In response to President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) decision to forego the presidential jet and travel by commercial airliner on his first state visit, China Airlines (CAL) appears to have reserved seats that could inconvenience its regular passengers.
As the flight was already overbooked, some travelers were unable to reserve seats, while others who had reserved seats could be forced to take another flight.
CAL said yesterday that the airline had still not been officially asked to carry Ma, but that it would do its best to make his trip both smooth and safe. The airline also said it would assure the rights of other passengers and would not transfer passengers with reservations to other flights. It said it would follow the security instructions of the National Security Council for passengers and baggage check-in.
Ma will travel on the regular CAL flight to Los Angeles and return from San Francisco.
Because CAL still does not know how many people will be traveling with Ma, the online reservation system yesterday showed that all first class seats on flight CI006 on Aug. 12 had been reserved, but also that three or four seats had already been booked by regular travelers. Economy was overbooked and more than 20 seats remained in business class.
For the planned return flight on CI003 from San Francisco on Aug. 18, the online reservation system yesterday showed that first class was fully booked, with one seat remaining in business class and 20 percent to 30 percent of economy seats remaining.
A return first class seat from the US west coast to Taiwan costs about NT$230,000, a business class seat around NT$130,000 and an economy class seat about NT$50,000. An entourage of approximately 50 people occupying first and business class would cost around NT$7.5 million (US$247,000), while economy seats for 40 reporters would cost about NT$2.5 million.
Some people have criticized Ma’s plan to take a regular commercial flight, saying it would cause unnecessary trouble for passengers, such as lengthy security checks.
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