When push comes to shove in Macau

by Jennifer Welker/Destination Macau

If you’ve ever flown out of Macau, you may know what it’s like to be pushed and shoved at the airport. It’s survival of the fittest to leave, really.

Ticket in hand, I walk out of immigration toward Gate 2A. Once there, I see no sign of the airline logo and no familiar faces. Wrong way.

I check the departure monitor and head for 7A at the other end of the airport. “Thank heavens this airport is small,” I mumbled to myself.

Once there, I see a long line of travellers looking puzzled. Ahead of them reads “Gate 7, Gate 7A and Gate 8” and none with the correct airline logos, departure times or flight numbers on the signboards. I walk past the line and over to Gate 8 where an attendant looks down at my ticket and points back over to where I came from: “You need to go to the end of that line.”

I said, “Oh…” to which she smiled and said, “You’re welcome.”

Actually, I hadn’t even said “Thank you,” but she was so friendly I smiled back and headed for the dreaded, long line.

Once in line, a woman turned to me and asked, “Is this line for the Taipei flight?”

“I think it’s for everybody, but you might want to check with the staff over there,” I said.

She stepped out of line and a herd of women in bright orange shirts surged toward us, nearly knocking everyone over.

As I was being shoved forward, I looked helplessly back at the group and around at the sea of people ahead of me who were visibly annoyed. The woman bound for Taipei returned. “You’re right. This line is for everybody,” she said.

She reluctantly squeezed back into her rightful place and the tribe of orange shirts ploughed forward, pushing us left and right until we made it through a very, very narrow passageway where one airport staff was grabbing tickets and looking at them as fast as he could. I seriously doubt he could have read all of them.

Some of us could have been holding a ferry ticket to Hong Kong, for all he knew.

Once we edged past him and down the escalator, we approached one more airport staff. I thought that might spell the end of the pushing and shoving.

But no, it was not to be. The onslaught of orange shirts continued, and one woman sprinted right past me and six other passengers. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her out onto the tarmac and the staircase leading up to the official low fare airline for Manchester United.

She even charged past some elderly people slowly making their way up the staircase.

People laughed, I sneered, but no one stopped her. Frankly, I don’t think even Rio Ferdinand could have stopped her.

Up the stairs she flew and onto the plane where she strategically positioned bags on seats so that she could reserve spots for the other orange shirts that would follow at their leisure.

When I went to sit by the window, an elderly woman told me the seat was taken. I nodded and headed for the other empty window seat across the aisle. Again, I was told, the seat was taken.

Funny, I didn’t see anyone there. So I just sat down by the window anyway, much to the chagrin of the ‘strategic bag depositor’.

I can understand when you purchase tickets at a low cost, you cannot expect anyone to pull out the red carpet for you, but to think that the woman who held the Taipei ticket was a likely full-fare Air Macau passenger, and experienced the same abuse as low-fare passengers, is really disturbing.

Are people being pushed around regardless of the fares they pay? If so, why would people who are willing to spend more, be willing to subject themselves to such a rough and uncomfortable departure?

Just think about the impression of Macau this leaves on their minds. It will not be a positive one, and we may not get them back. There goes the coveted repeat, high-yield visitor.

Source: Destination Macau – www.destination-macau.com