Originally Posted by
QRC3288
Regarding service, CX expects you to ring the call light for service. CX's customs are not the American style "never ring the call light"...the exact opposite. They expect you to use it and will come immediately. It seems to throws first time American travelers off. This holds true in J and F, BTW. Flight attendants trucking through the cabin with water in plastic cups is not my idea of good service, but it is what Americans expect so I guess there is just some cultural misunderstanding.
This is EXACTLY the issue for Americans flying CX. I still cannot get used to it.
It's not that we are water fanatics... it's that culturally the service in America is expected to be proactive rather than reactive.
Some Chinese friends were commenting once about the service in an American restaurant. "It was SO annoying!", they said. "The waitress kept bothering us, asking if everything was OK, asking if we wanted more drinks or food. She just kept selling, selling, selling."
They completely misunderstood that in America, the waitress is not trying to sell more food. By American standards, they probably had GREAT service.
It's culturally different in China, where you scream out "fúwù yuán" when you want something in a restaurant. Otherwise you starve.
I still cannot get used to it on CX. But I've learned to NOT get frustrated or disappointed by it. Just need to accept that culturally that's the way it is.
Just last week I flew HKG-ORD in F. It drove them nuts that I'd walk into the galley to ask for something rather than push the call button. But I just can't bring myself to use that button. In American culture, it is viewed by many as being too pushy and demanding. (Not ALL Americans are pushy and demanding, anyway!)
For me, CX is not about service. Quite frankly, I find the service to be medicore at best. (And the food/wine selection is downright blah!) For me it's all about the hard product, and as others have commented CX's hard product is head and shoulders above any of the legacy domestics.