Pudong airport though is large and modern and its...

Pudong airport though is large and modern and its infrastructure is second to none and it is credit to china's rapid development process that such facilities stands tall.

I wish I could say the same for the management and the service side of it. This side slides right down to the bottom of the scale. And worst is I don't see why this could be the case or for any excuses when you have such a fine infrastructure.

I was a transit passenger in Pudong airport Shanghai flying Air Chana from tokyo . connecting flight was so to Sydney in 2 hours time in Air china again. I had to make my way though the the corridors guessing all the way(lack of signs and direction) eventually arriving at the immigration gate. I was then forced to ask one aloof security personal with repeat gesture of me being a transit passenger i was pointed towards the far end which was still an immigration gate. it turns out I still needed to get a visa to get out and recheck in a like a fresh arrival at the airport. I still would not have minded had the process being routine and swift , instead i was looking at the immigration office for a good 20 minutes while she fundled my passport asked for my ticket , looked at me couple of time , stamped the passports twice and god knows what else was the process that they had had to go through, while I only wanted to catch the connecting flight and i don't even need their visa and bureaucracy to start with. After this I eventually figured my way out and out to the departure level to recheck in, than the Air china man at the counter check in ,says where is my luggage, I told him i am a transit passenger flying the same airline and going to Sydney, He said i needed to go back and get my luggage! and i have 40 minuted to do so. Needless to say this caused stress , as the gentleman had limited english and that was all the help he could give. Made my way to the information desk , hoping she could help me out after seeing my itinerary but her english was so rudimentary and help empathy was even less. Ran down to the security , tried expelling my situation in gesture and slow english. this time it wasn't hard for them to understand me they let me go through in after security scan and check, I am positive this episode happens day in day out at their end and they know exactly why i want to go back in. Any way got my suitcase and did the re- check in and went through the appalling immigration process again, This time lining up with endless line of Chinese tourist leaving for overseas and took so long to pass through. Hurried our way to the gate and we had about 30 minutes left we quickly got through the gate and boarded a bus that was to take us to the plane. But this was not the last of Pudong transition, we stood in the bus for what seemed like over 30 minutes crammed full of people very cold out on the tarmac area, while the airport staff waited for the final people to board, and we were not even the first people to board the bus. Couldn't they get multiple bus and get the bus moving once its full or semi full and get another bus for the other batch. I felt like a cattle waiting to be shipped .

I was only too glad i got away from this airport in one piece with my luggage intact.

The government bureaucracy who is running this airport has no idea of certain international standard while the airport infrastructure says otherwise. Is it so hard? experiencing the Tokyo Narita experience to Pudong there is no comparison.

I hope Pudong trains its staff to certain international standards, that goes for the immigration standards as well, This will reflect well on China; and its rich heritage.

I have given one star due to its infrastructure and the facilities I never got to use due to the above adventure.