As discussed before, there are 3-class flights at least on HKG-TPE, HKG-SIN and HKG-BKK, which on those routes one will at least get the international level of service. However, in many instances the crews are still hit or miss. My biggest gripe about CX is the lack of consistency....

Otherwise, on HKG-BKK, as discussed before, I would rather use AY, which provides a better wine list and international seating. Plus, it almost always costs 40% less than CX. AY also flies BKK-SIN, with same level of service as HKG-BKK. Wines, service, and catering are MILES better than CX for at least BKK-SIN.

For HKG-SIN, dare I say it, I really enjoyed CI service, although the safety issue is another matter altogether. CI attendants are much much better than it's competitors' (BR), and service is World class, even for the lowly C class passengers of Asian descent. CX tends to mistreat premium passengers of Asian descent in premium classes, which is an indisputable fact.

Interesting ... my experience at SFO check-in is with excellent service, friendly and gracious. But I didn't have any special problems to deal with. Still I think I've met Ms. Yuan (maybe not) and my memory doesn't jive at all with this description. I suppose this shows how variable travel is, and you can't rely on anyone for advice on what is good (it is too subjective). It is the CX lounge at SFO that is so grim, otherwise SFO is quite nice.
Sorry for harping on the lounges at SFO, but the international terminal was built at tremendous expense (over $1 billion cost including the transportation improvements needed given that it straddles the airport entrance), you'd think they could afford a few thousand for the lounge ... oops, forgot, they spent it all on the UA F lounge and UA vetoed any lounge construction by the competing trans-pacific airline. Amazing what a little bribery will get you in airport construction. And how desperate UA is.

Andy,

I think I understand now.
You didn't feel disappointed until you took other CX flights, that were better, which made you feel dissapointed in the first flight!

Nie pravda?

However, I had (Miss C. Ng) and she was very nice and even chatted with me about how "bad" the lounge at SFO is. "I know, the JAL lounge is very bad, sorry about that" as she handed me my lounge invitation.

Prawda, ale tylko 1/2

I did see immiediate issues how the F paxs were treated and mistakes being made and so forth. Later I also realized that there is a lot more to F service on CX, so that's how I came up with my conclusion that the LAX-HKG flight was not even close to being up to CX excellence although not as bad as the HKG-SIN J flight few weeks later. The other three flights were very good to excellent.

I've seen this stated a number of times, but I have never seen it in reality - in fact quite the reverse... As an example, on a recent JFK-HKG in a full First cabin I was in 3K and there was in 3G what I believe was an American-born Chinese lady "of a certain age" (as the French would say - about 50 I guess) who was determined to believe that CX was mistreating her because she looked Asian.

But from my perspective what I saw was:

- She had hit the call button 3 times even before the door was closed and probably more than 20 times during the flight.

- She repeatedly called the stewardess to lift up or get down her hand luggage from the locker above her seat (she was apparently completely able-bodied).

- She complained about absolutely everything. As an example she asked the stewardess to be served breakfast at 06:30 HK time. In a full cabin, when a number of other people were taking breakfast at the same time her table was actually set at 06:35 and the first food arrived at 06:42. This was sufficiently bad for her to demand to speak to the ISM and threaten to write to CX management about the "appalling" quality of service that she believed she was receiving because she looked Chinese.

- But in 20 hours of being one of the most demanding passengers I have ever seen I didn't hear the words "please" or "thank you" pass her lips even once.

Throughout all of this the cabin crew were incredibly polite and smiling and still managing to deliver excellent service to the other 11 passengers despite the fact that this woman almost tied one of the team up full time.

After the breakfast incident I went down to the galley and spoke to the stewardess who had been given the most grief. When out of view she was almost in tears because of the treatment she was getting, so I gave her my card and told her that if the woman did complain formally she should get her management to contact me for the other side of the story.

By the way, I am convinced that a significant contributory factor to the way the woman behaved was that the two stewardesses who mostly served her were of Indian descent. In my experience, I have never seen any difference in treatment of passengers by CX staff which could be attributed to their race, but I have frequently seen ethnic-Chinese passengers (in all classes) be openly very abusive towards ethnic-Indian cabin crew, who invariably maintain the utmost grace under the onslaught.

I am not racist but have the following to say:

Some people who are ethnic-Chinese feel an inferiority complex deep inside (due to a combination colonialization, mistreatment by their own government [i.e. PRC], or perceived racism in the country they move to for a perceived "better life". The only other way they can "feel better" is to mistreat people of other ethnic backgrounds such as East Indians or even Africans.

My hypothesis is that there are some East Indian people who treat African people badly for the same reason.

Think of what it would be like if some other ethnic group colonized the world instead of the Europeans.

Also, it seems to me that it is some of the flight attendants from the Phillipines that tend to "enjoy" mistreating HK Chinese passengers (they seem less likely to complain and "swallow" the bad service compared to ABC, or HK British) as a form of "revenge" for some HK Chinese treating them like slaves on the ground. The ethnic-Chinese flight attendants seem to have some kind of pressure to treat the caucasian passengers well as they are more likley to write letters and complain if treated badly.

Aside from the above, when flying F, I find it helpful to go to the galley and "chat" with the FAs if I want a bottle of water for example. It seems to make them remember me more and give me even better service without asking.

I wouldn't want to attempt a psychoanalytic explanation of all this .... but there is something I want to say!

I think it always pays to be nice to people - if you've got legs, why not walk to the galley for something? And try not to make life too difficult for the cabin crew - smile, say please/thank you, and be nice!

Certain Chinese people think that because they're rich and paid the money to fly First/Business, they expect to be treated like royalty - and treat others like slaves - it's an aspect of Chinese culture that really isn't something to be proud of.

(I'm Chinese, living in HK, and know this all too well!)

I guess you must be flying a different AA than the one I've flown. I find the regional J service from CX in every respect (here is a list: cleanliness, timeliness, friendliness, responsiveness, food, drink, seat, inflight entertainment, check-in procedures and check-in hassle factor, % widebody flights, lounges) to be ranging from noticeably better to "don't even begin to compare" to AA domestic F.

And I have plenty of data points, including my current weekly gweilo special HKG-ICN-HKG commute. From a hassle factor and PITA, I'd prefer that than to commute between BOS and NYC.

Speaking of which, yesterday flew ICN-HKG and our flight was delayed for about an hour because of (!!) a snowstorm! We had to go through deicing and the whole works. Reminded me why I dread flying in the US Eastern corridor so much.

As to your Asian descent view, I have no information, being a gweilo myself. Note, however, that most of the attributes where CX J is superior to AA F have nothing to do with the color of your skin.


[This message has been edited by Pickles (edited Mar 04, 2004).]

Far be it for me to dispute an indisputable fact, but I am of Asian descent, I travel with CX frequently, and always in premium cabins, and I have never felt that I was being mistreated, or indeed treated in an inferior way to other passengers.

Looking forward to reading the trip report!

PJ's and duvets - what more do you need?