Visitor in First
 

On a recent longhaul in F there were 3 pax- 1A, 2A and 2K. I was in 2A.

The lady (60-ish) in 2K had a lengthy conversation with the Inflight Service Mgr (forgive me if this is not the correct term) before takeoff. I did not overhear it.

At mealtimes, a female pax appeared from the back and joined 2K. She then went back to her seat in either business or economy. She did this 3 times on the flight, including for an "afternoon tea" type meal where they played cards. It looked like the flight attendant divided up the food, giving them both half. (This was noticed by 1A- I myself did not see any dividing of food) The "visitor" used the buddy seat for each visit.

I have never seen this allowed on any carrier in either Business or First.

I guess my question is "has anyone else seen this happen on CX or another carrier"? I was chosen by the ISM to complete the inflight survey, but I did not mention anything about this in it. Should I have? They were such nice staff onboard, I kind of hated to spoil the mood with a bad comment.

The flight otherwise was superb. Great service and food. My first time on the new 777 in First went tech and was badly delayed, so this time was an opportunity to really enjoy it after a wonderful cruise into Hong Kong.

Thanks, and your thoughts are appreciated.

KB

That should not be allowed. You could bring it to the attention of the ISM/FAs. They needed to have a good reason. Otherwise everyone would follow suit.

I thought this was not allowed as well. Had it been the case, I would have invited a nice pastor from a local church heading to do mission work in Cebu up front.

It is allowed on BA, but only for drinks and after the main service, and if the cabin (and visitor!) is quiet. I thought it was not possible on CX, and sharing a meal between them would seem a little over the top.

BC

On a QF flight my niece was allowed to join me in First in the empty seat next to me for the final 3 hours from SYD-JFK on QF107 to ensure that she disembarked with me. We were immensely respectful as I had not requested it, but appreciated the offer. Apart from some chocolates she sat quietly and watched TV.

I think the Cathay ad shows that it is allowed, as shown here:
http://www.cathaypacific.aero/index_en.html

If you chose the "men" path, Adam was inviting her female friend to the first class cabin and talking about camera and trip to HK. :D

Being allowed to sit with you in the F cabin for landing is another thing. I have invited (and have been invited by) my friends to move to a higher cabin during landing in the past.

It is rather disturbing to have a pax in a lower cabin to be allowed in F during meals. I have seen my occasions where some pax tried to sneak into the F galley just to stretch their legs or to use the lavs in F but were immediately told off by the crew.

I'm guessing that one of the pax in the party was a DMP or IN...

Or current/ex- CX staff/crew.

Visitor is allowed if he/she is invited.

Once I and one colleague was flying Business. He got upgraded to First. After meal I was invited by him to have a drink in First.

CX will also allow visitor from EY/BUsiness to sit in First with their loved one (not ones, one only) to have the meal together if request in advance and ISM allows. But the visitor will only allowed to have the food in their original class. However if there is VIP (the real VIP not CIP or Diamond members) sitting in First, this would not be allowed unless VIP's own guest visiting. Instead the VIP would have the opportunity to have any visitors he wants as sometime they need to talk about serious business.

In one word there is no such thing that any visitor is not allowed in First. One visitor is allowed if invited and have ISM's permission.

Yet another nail in the coffin of CX First, if true.

You should have mentioned it on the survey.

The food part is a little bit much, drinks I can understand.

Was this HKG-North American destination?

Interesting topic, I am sure SSW207 will have a lot to contribute.

I'm not too bothered by visitors in F so long as they:

(a) Sit down and not hover around the corridor

(b) Keep the noise down

IMHO, in this case the ISM used his/her discretion wisely:

- Cabin wasn't full
- Pax were discrete and not taking advantage of the situation
- No extra food was used that affected the enjoyment of other passengers
- The "extra" passenger was on the other side of the cabin to the other "real" F passengers.

As long as the other activites of these passengers didn't affect the other passengers then I think nothing wrong was done. It would have been a different story if the cabin was full, I think. The point here is that the ISM used discretion.

I've been disturbed in F by much more boorish drunk paying F passengers.

...+1