Originally Posted by
percysmith
[url]In any case I am surprised CE's family uses normal passenger boarding gates at HKG. I seriously thought at least at HKG they would be eligible for VIP clearance as if a visiting head of government would.
There are a few levels of treatment at HKG, but this is in line with my (limited) experience traveling with government VIPs on non-state business on CX. The protocol is pretty much commercial aviation just smoother, with a private lounge and handlers who look out for you and make sure nothing goes wrong. They are in touch with the airport, CX etc so nothing gets screwed up and they know when you're coming to the gate.
It's also possible she booked under her name and didn't use the CE's office, in which case she highly likely wasn't flagged in advance...there are so many similar romanizations of Chinese names that it's virtually impossible to track who is important and who's not. The way to ensure "VIP" is stamped on your BP is you must make CX know, which generally entails getting your office to either make the booking direct with CX or call and notify them. Otherwise they don't know. A number of VIP-eligible travelers use this method when they want to be lower profile..even having different passports with slightly different romanizations, and having multiple CX MPC accounts! It's very possible CX only found out when she called daddy, and the he made a big fuss for his daughter by ringing up whomever in the middle of the night. Or she could've been flagged as VIP all along. Anyway, this family never fails to disappoint...even if he gets rejected from doing a second term, they've got great potential for reality TV.
I presume if you're really a big shot, or flying commercial yet on official state business, the service probably extends to ground transportation to/from the jetbridge and perhaps you just speed into the city. But here this situation seems about right.