hadsst

The KA cabin crew union has voted for a strike on workload and rest issues.
It demands increased allowances when there is a crew shortage, a pay rise and year-end bonus. No specific dates have been announced as the union awaits further talks with KA.

The KA management says the additional workload is caused by adverse weather and ATC delays in China, and hopes that the situation will improve by October as new recruits start their work.

As reported by Oriental Daily today, there are some other interesting demands from the union though:
- to review the cabin luggage allowance to reduce the risk of injury of cabin crew
- to terminate duty free service 30 minutes before landing
- to review onboard services on short-haul flights to allow more rest time for cabin crew
- to 'reduce unnecessary greetings' such as to MPO members

Ah, it seems that the union wants services on KA to be cut like its sister airline!

Cathay Boy

I can understand the carry-on allowance. It is getting ridiculous to see some pax being allowed to carry 4 full-size mini-luggage fully stocked and very heavy on-board.

As for the "unnecessary greetings", hey, it is already happening. I have not been greeted for my last 4 round trips, and I used to be greeted every time I fly KA, even when I was a lowly SL!

Anyway, less work, more pay, good for them if they can get it.

KeepDiscovering

This one is interesting. I think KA only serves drinks on 'short-haul' routes like Haikou. I fly QR on intra-Gulf routes frequently: DOH-DXB is around 40 min and DOH-BAH is even less than 30 min, but they serve sandwiches and drinks. I don't think any KA routes are as short as these, apart from HKG-CAN, so I see that those cabin crew's request is like a decline on standard rather than anything else.

Guy Betsy

The few times I have flown on KA, I am not impressed by them at all. They seem to have a la-de-dah attitude and make themselves to be better than other airlines... especially CX.

I say merge them entirely into CX and make them take up CX's contractual commitments!

Cathay Boy

Maybe making them CX's LCC will teach them a lesson...

QRC3288

Ahh, Guy Betsy I certainly appreciate your thoughtful job as our moderator, but I must say my opinion differs quite a lot from yours (and Cathay Boy's) below.

KA isn't perfect....but I find 1.) I am offered first meal service more consistently than CX (almost every time on KA, despite there almost always being 20+ DMs on PVG and PEK flights), 2.) There frequently are some absurdly rude mainland pax on (most every) flight, and they deal with it with grace and without attitude, 3.) Meal service itself in Y class and J class beats CX regional service by far, 4.) ISMs are possibly MORE helpful than the CX ones - instead of just doing a robotic greeting and then disappearing for the remainder of the flight, I find the ISMs on KA often serve me food or drinks, bring me things (that I didn't ask for) from J class, and in general don't see themselves as the royalty that some of the crazy ISMs on CX think they are.

I'm not sure what they mean by the "unnecessary greeting," but it could be referring to things like GOs, Emeralds, SLs, etc. I watched the ISM make a greeting to just way too many people a few days back HKG-PEK. There must have been over 70 people she greeted. She for sure was greeting all DMs and Emeralds, the latter of which I already think is unnecessary, and when I snuck a look at her list there also was almost a page full of Golds whom she was checking off. I have also once seen a SP greeting every single SILVER in our section of EY. Does anybody know if KA has more strict requirements for greetings? Regardless the PEK and PVG flights are really ridiculous for the levels of frequent fliers they have, I have not seen another flight anywhere in the CX/KA network - not even JFK, which has quite a few more seats than the A330s KA flies - which come near to the level of FFs on PEK and PVG.

Either way, KA crew tend to have a much more tedious schedule than CX - due to the lack of long-haul there are many more days worked in a row. Further, most flights are turnarounds, and there seems to be a lot more standby for the KA FAs than on CX (can you imaging having to wake up at 6am, get called and told you have a morning turnaround to Beijing with a bunch of screaming mainland passengers and saying a greeting to 50+ passengers each way, many of whom are annoying guys with lots of requests who think they're much more important than we actually are, and then not arrive home until 6 or 7pm, only to do it again the next day?). Whereas a FA on a week of standby with CX could get an overnight or a longer-haul, which would quickly complete the standby, a KA FA on standby i think could get two or three days of turnarounds in a row. Not that this is a great excuse, but combine this with the usually very consistent good service I've received on KA and I don't think it's totally ridiculous for them to be requesting something. Many of the KA crew I know want to switch over to CX because the schedules are a lot less tiring there. Flying hours can be similar, but apparently turnarounds are dreaded.

hau cheng

Some good points QRC3288. I get the feeling that CX's FA's use the long duration of flights to create rest time opportunities that perhaps KA staff don't get. Of concern to me as a passenger is how come KA staff have a more difficult job, yet their attitude is better than their CX counterparts who may have a slightly easier working experience?

christep

I thought that CX was pretty much CX's LCC these days?

wuyiheng

Well, I just had very interesting experience regarding this a few days ago. I am a SL and was on KA's HKG-XMN flight. I was booked in J but managed to grab an F seat as there was an equipment change. The guy sat next to me was a DM. Before departure, ISM greeted him and asked what kind of wine and meal he cared for after takeoff but she didn't even bother to look at me. No complains since I am just a lowly SL. However, things were just getting more and more unacceptable later. During the flight, the FAs asked if he wanted a refill for 3-4 times and didn't mind coming all the way back to the galley to get the bottle while they constantly ignored my empty glass. When I asked one of the FA for a cup of milk tea and she made me feel as if I was imposing something on her.

So, I guess you guys shouldn't be worried about the service cut at all as most of you here in the forum are DMs. As for lowly SLs and GRs, blame it on KA's powerful union.

Flying Viking

Flying HKG-KTM on KA recently, I asked the cabin-crew if this was their least favourite flight of all. I was thinking of passengers who, and I am trying to find a non-offensive way to write this, are perhaps not entirely accustomed to flying and who have a very different outlook on why these women are walking up and down the cabin in their uniforms.

To my surprise, the HKG-KTM route is a FAVOURITE among the KA crews! They explained that with the current schedules, they get a 3-day lay-over and they were all on their way to Pokhara first thing in the morning for some R&R. So no early calls for a morning-flight to PEK with a full load of demanding and newly affluent Chinese. They are of course totally unlike the Westerners who by now are accustomed to being affluent. Or perhaps not: Try a charter-flight from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean...

Pity for the KA crews that from September 1st, KA will fly HKG-KTM every day except Friday. I guess they will still get the lay-over, but only for a night.

midlevels

Umm, Nepal is not the same as Saudi Arabia. Different culture, different people, not even really in the same part of the world. Asia is a big place. Maoist militants aside, the Nepalese are generally very humble and pleasant people.

HotelSlave

I can never understand why the FA's won't just shut up and do their jobs, they don't like it? Quit! Too bad but not most of us love our jobs dearly and its possible that from time to time we all find things to be a bit overwhelming, but there are proper and professional ways of dealing with our grievances rather than taking it all on the pax.

Nobody forced them to be a FA and if they really don't like their jobs they are all free to quit. Why, why, WHY can't FA's around the world grow up and deal with their work-place complaints properly, and in the meantime maintain some profesisonalism? They want to be treated with respect and professionally right? Imagine what if all the firemen decided to go on strike, or cut service "a" and reduce service "b", just because they aren't getting enough rest or enough pay, what would the public think?

FA's signed up to serve, and demand to be respectfully treated like professionals, yet none of their strike-threat actions deliver a tiny bit of professionalism, or even resemble that of the action of a responsible adult. Come on FA'a, you signed up for it, you asked for it, you joined it, quite the whining and shut up and do your job.

kamchatsky

Last time I flew KA HKG-CAN in June they served bottled water and muffins. It was a mad rush of distribution of all the food, and then take all the rubbish away as the flight was only 40 minutes.

flyhighhk

The only one I can understand is closing the duty free service so there isn't a mad rush before the landing. How much further can they reduce the cabin baggage allowance? It's already only one piece of 5 kg or less on KA. Why, if it's a short haul, do cabin crew need to rest? Lots of people work in high intensity jobs for hours at a time without a rest, e.g. doctors and nurses, chefs, waiters. And the greetings are already discretionary, as I understand it. On my last flight on KA, nearly every passenger in the J cabin alone was a DM, due to overbooking and op-ups. There must have been dozens of passengers with MP status in Y. The ISM and crew only greeted a DM+ member personally, which is understandable.

I am all for collective bargaining, especially in a labour market like Hong Kong's where the employer has a clear advantage. But why don't they just focus on things that will actually improve their lives, like more pay? I can only think the above are bargaining chips the union threw in.

sl00001

Everyone has the right to speak up, but oh boy ......you have a lot of anger inside of you. Did you got screwed over by FA's? Did they forget to serve you your meal? They didn't help you with your carry-on luguage? They didn't welcome you onboard?

Lighten up mate - at least the KA FA's are pretty