Drop in Quality of Y Service?
 

Just got back from a SYD-ICN-SYD trip on OZ. Outbound, I flew Y and inbound flew C.

It's been a while since I flew Y on OZ, but it seems to me their inflight service for Y has dropped off considerably. C service was the usual, but Y left a lot to be desired. I'm not sure if this was a one off, or is a reflection of the cutbacks biting into cabin service. In no particular order, here are the things I noticed...

Reluctant to hang my coat. I've never had this issue before on OZ in Y. But the FA I asked was telling me they have to see if there's space. Thankfully, another FA stepped in and took my coat. As they both walked away from me, I could hear the FA who took my coat telling the other one that I was Diamond Plus...

No steamed towels. Instead, a disposable wet wipe in a packet was handed out.

No meal menu. Not much of a problem, but from memory, they used to hand out a printed sheet with what was available.

No personalised greeting from a senior FA or purser. Honestly, I really didn't like this anyway, so I prefer it gone. But nonetheless, it's no longer done.

Food quality has dropped significantly. Previously, at least the food was edible. But now, especially with the second meal, I left most of it.

Finally, this is a very subjective point, but the warm cordiality of the FAs seems to have gone. They still get the job done and don't give off an "I'm-doing-you-a-favour" attitude that you often get from FAs on America-based airlines, but it's now coldly clinical than warm and welcoming.

Also, the toothbrushes in the toilets no longer come with a separate mini-tube of toothpaste. Instead, you have the toothpaste pre-coated onto the toothbrush itself. Found that a bit weird...

Any of you who have travelled OZ Y in the past and recently noticed a change?

Flew 201 recently. I saw the FAs hang coats for passengers in Y. Wet wipe passed out during the first drink service. But it's been this way for some time now. Meal menu is gone. I didn't get a personalized greeting, but I find that it is not needed. Food quality seems the same, if anything the dessert is even better now. FA attitudes seem the same and the toothbrushes in the bathroom did come with the separate small tub of toothpaste.

Some minor changes yes but overall I don't feel like it has taken anything away from the flight.

I've flown FRA-ICN and ICN-SIN in Y in recent months and by and large, the service was the same. However, the service can sometimes be inconsistent and I also experienced some of the changes you mention, sol95:

- Meal menus: Sometimes they hand them out, sometimes they don't, even on the same route. I can't make out any rhyme or reason to this
- Food quality: The same as always
- Wet wipes: Can't remember, to be honest, but you may be right
- FA friendliness: On those routes, I haven't noticed any difference thankfully
- Personal greeting: I still have been getting the greeting, but sometimes they forget or are too busy on a full flight
- Toothbrushes: Yes, I noticed this as well. The pre-coated toothbrush kind of weirded me out the first time, but oh well, it seems to work.

thanks for the responses. I do hope my experience was outside the norm as if you take away OZ cabin service, then there's not much point in flying OZ!

I have ICN-HKG-ICN in Y coming up in July, so I'll see then :)

Flew JFK-ICN-SIN and back last month in Y and didn't feel that things were any worse than they used to be. Re your observations:

FAs: Not all of them were "warm and welcoming" (service tended to be on the cold/clinical side) but there were several who definitely still were (especially on JFK-ICN-JFK). But then again might have been a language barrier thing (since I don't speak Korean).

Coat: Never noticed that but then again it's nearly summer in the Northern hemisphere and I don't think anyone had them on.

Food quality: Western option ICN-JFK was rather odd (a huge piece of chicken breast in some unidentifiable sauce) however all the Korean meals were very good (had bibimbap on 3 of 4 flights and didn't get tired of it lol). Catering ex-JFK was surprisingly good. Your issues with the food might just have been a SYD/outstation thing?

Menus: Never got a menu on any sector but didn't receive any menus on my flights in 2015 either.

Greeting: Never got one but wasn't expecting one to begin with.

Toothbrushes: I always felt that throwing away the half-used mini tube was a waste anyway so this is probably a change for the better :D

That being said OZ is still miles ahead of UA and definitely still on par with/better than NH so I don't think their service is an issue or that things have deteriorated since a few years ago.

I think it is just the ups and downs of the service rather than a noticeable trend downhill

Coat - Never been offered in Y
Steamed towels - probably right but haven't noticed
Meal menu - most flights have a printed menu but the odd flight has missed out
Personalised greeting - I got one 3 years ago but none since
Food quality - Is this the western or Korean option? I found the Korean options are always the same in Y, to the point of being boring sometimes. Have not noticed any decline in the Korean options.
Friendliness of FAs - Goes up and down depending on the crews.
Toothbrushes - last trip in January had toothpaste in tubes, maybe a recent change.

http://gall.dcinside.com/board/view/...48156;루

The link has a meal picture on Asiana's ICN-BKI route. Rice dish on a paper box!! Be aware that some intra-Asian routes are treated as LCC.

And recently Asiana reduced the number of FA by one (I think, probably more for larger fleet) throughout all flights. FAs are not happy about that.

I am not surprised on this route. Asiana is competing against Eastar, Jin Air and soon Jeju Air. All of them are LCCs. I have a feeling once Air Seoul is up and running, this route may be handed off to them. Meanwhile I wonder why Air Busan is not flying there.

JFK-ICN-HKG
 

Just flew from JFK to HKG can compare with the same flight I took in March.

- No welcome or thank you for being an Asiana Diamond. Had this in March and was proactively offered a bottle of water upon boarding.

- Meal service seemed a bit disjointed. Tray was served but the drink trolley wasn't together - if I remember correctly they used to serve the meal tray and drinks from the same trolley. Drink wasn't served until 10 mins after receiving the tray.

- Also found the crew less 'smiley' than before. Just my own perception.

- Still though I would say the overall service was high with frequent water runs throughout the flight and the quality of food was consistent.

I'm flying back to JFK again in July and will get to compare then.

Back in end of March, 2016, I was flying with OZ for a round trip between SFO and HKG. On the way back to SFO, I had a quick chat with the Purser and I was told by the Purser on that flight that it is official that the steam towel, paper menu, and personal greetings were all eliminated from their service procedures since the beginning of March, 2016.

I do hope that the cost-cutting changes stop right there... If any additional services being cut, that can truly negatively and substantially impact a Y passenger's experience on board.

That meal is much nicer than the meal service I received on intra-Asia flights on CX, KA, BR and CI! Those airlines only serve a hot bun placed in a paper bag together with tiny (prepackaged) cup of water! I was once on a TPE - HKG flight by BR, all was served was a piece of honey cake and was told to take it after getting off as there will not be trash collection before landing!

Those intra-Asia flights might be much shorter than OZ's ICN-BKI flight in the link. Similar distance (HKG-DEL or TPE-CGK) should be more than a piece of cake.

TPE-HKG is a 500 mile flight. BR serves full meal on longer flights like TPE-PVG and so does CX.

OZ got best economy class award from Skytrax if anyone still cares. Best Y seat and Y catering. Is it because everyone else's service drops even faster than Asiana?

http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewt...?f=3&t=1337831

The best economy class award OZ received this year was based on last year's flights.
I'm pretty sure OZ won't be able to win this award again in 2017, which would be based on this year's flights.
OZ is in deep financial trouble, hence they are in the process of cutting lots of service items.
As a result, the meals in economy class took a hit, as both the quantity and quality of meals have been downgraded considerably (due to lower budget allocated for meals), especially on short-haul & medium haul flights.