Ducati

You forgot French...at least according to the UN and the Olympics.

What about Mandarin? Spanish? More people speak those languages than English. Might as well throw in Hindi and Arabic.

Define adequate. I don't believe mistaking Coke and Cognac qualifies as a reason to legitimately complain about communication. I've had American FAs mistake Coke for Sprite or potato chips for nuts.

If you want English, go fly UA or BA.

Dr. HFH

That seems a bit harsh to me. The fact is that English is the international language, particularly with regard to airline travel. Obviously, I'm not talking about the number of people globally who speak it. I'm talking about international acceptance.

ATC ops globally are in English. While perfect fluency isn't required of every member of the cabin crew, there is some minimal level of English which is, or should be, required. Certainly it's required of the flight crew.

OsakaWino

At least you're right in that only the UN and the Olympics still recognize French as any sort of international language. It has been years since it was standard in passports and with the International Postal Union.

But as Dr. HFH has pointed out, an international language is not defined by the number of people who speak it. English is the only international language. It is the only possible way that an FA could hope to communicate simultaneously with the largest possible number of passengers from diverse countries in an emergency.

It is unfortunate that some passengers who speak neither English nor the national language of the carrier are going to poorly informed at time of emergency, but it is important to communicate to as many of the passengers as possible.

A_Lee

Having just completed two transpacs on OZ, on both flights there were FA's who spoke fluent English. I didn't ask, but I'd be willing to bet one of them was a Korean-American who grew up in the USA. She spoke flawless English and used expressions you wouldn't expect to use unless they grew up in the USA. For flying transpacs, there's almost always at least one FA who speaks perfect or almost perfect English, and usually several.

With that said though, I'm seeing more and more Chinese passengers all the time. On my last two flights, the majority of passengers were Chinese. I'd estimate that in my general seating area, about 70% were Chinese! This was in the economy cabin. And there were Korean FA's who spoke Chinese. I'm not sure how fluent they were, but they definitely seemed to have no problem communicating with the passengers. So if this trend continues, then having Chinese speaking FA's will become more and more important and English speaking FA's will still naturally be necessary, but not quite as significant given the huge numbers of Chinese passengers. Many of the Chinese passengers spoke little or no English, and the FA who evidently was a native English speaker was having a hard time communicating with some of them.

BTW, the Chinese passengers I saw mostly chose the Bibimbap/Ssambap options. Both times they ran out of the Korean option and some passengers were left with only the western option.

Just a guess, but being that based on what I've heard, all or most Chinese carriers have a bad reputation, even among Chinese, and the Chinese would evidently rather fly OZ given it's high ranking, even if it means transiting in ICN. Someone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I have a friend who is now studying to be an FA, hopefully with KE or OZ, and she tells me that learning Chinese is almost considered mandatory. Of course English is mandatory, but with the huge number of Chinese passengers now on the Korean carriers, without knowing Chinese, FA candidates will be at a disadvantage. Besides transpac flights, I haven't noticed large numbers of Chinese passengers on other routes (with flights to China being an obvious exception), but the USA and China routes make up a large percent of OZ's business.

FA's who have been with OZ for a number of years may not have such great language skills beyond Korean, but with the newly hired FA's, language is becoming more and more important. That's my impression based on speaking with FA candidates and hearing the OZ FA's speak. It's the older FA's who generally have problems communicating in English while the young FA's don't tend to have as many problems. Twenty years ago English hagwons weren't nearly so widely spread in Korea and while Koreans believed learning English was important, it wasn't very easy/practical for most Koreans to learn English from a native English speaker. These days English and other language hagwons are all over the place and staffed with native speakers. It's no problem for most college students seeking a job, where a high level of English is mandatory, to get that language training in Korea.

BuildingMyBento

Bringing the UN and the Olympics into this snubs Taiwan. Nice.

Also, more and more airlines I've noticed have (simplified) Chinese written in certain places-- namely, requesting that passengers to flush, and reminding them that smoking is illegal. What a world...

I don't believe at all that in order to be 5-star all staff in-flight must speak English. The irony is that, on a Shandong Airlines flight between Lanzhou and Urumqi this past June, although I understood most of the Chinese, and was the only non-Chinese passenger on that leg, the FAs graciously (rather, because it was their job) made bilingual (English and Chinese...) annoucements. It's not that they spoke English too well, so actually conversing with the FAs may throw a few non-Chinese speakers out of the loop. The point is that China seems to get that, although they are currently at the center of the world's eye, for both good and bad reasons, most of the world still doesn't know a lick of Mandarin. What's the next most likely language an average world passenger would comprehend at least a bit of? Besides, it's not like Shandong Airlines is competing with OZ in the quest for more hollow bragging rights (in other words, a Skytrax rating). Also, it might behoove the passenger to learn a few words of the local lingo- perhaps if he/she really likes ginger ale, and orders it on every flight, this one should be no exception, right? So learn how to say a few things, it might make your experience a tad more pleasant.

At the same time, what about if there was some crisis where emergency seat passengers actually had to prove their use? Which language would they be instructed by? Isn't it inefficient to have two (or more, as in flights with China Airlines, or Emirates, or....) languages garbled in times of verifiable need? Granted, those cases are fortunately few and far between (these days, it seems to be that the passenger, not the plane's hardware, is the firebrand, ), but I always wonder about these cases. English appears to be the most likely (based on my numerous times sitting in those seats), but only once was I told that a seat was for "native speakers" only...can't recall where, but it was definitely in East Asia.

DownUnderFlyer

Just a friendly reminder to stay on topic.....

LH747FTL

As usual, it's a matter of luck. I've had my best flights on OZ MNL-ICN-FRA in C/F (333/74E), one of the worst flights ICN-HKG (74E).

But i think overall OZ crews and food (especially F) are absolutely top notch.


As for Asian red-eye flights, I had nice steak on OZ MNL-ICN (A320, C) while KE is happy to dump in front of you some lousy omelette at 3am (333/773/77W, MNL/CGK/BKK-ICN).

pallensf

Just to see if anyone has any feedback on this; but on my recent HNL - ICN flight, during the second meal service, a light early dinner, no alcohol was offered? Is this normal?

Flying home tomorrow, ICN - HNL, will see if it is offered however it may not be since coming into HNL will probably be breakfast since we leave ICN at 8pm.

bananakimo

They were even reluctant to speak to me... Handed me a laminated card with the choice of food. And asked A or B.

Not even chicken or beef... But A or B. never once I flew ANA again. They cater only to Japanese I think :@

longnguk

In Business class, alcohols are always available upon request. At least that has been my experience.

Ducati

Because you are fluent in Japanese, right?

Ducati

Right. Minimal level of English. I am certain every single FA that flies anywhere near NA speaks some form of acceptable English as it relates to passenger safety. But, what are we discussing here? The ability to give commands to passengers in English or taking a meaningless drink order?

BTW, it's harsh when someone complains about cognac and Coke. Again, fly UA or BA.

FlyingYan

I flew today in F ICN-FRA. Service was really good and with a smile but indeed one of the FA did not really understand most requests. For example, despite asking to wait before having desert, it came straight away. We were also surprised when they ran out of desert wine... They only had one small bottle on board and 5 passengers were drinking it... So we just had a taste. The Champagne is great, but they only had 2 bottles of Taittinger Comtes de Champagnes 2004 and 1 bottle of Pol Roger Cuvee Winston Churchill 1999... So they also ran out of F Champagne and served C Champagne instead. It reminded me of the usual TG missing champagne
Food was great but I remember the mains being better a couple of years ago. The "farewell present" wasn't great: iphone 4 case, galaxy case or opera CD.

andaman C

Same for me on the HNL-ICN route. They did not offer on the second meal, though I'm sure they would have been happy to accomodate if I asked. Great flight and FAs, and the new seats.

Chinatrvl

Interesting to read through this thread. Maybe I should have done a little research before booking:

My first flight on Asiana two weeks ago shall be my last one; with TG they left one of worst impression as Star Alliance carrier in Asia.

CGQ-ICN in C, A321
- Cabin has seen better days, worn cushion, could not recline seat. We changed to another row. I would not want to fly a longer route.
- Service was good, but far from special.
- Food was barely eatable, however CGQ catering is generally rather horrible.

ICN-FRA in C, scheduled 74M, replaced by 772
- Our seat assignments had been messed up due to aircraft swap: One window-one aisle got changed to two seats spread around the cabin. CGQ check-in could not fix it. Apparently, swaps happen very frequently, like at TG.
- Tried to change seats again at CAT at COEX: Check-in lady was unhelpful and rude after we disturbed her texting on her cell; stated the seat map was "broken".
- Very friendly check-in at ICN the day after and we had two seats together
- 772s do not have AVOD. I couldn't believe it. In the year 2012, world's and Asia's best airline by some doesn't have AVOD on most of their 772s?! Seriously? The IFE in loop twice got hung, meaning movies started from the beginning after an hour.
- 2-3-2 configuration? Seriously?
- Partially broken seat
- Service: Good, but nothing special
- Food: Acceptable, (sous-vide chicken gross!)
- Almost forgot to mention: The website. What the...???

ICN, world's best airport
- Apparently no priority lines for security and passport control
- OZ lounge offering for lunch was unbelievably bad
- Arriving in ICN (admittedly only a few times so far) is a long, long walk and a massive line at the immigration counters for foreigners

Overall, OZ was a disappointed, especially the aircraft swap to an ancient 772. They were the cheapest for this route, though, and seem to play in the TG league "you get what you pay for".

Return flight to China on CA in C, 773
- Better seats
- Better food
- Better service
- Pajamas, duvet