Is it appropriate to sing national anthem to solve problems?

ceciliazhang

(People's Daily Online) A video of irate Chinese travelers singing their national anthem at a Japanese airport to protest the detention of a passenger angered over a flight delay has gone viral on social media, sparking heated discussion among both Chinese and Japanese netizens.

Chinese passengers stranded at Narita International Airport on Jan. 24/File photo

Some 175 Chinese passengers were stranded at Narita International Airport in Tokyo on January 24 due to a delayed flight bound to Shanghai. Early the next morning, one of the passengers was detained by the Japanese police for arguing with an airport staff member, and the rest of passengers sang China's national anthem to express their dissatisfaction.

Under the efforts of the Chinese embassy in Japan, the stranded passengers arrived in Shanghai on the morning of Jan. 26, except for the detained passenger.

This is not the first time Chinese people have expressed their dissatisfaction toward flight delays through singing the national anthem in a foreign airport. A similar situation happened in September 2015 when several Chinese tourists were stranded in Don Mueang International Airport in Thailand.

However, the incident in Narita International Airport has bigger impact because it took place in Japan, a nation that has a difficult history with China. On Sina Weibo, one of the China's biggest social media, some Chinese expressed anti-Japanese sentiment, but a greater number felt ashamed by the actions of the stranded passengers.

The Department of Consular Affairs under the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has alerted Chinese tourists to read the contract terms before choosing a low cost airline, to know clearly about all the rights and limitations of the ticket. The department advises that once your flight is delayed, safeguard your legitimate rights in a rational manner and avoid aggressively pursuing demands beyond the contract, to avoid unnecessary disputes.

There are many ways to pursue legitimate demands other than singing the national anthem.

As many as 100 million Chinese travel overseas every year for sightseeing and shopping. The department advises that you make sound preparations, but also learn the regulations of your destination airports.

In the incident at Narita International Airport, the air carrier Jetstar is a low-cost airline company with very limited conditions for compensation. Most low-cost airlines including Spring Airlines, Airasia and Ryanair stipulate that they are not responsible for passengers' accommodation fees if the flight is canceled due to bad weather and unexpected incidents.

parcher

expect some sort of retaliation i am sure  

cmknight

HailChina! Post time: 2018-2-2 20:23
Would the Japanese detain an American citizen for arguing over a flight delay? Me thinks not.

Even inside China, Chinese air passengers have been known to throw hissy-fits if the flight is delayed. A lot of these types of passengers are people of monetary substance and feel that their flights should not be delayed for any reason. They paid for the airline to go from point A to point B, and the airline had darned well better get them there! Of course, these same people will sit for hours, uncomplaining, in a traffic-jam.

Singing your national anthem in an overseas airport because one of your fellow passengers has been detained for being disruptive, does not garner any sympathy. It draws attention to the fact that you are Chinese. It also makes you the butt of jokes.

Q: How do you get a Chinese person to sing for you?
A: Arrest his buddy!

This kind of behaviour (singing in protest) does not do anybody any good. It is very childish. Airplanes are multi-million dollar machines which are very complex in design. An airline's job is to get you, the passenger, from one place to another, SAFELY. If there is anything at all which could compromise that safety, whether it be something wrong with the aircraft, or the destination airport's weather, that is cause to delay until either repairs are made, a new aircraft is dispatched for that flight, or weather conditions improve. Throwing a temper tantrum because you can't get on the plane is not the way to solve the issue.

To answer your question, "Would the Japanese detain an American citizen for arguing over a flight delay?" Yes, they probably would. It is standard procedure all over the world if a passenger gets unruly and other peoples' safety is threatened/property damaged. As a matter of fact, last year a DRUNKEN American was arrested for starting a fight on an ANA flight. Most civilized people, however, realize that most flight delays are temporary, and don't throw childish hissy-fits about it.