Reply1984

I am not sure but the flights you mentioned are still open for reservations. These flights are not scheduled as daily flights at the first place.

sbs2716g

hmm. Saw someone posted the flights that are cancelled and seem like they have provided the wrong info.

tfung

I'm surprised that no one has really mentioned the elephant in the room.. I suppose this is a touchy subject with some of the CX pilots on this group... But has anyone actually looked at the actual number of pilots calling in sick? Is it similar to the usual numbers this time of the year, meaning CX management has been too aggressive in their rostering.. Or the numbers calling in sick are far higher than normal? Every article I have read, the pilots union is saying that this will not be happening if the pilots are being paid more, as if being sick with the flu has something to do with the pay package? Are they weaponizing sick leave as a means to get higher pay package?

hikouki

Are the foreign senior cabin crew still at CX? Pre-covid, they had plenty of Korean, Singaporean, Japanese, Philippine and Thai senior cabin crew members. Were they affected by the visa issue during covid? Are they back at CX, or were the "native" HK junior crew just promoted to take their place?

TomYoung

They are still around. I had a lovely Thai ISM yesterday and a super Sing one last week.

hikouki

The multinational crew are fantastic.

Remember the old days when they had this "crew of the month"? And they also heavily advertised on Reader's Digest and Asiaweek about their cabin crew hailing from 12(?) different Asian lands. Those were the days.

tfung

Still quite a few foreign ISMs.. In fact, I haven't seen any young ISMs recently... Most of them, even the HK ones, seemed like they were in their 40s or older...

ZSTWHK

They are very much definitely still around. For my recent trip to LAX and back, ISM on both legs were Filipino and really lovely. Also saw another Filipino purser even, also a Japanese ISM working in between. From my observation it seems like the local HK crew are all rather junior and clearly rather new at the airline.

CarefreeBA

The cancellations started at Christmas. Generally in Hong Kong, people are more ill recently due to this, that or the other. Pilots are restricted to x number of hours per month of flying; the exact number I'm not sure. Furthermore, it makes sense that it's on a rolling monthly basis (with a very small leeway).

It just happens that it's just under a month to Chinese New Year. By cancelling flights on routes with multiple flights a day, it means that less pilots need to use up those hours now and more pilots can be on standby in case the spreading illness pertains. By cancelling flights now, Cathay is getting some less-than-desired media attention. However, that is a lot better than a group of angry cantonese uncles and aunties at the LHR check in desk screaming their heads off 3 days before Chinese New Year because their flight has been cancelled due to 'crew sickness' and there are no (in)direct flights to book them on.

There could be a matter of sickness due to aggressive rostering, however this seems to be more of a damage control mechanism than any other. Most passengers have been re-protected on other CX flights. All in all, the aggregate disruption is minimised.

US HK UK flyer

There is lots of sickness going around everywhere, so it's perfectly plausible CX was just too aggressive with routing. The pilots' union has been making lots of noise for many months now but the only time there has been a consequence there is another explanation - so I'm not sure there's great evidence this is a quasi-stealth strike. Of course, it could be the case that the malcontented ones who are weaponizing it are just enough on top of the actual sickness, and that they've timed it to have maximum effect...

leosantos

Pilots are so peed off with CX working them to the bone . All they have to do is say I am over tired and they wont fly. .What is happening is they have to work until so late on their last day before rest and have to be back on duty so ealry on the return day, they are now working to rule and using their own privelidges to to call in sick.

oldchinahand

I claimed nothing marley quoted Singapore and other normally reliable media sources. i believe that you will find that the daily cancellations are far less than the major US carriers cancel daily or the 3.5 % of flights that BA routinely cancels daily. Its only news because CX so rarely cancels any flights.

oldchinahand

The flu epidemic is official according to a Hong Kong government report quoted in today's South China Morning Post .
"The winter flu season is here. Health officials have made that official. The number of outbreaks in schools and care homes has doubled and is expected to keep rising for some weeks. Masks, though not mandatory, are back, with many people heeding calls to wear them on public transport and in crowded areas.Hong Kong has one of the best public healthcare systems in the world, but an ageing population is putting a strain on the system and exacerbating the ongoing problems of overworked healthcare workers and the staffing shortage in the public health sector
The government can learn from Cathay Pacific’s handling of its recent wave of flight cancellations. Senior management at the city’s flagship airline attributed the critical shortfall of pilots to its underestimating the effects of the flu season.Pilots and airline crew are human beings and will fall ill from time to time. While travellers can appreciate that a temporary strain on staffing can be attributed to seasonal illness,(long) continued daily cancellation of flights cannot only be blamed on the flu. What the flu season has exposed is how far Cathay Pacific has yet to go in terms of getting to full capacity.

sbs2716g

Seem like CX schedule is still erratic in Apr n may?

HKG-BKK can be 8 flights daily for some days, then can be 3-4 flights a day.

same go for HKG-SIN flight. Some days there are 9 flights. Some days only 4 flights.