Random Cathay rants
 

So a few things on my mind....in The Cabin, and looking at the Solas chairs, I see that the seat pads are worn down now. Why is it that Cathay has problems making anything these days that is durable? Coffin class was rickety from the start, cirrus seems to be having problems with headphone sockets and the seat padding, and now these multi million dollar solas chairs can't even keep their seat pads in good shape for a year.

Also, there are these fancy espresso machines in the lounges for hand made coffee. But whenever you ask for a coffee, they use the press button machine. Why? Do they ever use the traditional machines? If they do, is it decent at all or do the staff not know how to operate them?

The best thing to do about these complaints is to write to CX.

If you think about it, people are sitting in those solus chairs everyday from lounge opening to closing, so a bit of wear and tear is possible, especially as many people have no care for looking after lounge property.
I suggest you ask CX, if they are planning on replacing covers, and then you can get an official response, or at least raise awareness.

Regarding the coffee machines. Why not confront staff and say: why are you not using the proper machine? Or Id like to have my coffee from that machine please.... See what response you get.

The Cabin has actually been around for more than 2 years. Some wear and tear are not surprising.

I also find the quality of the users of the product have gone downhill.
But the built of these furniture of course is not the same as the poultrna frau used in the Wing F before

I've found they do use the fancy machine at the new coffee bar at the Wing. Maybe it depends on what kind of coffee you're asking for? They've used the machine for lattes and cappuccinos for me, but maybe if you're ordering a regular coffee they revert to the push-button machine.

I also noticed they only use the push-button machine when I order any kind of coffee. At last, I'm not picking about coffee so I don't care, but I can see someone that appreciates a good coffee might get upset about it.

Also, CX seats are in bad shape too quickly in my opinion. In my PE report I forgot to mention that my earphone socket and my neighbor's socket are cross-wired, meaning my headphone needs to plug into his and he needs to plug into mine to work. Luckily, both sockets are in the middle arm rests so it's no big deal, and I'm told ISM about it, but just find it amazing how the installation can cross-wired something that simple (wonder what else did they cross-wired....)

I find the Cabin underwhelming so even if my gate is in the 20s I still use the Wing. But I agree some of the "new" CX planes and seats are already seeing some wear and tear or faults that shouldn't be.

U better hope they didn't cross wired the flight controls

I'd think that Cathay doesn't make furniture at all.

I always have the champagne or chinese tea

Made in China for the lowest cost possible.
Cathay isn't about quality anymore, its all veneer.

To be fair to Cathay, the Solus chair's leather comes from Poltrona Frau

I think the old couches in the f wing is from poltrona frau but didn't know wheter the solus chair also have those leather

But Cathay commissioned this furniture and approved the design. You would think they would ask to see durability tests. Same with the J class seats - they should be conducting durability tests even though they are not the manufacturer.

Saying they don't make furniture is like saying it's okay for CX to buy Ikea and put it in their lounge - they didn't make it, so they are not responsible for the quality / durability of what is in their lounge?

For on board seats, I think generally all airlines are heading towards the same situation.
There are a lot more bells and whistles now compare to lets say 10 years ago, and there are more things that can go wrong.

Not to say the quality standards need to drop as a result of this, but I think from my past year's experience, even SQ/EK etc.... are showing quality issues on the seats.

Hopefully they can BOLT down the seats properly and avoid any AA incident.

By the way, trying the solus chairs at the wing and they also have seat pad issues.

My random rant today: heading to F side Wing, and surprised to see there are no more mini-fruit buffet that was once there. Asked about it and they said they stopped it. Went to the J side and the only fruits available are airline-style boxed fruits. No more fresh fruits with better choices. I love fruits, so I'm making this rant...

Maybe you should travel on EK

Stingy bag allowance for Y. 20kg for combined weight for all bags!!?? C'mon....

What's with your defensive attitude. This is a forum that shares personal opinions, and feedbacks to CX. If CX management reads this forum, I would think he would appreciate how the customers, especially frequent customers, think about how they run things. Of course, they have the final say on whether the comments are good or they have other concerns (like cost-cutting).

Replies like "you should go elsewhere" is rude and unnecessary. We are here to talk CX, nobody comes here with an agenda, except maybe people making such comments like yourselves...

It is not defensive problem is that petty rants like you and for pax who have low revenue contribution and making all these noise and causing CX mgmt ignoring all genuine comments from real CX flyers.
If u don't like the airline try another one. It is pretty fair
Isn't a bit weird only a selected group here always comes up with the same
Petty rants.

+1

This is standard practice in anywhere outside of the Americas.

I like fruit too.

I hear you, but again, my response would be CX charges premium prices, surly they can do better than "standard practice"? If I want to fly on "standard practice" airline I will fly discount America-based Airlines, not one of the best airline in the industry.

I am international traveler so this doesn't really hurt me, just making this comment in principle.

BA is 23kg

Does SQ give more allowance? They also charge a premium?

But 1 bag only, and BA only changed a couple of years ago.

How many bags does one need... :D

As for a recent change, its been like that before 1997. I suppose its how one classes recent. ;)

it's the flexibility being able to check as many or as little number of bags.

some people might prefer to check 2 x 5kg bags instead of 1 x 10 kg.

Eco rant - plastic, plastic and more plastic...
 

Average number of plastic items in a CX 1 hour flight:

1 plastic bag for the inflight magazine (KA uses a reusable plastic folder)
1 plastic bag for the paper napkin (yes unbelievable but true)
1 plastic bag for the earphones
1 plastic bag for blanket
1 plastic cup with the meal
1 more plastic cup for water/apple juice
+ plastic cutlery etc.

I see at least 3 unnecessary plastic bags and 2 plastic cups.
Ironic that CX is just telling everybody how seriously they take the environment with all this environmental and sustainability reports they are publishing when a 5 year old can point out how wasteful and environmental unfriendly they operate.

It seems CX management lives in a different galaxy where the HK plastic bag levy does not exist, HK has unlimited landfill space, and Victoria harbor is sparkling clean and plastic free. I wonder if they have included the millions tons per year of additional plastic CX will trough into HK's environment in the 3rd runway assessment.

But after-all CX management can't be blamed for the general environmental apathy in the city. You can't expect any green common sense in a place where you need to bring a pullover in August to avoid frostbite in shopping malls, kids have to rub their hands in alcohol 5 times a day (multiresistant bacterias anybody?), any sensible energy saving building standards are unheard off, and incinerators in heavily populated areas are the most imaginative response to waste problems.

I could have sworn I saw whole fruits (apples, bananas, etc) at the Wing J side as recent as a couple of weeks ago. But I could be wrong.

I hear you re: the excessive use of plastic, but sometimes CX couldn't help it. If they don't plastic-wrap the earphones, blanket, etc, some pax will complain they are used/dirty/unwashed. Sometimes it's more of a pax issue than an airline issue. For every environmentally-friendly pax out there who's concerned about the plastic, there will be many more who would be freaked out by the thought of a potentially unwashed blanket (whether such thoughts have legitimate grounds or not).

The plastic wrap for the napkin also holds the utensils as well as salt and pepper packets, so it's not totally unbelievable. Of course, this could have been replaced by paper wrapping.

CX could have gone back to using real glasses instead of plastic cups; don't know why they don't, could be a combination of cost issues + operational ease.

Some people might check something big but light. You might only need 1, some other people would need 2.

The change happened in 2006, not 1997. Before that BA Y is 20kg without 1 bag limit just like CX. http://www.divernetxtra.com/news/sto...6baggage.shtml

There is a huge operation behind the scene to collect and recycle the plastic cups and cultery used in Y.

And using glass cups and metal cultery does not necessarily mean you are more eco-friendly. Consider the water and detergent needed to clean all these and the impact of climate change by the extra fuel needed to carry them.

True, HK customers can be a pain with anything related to "hygiene" standards mostly fruit of their imagination and collective paranoia. Still, compared to any european carrier CX is an example of unnecesary wastage. Happy to hear that plasic cups are recycled/reused tough. For long haul, its true the napkin bag also includes salt pepper and cuttlery, but for short hops like TPE where you only get a sandwitch it seems a total overkill to wrap a napkin and coffee spoon in a plastic bag. As for the inflight magazine, i believe CX is the only, afaik, major airline that does so, and that amounts to several thousands of bags discarded daily! Maybe CX could check how Lauda did things to avoid wastage some 15 years ago.
Recycled paper cups, weight even less than plastic are compostable or biodegradable and would require much less space and effort for recycling than the current plastic ones and after all, most airlines have been using them for years without an uproar from passengers!
Cheers everybody!

Another rant: The CX's airbag seatbelt is thick and hard like sandbag. We are all gonna die if there is a plane crash. I don't see the little airbag seatbelt can save my life if the plane drops from 30,000 feet. Here is the image of the seatbelt by google search:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...irbus_A330.jpg

You should watch the NatGeo show on the controlled crash of a 727-200. I just saw it a couple of nights ago. Being belted and bracing properly makes a measurable difference in survivability. Same with sitting in the back of the plane versus the front. Sitting in the back increases your chances of surviving approx. 50% over your chances in the front. Not that I'm going to start refusing upgrades, just sayin'....

Can MPC members jump the queue on the 2747-1888 (reservations) and 2747-2200 (e-Service centre) hotlines?

If they can do it for the MPC hotline (shorter waiting time for GO versus SL versus GR) and CX Holidays hotline, why can't they do it for the reservations hotlines?

A few peeves...

I have never cared for Cathay's J meals. All the food is cooked together in those little bowls. No distinct flavors or textures, served cafeteria style, a real economy class presentation.

I fly mostly long-haul and the service seems to range between cold/robotic and frantic mad-rush. It doesn't promote relaxation and intimacy. Only the in-flight managers ever seem to show real warmth and even that seems to be declining - on my last flight, instead of a personal greeting, a message was flashed over my TV screen thanking me by name for flying Cathay. Talk about cold!

The new J long-haul seats are a big improvement in terms of personal space, but I just cannot find a suitable "relax" mode. They're OK for eating and sleeping, but in-between even the old coffin seats were miles better.

Rant over!

While I agree CX should implement it, but I don't think it is implemented yet.