i am big fan of CX and flying them in F frequently between FRA and HKG. lately, i have experienced more than once that the crew killed my sleep by accouncing UNICEF envelopes in multiple languages about one hour before landing. usually, the entire F cabin sleeps until the captain says "30 minutes to landing". i agree UNICEF is important and i can live with the mandatory UNICEF movie on the ground as well as the UNICEF commercial before every movie, but I think this is going to far. It is so easy to move this non-safety-relevant announcement to after the captain�s landing information. Or move it to the beginning of the flight.
after landing in FRA or HKG, i have to work easily 12 hours in a row, and 30 minutes is about 10% of my sleeping time on a flight, and actually the flat bed and the silent cabin is what i mostly pay for.
i brought this to the attention of the purser when i experienced this last time, but she argued like UNICEF was the most important thing in her life and she does not care about some manager�s sleep and nobody else complained before. she was a very good discusser putting me in a position like i would almost actively kills children because i wanted to sleep.

any opinions on this? what will be the next socially very important announcement that could be done in the middle of the night or, better, just every hour?
or, every passenger can announce his favorite charity over the PA?
please dont get me wrong, i think it is very good that CX supports charity, but it is a thin line between supporting charity with own money and annoying people to donate their money. this must be done in a way that is not intimidating, and sure waking up people is not the way to do it.
i fear this now becomes standard procedure on CX.

I think CX is one of the airlines that really likes to wake people up, especially in premium cabins. I still don't understand why they wake people up mid way through the flight for breakfast, with still around 7 hours to go, instead of letting us sleep till 2.5 hours before landing and then serve breakfast like all other airlines.

I completely agree with you. I've always been annoyed by it, as indeed it's a common wake-up thing or worse - when you run into the UNICEF maniac flight attendant. That happens at least once a year, the ISM or FA who gives you lip because you don't donate.

I hope this doesn't come across as callous, because it's not meant to be. Just don't sell yourself short - CX is happily patting themselves on the back for the UNICEF thing and using it as a promo. They are not in the business of charity. If they really had altruistic motives (which no profit-oriented business is truly going to have) they'd donate themselves and shut the hell up about it already, so definitely don't let them make you feel guilty. It's not like anybody on the flight learns about UNICEF through CX.

I'm sure you do, and I know I do, have the charities we donate to (one of mine is indeed UNICEF). Donating is the right thing to do. But my donations to UNICEF are between me and that organization, not me and CX. The idea that me lobbing in a few coins is going to do anything is absurd, and I find it patronizing when I get lip from FAs when I don't put my coins into the envelope. To their defense, I suppose the FAs indeed have all the right intentions in their mind so I shouldn't fault them, but CX corporate undoubtedly has more cynical motives (branding, be seen as a model of corporate responsibility, etc.).

Ironically, I think they announce the $ amt CX has raised for UNICEF, and it's some ridiculously small amount (maybe ten million or less HKD) considering it has been going on for something like a decade. Probably doesn't even cover the costs of printing those silly envelopes with fancy pictures.

This is one thing I never understood myself. It doesn't happen on all flights.

For example, there are now currently 17 x weekly LAX-HKG. On 885, which is the afternoon flight, they usually serve the second meal 7 hours before landing.

On 883 and 881 which are the night flights, they always do it 2.5 hours prior to landing.

Yup...did you see the thread going on right now about the nighttime Australia flight where, in Y+, lights were on but for 3 hours of the entire flight? Get on board, no real rush, full meal service, finally lights go off...only to come back on 3 hours before landing.

Do you know how you can stop this?

Fill the envelope as soon as you are boarded and give FAs your "donation"

If you tell them before you fly they normally wont make announcements and also tell them the reason you stop flying CX is use BA is because BA dont make any anouncements during the flight. What really makes me mad is the seat belt sign comes on in the middle of the night and then you get three different language announcements telling you to fasten your seat belt. What BA do is walk the cabin and they will wake you up if your seat belt is not fastened. I too fly in F and C monthly to Europe and why the hell they serve breakfast at 4 am is totally beyond me

I have done a few longhauls lately and there were no such announcements.

The seat belt announcement is totally annoying!! RJ & QF don't do that, flight crews simply walk around and check.

curious if you were in F? I don't think it ever phased me in J, as the lights and noise start 2+ hours before landing so I don't care. But in F I definitely have noticed, probably because the cabin is usually dark and asleep until the captain comes on with the 30 minutes to landing thing. It's pretty customary for the cabin to be quiet and dark until just before descent...it's really awesome if you need to sleep. A month ago the ISM started making US customs and immigration announcements on the plane over an hour before landing at LAX - and mind you, these announcements had already been made early in the flight! I don't know if she forgot or she just liked to hear herself talk over the plane's intercom. I was already awake at that time, but the whole F cabin was dark and I would've been pi$$ed had I needed the extra sleep.

Maybe I'm not paying attention, but I have flown 7 long hauls in J or F in the last two months and not once did they serve the second meal seven hours before landing (usually was 2-2.5 hrs before) and not once was there any unicef announcement. Just the movie at the start of the flight.

I have flown HKG-JNB, HKG-ORD, HKG-LAX, HKG-FRA

As to your complaint, I don't want to be woken for ANY reason once we are wheels up. Sometimes I pass on the meals and I tell the FA not to bother me and never had an issue.

I think the way to bring this up is not to mention unicef but rather that no PA announcements should be made during the flight. There's a reason the Captain doesn't come on until 30 min before landing (although that seems to now be 35-40 min).

If it's an announcement through the PA system, it doesn't matter whether you are in F or J or Y. I have not noticed a change in PA practice. It's always like the following:

(before takeoff) Captain and ISM welcome, followed by safety video and UNICEF video
(after takeoff) ISM: 'We will be shortly serving food and drinks...'
(35 mins before landing) Captain's arrival update
(20 mins before landing after 'Cabin crew prepare the cabin for landing') ISM announcement

plus any announcements required for specific destinations

OP probably just encountered an enthusiastic ISM.

I don't even think the crew is really that interested in the UNICEF thing. On some sectors they just don't hand out the envelopes.

[QUOTE=hkgweilo;19349383]Maybe I'm not paying attention, but I have flown 7 long hauls in J or F in the last two months and not once did they serve the second meal seven hours before landing (usually was 2-2.5 hrs before) and not once was there any unicef announcement. Just the movie at the start of the flight.

I have flown HKG-JNB, HKG-ORD, HKG-LAX, HKG-FRA
QUOTE]

Meals are only served 7 hours into long haul flights if the flight is a day flight.
Overnight flights will still have the meal 2/2.5 hours before landing.

Your HKG-ORD must have had the second meal halfway through the flight, unless you were in F.

[QUOTE=CX828;19350525]HKG-ORD actually does the second meal (brunch) 2 hours before landing (both in J and Y). However, the similarly-timed HKG-JFK flight, CX830, has the second meal 7 hours in (also a brunch IIRC).

Flew CX 837 on 6 September and CX 838 (YVR-HKG-YVR) on 20 September both in F and there was no such UNICEF announcement.

Also 2nd meal was offered about 2 hours to arrival and no one was woken up that I noticed. My wife certainly was not.