A lot like the soft touch of announcing 5 minutes after takeoff on a PVG-SYD flight that we're very sorry but there is no entertainment on the entire flight (when they for sure knew this before taking off). Or the soft touch of being offered a delightful red "great wall" wine to go with your mystery meat and processed cheese in business class. Or the soft touch of being held hostage on a plane for 5 hours in CAN as you wait for clearance into SHA without any announcements of the reason.

I've been flying CA for years and have never once had anyone on board come up to me for being a star gold customer and even if they did it would not make up for their many, many flaws. Until they get rid of their current service mentality I'll continue to fly CX and connect thru HKG for my international trips out of PVG even if it adds 4 or 5 hours to a trip, rather than take any CAAC airline. Domestically in China all the airlines are the same and we don't have much of a choice so I don't care who it is and base my choice on plane type and schedule.