We almost strained our arms high-fiving ourselves once the new policy that permits foreign holders of residence visas to register and use the e-channel at China Customs checkpoints. We may also have hurt our shoulders punching the air in triumph as we actually used said e-channel upon returning from end-of-year holidays, as we blazed through with a passport scan and a thumbprint, and 300 of our closest friends sucked it up in the usual serpentine immigration line.
All along we suspected that this might be too good to be true, and in at least a few cases, it has proved that it is.
The ability to use the e-channel even some of the time is preferable to not using it ever, but the sinking feeling when one is directed back into the immigration Trail of Tears and filling out that sad, yellow form is a bitter pill to swallow when you were expecting the express treatment.
Your writer tasted this bitterness while flying to Hong Kong last week. That charming dusting of snow we received in the small hours of Thursday, January 19, turned what should have been an easy commute to Hong Kong into a 30-hour race against the clock thanks to icy roads and the numerous accidents they caused.
Re-routed via Kunming, this meant a domestic flight to the Yunnan capital followed by customs clearance and immigration procedures in Kunming. Smugly, I strolled to the e-channel, only to be told, twice, by an immigration official that it was closed, and was shown to the line for the rest of humanity. It wasn't closed only to me. While the lights were on and it would have appeared otherwise operational, a barrier had been placed in front of it for no apparent reason.
Another Beijinger editor was refused use of the e-channel at Terminal 2 in Beijing because his/her international airline was "not registered" for e-channel passenger use, which of course makes absolutely no sense – registration is done with China Customs and has nothing to do with the airline being flown. Sense or no sense, he/she too was sentenced to The Line.
However, said editor used e-channel upon returning to Beijing with no hiccups, and I was able to use it inbound upon arrival at Guangzhou Train Station, the first land-based test of the system in our ad hoc focus group. We continue to recommend the e-channel as a nice benefit of having a residence visa. However, don't assume that it – and the time savings that may be derived – are automatic, and continue to arrive at least two hours in advance for international air travel.
Speaking of allotting time: if you're reading this shortly before heading to the airport to begin Spring Festival celebrations, add at least one hour to normal arrival times. That means three hours before an international flight, two hours before a domestic connection. Check-in and security lines are at the longest point of the year, and everyone else is in the same boat as you.
Charge your devices, bring something lightweight or disposable to read, and take a deep breath. Just because we live here doesn't mean it isn't still the world's largest annual migration of people on the planet.
We'll revisit why China Eastern is the nation's worst carrier and how sucky websites are now costing airlines money and passengers in an upcoming edition of Talking Travel. Until then, we wish you the flattest and safest of roads on your Spring Festival journey.
More stories by this author here.
Email: stevenschwankert@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @greatwriteshark
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Photo: Steven Schwankert/the Beijinger