Join Date: May 2008
Location: San Francisco, where else?
Programs: EXP,EX-CK 2.5mm, now lifetime Platinum, ex-UA1K, Marriott- Platinum, Hertz 5*
Posts: 991
Rant: Decline in customer experience SFO-HKG
I'm a long-time CX fan and fly at least one long-haul per month with them, usually SFO-HKG. My latest flight experience has just about pushed me to SQ or even (gasp) United.
In the "old days" (last year) I used the nice First Class BA lounge at SFO and enjoyed private boarding from the lounge to the 747 which was always well maintained.
Now, I go to the always overcrowded new lounge at SFO, try to find a seat crammed in with everyone else like a bus station, go to a boarding gate and board with everyone else getting on the 747....
Which brings me to the condition of the 747's. On 25-50% of my flights in the past 4 months I've had major problems with mechanical issues with my seats, including:
1. A seat that stopped working (stuck in fully flat position) halfway through 14 hour flight. Had to move to crew rest seat 80K.
2. An entertainment system that constantly rebooted and then died, so no video on demand for 12 hour flight.
3. A bright reading light over the seat which would not turn off. Fortunately flight attendant found a piece of plastic or metal which covered the light after much work with me standing in the aisle while they tried to turn off light.
4. A defective headphone jack that would only play sound on one side even after headset was swapped twice.
You get the idea.
Each of these things in isolation (overcrowded lounge, mechanical issues, etc) are annoyances, but as you add them up they begin to impact my perception of the quality of CX. Combine this with poor management of delays (my flight was delayed 1 hour last night and there were no announcements and the departure time was never updated to reflect the delay, even after the time had passed).
The 747 is my favorite aircraft, but given the poor maintenance of these old systems, I now find myself eager to try the 777. I am hoping they are in better shape. As for the lounge, CX really needs to at least build a first class addition to the lounge in SFO. I saw one gentleman last night walk in, look at people sitting on the floor (a common occurrence from my experience), ask Annie at the front desk if there was a F lounge, and walk out when told there was not.
CX needs to return to the standards they have set in the past.