alect
Jul 4, 06, 6:33 pm
Not a full TR but just a quick (and unforeseen) comparison of CX and TG regional J/C.
We were ticketed and booked DPS-HKG-BKK which were the last two segments of our DONE4. We were looking forward to another transit at the Wing/Pier in HKG, and then were arriving late into BKK - only overnighting and meeting some friends before flying back to LAX.
When we arrived at DPS and walked up to the check in counter, an agent asked us where we were going and to see our tickets. When we said BKK she informed us that the incoming a/c was going to be late and thus departing late and we would likely miss our connection (last flight to BKK) - bad weather in HKG. But they had already accomodated us on TG direct to BKK. Being a good FTer I instantly asked about our miles, and was assured we would be credited with the miles due to us. A TG agent was introduced and walked us over to the TG J desk. The CX agent wroted down our Aadv account details. The TG agent assisted the check-in agent to check us in and answered all of our questions. Our flight would leave 1 hr later than the scheduled CX flight (about the time the CX flight would likely leave) and would arrive into BKK 4 hrs earlier than we were originally booked - great for us (as long as we got our miles). We were checked in and given front row middle seats in J. The TG agent escorted us through passport control and to the lounge, including carrying our luggage up the stairs - really excellent service, and complete unexpected. Also good to see that the airline employees working so well together despite their companies being direct competitors. The lounge was full of others who had either beein accomodated on TG or were still on CX as they were stopped in HKG.
The lounge is quite good with a decent selection of food and beverages.
Soon we boarded. It was an A300-600 (I believe). Seats were quite old and the pitch was quite around 35-38" - Y+ basically. The front J cabin was almost full - although the rear J cabin was empty. This was clearly no CX 777, with wider seats, longer pitch, and the middle seat blocked for mini-alect (there was no middle seat on this a/c). The crew were numerous and quite nice, but clearly not comparable to a CX crew. Although there seemed to be more of them, there was this ambience of anxiety and hurriedness, but the results were not as good - things took longer to server, requests took longer to be fulfilled. Meals were fine but IMHO not as good as the CX meals. Surprisingly (for a 4.5 hr day flight) TG provided us with a Biotherm amenity kit - quite well stocked with mosituriser, shaving cream, aftreshave balm, lip balm and hand lotion (together with the standard eye mask, ear plugs, brush).
In every other way TG came off second best - seats, IFE (in seat 4" screens, but my headphones/jack did not work - in the two seats I tried), a/c (the toilets were in a garish pink/maroon colour - who the hell fit these a/c out?).
We were ticketed and booked DPS-HKG-BKK which were the last two segments of our DONE4. We were looking forward to another transit at the Wing/Pier in HKG, and then were arriving late into BKK - only overnighting and meeting some friends before flying back to LAX.
When we arrived at DPS and walked up to the check in counter, an agent asked us where we were going and to see our tickets. When we said BKK she informed us that the incoming a/c was going to be late and thus departing late and we would likely miss our connection (last flight to BKK) - bad weather in HKG. But they had already accomodated us on TG direct to BKK. Being a good FTer I instantly asked about our miles, and was assured we would be credited with the miles due to us. A TG agent was introduced and walked us over to the TG J desk. The CX agent wroted down our Aadv account details. The TG agent assisted the check-in agent to check us in and answered all of our questions. Our flight would leave 1 hr later than the scheduled CX flight (about the time the CX flight would likely leave) and would arrive into BKK 4 hrs earlier than we were originally booked - great for us (as long as we got our miles). We were checked in and given front row middle seats in J. The TG agent escorted us through passport control and to the lounge, including carrying our luggage up the stairs - really excellent service, and complete unexpected. Also good to see that the airline employees working so well together despite their companies being direct competitors. The lounge was full of others who had either beein accomodated on TG or were still on CX as they were stopped in HKG.
The lounge is quite good with a decent selection of food and beverages.
Soon we boarded. It was an A300-600 (I believe). Seats were quite old and the pitch was quite around 35-38" - Y+ basically. The front J cabin was almost full - although the rear J cabin was empty. This was clearly no CX 777, with wider seats, longer pitch, and the middle seat blocked for mini-alect (there was no middle seat on this a/c). The crew were numerous and quite nice, but clearly not comparable to a CX crew. Although there seemed to be more of them, there was this ambience of anxiety and hurriedness, but the results were not as good - things took longer to server, requests took longer to be fulfilled. Meals were fine but IMHO not as good as the CX meals. Surprisingly (for a 4.5 hr day flight) TG provided us with a Biotherm amenity kit - quite well stocked with mosituriser, shaving cream, aftreshave balm, lip balm and hand lotion (together with the standard eye mask, ear plugs, brush).
In every other way TG came off second best - seats, IFE (in seat 4" screens, but my headphones/jack did not work - in the two seats I tried), a/c (the toilets were in a garish pink/maroon colour - who the hell fit these a/c out?).