Trip has just ended, and the same issue was encountered on the PVG-CDG-AMS flights today too. I knew instantly that the bug was still there because when I boarded the PVG-CDG, the neighbor across the aisle was getting lots of polite talks, welcomes, and treatment while I was fully ignored. A bit later in the flight I talked with the purser to see if the bug had gone, and the staff was absolutely aghast that this happened. Once again, embarrassing for the staff and the passenger to have to figure things out this way. The purser filed a complaint from her side again, and even tried to send a message to the CDG-AMS flight staff, but I guess it didn't go through, because this flight had no attention or preferences taken into account either. But on a short flight, it doesn't matter much.
I'll follow up with the TA and other contacts at AFKL to press upon this. It seems that the bug is not just flight specific, but if it happens, then it might impact a complete PNR. I have a bit of a pause in my flights for the next 2 months now, so we'll see in September how things look again.
Other than that, a quick update about the PVG-CDG experience, as I had promised:
- No ground escorts at PVG, as TA confirmed. It seems most of the PVG staff is actually MU staff that is working for AFKL (at least based on uniform) and this might explain why they don't do escorts at PVG (or perhaps the airport blocks them). In any case, I did ask about pre-boarding at check-in and the lady said she'd inform her colleagues at boarding. We were asked to come a little early. To their credit, they did follow through on this. But the jetway was blocked off for quite a long time so they offered to us whether we wanted to go down and wait or wait in the terminal itself. We were the first in the Zone 1 line anyhow, so we just decided to wait there. So yes, pre-boarding at PVG is possible.
- We were directed to Lounge 37, and when my boarding card was scanned, a lounge agent came forward and walked us to a quiet area of the lounge with available seating. The lounge itself was quite busy, so I suspect this was the Ulti effect because I did not see anyone else get escorted by staff to seats. The seats were not reserved though.
After the concierge service debacle of last week, and all the apologies/gestures from AFKL to make up for the trouble that we had, I am happy to also report that today the concierge service lived up to expectations. Met at jetway, bypassed lines at security and passport control. Led to the lounge, where of course the staff led us to the 2F Ulti area, had a shower cabin reserved (which was nice), and then picked us up and escorted us past all the people boarding the aircraft for the CDG-AMS flight.
Since I had a transit flight in AMS, we waited in the fishbowl of Lounge 25, where we had an interesting encounter. There were 2 other people in there besides us, and about 15 mins before we were to head to the gate an Ulti with 8 guests (yep, never thought I'd actually see that) was escorted in by KL staff. There was not enough space to sit and the agent felt obviously embarrassed due to it. So she asked the 2 other people if they were both Ultis, with a kind of vague response from both. In the meantime the large party decided to sit outside, but the lady returned (now with 3 agents!) and asked the others for the boarding passes. One of them turned out to not be Ulti and was asked to kindly sit outside after finishing his coffee. Eventually she came to me and since it was clear they were concerned with the possibility of non-Ultis being inside, I offered them the suggestion of doing things the way they are done in CDG (blue light). To my surprise she told me that they already have a process and their screens always tell them when an Ulti scans the BP, and that they staff 100% of the time (unless occupied by something) will walk Ultis to the lounge. I politely corrected her that not once since the fishbowl opened has this ever happened, and not even in lounge 52 - where I've even had to go back and ask for it to be opened because the area was locked. She was visibly shocked, and quite upset by that because as per her, she's been doing it (obviously, as she led the other group) and that is the protocol. But she also agreed that having a blue light would make things easier, since that is an indicator even now to KL staff that they need to manually intervene. Either way, interesting that the procedure exists but KL lounge staff are obviously just ignoring it. Somehow, doesn't surprise me.
In all, the return experience was much smoother. Now here's to hoping that bug will disappear soon.