As this is my second Westbound to Asia trip with CX in a two-week span, words can only describe the ‘Going the extra length’ type of experience I encountered during the first trip versus the so-called ‘Doing the least to fulfill minimum requirements’ type of gesture I experienced on the second and the regrets of choosing the WRONG transpacific route the second time around. It was not long ago (two weeks ago to be exact) that I had to take care of some family-related issues in HKG that I decided to fly CX873 from SFO. What was the result? Smooth traffic into the Int’l terminal, organized check-in lines (Despite the overbooked flight), flexibility among the check-in staff. From that flight I witnessed the attentiveness, gentle, and heartwarming gesture of Y cabin staff, plenty of midnight snacks going around of which are typical CX trademarks. Things such as ‘May I offer an extra cup of coffee’, ‘There are still extra spaces on that overhead I’ll pick it up and place it for you If I may’ are the intangibles that draw loyalty to CX.

Unfortunately things were in the opposite end of the spectrum the second time around. As I have to travel to BKK this time around to meet up with a former colleague, I knew that CX was still the deal to travel there especially with multiple flights and the short flight time from HKG. However despite being a part time LA residence myself, I was quite skeptical about taking CX from LAX because of past experiences with the LAX airport (ignorant parking staff, ill-mannered bus drivers, over-paranoid security personnel, nightmarish traffic) and the CX ex-LAX flight itself (Inefficient ground staff, mediocre FAs, sloppy in-flight service). I was leaning towards doing the same routing as I did last time: BUR-OAK on WN and then CX from SFO. However since my final destination is BKK this time around instead of HKG, I was reluctant to make 2 connections on this trip both ways. So I chose not to reroute north, and booked CX in K: CX 883/713 LAX-HKG-BKK and CX 750/882 BKK-HKG-LAX and give LAX another try. AN ABSOLUTELY REGRETFUL DECISION.

LAX Surliness
During the evening of the flight, traffic upon entry at Sepulveda & Century Blvd was chaotic as usual with vehicles & shuttle buses impatiently zigzagging their way from one end of the curb to the other while rude airport patrols were shouting at every vehicle to keep the flow moving. Definitely not off to a good start but was not taken by surprise. Upon reaching & entering the TBIT the situation was equally worse. Took at least 15 minutes for our vehicle to reach the TBIT from the Terminal 1 point (I guess as far as LA is concerned, Thanksgiving carried over into December!!) and while I was walking towards the terminal building from the parking structure I overheard several airport staff yelling at an elderly Dutch Lady for offloading her luggages too slow. Give me a break! She’s an ELDERLY for god’s sake.

Once inside the terminal, the CX check-in lines can be best described as the early morning hour scene in front of a Best Buy store the day after Thanksgiving. I understand that CX operates two night flights departing within two hours of each other but there virtually were no personnel to handle the line situation. All staff members were behind the counters. All of a sudden, there were confusions and many Y pax started to cut in front of one another and tempers began to flare. After several pax began shouting at one another, a CX ground staff finally intervened and cooler heads prevailed. So by then I sensed that the worse is over but what do you know. When it came to my turn in reaching the counter, the agent began to question my hand carry bag (This is my usual small size rectangular bag with wheels on the botton) and insist that I mush check it in (She was quite adamant about it). I explained to her that this is not my first time traveling in Y with CX and that it was never a problem carrying it into the cabin in the past and as recently as two weeks ago, the agents at both SFO & HKG said that the size was within acceptable limits to be considered a carry on. However she still insisted and said that this is LAX and we do things differently.~Talk about arrogance~. Anyhow I did not want to fuss much about it as I can see her patience was running short and allowed her to proceed. As a result, I could not bring my reading materials and CD stuff with me to use during the flight because I did not have an extra backpack to carry it with me into the cabin. Once through the security procedures I was on my way to the gate. The post security boarding area of the TBIT has got to be one of the worse if not THE WORST. No food stands, hardly any shops to wonder (There was barely a WH Smith), paints peeling off the wall, chairs seemed to have been chewed by a beaver. A TOTAL DISGRACE! When was the last time they did any renovations to this stinking facility??

Surliness spilling to CX883
The sights didn’t improve once I boarded the aircraft. The cabin crew, especially for Y, seemed to be lethargic, overworked, and annoyed with their jobs. As pax were still entering the aircraft and crowding the aisle, FAs were not helpful to the pax with their bags. As a matter of fact, some were quite rude and demanded that pax either put their bags on the overhead compartment or below their seating. As for me, I didn’t have to worry about this courtesy of the stubbornness of the Check-In agent. Soon after takeoff, supper was served. During this time they started to distribute the sterile alcohol napkins first. One FA carelessly dropped this as she was handing it out the pax sitting in front of me. Instead of retrieving it, she just told him ‘It’s down there if you can see it’. No apologies (Totally Unacceptable). During the mid-flight, FAs hardly came around with snacks and when I asked for Cup of Noodles, she said that they ran out and turned away immediately. What the hell is going on? I was really starving during the 10 hours between the Supper & Breakfast service.

The storm ended & the rainbow shined
Thankfully the nightmare was over once I landed in HKG. The agent behind the transfer counter greeted me with a smile and directed me towards the gate of CX713 to BKK. HKIA was an absolute paradise after the nightmare at LAX. At approximately 8:20am boarding began and we took off on time. What a difference going from one flight to another makes. Once onboard, the numerous flaws encountered on the previous flight were virtually nonexistence on this one. Unlike the previous flight, FAs were in a cheerful mood and were more than helpful in assiting pax with their bags despite having to wake up rather early in preparation for this flight. And unlike the flight that originated from LAX, I was served a Cup of Noodle upon request despite having just finished the earlier breakfast meal and being a 3hr flight. Overall, I'm just relieved that my trip did have a happy ending .

Final thoughts
Many of you might disagree with me and say that the problem encountered on the LAX flight was one of those ‘Off Days’ that even the top notch airliners such as CX go through once in a while and I should not come to the conclusion that Y class out LAX is one of CX’s weak point. However I should point out that the flight problems described above on the LAX flight was not the first time I encountered with CX when flying to/from of LAX. The situation was quite similar when I flew with them all 6x in the past to/from LAX. I always receive the usual high standard of service and seldom encountered these type of flaws when I fly transpacific on CX to/from YVR or SFO or any other regional CX flights within Asia. So why is it always the ones originating/ending at LAX? Definitely not looking forward to flying CX882 back to LAX four days from now. In fact I will try to contact CX and see if they can put me on CX872 to SFO instead. If not then I can just look forward to my reward travel on J for CX839 YVR-HKG in January. I guess when others have said that the LAX-HKG-LAX route is one of CX’s premium routes, they are only implying to F & J class because I have consistently received poor Y class service from this route. My future transpacific flights with CX will be out of YVR or SFO and WILL NEVER FLY OUT OF LAX AGAIN. My recommendations for those who need to travel from Souther Cal to HK on CX in Y is to fly from BUR, ONT, or SNA to SFO, SJC, or OAK and then hop on CX from SFO.