chiang Kai-shek Airport sit-in, Taipei city councilor Lee Ching-an was on board a Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei. Because no landings were possible at Chiang Kai-shek, MH 094 was forced to wait in Manila along with flights from other airlines. Lee and other economy class travelers heard passengers from other airlines being taken to hotels, and saw arrangements being made for food and accomodations for the first-class passengers on the Malaysian Airlines flight. However, the sky was already lightening in the east when the elderly and infirm passengers from economy class were taken to a hotel, and the young, strong male passengers in the main cabin were left in the airport right up until the plane returned to Taipei.

When the flight arrived at Chiang Kai-shek Airport, the economy class passengers quite reasonably lodged a protest with the airline, asking for a public apology. "We wanted to object to the constant lies on the part of the airline. That night, Malaysian Airlines told us that there were no hotel rooms available, but when passengers made their own inquiries, at least five different hotels could have provided a hundred-odd rooms," says Lee. Malaysian Airlines made no substantive response.

"We spent the night in the Manila airport. By the time everyone got to the hotel, we looked like a bunch of refugees," says Lee Ching-an. At every step, the travelers were met with misdirection, perfunctory attitudes and downright neglect. Malaysian Airlines Administrative Manager Chou Tai-tzuo, who did not have full authority to deal with the situation, could only answer customers' accusations with "It has already been reported to the main office."

Hearing of this situation, United Airlines vice-chairman Daniel Chen can only say, "No airline would be stupid enough to offend the passengers. At times there are objective limitations which make it impossible to provide meals and accomodations for large numbers of passengers, and sometimes, there is no alternative but to keep them in the airport."

After numerous passenger protests, Hamilton Liu, Deputy Director of the China Airlines Public Relations Office, says, "We believe that the vast majority of passengers are reasonable people, and we are sincere in wanting to solve this problem. With the fierce competition in the airline industry these days, no one wants to deliberately alienate passengers."

Tarred with the same brush

The majority of delays are caused by circumstances beyond the airlines' control, like weather or problems at airports. Quite frequently, the airlines are also the victims. But at the same time, they have the responsibility to improve the way they inform and care for passengers in such situations.

Senior consumer ombudsman Whang Yu-sheng of the Consumer Protection Commission, Executive Yuan, says: "At the very least, basic humanitarian care should be provided. There is an international standard in existence for this, but it seems that the airlines here can't meet it, and so Taiwanese passengers resort to sit-ins."

Vice-chairman Hanson Chiang of the Consumers Foundation emphasizes that the airlines should be able to deal with such critical moments, because otherwise, "it shows that they aren't equipped to handle that number of passengers. If they are truly unable to provide service, the cost must be calculated and payment made for the service which was denied the passengers." If travelers could rely on such a payment policy, there would be no reason for them to stage a sit-in.

Some airline representatives say that the payment scheme as proposed by the Foundation is not the only means of solving the problem. Eva Air's Public Relations Manager Nie Kuo-wei says that although many people feel that a payment is the most practical means of handling the question, some passengers take advantage of the situation to get as much as possible out of the airline. However, what most passengers want is merely courteous and reasonable treatment.

The head of the Cathay Pacific information office, Chen Nan-chien, says that Cathay Pacific once had an incident where a ground service vehicle struck an airplane, causing damage and cancellation of the flight in question. Nearly 100 Taoyuan County councilors were stranded in France overnight, but only a brief protest resulted, because high-ranking Cathay personnel personally appeared to apologize, and each passenger was given a box of chocolates as a sign of regret. Chen says: "The airline should have these emergency plans incorporated into their operating budget. If the airline can demonstrate its sincerity to the passengers before they demand anything, the passengers usually won't get angry."

Raise quality across the board

Because of international concern about recent sit-ins, the CAA hopes for an early release of the proposed "Emergency Procedures for Passenger Transport." Currently, the Consumer Education Foundation and airline representatives are working on this project, but there are still a number of critical questions which have yet to be resolved.

Airline representative Daniel Chen feels that there is a question about whether such administrative action on the part of the CAA is interfering in free market operation, for example, when the regulations state how a company must handle employees who are responsible for causing sit-ins.

Moreover, there are many technical problems with such regulations. For example, if the regulations state that passengers must be informed of a problem within 30 minutes, but the airline doesn't manage to inform them until 40 minutes have passed, do passengers deserve compensation for those 10 minutes? Too many variables are inherent in airline operations, and regulations which contain too many trifling or petty conditions are simply not practical.

Another question is in just what form compensation should be made. Consumer representative Hanson Chiang says that most airlines give out discount coupons or upgrade vouchers at present. However, for those who do not often fly, such compensation is not a tangible benefit.

An even thornier, but very fundamental, problem is the issue of responsibility. Hanson Chiang feels that the airline has the responsibility to take care of its passengers regardless of whether or not a problem was the airline's fault. The airlines feel that compensation should be paid by the responsible party. Soochow University Professor of Law David Yang, a specialist in aviation law, feels that the airlines are clinging to the conditions of the Warsaw Convention, which they feel are more reasonable with regard to damages. However, new questions are continually being asked, such as how a judgment should be made and who should make it, and whether an airline was unable to perform at an acceptable standard of service for subjective or objective reasons. Was it an intentional lapse to save money? The entire question reduces to an insoluble "he said-she said" argument.

Aftermath of the strike

"Anyone who has ever flown will have seen the shoddy manner in which service personnel treat older travelers who cannot speak English," says social critic Wang Hsing-ching (pen name: Nanfang Shuo), who sympathizes with the passengers' cause. He says that if the airlines continue to discriminate in this way, passengers will be prepared to take a little vigilante action at any time, and the sit-in problem will be very difficult to eradicate.

The Taiwan Airlines Representative Association believes, however, that punishing the strikers would prevent sit-ins. It suggests revising aviation law so that strikers may be fined NT$30,000 or more. The CAA has accepted the proposal for discussion, and invited opinion from all quarters.

As to the question of how the CAA should set fair and practical guidelines to deal with disputes, Wang says, "To set trifling regulations is not very practicable, and is unnecessary. Consumers responses to the unfair and inhumane treatment they receive at the hands of the airlines have created pressure, and the airlines have to want to police themselves. They should provide compensation and keep the passengers informed before any dispute breaks out. If they did this, there would be no need for any third party to step in to impose fines."

The problems of the airlines and the rights of consumers are unique in each situation, and it is indeed difficult to produce any detailed regulations. CAA section head Yeh Yung-ching says, "Although these sit-ins were initially only a civil wrangle, because of the effect they have on our international image, the CAA is really forced to take responsibility to solve the problem."

Although sit-ins have a negative impact on the image of Taiwan and her citizens, they are equally harmful to the airlines' image. With that thought in mind, perhaps an end can be written to this chapter of Taiwan's air travel history.

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Having passed a hungry, cold night at Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport, passengers refuse to get off the plane when it arrives at Chiang Kai-shek Airport. Their goal: to force the airline to pay compensation and apologize. (courtesy of Chen Fu-yung)

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"I have something to say!" The Consumers Foundation takes a complaint from Lee Ching-an during a hearing about the Malaysian Airlines passenger protest.

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Passengers file onto the airplane, but will they enjoy a smooth trip, or a nightmare of double-talk? (photo by Diago Chiu)

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Flights are back to normal, but how long will it take for Taiwan to cast off the reputation she has earned through the sit-ins?

Passengers file onto the airplane, but will they enjoy a smooth trip, or a nightmare of double-talk? （photo by Diago Chiu）

Flights are back to normal, but how long will it take for Taiwan to castoff the reputation she has earned through the sit-ins?