alastairloh

Had an absolutely horrid experience flying with CX yesterday morning from HKD to SIN on CX759 on B-LAG, which is still a relatively decent plane, with its refurbished cabin.

What I am ranting on is that relatively poor customer service from CX as compared to other asian carriers when flying in Y. I travelled as a family from TPE to SIN and our inbound flight from TPE to HKG was delayed, hence arriving slightly around 0830 into HKG, with our next flight at 0900.

Rushing to our new gate and reaching around 0850, we were actually scolded by the ground staff and the ISM when we boarded the plane for our tardiness, which I am (quite) unhappy about given that I was travelling with my elderly grandparents.

just wanna check, if this had actually happened to anyone before or was it because I was a Y passenger as a J passenger was just behind me and he was welcomed warmly by the ISM after she took a look at his BP.

QRC3288

I think you're perhaps taking a bit too much offence. Who cares. Fwiw, I've been "scolded" before....on more than one occasion....for being the last chap on board. At least once I was in J, if it matters.

Granted this was all on my own accord, not from a delayed connection. Perhaps they were waiting for multiple pax and you unfortunately got lobbed in with a group of people lounging about in duty free and delaying flights as a result (a genuine problem these days on CX/KA). Either way, I wouldn't sweat it too much.

If you feel really strongly about it or they were over the top rude to you or threatening or something, certainly complain. I wouldn't expect anything more than a canned apology though.

Fwiw, they know your arrival gate and hence where you're coming from and and approximately what it should take to walk. In a percect scenario, there are no two gate points at HKIA that require 20 mins walking. That said, I know transit security can be a real pain in the backside at certain checkpoints (provided they didnt escort you through). At a minimum they should've been more considerate.

Daffie

OP, please define "scolded" and the conversation you had with

a) the ground crew
b) the ISM

bmchris

I think it's in everyone's interests to get an on time departure. How tight was your original booking?

carrotjuice

This is moot here. As OP mentioned, the inbound flight was delayed leaving only 30 mins for him and his family to make the connection.

I too would like better explanation on how OP was "scolded". If it was uncalled for, I would have taken down the offending crew's name and lodged a complaint as the "tardiness" wasn't the passenger's fault.

Daffie

Most likely CX 463 or CX 465, both of which, I would say is rather tight for a 09:00 departure. Especially when OP knew he was travelling with elders.

Daffie

OP mentioned his 759 SIN "yesterday morning" was on B-LAG, so that should have been Sunday the 13th.

13 Dec 2015 CX 463
STD: 06:00 / ATD: 06:18
STA: 07:45 / Actual: 07:41

13 Dec 2015 CX 465
STD: 06:15 / ATD: 06:25
STA: 08:05 / Actual: 07:49

Both flights arrived earlier than scheduled. Even considering the time it takes to taxi to gate...arriving "around 8:30" sounds stretched.

QRC3288

daffie and carrotjuice, good thinking. Daffie I got slightly different data? So I think this was Dec 13 (yesterday), and the following is what I show (I'm guessing for the OP's inbound flight, but it seems close to his description of the situation):

Inbound flight
CX463. Flown by B-LAJ (33G)
Touchdown: 8:01am
Gate time: 8:15am
Gate #: 24

Outbound flight
CX759. Flown by B-LAG (33G)
Wheels up: 9:25am
Gate #: 68

Indeed, this is one of the longer walks out there. They got unlucky with the long taxi, CX463 landed south and then had to taxi around to the north gates. It appears there was more time (~15 mins) than the poster conceded, but it doesn't seem too far out there he/she deplaned around 8:25/8:30ish if they were seated in the back.

update: daffie, I see the 7:41am arrival being on the 14th in HKG (today still HK time), not the 13th.

Second update: I'm pretty sure the ground staff working CX759 would've been told the touch-down time (8:01am) not the gate time (8:15am). A 14 minute taxi in HK is long, especially at that hour, so it appears the OP just got unlucky there. The gate crew probably thought the plane parked a few minutes after 8:01am and thus you were dogging it. Realistically in the early mornings, you're looking at <10 minutes almost every time for the taxi like clockwork. Bad luck here.

alastairloh

the ground crew basically was rushing us all the way from the area of gate 60 ,saying in canto that we were walking too slow and that the other 60 odd passengers transiting from CX463 were already on the flight and we were holding the flight.

ISM wise, she mentioned that they had already closed the Y cabin boarding doors and similarly commented sarcastically on our walking pace and when my dad tried to explain that we were travelling with elderlies, she brushed us off abruptly with our seat numbers and went on to service the other J passenger boarding.

On hindsight, perhaps it wasnt exactly scolding, but I would still term it as rather curt and unpleasant exchange with CX staff? something which I still cant phantom coming from CX.

Update: Indeed I was seated all the way at the back of the plane and indeed felt that they could have used the buggy/shuttle to escort us through since they did the same for transiting flights to KL and Phnom Penh though in all honesty they had a much tighter time at 0845

marcuslai

I feel a complaint is certainly due here. No need for the names of the staff. CX can easily find who were running the boarding process of that flight. The issue is not whether the OP receives a canned apology of not, but to root out this bahavior in front-line staff.

AC*SE

Frankly, my question is why the OP wasn't offloaded in the first place. 30 minutes is below MCT. It seems to me that ground staff extended a favour, here.

In fairness to the ISM, cabin crew have no way of knowing which passengers are on a tight connection, unless ground tells them. But ground staff do know who's missing, and what their inbound flights are, so there's no need for rudeness there.

windchaser777

I think the OP was lucky that he wasn't put onto a later flight. In August, my flight out of PER was delayed so that I had a 40 min transfer to my SIN flight instead of the hour. There was also about a 10-15 min taxi and when I asked the ground staff about the gate, I was handed a boarding pass for the next flight.

Turns out the gate was still on Final Call when I'd got through security and was walking past on my way to the Bridge. I could have got angry and complained, but that's just adding stress where I don't need it.

Guy Betsy

CX would certainly not have accepted passengers for a 30 min connection, so something is amiss here.

sebastiansw3

Oh get a grip.

alastairloh

I think the most logical reason why I wasn't offloaded was the hassle I guess? I was traveling as part of a party of 12 so I believe offloading our check in luggages would take even more time as compared to waiting?