The world around me is crumbling. Everything I believed in seems to have failed the test of time, leaving me frustrated and angry.

That was the feeling I had on a Thursday morning waiting to check-in for a prominent airline's flight to Hong Kong. I was brought up to believe that the private sector was efficient and responsive to customers' needs, and the public sector was, by nature, rigid, insensitive and overbearing. My travel experience that day has completely shattered that conviction.

Going through immigration and security check in the new terminal of Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) was surprisingly smooth and hassle-free despite the usual large crowd of passengers. The experience was almost pleasant because the uniformed staff at every check point was so courteous and helpful.

The polite and orderly world of officialdom was a welcome relief to me after having endured the Hong Kong airline's chaotic check-in process that was nothing but a farcical show of incompetence and indifference. In that particular morning, a long line of economy class passengers were waiting to check-in, and only three counters were open. The line moved very slowly because it seemed to take an extraordinary long time to process each passenger. Meanwhile, the two first-class check-in counters and the other two business-class counters were practically empty.

Having checked my departure time, a person who looked like a supervisor blandly told me that the check-in for my flight was going to close in 20 minutes. Instead of directing some economy-class passengers on the queue to the business class counters, she told me to hurry. I couldn't understand what she meant other than suggesting that I should try to jump the queue.

Sensing that I was going to miss my flight and have my ticket nullified anyway, I hopped over to the nearest ticket sales counter and bought a business class ticket, unaware of the fact that even a hefty expense wasn't going to buy me an easy passage. The attendant at the business class check-in counter was casual, so casual that she didn't even bother to put on her uniform or wear a name tag. She failed to notice my check-in luggage and assigned me a seat in the economy class by mistake.

As she apparently couldn't understand what she did wrong, a person in uniform came over and officiously demanded to know which class I was supposed to be sitting although I had already given her a printout I received from the person selling me the ticket sitting no more than 10 meters away.

The matter was finally sorted out and no apology was given. That's fine because I knew I had other choices. To be sure, what I encountered that day could just be an isolated incident. But in customer service, consistency is what counts, and occasional lapses of judgment simply cannot be tolerated.

In this respect, there seems to be much that the many private-sector service providers can learn from the governments on the mainland and in Hong Kong. Surprisingly, the bureaucrats appear to have beaten the profit-oriented business people in their own game.

On my last trip to Hong Kong, I was told at immigration that my travel document was cancelled because I forgot to have it renewed. Instead of putting me on the next plane out, the immigration officers made a special arrangement for me to enter Hong Kong to have my document sorted out.

There was no unnecessary hassle. Everybody was exceedingly polite and helpful. I am sure they treat everyone else the same because I am neither famous nor have I had friends in high places.

On the way back to Beijing, I thought I had hit on the reason behind the deterioration of service in the private sector in general, and the airline industry in particular. I was one of the passengers of three flights by different airlines to have been grouped into one flight. Indeed, code sharing arrangements, alliances and cross shareholding between airlines seem to have diminished competition to the point where indifferent service is not just a lapse in judgment, but, rather, a way of life. Passengers may no longer have the choice they thought they had.