Arrested in China

It has been a while since I updated my blog. I will start to compile different stories about what strange experience i had with my job.

In July 2008 I had to take a flight from Kunming to Guilin in China. This is one month before the Olympic Games so security was pretty tight. Another thing about flying in China is that planes are almost never on time and strange things happen all the time.
I took care of a group of 20 people. Because the tickets for us are issued by name, not every couple is sitting next to each other. But we still get all seats in one block. So I developed a system to redistribute the tickets after everyone passed the security check and are standing in front of the boarding gate (The name is never checked at the boarding gate in China). So everybody had a boarding pass with a different name, but could sit next to their companion.
This system backfired on me in July 2008, I was taken away by the airport security.

The airplane to Guilin had about 30 minutes delay and finally we could get on the plane. I redistributed the tickets again so everybody could sit on the plane next to their companion with a boarding pass with a different name.
After the delay we entered the plane and were greeted by the stewardesses. The hand luggage was stored and we were all ready to take off.
But we had to wait about 20 minutes in the plane, because their seemed to be some kind of maintenance problem. So people got a bit uneasy and afraid. Actually nothing to get afraid of as China could not afford to have an international scandal by an air crash. So the stewardesses ask us to get off the plane again. We took our hand luggage out and walked the same hallway back to the waiting hall for the boarding gates.
We had to wait until a new plane was provided, but as I checked we needed our original boarding pass. And now unfortunately 1 girl forgot her boarding pass in the plane. No problem she could get a new one with her name if she would go to the check-in counter again and show the original booking. So I went with her all the way to the start of the checking counters to show the original list and with her passport she obtained a new boarding card. Until then everything went quite smoothly.
We had to pass the security check again. She showed her passport and boarding card and could rejoin the group. Not same story for me. I had my passport, but my boarding card had a different name. So I started to explain (In my best English-Chinese) at the security gate that I switched it in the group and that someone else in the group must have my boarding pass with my name. After some minutes that security guy started to understand what I was saying and accompanied me to my group, which was still waiting at the boarding gates, to show my boarding pass with my name. So when I arrived and asked my group to check if my name was on their boarding pass, they picked up their boarding pass and checked. No my name was on none of them!
I started to panic a bit, as the security man was maybe thinking I was a terrorist (not tourist). I started to argue with him that my boarding pass must have been the one the girl forgot in the plane. As more and more Chinese spectators gathered around us he didn't want to listen to me and took me away to his office.
I was getting quite nervous and angry because maybe the new plane was going to leave soon and my group would be worried. So I started to slam the table and told him to listen very well. That strategy didn't work as I expected and he called his chief, while I was still sitting on a chair like a prisoner in an interrogation session. I experienced some scary minutes, not really knowing what would happen to me. So the chief came in and he started to talk with the security man. He was also looking fiercely at me and I tried to explain to whole story again.
My last remedy was to call my local Chinese agent and to tell him the whole story so he could tell it in clear Chinese to them. After a few minutes of discussion, the security man finally let me free and accompanied me to the check-in counter, where I finally got a new boarding pass. I thanked him, he throw me an awkward look and I headed straight for the security check. This time no problem and I could finally rejoin my group.

A new plane was provided and we landed 2 hours later than planned in Guilin.
The security staff in Kunming airport will surely remember me next time. I still think I should revise my ticket system.