I was on the same plane as Stephen G.; in short my advise is to never fly with China Eastern if you don't have to...
The long story...
My boyfriend and I were super excited about our trip to Shanghai and arrived early to check in for our 1pm flight. We had no problems checking in, and happily walked ourselves through security after grabbing a bite from Pinks. We grabbed a couple of drinks and waited at the gate for boarding...
We were informed that there was a delay, so we continued to wait...
Then we heard some rumblings from those around us that there seemed to be some electrical malfunction, so we continued to wait...
By 2pm they moved us to another gate and told us that we would board shortly, so we continued to wait...
By 3pm they told us that the shuttles would take us to the plane and that we would be leaving shortly, so we continued to wait...
We got onto the shuttles and were taxied over to the plane where they informed us that there was an electrical fire and that the smell in the cabin would dissipate after the plane took off so we got on the plane... to my dismay the cabin was filled with the stink of an electrical fire mixed with the carcass of a rotting raccoon or something to that affect... we were handed a damp towel and instructed to place it over our face, and informed that the smell was not hazardous to our health...
After sitting on the plane for another 30 minutes and trying not to breathe in the death fumes, they attempted to start the engines, after THREE stalls most of the passengers had, had enough, so we got off of the plane...
That's when the mass pandemonium started...
After receiving no answers regarding the status of the flight, possible alternative flights, and the location of our baggage, many of the passengers began to yell at the airline representatives that were present. The yelling did not result in any additional answers but increased aggravation from the passengers involved.
Given that this was a trip that my boyfriend and I had been planning for months, I was getting seriously agitated considering how difficult it is for us to be able to take time off from work. So after getting the runaround from the airline representatives, I tracked down their manager (who I will kindly refer to as the Weasel). The Weasel is a little boy who while you may be looking him straight in the eye asking him a question, will look right past you and ignore anything you say regardless of how polite you may be. After repeatedly asking what he was going to do with the flight and all of the passengers the Weasel had the audacity to raise his voice at me and tell me that I should just get back on the plane and that he couldn't do anything for me. I told him that there was no way I was going to get back on a plane that his own flight crew was nervous about boarding. That if his own crew did not feel safe, how could he expect an entire plane full of passengers to place their lives in their hands. At that point the Weasel had the nerve to tell me that he was calling the cops if I would not stop questioning him!
The cops showed up with batons and stun-guns, and actually hauled away an older gentleman who was yelling. The Weasel also had the awesome customer service skills that he was yelling at an elderly grandmother who was concerned for her 1 year old grandson and sick husband .
Despite their incessant decrees that the plane was safe to fly, they could not get the baggage off of the plane because of an electrical malfunction. After speaking to a few other representatives it was brought to our attention that LAX has asked China Eastern to stop flying this plane because of the consistent malfunctions!
Now I might not be an engineer... but ELECTRICAL MALFUNCTION DOES NOT GIVE ME PEACE OF MIND BEFORE GETTING ON A PLANE!
Eventually around 10PM!!!! Yes that's right folk around 10 at night, we were informed that the flight has been CANCELLED DUE TO MALFUNCTIONS! YOU IDIOTS NEEDED TO WASTE AN ENTIRE DAY BEFORE YOU WOULD ADMIT TO THE FACT THAT THE PLANE WAS NOT CAPABLE OF FLYING?
We were then instructed that we would need to return to the airport at 7 the next morning, since there were no other China Eastern planes and none of the other airlines had any empty seats.
So they carted us off to some sad forsaken motel which provided us with useless food vouchers since their kitchen wouldn't be open at 7 in the morning. We went back to LAX and were placed back on the same flight and after another delay, were eventually flown to Shanghai.
THANKS A LOT YOU JERKS FOR WASTING AN ENTIRE DAY OF MY LIFE AND NOT EVEN APOLOGIZING FOR YOUR EXTREME INCOMPETENCE, LACK OF CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND THE WORST FLYING EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED!
AND AS FOR YOU MISTER WEASEL! YOU ARE THE RUDEST LITTLE RAT MAN I HAVE EVER MET, YOU ARE LUCKY THAT, THAT POOR OLD GRANDMOTHER DIDN'T HAVE A HEART-ATTACK AFTER HOW RUDE YOU WERE TO HER! I HOPE YOU GET FIRED!