Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Why CX is my favorite airline

Amidst all this SARS lunacy, why CX is my favorite airline. Coming back earlier today from ICN, Mrs. Pickles had a small can of Lysol spray in her carry on (no, no paranoia, she always carries one when she travels, from time immemorial). The ICN security made a fuss, and did not want to let her through with it. I make a small stink (no pun intended), since she's traveled in and out of HKG and ICN with this same can of Lysol a number of times, with no problem before. So the security flack calls the Cathay counter, who tells me that I can exit the security area and check the spray as luggage. I say that I'm not in the mood to do so, so they can keep it, no big deal. I thought that was the end of the story. But...

Upon boarding, the check-in agent gives me a luggage receipt. At that point, I realized that someone at Cathay had actually walked to the security checkpoint, gotten the spray, and checked it for me! Upon arrival in HKG, the spray had been packed in a small Cathay cardboard box. I'm keeping the box, because our cat loves to get into bags and boxes, and will definitely love this one.

It is small things like that that distinguish CX from your run-of-the-mill carrier. And I wasn't even traveling in the front. The planes are so sad and empty that coach is more comfortable...

The relevant staff deserves 3 cheers!

This is indeed one of the great things about Cathay. I would have thought that would be worth a letter (or at least an email) to CX Customer Relations.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by christep:
This is indeed one of the great things about Cathay. I would have thought that would be worth a letter (or at least an email) to CX Customer Relations.</font>

I agree. It takes just 15 min of your time to write a compliment letter, but it would be a definite morale booster for the CX staff who handled your situation. It doesn't take much effort on your part, but wouldn't it feel great to make someone's day?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Pickles:
small can of Lysol spray in her carry on
....and check the spray as luggage
</font>


Omni comment from a fellow fan of CX, but I thought spray cans as checked luggage is a major not supposed to do that. I recall having a can of soda in checked luggage before, and when I opened the suitcase at home, the can had exploded.

from a security aspect, it might have been pepper spray relabled 'Lysol'
so they did the right thing, both ways

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marco Polo:
from a security aspect, it might have been pepper spray relabled 'Lysol'
so they did the right thing, both ways</font>

Yea, but as opposed to the TSA, the HKG and ICN security personnel usually have had more common sense, by, for example, discharging the spray (basically every time she travels with it, which is at least once a week) and enjoying the floral scent. Just this particular time, we encountered a recalcitrant individual who was not in the mood to let this pass. But Cathay came to the rescue.