This 'industrial' action could explain the reason behind the 'mistake' I saw an Air India B777 crew make in Shanghai Pudong a little while ago - they must've been preoccupied with the planning of the hunger strike, or were hypoglycemic as a result of an in-flight dress-rehearsal...
The big shiny bird was taxying towards the east terminal complex after landing. Anyone who has been to PVG knows that the terminal complex (any one of them) is a very big, brightly lit, hard-to-miss part of the airport. Taxying towards the eastern terminal complex in particular highlights the black-hole that is the southern end of Rwy 16/34, in stark contrast to the terminal/apron area.
Anyhow, our erstwhile crew were instructed to taxy via 'F' to 'F8', but instead of turning towards the brightly lit area (added clue being the large number of aircraft parked at the impressive, big building with many aerobridges), I watched as the 777 turned south away from the terminal complex and into the black hole!
Shortly after, an embarrassed-sounding voice admitted the error and asked for guidance (?!) to the terminal.
Maybe that event also goes a long way to understanding why Air India management decided to give the even-newer-and-more-shiny birds to the Indian Airlines pilots...
