How are the Kunming cabbies? Do they ignore and abuse laowai like they do in Beijing? Lol

They ignore and abuse everyone, foreigners and locals alike. It's a matter of supply and demand.

Really, I've lived in Kunming 5 years and only once had a taxi driver try to cheat me. I've always found them friendly, honest and courteous.

Several years and mostly good. One driver spent substantial time finding me to return telephone. Try to avoid having to use taxis during the notorious changeover times. Vast majority friendly, at worst silent (very few) certainly never experienced abuse of any kind.

Kunming Taxis are allegedly regulated. I don't know if this really does anything - but sometimes it seriously scares some of the taxi operators.

COMPLAINTS
If a taxi refuses a fair, is discourteous, or overcharges you - call this number - 331-5233 and report the taxi number (license plate and it should be on the ID plate in the front of EVERY taxi), time, location, and state your complaint briefly (usually it's a REFUSED THE FARE issue as the location is too far, it's rush hour, lunch time, breakfast, dinner is coming, and a myriad of other lame but unacceptable excuses).

you will usually experience the worst during inclement weather.

LOST & FOUND
ALWAYS get a receipt (fa piao) from the driver. If you LOSE ANYTHING in the taxi - call the same number above, report the date, time, and location along with the fapiao number. They can track the taxi down and have them return ANYTHING you may have left in the taxi, including a cash-stuffed wallet, a mobile phone, etc ad in infinitum.

OVERCHARGING
If a driver engages you in witty repartee - chances are you'll be taking the scenic route to your destination (aka a WIDE hemispheric approach). Getting across the city in 2012 can range from CNY 15-25. If you've paid over CNY 30 (not including chenggong) - you've probably just been ripped off. Call that number, report the fapiao and your complaint. The driver WILL come back to your destination and probably refund the entire fare - if not at least half (the scenic route is usually around 2x the normal direct fare). They love to use this trick during rush hour - suggesting a short jaunt out to the second and sometimes even the third ring road (and sometimes, it's actually justified).

Not all are thieves - but enough to make one more observant, more wary, more defensive.

I wouldn't know anything about Kunming taxis... Couldn't get any to stop for me the entire time that I was there last summer, so I had to walk everywhere. I thought it was just a broad 'I will not stop for evil foreigners' thing, but maybe it was just me.

Spider,
It sounds like you were trying to get a cab during rush hour. That takes a lot of luck since the number or taxis has not increased with the population. Once the subway opens the situation may be relieved a bit.

Need to revise my earlier comment. In all fairness, taxis here have treated me well much more often than they have done otherwise.

The frustrations I occasionally have with them stem mainly from there not being enough taxis for the current Kunming urban population.

Also shift change time and/or driver meal time seem to often coincide with rush hour and make taxis extremely scarce between about 5 and 7.

And when its raining, when one often wants a taxi most of all, they become even more scarce than when the sun is shining.

I'm not aware of ever having been cheated, and did not mean to imply that.

Do they blatantly refuse laowai, like in Beijing?

No. The issues I mentioned above are encountered by my Chinese friends too. It's not a "laowai" thing.