Thanks for the reply, brunos. My experience with PEK is limited, but I just had a horrific experience there a couple of days ago where I had checked in on time (not with a lot of time to spare - but on time) and then managed to miss my Air China flight because of a problem with the shuttle trains that carry you from check-in out to the terminal. The trains were only non-operational for maybe 10 or 15 minutes, but it was enough to cause a serious logjam at immigration and security once they began operating again.

Of course, there were several other travelers similarly affected (though not as many as I would have thought - lots of people must be in the habit of getting to the airport hours early), but Air China was remarkably unhelpful in rebooking on the next flight (which would have been on their Star Alliance partner Thai), since they could blame the airport authority for the problem (though of course the airport authority was not going to take any sort of responsibility either).

But the thing which I found most unusual - and the thing that got me thinking that I would likely have a problem with the connection later in the week - was the ridiculous procedure that I had to go through to rebook for a later flight on the same airline. Apparently, even though they have help desks and business and first class lounges on the concourse, they refuse to rebook anyone there. Instead, they have to walk you back through immigration, canceling the exit on your visa, back out to the front check-in, and then wait for more than an hour for their system to regurgitate your checked luggage also back up to the front, before they will allow you to check in for another flight. I had never seen anything so inefficient, and the whole process literally took hours.

One of the other passenegers similarly affected reminded me a bit of the "angry German kid" of YouTube fame when he let out a primal scream at a useless Air China lounge attendant when he hit the same rebooking wall. I was rather surprised it didn't get him arrested.