memoirs on a rainy day

So I arrived in Hong Kong at about 1PM on Saturday. I wasn’t too tired but my next flight to Taipei was at 7:20PM. I wanted to try and get an earlier flight. I was handed a standby ticket stub and told to wait at gate D13 until they called my number. At 2:45PM, they started calling out numbers in Mandarin. It started at around 30 and moved up to 48. At 4:45PM, they called some more numbers. I had made a Taiwanese friend and he suggested that I tried checking in. They might get me on the flight or at least, I would move through customs.

Basically, there was no way in hell that I would make that flight. At least I had a confirmed flight for 7:20PM. I made my way to the line, which was thankfully very short. Immediately, a check-in agent came to see me. She looked at my ticket and I told her my situation. She had me moved to the next awaiting check-in agent. I explained that I had just arrived from Quebec and was going on a connecting flight to Taipei, which explained my excessive baggage. I was actually fearful that I would have to pay an excess baggage fee. I had 2 bags, each weighed 50lbs, almost 30KG over the China Airlines limit.

I have never had to pay excess baggage fees with China Airlines, since they serve as a gateway for international flights leaving form Hong Kong. The check-in agent told me that he would get me on the next flight and checked by baggage. On my way to immigration and customs, they gave me a little stub because of my extra carry-on luggage.

I made my way easily through customs and immigration and made my flight to Taiwan.

I really enjoyed the service I received from China Airlines. Very efficient and professional. Excellent service and great respect from their employees.

Maybe it helped that I was wearing a dress shirt and some cords. I was dressed in business casual. I’m sure that I got better service because of this.