Terrible – I have flown many many times and never have I been subject to the sort treatment that China Southern Airlines inflicted upon my wife and I. We were flying from Tashkent, Uzbekistan to Sydney with 2 connections in China. All the the flights were China Southern Flights. We had two bicycles with us. Having flown many times before with bikes we I knew that MOST airlines charge around $50 or do not charge anything as long the bike is properly packed. However we though better safe than sorry so we checked with the airline at Tashkent. We were delighted to be told we could take the bikes and they would not be charged for (if there had been an excessive charge for the bikes we would simply have arranged to ship them home) and sure enough at check-in everything went fine.

However when we got to our first transfer point in Urumqi we were horrified to be told we must pay over $2,000 in excess baggage fees. We tried to negotiate and asked repeatedly to speak to someone in charge but all the staff would say is "You must pay. If you do not pay you will not be allowed on the plane". When I asked why I had been been told there was no charge in Tashkent they just said the staff in Tashkent had made a mistake. I asked why I should pay $2,000 as a result of their staffs mistake and was simply told "You must pay. If you do not pay you will not be allowed on the plane". The staff also made it crystal clear that if we did not get on the flight we would have to buy new tickets and still pay excess baggage AND that we would probably be breaking our transit visa conditions in the meantime by not having onward tickets. In other words they had us over a barrel and knew they could charge what they liked.

In my opinion this is extortion and theft but having persued it since returning to Australia it appears there is no-one with any power over the way these foreign airlines opperate.

IF YOU FLY WITH THESE CROOKS BE VERY CAREFULL YOU GIVE THEM NO LEVERAGE OVER YOU. Decent food & staff on aircraft Being held to ransom in China and having $2,000 extorted from me