Eric's Beijing Diary

Anne Marie flew in late Monday night from Inner Mongolia. She had been there with a team of medical missionaries doing some training and demonstration of medical procedures. Fortunately, she was able to alter her plans a bit so that she could stop in Beijing for a couple days. This afternoon, I took her to the airport to meet the other nurse practitioner who is flying on to Guangzhou with her. We were standing at the Air China window waiting to buy tickets, when we were approached by two men in with Air China identification. They asked us where we were going. I told them that we were trying to get tickets for Guangzhou. They told us that they worked for Air China reservations. What they didn't tell us, is that they were off duty, and selling black market tickets on their own. I talked with them briefly while we were waiting in line at the ticket window, but Andrew (the travel coordinator) showed up, and did a quick comparison. Their price was considerably higher than what we would get if we just stood in line. I also quickly realized that the flight they were selling tickets for was also significantly later.

I have run into many, many such folks in this country. I should be used to it by now. I guess what bothered me so much this time, is that these guys were in uniform, using their positions as legitimate agents of a company, to do a very illegitimate business that benefited them, but was clearly not in the interest of their companies customers. Buyer beware.