Hang on heyheyha. Actually I now recall a similar case that happened to me.

I'm reminded on about me and my wife's wedding flights to/from Sapporo. It was on a 74K even though First wasn't sold.
With tux and gown on our backs I asked whether we can be seated in F, explaining it's our wedding.
In HKG I was told F wasn't opened. It turned out to be a blatant lie, as I saw passengers occupying the seats when I got on board.
In CTS for the return flight I was told it was opened to status passengers only.

In any case I took no further action as I clearly wasn't eligible. And the reason given in CTS is probably the truth.
Now that I think of this case I don't know why they lie to me. I dunno if Cantonese people are simply deceitful, afraid they cannot disclose anything but the clearest black and white rules or simply wanted the quickest way to dismiss my request.

I think though
*If* the HKG staff knew with adequate certainty that F is only to be occupied by status pax
Why can't the staff member state it with as much clarity as her Sapporo counterpart.

Could still be a training problem
Similar to the F check in who told me colleague an F passenger (even redemption) cannot being in any guests sitting in the back on same flight.

Recognize they have better way to given out information, and sincerely apologize about it. Than I'm happy.

I files a complaint to CX not because I wanted 10.000 miles form them. the reason is same like when a 10 years old naughty boy done some bad things than his mom yell at him. All I want is CX getting better and better. I‘m a DM, I just love CX as much as you do.

The OP will not give up until we tell him what he wants to hear, which means he will have a long wait.....Is it not time to put this thread out of its misery ?

Am I really being vexatious to you？

My case in #41 was two years ago. I don't think they'll get better on the training and staff are going to continue to lie even if involuntarily.

If you make DM you might get better staff and better answers but it's a long road to DM and you aren't that tolerant of bad staff you'll have to suffer on the way.

I agree although hopefully the airline will ensure better communication at the airport in future as well

I wonder will AA be so generous now http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...l#post26687608

At the time of delay, they actually refused to "protect" me on the subsequent CX flights, and not even on any AA flight to LAX until my first leg was officially canceled.

Technically what they did was rebook me on the next available flight, which happened to be the one flying through ORD and NRT on their "own" ticket stock.

Absolutely false. CX implementation of Altea is capable of showing all airlines.

Have you thought about the ridiculousness of what you have just said? How do you think CX reservations books fares which require a segment on another airline not on a codeshare? And how do you think CX airport agents reroute on other airlines when they want to?1. As above, CX agents are more than capable of seeing the MH flights on their own flight number.

2. Barring some specific exceptions, advance cut-off booking restrictions on codeshares are long gone in this day and age. Test it yourself - do a GDS search for a codeshare flight departing in the next 4 hours.Not if it's classed as IRROPS. CX were capable of putting the OP on MH if they wanted. For one reason or the other, they didn't want to.

I'm not disagreeing that the OP should have probably allowed more time if it was such an important meeting. But let's not just dream up imaginary reasons why CX were physically (i.e. system limitations) unable to accommodate the OP on the MH flight. The decision was down to practicalities or policy.

I don't know whether GB is as wrong as you said.
But I think you hit the nail on the head when you said they didn't want to.
This may have implications on how they configured the system - Altea can see MH flights as you said, but CX may very well stop front line staff from seeing it and offering these reroutes to pax (perhaps supervisors only, who can decide to do it if the pax's CIV is high enough).

In my case I now believe the HK staff didn't know the basis to sit pax in F, and lied.

In natakating's case I believe the same happened, even though with less certainty.

The lounge staffers are the wrong people to go to
 

I don't want to weigh in on the rest, but:

IME, the lounge staffers at CX are just not a good place to go for irrops help. Just something to be aware of. I find the transit desk FAR easier to deal with, and so if a passenger has a choice whether to deal at transit desk or lounge, my recommendation is overwhelming the former. I've had a few underwhelming experiences rebooking flights at Wing F before.

If you're flying AA, the lounge agents are surprisingly equipped to solve your problems. At CX, not so much. Im pretty sure the CX lounge agents have to call back to the airside / transit desks / somewhere (they have to call in) to confirm changes for anything remotely complicated.

I always just deal with any flight changes I possibly can either airside, or at the transit desk. The lounge is my last resort, not first.

You seem to be trying to create a complicated explanation about a system limitation which is not necessary - why so?

The agents can simply be under instructions not to do the OAL transfers, without being physically restrained from doing so.

Cos I work with Hongkie management too long for my own good - far easier to disempower your front line (in terms of information they can see) and make yourself inaccessible than to teach them to lie.

You see achievement in terms of customer satisfaction, they see achievement in (minimal) number of exceptions they have to give out and number of faults they're attributable for.

Intresting viewpoint,I always preffered to do any rebookings/inquires e.t.c. in the lounges (this is not specific to CX). This is one of the major benefits of lounge access which is often underestimated.

In case of CX/HKG you have a lot of choice as to where to seek help in case of IRROPS,but if you are say transitting airside somewhere like FRA (no transit desks for many airlines,BP issued at the gate),there is no choice but to ask the lounge dragons to help

Indeed this is what happened to me in CX lounge in FRA last week when I was transitting to RJ flight,they were extremely helpful in calling the check in counter,asking for seat assignment change,whether my bags have been transferred e.t.c. If I did not have lounge access,then I would have to deal with all of this at the gate (opens at T-1) and get something like a middle seat at the back and it would be too late to do anything if the bags were not loaded. So I really appreciated the help I got from the amazing lounge host at the CX lounge.

Now luckily I am yet to have any IRROPS ex HKG whether on CX or not so you certainly know better about the abilities of CX staff in lounges vs those at the transit desks. My experience with them so far is limited to seat assignment changes/seat blocks/move to an earlier flight,they do it instantly if I am on CX flight,but they have also always happily called the RJ counter when I asked them to.

No matter what, I wish they could just be honest to me. Easier for me to accept the fact.:o

I know about the various GDS' and of what they can and cannot do. I've been using one for over 30 years.

The GDS' that the airport staff at the check in / lounges and gates are not the same as CX reservations' systems and therefore are unable to see other airline's availability. OP asked their staff to check for flights. They can only do so on their system first to see if the flight is operating. If they see it then they can check with the reservations department. Now internally, ie airside, there is very little anyone can do since the GDS are meant for check in and boarding services only. The GDS is a generic one - which means it can be used by any airline based on their needs for boarding procedures only. How many times have we asked a gate agent to check on such and such flight (other than the one shown on the board) that they ask you to go ask at the transfer desk per se.



There is also a lot of issues in place ... as his original coupon would have already be in use, the flight must first be unchecked , and then for the ticketing department to reinstate the ticket, then check if the availability on MH is still open. All this has to be done in limited time. Although the passenger said that he will pay for it, why doesn't he just call MH himself and book the ticket. CX can't do that.

I know people who worked at airports in Singapore, HK and YVR. Some with CX, and they tell me that it's not as simple as people think that they can do anything with their GDS. They are severely limited in what they can do.

Who will ask the next CX gate agent, lounge agent, and transfer desk agent on what they can see on their GDS? I've a flight on Saturday. I will.

Because I have been told the MH flight was not operate in that day. So I didn't call MH sales office to purchasing a new ticket. That make sense right?

There are a lot of things that went wrong that day. Things happen.. time to move on. But your experience might teach other passengers how to ask the right questions next time.

Indeed, but anyway I did learn a lot of you guys. Thanks a lot~

I see the analogy to your being told a blatant lie about the MH flight, my being told a blatant lie about passengers being seated in F or my colleague being told he cannot accompany his same-flight mum in F to Wing F. Cantonese conceit, or just a tendency of CX GAs to lie and misrepresent?

I still don't think they do it because they are just fundamentally deceitful, dishonest people. I still believe it's bad training or systems (don't ask me to lose faith in humanity just yet).

Or it encourages the following behaviours:
- we disbelieve everything we hear from CX GAs in the first instance and seek our own independent answers to everything
- we arm wave like two eightblacks every time we hear no
- we occupy aircraft and behave like the worst mainland tourists every time

If CX management encourages this behaviour enough it will make the airport unmanageable.

CX categorised their ground staff into many different categories, who usually stay with that category.

In the transfer desk, they are most familiar with what happen on that day. Eg last minute ticket change, re-schedule of on-day flight.

In the ticketing counter (outside restricted area) are familiar with most ticketing issue, like re-booking/re-issue of ticket, that will happen after "today".

In the lounge, they are normal customer service staff, which are not too familiar with everything.

To the OP, I understand how you want to call it a "lie" because it makes your argument more sound. But these things aren't always that simple. Honestly, you could've just had an incompetent ground staff or they really were given wrong information and passed it to you. Unhelpful? Yes. "Lying"? I'd actually doubt it.

CX gave you 10k. To be honest, when I read that, I thought "wow!" I actually thought you would've got nothing.

You live you learn. The guy below has very good advice, which goes along with my experience.

+1. Similar to what I said above, CX lounge staff are simply the wrong people to go to for irrops. If you are used to flying AA I can see the confusion, because their lounge agents are very good at helping pax and have a lot of power to do so, IMO.

CX lounge staff do NOT have this level of autonomy to make material changes to our tickets. Nor are creative irrops help really something they seem to consider a major part of their job. Even if technically feasible, the procedure is call back to someone either airside or the transit desk. This extra layer of approval is just asking for problems.

No matter if you agree or disagree, this is the way CX lounge agents have been in the decade I've been flying. You don't to them with problems. You go to transit desk or airside agents. I have learned the hard way myself Fwiw.

And yet...Really, it's not that difficult to get out of DCS and open the reservations screen. There is no physical separation such that you must go to a particular location to get a particular information.

The reason why a gate agent for a particular flight will ask you to go somewhere else if you ask about a different flight is because they are busy working on the flight they are assigned on. If you really insisted, they could get out of their current flight and look up whatever you want them to. But it's a nuisance.

If a gate agent is not trained on reservations, it's possible they don't know how. It's also possible that their sign-in specifically inhibits reservations access, although this would be highly unlikely and unnecessary.

If they didn't know how to use the reservations screen, they should have told the OP to go somewhere where he can get the correct information. Not flat out deny that the MH flight is operating, which is incorrect, whichever way you cut it.Altea DCS includes facilities for re-accommodating an entire aircraft based on pre-defined criteria at the push of a few buttons. Somehow, I doubt that ticketing difficulties prevented the agent from helping the OP if they deemed it irrops and wanted to help accordingly.Sure, they may not be able to issue tickets and perform certain functions only assigned to other sign-ons. But looking up OAL availability is not one of them.