Feng Zhenghu is finally home on a JAL plane

If you haven't heard about Feng Zhenghu before, here is his wiki page. He is the Chinese activist who spent 92 days at Narita Terminal 1 after being denied entry to China in November for the 8th time in a row. I am not trying to get into politics on this blog so this entry is only about how JAL and ANA handle this incident.

June 7 2009, Feng was denied entry to China for the first time at PVG. PVG officials arranged him to fly back to Japan on NH154.

June 14 2009, Feng filed a complaint against ANA. He complained about ANA checked him in without his presence. and this violates the check in requirements and international treaty.

June 27 2009, ANA replied and said they did no know Feng was forced to board the flight and thought he has authorized the PVG officials to handle the check-in.

November 3 2009, Feng traveled on NH921 from NRT to PVG. During check-in, ANA informed Feng that he might not be able to enter China and he would have to pay for his accommodation in Shanghai for 2 rooms for the night. Feng agreed and board the flight. But once again was denied entry to China.

November 4 2009, Feng was escorted by around 10 cops at PVG to board NH922. Feng resisted to board at the departure gate. At the end ANA staff assisted the cops and Feng finally gave up. The flight was delayed for 56 minutes. After arrival, the senior cabin attendant on the flight handed Feng a warning letter but Feng refused to accept it. Feng also refused to enter Japan and started camping at Narita terminal 1 arrival area for 92 days.

February 3 2010, Feng agreed to enter Japan after several visits by Chinese diplomats from Tokyo. On the same day, ANA sent Feng a letter informing him that he will remain on ANA's no fly list until he apologizes and agrees not to do it again.

February 8 2010, Feng bought a ticket on JL791 to fly back on February 12 2010.

February 9 2010, a JAL manager contacted Feng and tried to arrange the details of his flight.

February 12 2010, Feng boarded JL791. Feng was granted entry to China and arrived home safely.

I am glad that Feng finally returned home safely (and also glad that he flies on JAL :P). And applause for JAL being proactive and contacted Feng to arrange the details before hand.

Now the comment on how ANA handled this case. And I am only going to comment on the customer service side. First time Feng filed a complaint, ANA replied in a week and they handled it well. Even Feng didn't buy their explanation, he thinks ANA was sincere enough in the letter and therefore did not do any follow up. So that's the part that ANA has done right from the customer service perspective.

But this guy has been camping out at NRT for 92 days. Why did ANA wait till he left the terminal to send him the letter and demanded for his apology for something he did 3 months ago? Were they afraid of the media coverage because there were so many interviews during Feng's stay at NRT? Even NRT officials have been handing out daily warning letter to Feng. Why couldn't ANA send him one during his stay? Because of how ANA handled this, Feng is upset (or should I say pissed). He decided to publish the letter and writes an article about how he was treated by ANA. Feng has now put up the scans of ANA's letter on his flickr page and I don't think he's going to fly on ANA any time soon. If his supporters are going to do the same thing, ANA you have just lost more than one customer!

Sources:
Feng's Twitter Account (in Simplified Chinese)
Feng's article about ANA (in Simplified Chinese)