Hello all:

On Monday I arrived at JFK ready to board flight 831 2 hours early as usual. As an Emerald member I checked in First class as I was flying in business class(paid business fare). I checked three bags and paid $120 extra for one of them. They explained to me that I had to wait for my boarding pass to print as this was a "weight restricted" flight and they had to offload cargo before the computer would issue it. They were working on this.

I confirmed with both Judy who checked me in who confirmed with Mark who was heading up the flight that my bags would be loaded. "Yes" I was told. I connected in Hong Kong without a hitch and nobody contacted me regarding missing luggage. I arrived Bangkok at 12:00 and waited till 1:30AM after flying 22 hours to find no luggage?

ALL THREE OF MY BAGS NEVER LEFT NEW YORK! Plane apparantly was too heavy and instead of dumping valuable cargo till a later flight someone made the brilliant ($) decision to dump passenger baggage. Business class apparantly included. You would think that Cathays NY station at least would have sent word ahead that this had happened so I wouldn't be waiting around? Absolutely not.

Thai Airways handles the baggage though they have no access to Cathay's systems? to see where your baggage actually is. They sent a telex. Last evening someone from Cathay was supposed to contact me before 3am......no calls. This morning spoke to Thai several times and they informed me that they would provide me with $40 to buy incidentals....what about the suit I had to buy this morning I enquired? what about the car service who charged by the hour? They said Sorry, you need to talk to Cathay.

I was told by Thai this morning at 10AM that Cathay would contact me to discuss my baggage as 30-60 bags had been left at JFK. No phone calls from Cathay came through...They are very busy I was told.

I have been lied to all along here, one bag just arrived 12 hours late and the others apparantly, at my last call, are arriving tomorrow (they think)....36 hours late. I thought Cathay took care of their frequent fliers? Is there anybody I can call or write to about this? Does Cathay have any customer service I can call? Do they care?

Any options, please let me know. As I am back and forth to Asia often from NYC I have been thinking of switching to *Alliance and this may be that straw.....I am not feeling good about Cathay right now as their ground services seem extreme opposite their in-air service and if one is a failure.....

Do I have any options here?

Thanks!