AADFW

I am a former HK-based expat now repatriated in the United States. I flew CX almost exclusively as an elite, mostly premium-class passenger from 2008 to 2018. This evening I went to dinner with another former expat who informed me that CX has reportedly gone downhill precipitously as a result of all the stress the airline underwent during the pandemic. Namely, this friend said that the onboard service was markedly different than before, and that the airline is generally much more like a Mainland carrier than it used to be in 2019. I would like to ask this group: are these descriptions true? And if so, to what extent? Any specific examples?

percysmith

Honestly when you wind down the airline down to four long haul destinations and then have to restart again, you will get the following:

1. Loss of institutional memory and training
1a. Lots of staff who are green (to varying extent)
1b. Changes to pre-pandemic practices, not necessarily for the better (especially - dining)

2. Revenge travel (I don't think I've been on an empty flight since reopening of travel in Q4 2022, even on off days - so staff are consistently maxed)
2a. Remember this includes Pearl River Delta basin catchment area, as well as Mainland transit

I've taken some AA this year, both in the back and Flagship First, and no way has things with CX sunk to that low.

Chatter

I also have similar perception in my recent short haul flight. Food in J has really gone downhill and you can see rather new FA serving the front cabin. Having said that, I understand they can't return to what they were overnight. I will take my first long haul J with CX post pandemic, let's see how it goes.

SanDiego1K

We flew CX a number of times pre Covid in both F and C and really enjoyed it. We flew it roughly a month back from LAX-HKG in C. I thought that food had gone downhill. Otherwise, on a sample size of one, when I was sleeping half the flight, I found the service adequate and as good as I expect in any business class.

I would neither avoid CX nor seek it out and I used to preferentially book it. Now, I will take what makes the greatest sense from an efficient use of time and a cost perspective.

infinitium

Same here. My time is more important than going out of my way just to fly CX and to enjoy the perks that come with that status.
If queuing at another airline like a pleb saves me 4 hours of travel, I'll be on that airline with no hesitation.

TomYoung

I agree. In my opinion the food has taken a clear step down and the wine has become a joke. Someone has discovered the word curated. It is popping up in almost every paragraph I read. It just makes me think of the curate's egg, good in part. I had one flight where the curator curated one red and one white wine to match the main course offered of fish and chicken. That is really smart, stylish curation. Having said that I still find the customer facing staff, both on the ground and in the air, are excellent. When I have needed help they have worked wonders and when not they are usually much more friendly than those working for other airlines.

Carfield

First, every single airline pretty much has gone downhill after Covid and catering in general has gone down for most carriers. For European and US carriers, they have only recently been really back to normal level of service. Even Singapore Airlines has gone through a rough patch too but based on many complaints and high airfares, SQ has pretty much forced to bring back all the cutback items like appetizers in economy long haul flights and heartier mid-flight snacks in business for long haul flights. Unfortunately CX has just begun its path to the new post-Covid world. Most folks are really upset because airfares ex-Hong Kong as well as nonstop flights between HKG and certain long haul destinations are very high. We all pay more but get less in return. I agree with most folks here that ground and lounge service remains pretty top notch in Hong Kong, but inflight service is truly unimpressive, Sometimes you are lucky to get more experienced pursuers and crews but there is only so much that he or she can do when it comes to some of the younger F/As, as well as the fact that they still have one less F/A on long haul flights, which result in some slow and indifferent service. What I notice is that CX F/As are no longer smiling and are all working under seemingly a highly stressful situation. The mandarin speaking incidents make all F/As terrified of Mainland passengers and doing things to upset them, and then local HK passengers get really sensitive if they sense that mandarin speaking passengers get preferential service. Then they are all dealing with poorer quality of food especially in premium cabin. The mid-flight snack menu was poor and the pre-arrival meals are also poorer in quality and smaller in quantity. Passengers are constantly asking for food, and they all know that the portion is really too small. On my recent CX 239 HKG-LHR flight, the F/As served the supposedly pre-arrival dinner mid-flight, but that meal was so small that passengers were already requesting noodles and burgers two hours after the dinner service was served. The F/As were serving burgers (ran out of noodles 2/3 into the flight) all the way till top of descend. It was clear that they were stressful. The only person who smiled during the flight was the London-based purser, who has worked for CX for a long time.

In terms of catering, Qatar, ANA, JAL, EVA Airways and Singapore Airlines are almost all good now, and they continue to serve great food. However Cathay Pacific seems to constantly seek the lowest bidder, which results in poor catering in both quality and quantity. Now I hesitate to book CX J unless I get a good fare or CX is a better option like BKK to HKG, where TG is even worse.

The sad fact is that I don't see the light out ot the tunnel yet. Some US airlines like Delta and United are still not returning to the pre-Covid dining experience now, and some Asian airlines like EVA Airways use Covid as an excuse to cut paper menus, which cheapens the premium product.

2023 and early 2024 will remain a volatile year for CX due to the changing operating environment, economy and political climate. Hopefully it will pull it through or else it will just merge into Greater Bay Airlines, as many of the senior F/As tell me privately on how they view CX in 10 years.

Carfield

THR

We flew CX immediately prior to COVID - SYD-HKG-MLE and return. Mostly in J but also a PE leg.

If catering is worse now, I can’t begin to imagine how bad it is, as it was awful then too.

Arbeysix

I've done a lot of flying pre and post Covid with a broad range of airlines across all classes. Despite all of the trials and tribulations CX remains an excellent airline IMO. Yes, I would agree with others that on board food is not great but other aspects of the overall product- on ground and in the air - remain great. Hope to see the route network continue to recover.

BearX220

Show me an international airline that has returned to its pre-pandemic service levels, and I'll show you an airline that wasn't very good pre-pandemic.

jagmeets

Disclaimer: A CX fanboy here, so inherent biases. Also a DM. Likely, & perhaps just like the cabin/cockpit crew, not a fan of the management.

SIN based but in the middle of a (very extended) move to the US.

One who has been travelling a fair bit to/from NYC since Oct ‘21, on a mix of SQ & AA coded QR metal. All J. Just the one SIN-HKG-JFK in CX which was in W.

CX F&B has always been meh (except the garlic bread - the only time I eat bread, and overall views based purely off my CX memory, ie ‘09 onward). Could it get worse- sure, possible.

Quite possibly, I got lucky on those 2 CX sectors- no upgrades, but those flights made for, far and out the best flights I’ve had since COVID happened.

And sure, status helped on this, but my call Center experiences with CX (not the WhatsApp chat), for all the issues that are real and right there, were far better than with AA (Ex Plat line), UA (1K line), and SQ (PPS line). The latter 2, courtesy my wife’s status, and the first one courtesy AA’s system. Aviation is driven by greedflation at the moment (AA wanted $10k to change the return leg of an Asia-NY ticket when I fareclass was available, SQ has this, and UA wouldn’t budge to honor its own published policy on FFC use till I got the DoT to intervene).
All are c#@p. Customer care is nonexistent. But CX still, has done better for me during cancellations/refunds/rebookings
etc.

So far.

mosfet

I flew Cathay PE for the first time JFK - HKG - PEK a couple of weeks ago. I did this route but onwards to AKL about 4 times return 2018 - 2020.

First Class Wing Lounge is still world class even if it's the lesser of the two previous real first class lounges. Love the cabanas, restraurant and coctails. Food was slightly less plentiful.

Service on all legs was really top-notch. FA's came multiple times to thank me for flying CX which they seemed to do of CX and OW ellites. I also like the a350 PE seat. Amenities are above average for PE and bedding is also above average. Overall happy and proactive crew.

Food was average, no change from pre-covid in my opinion.

Overall, still the CX I remember.

Side note - some of their fares are outrageous ex New York to Auckland.

CX HK

This pretty much sums up my experience and approach. I used to prioritize flying CX even if it meant less convenient times or a more expensive ticket; those days are gone. Service indeed has gone downhill, and among the Asian carriers one can easily argue that the SQ's and NH's have surpassed CX.

But don't get me wrong, they're still vastly, vastly superior than anything being offered in the US. If you're coming from the US, don't worry about the CX service.

oldchinahand

Having now experienced some 16 flights this year I would not say that the food offering has detreated overall but it is still spotty with sometimes poorly made dishes.
An instance was breakfast on last weeks flight ex HKG.
Having breakfasted well in the Wing 1st (good to see the buffet back) all that I wanted was the breakfast fruit side and a juice this more to pass the time than anything.
I had been looked after royally by the ISM and business crew and they took my order first. Unfortunately the fruit was inedible - it had been cut too long and had gone brown plus the plumb was not ripe enough to be eaten.

The ISM checked several meals and they were all the same. Nothing wrong with the fruit quality just lack of attention to the basics in the CX flight kitchen.
I had not considered until then the problem that the CX caterers must be having getting up to speed after 2.5 years locked down and so I had a look-
Needing to rebuild and supercharge the operation almost overnight from a skeleton staff -
Locate and Employ new managers and senior Chiefs
Attract qualified experienced staff ( from an industry that is woefully short of all levels of staff)
Train a large number of new staff -very quickly
Re - connect with old suppliers
Re stock etc etc

To find out more I took a look at the CX inflight catering company available information
Cathay Pacific Catering Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific established 68 years ago
It operates what is said to be the largest flight kitchens in the world
They also cater for 50 other international airlines and normally produce upwards of 30 million meals a year..

nomadabroad

They have mastered the cost cutting technique of mind tricking you into choosing the “cheaper” snack menu items as your main meal….why not just list the same snack menu items and disguise them as “mains” in the main meal service.

next time you fly CX J long haul look closely and you will realise the snack items are listed twice….once as a “main” and once as a snack item