Guy Betsy

This has always been the highlight of any CX flight.. when the ISM personally comes round and greets MPC DMs, GOs, and sometimes RBs.. and also to OW Emeralds and Sapphires...

Now the procedure has changed..

ISMs will only greet DMs and OW-Emeralds in Business & First Class. The Senior Pursers are being delegated to greet DMs and OW-Emeralds only in economy class.

One one of my flights recently (in economy), the Senior Purser came round and said hello and passed me a bottle of Evian. She also offered me the meals first - as thought its a 'special' meal.. I was travelling as BA Gold (Emerald).

On a few flights (in economy or Business) , as a lowly AA-PLT, (Sapphire), I was not recognised anymore..

mayodave

Thank god for this, its the only part of each trip I really enjoy

CrazyJ82

I'm with GB on this. Disappointing if true. The CX model is a poor earn/burn ratio for elites (no tier bonuses) but superlative service. It's a shame for them to chip away at something that makes the flying experience more personal. Since its also harder to earn status, we're spending a lot of time on the planes!

Awesom Andy

If my memory serves me right, I was greeted by the senior purser in Y last month, as an OWE.

B-HXG

On the flight to Korea last week, MPC GO member was not greeted. Disappointing and I agree with CrazyJ82.

CX828

I think in general it is up to the purser to greet status pax in Y and probably J to. If the flight has a good ISM then the ISM will greet the pax instead or as well as the purser.

It depends on the ISM. Some ISM are not even seen in J class, while some ISM are actively seen walking up and down the aisles and being 'present' to all Y pax. It just depends on if the ISM is a good manager or not.

When sat in Y, I love it when the ISM comes down, not just to greet status pax, but to help with the meal service and make an effort to be seen and available to regular Y pax. that to me is a good manager. The ISM's position is manager of the flight, so it is good when they recognize that this position does extend outside of the premium cabins.

CrazyJ82

I've always found the greeting sporadic on regional. Although on a recent ICN run they did have elites' names and seat numbers on the cart for the meal and greeted me by name at that point.

Is this the sort of thing that will send me elsewhere? No...but. CX can't get rid of too many of these little touches because the market is always competitive. *A serves almost all of my most frequent routes. I don't currently consider UA a viable option back to the US but that could change if they get their act together on reliability. The danger for CX is that as the landscape constantly shifts, the lack of tier bonuses etc means goodwill even from silly gestures like inflight greetings is what can make a difference between staying and going.

ano429

I think ism is required to greet all dm, dmp in all classes(i cant rmb ow elites) while sp is to greet all elites in jcl and fp is to greet all elites in ey (dmp,dm, go,emerald)

the recent change is just about JCL:

originally ism is to greet all dmp,dm,emerald,gold in jcl
now - ism is required to greet dmp, dm only, no need to greet any other mpo title holders(sorry not sure about ow elites)

correct me if im wrong

Central90210

On a recent flight in Y (Y+ cabin) to HND, the 2 DMs next to me got greeted three times, including the ISM and senior purser. Another crew in a red shirt gave them a bottle of Evian. I didn't even get a bottle of water in J on the return flight.

I noticed there was also a sticky note on the Y food cart with presumably DM's name and seat number.

Syamyael

You are wrong , ism will greet only dm, dmp and emeralds only. I'm being greeted in all flights as emerald and dm , depends on which Ffp I use.

dkc192

FWIW I have recently been greeted on flights as a lowly SL. Once was when I was op-upped to J on HKG-ORD, the ISM came to greet me. Another time in Y on the same route, SP from Y came to greet me and offered to take my order for the second meal (I was sitting in the first row, so I got served first for the first meal), but did not offer Evian.

In general, YMMV with greetings... I personally don't care at all.

Guy Betsy

There is a B&W memo to all CX cabin crew bout this. I don't know when it became official but I guess some ISMs are still doing it their way.

Jane's Addiction

I only care about the meet and greet when J is pretty empty or I am in F, and the ISM is fun to converse with and a bit flirtatious. I have struck up two lasting friendships with different ISMs on HKG - JFK flights while in F. Ample time to chat on that flight..

Otherwise, I'd usually prefer to leave my headphones on rather than go through the motions of a perfunctory 'hello, we love you for flying us 10x a week, call me if you need anything, etc'

That's probably very shallow of me. Oh well.

dkc192

Might this have anything to do with the influx of GO members from the various Amex promotions?

midlevels

As a GO I was greeted twice recently. Once in Y from HKG-DEL and then once on the return when I was in PE. The second time was not a formal greeting but the FA remembered me from the previous flight by name and said hello. I was pleasantly surprised as nothing notable happened on that flight that would cause her to memorise my name. I certainly didn't remember her name, but did recognise the face.

Although I can confirm that for the last year or so (maybe more), the standard greeting for GO has all but disappeared and there's usually zero acknowledgement of any sort on the flight that you're any more valuable a passenger as the guy sitting next to you who doesn't even have an FFP number listed on the boarding pass

Fine, call me shallow, but I appreciate my loyalty being acknowledged. CX used to be much better at this. A few years ago when I flew less, I felt more valued as an SL than I do now has a GO.