As in SQ>.. there are no pure caucasian cabin crew. Chances are he is of Eurasian decsent. But why is he travelling alone and not with the rest of the crew? CX does not have any FAs based in NY and thus he could not possibly be a cabin crew member.

It could be that he is flight crew based in NY (there are many flight crews based in NY.. even though the majority of them are Canadian and living in Vancouver/Toronto. So they have to commute)... if you didn't see his blazer. Cabin crew's uniform do not have 'stripes'. Flight crew wears the same tie as cabin crew.. with the swept wing design. And if you're talking about the 'stripes' on his shoulders... well, they DO detach, you know. So as not to draw attention that they fly aeroplanes when they are in a public place... say in a SUBWAY.

Actually I believe that the flight crew's ties are patterned with small discreet white-grey brushwings while the swept wings on the cabin crew's ties are larger, more dense (ie they are closer together on the tie) and have different colours depending on what rank they are (FA/purser, senior purser, ISM).

Thanks for all your replies ^ and the wealth of interesting facts- at least now I know I wasn't hallucinating.

That's what I thought and went to check CX website to confirm. Pls refer to:
http://downloads.cathaypacific.com/cx/press/20031202bjs01.jpg

I'm 100% sure agent/FA on the subway platform did not have the silver wing tie as shown in picture so he can't be crew. However, thanks for the heads up regarding removable shoulder stripes- that's awesome.

Perhaps he was Eurasian (any with blonde hair though?) or someone who can speak an Asian language. I should've just gone up and ask him myself. Just glad to know that *maybe* CX has a more diversified workforce than i originally thought.

Actually in all my years of travelling on CX, I have always been impressed with their British flight crews' prowess on foreign languages. Not that I've ever heard any other British pilot say anything else on other airlines.. ie BA.

But only on Cathay, I'm thoroughly impressed when the Captain welcomes one aboard in English and then continues on in the destination language. I've so far heard Captains speak French, Japanese, Cantonese and Thai !

"I've so far heard Captains speak French, Japanese, Cantonese and Thai !"

I thought the captain only speaks in english and it is upto the ISM or any alternate F/A to do the local language translation. But then again, I've only used CX from HKG- AUS/JAP/USA/CANADA/UK/SIN/TPE/

The welcome aboard message is usually announced by the Captain. The cabin welcome is different from that and is handled by the ISM.

When the Captain speaks again, its usually just prior to descent. And he'll continue in the arrival language (ie French, Japanese, Cantonese and Thai). The ISM and cabin crew then take over with other announcements.

PS - the AUS routes occasionally gets the Cantonese speaking Captain!

The Cantonese-speaking captain could well be Cantonese. Cathay already has a a number of local captains. What's more it isn't always the captain who makes the announcements (particularly the ToD one) and there are many Cantonese first officers. However, it does seem that part of the CX selection/training process is to ensure that their "local recruits" have a near-perfect English or American accent, so unless you have a look through the window or pay really close attention you still think you're being flown by a gweilo!

But, yes, I have also heard gweilo captains do the announcements in Thai, and (on a different occasion) in French.

But what if they say their name was John Smith? :D

Let's just say that he was pronouncing Cantonese phonetically with a few marginal errors but you can surely hear that he was a gweilo speaking. And with a name like Capt Langley, I doubt he is Chinese.

Does anyone know if CX has any "ABC", "CBC", or "BBC" pilots? (or their parents insisted they become doctors, lawyers, accountants, and not pilots so there aren't any?)

(American/Australian/Canadian/British born ethnic Chinese pilots)

I know some CBC's who speak Cantonese with a strange accent. One guy even had an English surname (because the Immigration people by error, got his grandfather's [a "lo wah kiu"] surname/given name reversed).

I'm not sure what you mean by an 'English' surname but the same sort of thing happened to the first Chinese immigrants in New Zealand... so using your name above where 'Lo' is actually the surname, they took that to be the first name and the other two names (actually the given name) to be the surname. So they would end up with Wah-Kiu as their surname. It's not that uncommon among second or third generation New Zealand Chinese.

Haven't come across any Chinese captains at all during all my flights with CX (and only one Chinese F/O) but a couple of ISMs have fallen into the 2/3G category.

I must say I have never heard a captain or FO being introduced with a non-western name on CX, even when I believed I had observed a Chinese looking face in the cockpit. I have assumed that, in the same way that people operating call centres in India introduce themselves as "Jane Doe" or whatever when there real name is something that small-town Americans would be totally unable to pronounce, Chinese pilots on CX have "stage names" which they use when talking on the PA... (I don't have any other evidence for this - just a gut feeling).

One of my cousins is training with CX on long-haul flights, after completing flight school in Australia over a year ago. He's ethnic Chinese, born in Australia, schooled in the German-Swiss school in HK, and then completed college in the UK. Speaks perfect Cantonese & Fujian and speaks English like a Londoner. Only thing he's not good at is reading Chinese. [He is a English major in university and had wanted to be a chef... if that helps...]

Perhaps he can help out in the First Class galley during his break :-)

(Some airlines have an "onboard chef" while CX dosen't)

Actually in my post, "Lo Wah Kiu" is not that guy's name. "Lo Wah Kiu" in Cantonese means someone who is of Chinese descent who has emigrated to a foreign land for "many years".

Anyways, as an example below (names are fictitious):

Name of Grandfather: (with surname in caps)

CHAN Dai Wah James (he had the option of adding an English name)

The immigration people mistakenly issued him documents that read:

Chan Dai Wah JAMES (where JAMES would be his surname)

The name of his great-grandson became:

David Foo-Ho JAMES (JAMES would bew his "English" surname, while when other Chinese people asks him what his surname is he would answer "Chan")

His friends would know him as David JAMES, and the immigration people at some countries would look at him weird since his surname does not match his ethnic background.

Note: for Chinese born in Western countries, it common for their Chinese name to be used as their "middle name (usually hyphenated)".

Example: John Ah-Fook CHAN

While in Hong Kong, it is more common for their ENGLISH name to be their "middle name", and their Chinese name to be their given name (not hyphenated).

Example: Ah Ming Charles TANG (usually referred to as TANG Ah Ming Charles on thier ID documents)