Originally Posted by
buschoi
I actually tend to believe it was the FA that was uncomfortable with speaking Mandarin. A friend of mine who was also a CX FA told me a few years back that he hated flying the PEK/PVG/TPE routes because he had to speak Mandarin, and he was very bad at it. Of course, one FA's comment does not represent everyone, but that led me to what I think.
This is somewhat true in Hong Kong, too...
My wife was in a rush two years ago to catch her flight in HKG. She asked the lady that is managing the lines if she can go in front, in Cantonese, and the lady told her she only speaks English, which to my wife is very strange: you work in HKG, managing the line, and you only speak English? Of course my wife being an American train doctorate replied right back in English and the lady let her move up front.
Looks like CX is being true to their corporate culture: English first.