Last edit by: garykung
A new thread/Wiki has been created to help FTers navigating Hong Kong during the civil unrest:
Hong Kong Civil Unrest - Survival Guide Q&As (Flame Free)
Please refer to the thread as necessary.
Hong Kong Civil Unrest - Survival Guide Q&As (Flame Free)
Please refer to the thread as necessary.
Impacts of demonstrations on travel
#181
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
As a related point, why doesn't the government and police institute checks along the airport approach road and/or AEX and prevent anyone carryign protest-related materials from even getting close to the airport and causing disruption?
It is practically a state of emergency now, isn't it?
It is practically a state of emergency now, isn't it?
#182
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: if it's Thursday, this must be Belgium
Programs: UA 1K MM
Posts: 6,484
I would guess it would be less than 30 officers needed to stop traffic along the road and look in every car, bus. And a lot of profiling. Anyone of a certain age, demographic, wearing certain clothing, carrying certain bags (or no bags) would be immediately diverted and asked to show further identification.
#183
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SIN
Programs: KF, MPC, BAEC // Bonvoy, WoH, Honors
Posts: 1,464
HK Police appears to be utterly useless and incapable of handling the situation -- both on the streets of HK and in the airport. In any other country the airport situation would have been dealt with swiftly -- mass arrests and then blocking all entry points to the airport island, only allowing people with passports and boarding passes/confirmed flight itineraries to enter.
I get the strategy of selecting the airport as the site of these protests as it will garner more international media attention, and the risk of the police cracking down violently is smaller while the world is watching. That being said, given the developments of the past couple of days it appears to have backfired. Everyone I talk to these days are condemning the protester violence as absolutely inexcusable, and it appears Western media (at least non-Anglo media) have moved from portraying the events as 'freedom fights' to a more 'mob violence' angle in the past 24 hours or so.
My main concern at this stage is that the HK Police seems incapable of dealing with the situation -- I certainly hope they will sort it out and not call for 'back-up' from the Mainland, in which case thing could escalate quickly.
I get the strategy of selecting the airport as the site of these protests as it will garner more international media attention, and the risk of the police cracking down violently is smaller while the world is watching. That being said, given the developments of the past couple of days it appears to have backfired. Everyone I talk to these days are condemning the protester violence as absolutely inexcusable, and it appears Western media (at least non-Anglo media) have moved from portraying the events as 'freedom fights' to a more 'mob violence' angle in the past 24 hours or so.
My main concern at this stage is that the HK Police seems incapable of dealing with the situation -- I certainly hope they will sort it out and not call for 'back-up' from the Mainland, in which case thing could escalate quickly.
#184
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Earth. Residency:HKG formerly:YYZ
Programs: CX, DL, Nexus/GE, APEC
Posts: 10,689
KZ:
Very easy to implement vehicle checks as there are already toll plazas.
Airport is air conditioned, sitting there beats running around the streets for the protesters.
Western media has turned against the protesters due to the mob situation and travellers being inconvenienced to harassed.
HK Police has called for and got reinforcements in leadership as two retired senior officers are back on contract.
重出江湖
Very easy to implement vehicle checks as there are already toll plazas.
Airport is air conditioned, sitting there beats running around the streets for the protesters.
Western media has turned against the protesters due to the mob situation and travellers being inconvenienced to harassed.
HK Police has called for and got reinforcements in leadership as two retired senior officers are back on contract.
重出江湖
Last edited by tentseller; Aug 13, 2019 at 9:56 pm
#188
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Body in Downtown YYZ, heart and mind elsewhere
Programs: UA 50K, refugee from AC E50K, Marriott Lifetime Plat
Posts: 5,132
I would guess it would be less than 30 officers needed to stop traffic along the road and look in every car, bus. And a lot of profiling. Anyone of a certain age, demographic, wearing certain clothing, carrying certain bags (or no bags) would be immediately diverted and asked to show further identification.
To effectively search people arriving at HKG would, I think, require much more than 30 officers.
#189
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
In 2018 HKG handled 74.7 million passengers. Assuming a completely uniform distribution, this works out to 204,657 pax per day. Trying to sift pax from protestors means inspecting an awful lot of people. If such an inspection takes 6 seconds (0.1 minutes) this would mean 20,466 minutes = 341 man-hours just to find the pax. And that's just the pax in 1 day. And that's a 6-second search which, pragmatically, is next to useless.
To effectively search people arriving at HKG would, I think, require much more than 30 officers.
To effectively search people arriving at HKG would, I think, require much more than 30 officers.
#190
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: if it's Thursday, this must be Belgium
Programs: UA 1K MM
Posts: 6,484
In 2018 HKG handled 74.7 million passengers. Assuming a completely uniform distribution, this works out to 204,657 pax per day. Trying to sift pax from protestors means inspecting an awful lot of people. If such an inspection takes 6 seconds (0.1 minutes) this would mean 20,466 minutes = 341 man-hours just to find the pax. And that's just the pax in 1 day. And that's a 6-second search which, pragmatically, is next to useless.
To effectively search people arriving at HKG would, I think, require much more than 30 officers.
To effectively search people arriving at HKG would, I think, require much more than 30 officers.
Here's mine:
- 74M passengers per year
- Equals 203k per day
- But not all are originating from HKG and require screening, let's say 2/3 are -- this gives 134k per day
- Most of those passengers will come in certain hours, let's say 18 hours of the day, equals 7400 pax per hour
- If it takes as you say 0.1 minute per passenger, that requires 12.4 hours of work per hour -- so 12 people to do the screening
#191
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Programs: UA 1K, AA Lifetime Platinum, DL Platinum, Honors Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, Hertz Platinum
Posts: 7,970
Not necessarily. One method used in protest situations is to arrest people to gain immediate control of the situation, and then later release them without charge. Those arrested never get their day in court, but the situation is dealt with. And, a short time in jail can serve as a deterrent even if it doesn't result in a criminal record. Note that I'm not commenting on the Hong Kong situation specifically, but just responding in general to the notion above.
#192
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 3,097
"Very easy to implement vehicle checks as there are already toll plazas."
What toll plazas? There are none in the airport complex. Or do you plan to check at the bridge those heading to Tung Chung and Disneyland, as well? How? Maybe mouse ears will get you through?
Seems awfully easy for protesters if they want to gum up the new checks by massing right in front of the checks. Or at the employee entrance. Or across the access highway. Etc. The airport wasn't designed to defend against this.
What toll plazas? There are none in the airport complex. Or do you plan to check at the bridge those heading to Tung Chung and Disneyland, as well? How? Maybe mouse ears will get you through?
Seems awfully easy for protesters if they want to gum up the new checks by massing right in front of the checks. Or at the employee entrance. Or across the access highway. Etc. The airport wasn't designed to defend against this.
Last edited by 889; Aug 14, 2019 at 1:58 pm
#194
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,345
To provide some context: There are indeed Chinese troops ("PLA") station in HK, this has been true since 1 Jul 1997. They have more than one base, and occasionally they move around from one base to another. Hence, some of these videos are real, but are not an uncommon occurance over the past 22 odd years.
#195
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 3,097
I've just received a surprising email from Shipbao -- one of those firms that tranships stuff into Hong Kong -- advising that because of increased Customs restrictions, "sensitive" goods should not be sent into Hong Kong.
This includes such common items as umbrellas, black T-shirts, gloves, masks, "etc".
https://www.shipbao.com/information/news_detail/id/415 (in Chinese)
Whether this is a formal Customs rule affecting all or just Shipbao, a Mainland enterprise, being conservative, who knows.
This includes such common items as umbrellas, black T-shirts, gloves, masks, "etc".
https://www.shipbao.com/information/news_detail/id/415 (in Chinese)
Whether this is a formal Customs rule affecting all or just Shipbao, a Mainland enterprise, being conservative, who knows.