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Trip Start Apr 26, 2006
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Trip End May 10, 2006


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Flag of United States  , California,
Wednesday, April 26, 2006

United Airlines has a very hectic and inefficient check in system. International travel seems to all start around the 10-2pm block for a variety of destinations. As a result, check in for economy class is slow and a complete nightmare. Since my first trip 6 months ago, there have been major improvements in the installation of self-service check-in kiosk for non-visa countries and the overall process is still slow and tedious. I could have used the Premier Class check-in line because of my Silver status from Singapore Airlines however because of wrong information from the UA assistant, I ended up waiting in the economy line. What should have been a 20 minute wait in the end was a 1+ hour wait.

The wait wasn't necessarily a bad thing as I struck up a conversation with the young American guy in line behind me. He was from St. Louis who was traveling to China to meet up with his friend. He was the stereotypical backpacker type who traveled the world on a shoestring budget. The thing was that he attempting to head to Beijing without a plan or research like he did in his previous Europe trip. I had a hell of a time getting around the first time and got jacked a lot by the locals. Poor guy doesn't speak a word of Mandarin and was trying to do everything ad-hoc in the city. Lucky for him, I gave him the heads up on what to expect and let him borrow my Beijing Lonely Planet...
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