[stevescoots]

Just saw this on the front page.

Chinese travellers most likely to miss internet while travelling

most of us that use on-board wi-fi know the frustration as it cuts out over China (and India) Curious thing happened to me last Sunday flying from SGN to SZX on CZ. Passenger next to me was told to turn off his phone very sternly and that not even flight mode is allowed on Chinese airlines, we were still in VN airspace at the time. When over China I turned on my laptop and was also told to turn it off, no Electronics allowed to be used although this time she added in Chinese airspace. I did question how long had this rule been in place as admittedly I have not flown a Chinese airline for about a year and she just replied a “long time”

Anybody else heard this? Certainly, if that’s the case then it’s going to put Chinese airlines on my no-fly list apart from where there is zero choice. The frustrating part about this as well was that we were diverted due to bad weather and what should have been a 2-hr. flight ended up as a 7-hour journey with no electronics. And no IFE. We were not even allowed to use the phone while on the ground for refueling in Guiling

[Stefan]

will be flying to Shanghai and Beijing next week on SQ. domestic flight will be on Air China. will let you know what these 2 carriers have to say.
never experienced anything you described before but with that said chinese carriers are on my no-flight list if other carrier options are available.

[stevescoots]

Will be interesting to see if it is the same, its not uncommon for China crew or airlines to make stuff up on the hoof or just miss the interpretation. We circled Shenzhen for an hour in resonably clear skies before they told us we had to divert because of typhoon before landing at Guiling, of course when finally getting to SZ my driver said weather no problem and I called a friend from CX who told me typhoon was 300+ KM away and HKG where they are and its only about 60KM from SZX but airspace as always busy.

[Stefan]

hi scott, here my feedback from this week. SQ on the way to Shanghai no restrictions as all. could use phone during landing. air china domestically, had to switch everything off during take off and landing. during flight no restrictions.

[stevescoots]

Speaking to my China staff about it and they said that its not the rule, but some crew take it on themselves to say it so they dont have to keep checking or deal with passengers who have the phone or tablet volume on full blast……TIC as we say here.

[Craig Bright]

Hi all, it appears that these long-standing (and frustrating) restrictions on in-flight smartphone use may be coming to an end shortly, as the Chinese government body that prohibits it recently revised its policy. Now each airline will be able to determine its own policies, subject to regulatory approval, though as seen in previous replies on this thread this could end up causing more confusion than clarity.

We just published an article with a few more details on the changes:

China opens the way for smartphone use on flights

[Author]

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