Sorry I just couldn't resist!



Now you know how stupid some of the questions have become on FT, especially on this forum. We're supposed to be travellers, but instead we've become whiny grown adults expecting to be spoon fed information like children.

If I don't get this on this flight, should I ask for compensation? If I don't get the new Business Class seats, should I sue? If I didn't get my meat cooked just right, should I complain? Oy! What has this become? The questions are becoming tiring, and repetitious (especially the "What to expect" question), and honestly, we are tired trying to explain to you newbies the same answers again and again. (Please do a search before you ask!)

Yes yes, we know that CX offers a great product. Yes yes the new seats are to be installed, but the odd plane might be replaced at the last minute. No - you cannot ask for compensation.

Lastly... what to expect on my flight? I'll be flying in First to YYZ next week. I expect to be getting the usual CX experience.

[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 09-04-2002).]

I agree 100% with Guy Betsy.

With any airline, new products take sometime to be installed and cannot be done overnight. This is something many members of this forum do not understand.

Yes, Cathay Pacific offers one of the best product in the air and on the ground. Their new First and Business coupled with the new lounges at HKIA are a good example of the airlines committment to be innovative and offer luxurious product.

All these take time to implement and already CX has over 17 aircrafts converted with the new Business Class sleeper seats. That is 44% of the total long-haul fleet converted. CX will be taking deliveries of the new Airbus A340-600 aircrafts from November and this will have the new product installed from the factory so I do not want to hear any questions on wheather the new Airbus A340-600 will have the new First and Business Class...I am already telling you the answer and that is a BIG YES.

Guy Betsy - I know it can be frustrating to deal with people who are just a new or the wanna be's that we are. A good example of what's happening at airliners.net is happening on flyertalk.com - the try hards who want to question others about an airline's product and service.

Sheesh! Lighten up, guys.

We will all be looking forward to your trip report

Bad example, though, because both of the types of A340 that CX operates on this route has the new F.

It's just the new J (vs. old J) which is variable.

I wonder if service levels in F have slipped, or if I have just become non-chalant (jaded?) about luxury travel. I remember being blown away by CX F YYZ-HKG the first time I flew it. I could say the same about my first time in the BA Concorde lounge, or Molton Brown spa...or just how cool it was to take a shower at an airport. Now I hardly notice.

As a die-hard BA F traveller, I (and many others over at the BA board) were convinced that their premium product had seen better days. "Certainly didn't measure up to CX" was my position. So to prove myself right, I switched and flew CX101 and 250 last week. Frankly, I was disappointed on a number of levels.

This has got me wondering: maybe F hasn't changed. Maybe I have? Maybe a good dose of the back of the bus for a year or two would sort me out!

I don't mean to wax philosophical, and maybe service has been spotty...or maybe the thrill of most things eventually wears off and becomes mundane. Sort of like the chocolate that supposedly tasted so much better when we were kids.

One of my friends flew F from HKG to YYZ in late June and the meals were similar to those served on the transpacific flights. There are two main meal services.

From HKG to ANC, you will get the full dinner service, and then from ANC to YYZ, you will get a hot breakfast service. Of course, the full snack selections, including Chinese noodle soups, hot pot rice, sandwiches, and all those goodies were available throughout the whole flight.

BTW, I read from an aviation magazine that the new A340-600s will get the B-HQA, HQB, & HQC registration. The information is from the "World Airline Fleet." Feel free to correct me, if I am wrong.

Have a good flight!

Carfield



[This message has been edited by Carfield (edited 09-13-2002).]

I agree with you, kiltboys. I think we very frequent CX flyers have become jaded.

However, even CX J is a shock treatment (by that I mean in a nice way)--[and in a lesser extent, Y class] to most American/United flyers who have never flown on this airline before. And then surely after this, they want (no, demand) to know just how much more special they are going to be treated when they fly First.

I always look forward to that next F experience. And after having flown at the back on various CX routes, have come to appreciate CX premium services even more. IMO CX and SQ are quite equal in the Y cabins.

Hey GB:

I was just musing (very late) last night that although I was so looking fwd to CX F again after SO much BA, I was pretty much disappointed in food, delivery and overall ambience on board. While I can pinpoint certain causal effects (ie: really unkempt guy who wandered out of the cockpit and flopped down in F to snooze and snore)...it's probably more a symptom of having and expecting too much at 35,000'.

I admit that I now take things for granted, and am going to personally try to appreciate it more! Case in point: BA 10 this week SYD-BKK-LHR: at stop in BKK I popped off for a shower and a quick glass of champers in the F lounge, while most others were sweating it out on board. All I remember thinking was "Jeez...the lounge is SO far away from the gate"!

So I need to have a bit of a reality check. Perhaps there's a 12 step program?

PS Enjoy BKK

You drink the plonk they serve for champers in the lounge in BKK? That clears it up, now I understand why you can't appreciate CX F. Perhaps they should have an admissions test at the F cabin door ...

I am getting spoiled by the CX flights I am taking this year. I have a reality check in November when I fly QF across the Pacific in coach---that should keep things in perspective for me.

Which mag was that, Carfield?

Reality check:

CX First to YYZ 13SEP.
AA First around USA mid SEP.(That's reality!)
SQ First end Oct LAX-TPE.
CX First again end of Oct. HKG-SYD.

In between will be the odd Business Class flights on BA, CX, and SQ.

Maybe I should go and try Southwest as a cold-turkey treatment.

Flying CX and SQ First is not much of a reality check. Switch to Northworst and you'll get a real dose of reality (toxic dose, actually). Make you appreciate AA first (and say good things about it).