Let me start off by saying that I am not worried about CX going out of business nor am I worried about catching SARS.
What I am worried about is the quality of the CX experience. I've flown several CX First segments, have loved the experience and have been looking forward to flying them again. I also love the city of Hong Kong and it holds a special place in my memory as the destination of my first big solo travel adventure.
Work has been extremely busy and what has been keeping me going is planning a real special vacation for this October to South Africa. Flying CX First has been a centerpiece of this experience.
Now, with reports of closing the Pier, surgical mask wearing FAs and diminished/altered cabin service (all perfectly reasonable responses IMO), I am concerned that what I will experience will not live-up to the pleasant memories I have of my previous CX experiences.
In light of this, do you think it wise to cancel this award and rebook on either BA or LX, both of which will require 60,000 additional miles for an award.
Thanks.
mm9u
Apr 17, 03, 10:29 am
If SARS is still a problem in October, I think you won't be making the trip.
I'm booking CX starting in the end of June. I expect the SARS problem to either fade out with the change of seasons, or to become an absolute end-of-world-crisis. Either I'm flying CX, in the style I've become accustomed, or I'm not flying anywhere near SE Asia out of fear.
From May to November, there should be little problem. When cold and flu season returns, I'll be worried.
Plato90s
Apr 17, 03, 10:32 am
If you're going to rebook to JNB, I suggest you use an oneWorld award instead. Going from the east coast of the US to JNB, you can spend 180k miles to fly in F. Fly AA across the Atlantic, connect to BA in LHR, and return via MAD on Iberia or via HKG on CX.
landspeed
Apr 17, 03, 6:40 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Plato90s:
If you're going to rebook to JNB, I suggest you use an oneWorld award instead. Going from the east coast of the US to JNB, you can spend 180k miles to fly in F. Fly AA across the Atlantic, connect to BA in LHR, and return via MAD on Iberia or via HKG on CX.</font>
An aside- If I were going east coast-JNB, I'd considering earning and burning- a cheap upgraded JFK-LHR on AA and LHR-JNB on a 100K BA F award
JHunter
Apr 17, 03, 7:23 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by landspeed:
An aside- If I were going east coast-JNB, I'd considering earning and burning- a cheap upgraded JFK-LHR on AA and LHR-JNB on a 100K BA F award</font>
Why not just use 125k and book it all in BA F?
(edited to clarify/expand) This would need to be booked using BA miles under the old, "un-enhanced" redemption rates. Otherwise, yes, it's 200K AA miles w/AA F to LHR, then BA F to JNB.
Under the new BA program, it becomes 270k BA miles to get to JNB in F - talk about enhancements!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mad.gif
[This message has been edited by JHunter (edited 04-17-2003).]
miki13331
Apr 17, 03, 8:17 pm
i have not seen much of a difference in service in F. the main difference is the food and drinks are prepared in the galley and then brought to you with plastic covers. but then again, most of the food was usually prepared in the galley except for the caviar service. also no hot towels now, just the plastic wrapped towels.
the wing is never crowded now, which means you can actually find a place to sit especially in the afternoon when all the north american flights depart.
fewer passengers means a higher crew to passenger ratio. while most crew were wearing masks, the crew were as friendly as ever.
plus, they are finally giving out the decleor amenity kits again - they ran out of them a few weeks after they introduced them.
SHADO
Apr 18, 03, 9:33 pm
I`m in Asia (Japan) already and it is **NOT** as bad as CNN and some media organizations, and Lou Dobbs with weird former politicians who want to use the US Passport Act to ban travel to Asia, want you to think it is.
They are trying to contain the common cold and are not talking about the people who recover (gee, I wonder what they used to be cured)??
Fly F in October!
JohnG
Apr 19, 03, 7:56 am
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SHADO:
I`m in Asia (Japan) already and it is **NOT** as bad as CNN and some media organizations, and Lou Dobbs with weird former politicians who want to use the US Passport Act to ban travel to Asia, want you to think it is.
They are trying to contain the common cold and are not talking about the people who recover (gee, I wonder what they used to be cured)??
Fly F in October!</font>
SHADO,
who are you kidding ? Another 12 dead yesterday !! How can you describe this whole situation as "not so bad"....anyone who travels to HK not or in the near future voluntarily is certainly taking a big risk, no doubt about it.
Rubbish. They are taking a very small risk. In the same period in HK that 81 people have died from SARS, 300 have died from "normal" pneumonia. Of those 81, only 15 were not either elderly or chronically ill anyway. In the same period approximately 70 people in the same category have died from accidental injury or poisoning.
For the second day now the number of people being treated in HK hospitals for SARS has decreased.
See wthe Health Department website: http://www.info.gov.hk/dh/ap.htm
or my quantified analysis from that data at:
http://home.so-net.com.hk/~pns/
JohnG
Apr 19, 03, 12:02 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by christep:
Rubbish</font>
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif Not taking a risk ? Yes, that would explain fly there are so many people travelling ? Because there is "no risk " ?
To clarify, I am going to be one of the first to jump on a CX plane and travel to HKG and SIN once this has blown over, but I think it is a very serious situation and as such I am of the opinion that is is indeed a risk to travel to the destinations in question at this point and time.
Why you would call this rubbish is beyond me....
B Watson
Apr 19, 03, 1:03 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JohnG:
Why you would call this rubbish is beyond me....
</font>
Not me - the whole thing is a classic example of run away media - SARS just not statistically significant - and it is for that reason that I am not hesitating - I was in HK 2 weeks ago and am going back in 10 days - life and business goes on.
tedhl
Apr 19, 03, 1:55 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JohnG:
who are you kidding ? Another 12 dead yesterday !! How can you describe this whole situation as "not so bad"....anyone who travels to HK not or in the near future voluntarily is certainly taking a big risk, no doubt about it.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JohnG:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif Not taking a risk ? Yes, that would explain fly there are so many people travelling ? Because there is "no risk " ?
</font>
of course, few people travel these days because they all think there's risk involved...this is no doubt...but it's not a risk due to the disease per se...it's a risk made up / exaggerated by the media...