I was on vacation when a trip to Beijing was planned for me. The secretary, for reasons I don't expect I'll ever know or understand, insisted on flying Eastern

I was on vacation when a trip to Beijing was planned for me. The secretary, for reasons I don't expect I'll ever know or understand, insisted on flying Eastern China Airlines. Complete with an extra stop in Shanghai... It might be different now (this was like 6 years ago) but it was very much "the people's airline" then. It wasn't just very tight seating with limited recline capacity, but there were some strong odors as well. Not sure a valium would have got it done. It's the only time I attempted to buy an upgrade mid-flight. The American flights to and from L.A. on the American side were delightful. Maybe the idea was to help with the culture shock in the same way "getting jumped in" helps you adapt to gang-life.