First to your question about changing seats. As I posted earlier EVERY seat was full. As I also mentioned the flight was weight restricted. There was no seat to switch to. None, ZERO, Zippo, NADA,NON, NILL
Second it seems almost racist in your post. You said, "But really, is it just because that asian carriers try to kow tow to their western clients that you feel justification that you could have received more after having received your upgrade?.. ok on a non working seat.."
I couldn't care less if the carrier is ASIAN, AFRICAN, NORTH AMERICAN or purple... If I pay big money for a seat. I want the seat to work. I don't see how the fact I am western has any bearing on the seat not working. They sold me a product that didn't work. How is that "Kow Tow"ing? It almost seems like you have some iissues or frustrations with non asians. Granted, I am sure you get your share a ridiculous posts from people asking for the moon for superficial problems. We get that all the time in my home forum of Continental. Nine out of ten times we tell them to forget it. However, some times they have a legitimate issue. And when you are 6 foot 5 inches tall and weigh 325 pounds. Trust me, seat size is beyond important.
You seem to feel just because I got an upgrade to more pitch, that there is no issue. If that is the case, why do airlines market "lay flat seats" verses seats that simply recline. Clearly the market and economics agree with me. Recline is a BIG deal.
Lastly I didn't ASK if you felt I was justified. I asked for the best way to approach CX. I respect different cultures and people. I do not want to be a "bull in the China shop" and offend them, and get nothing. I read your very helpful posts and guides on upgrades. I normally would have been begging for the FC upgrade. But after reading your advice, I did not. And it worked out. I was respecting the culture by coming here and asking how to approach the situation, instead of immediatly adopting a western approach. To refresh you memory here is my original first sentance:
"I had a big problem on my CX flight in paid J from CDG-HKG this week. I am curious on how to approach the situation. CX seems to do things "differently". I read this board about how not to ask for Upgrades etc. I want to handle this the smart way."

Sidetracking somewhat, but does anyone have any idea what the rated maximum load is on CX's F seats? There must be some weight above which the motors simply won't move the seat...

(I realise that wasn't the problem here.)

... and I was just responding to your very own post about the recline and food choice - in case CX does not do 'the right thing'.

As I said I am not too sure about the first item (recline) as I don't know the T&C that well, but for the second item (food choice) I am sure it is not a valid argument to dispute the charge.

FWIW, I too would be furious if I have to bear a long haul in the fully upright position - even in F.

Thanks.

I am absolutely appalled by the responses of some of the posters here...........of course cigarman should be compensated for a non-working seat, he paid for it! CX did wrong to a full fare paying passenger and should make amends. It does not matter one bit that he was "upgraded" to "first", as this was done for the airlines benefit.........

Cigarman, absolutely do not rest until you are completely satisfied with your compensation!

I agree with christep here: a fair compensation would be a one way upgrade Y to J or the equivalent miles for that.

I totally agree with Q Shoe Guy.
The most important factor for me to buy a J or F ticket is to have a bed to sleep on. Others are less important. I will be extremely mad if that happen to me.

Ok.. this will be a hot topic I see...

I really don't know what CX will say.. so like I said, let OP write in and see.

If it happened to me and I was op-up'd, I wouldn't dare make too much of a big deal.. because I would be embarrassed in the first place as the ISM would know that I was op'up'd from J. If the flight is really full, and I needed the sleep , I would try asking the ISM if they could switch seats with me - whether in J or even Y... well, ok, not Y as it would be better to sit upright in a F class seat than a Y class seat.

I wouldn't dare dispute the cc charge because it is not a valid complaint. I would however, tell CX that I didn't get my J class seat because I paid for a flat seat and I didn't get one.

But let's just say theoretically, that on the day of your flight, that aircraft snagged, and CX decided to put you on another aircraft with no flat seats. What then? CX fulfilled their obligation and contract in taking you from A to B.. though of course having a flat seat is one of the perks of flying CX, but flat seat or not, the fare is exactly the same.

We don't know exactly what CX will say or do... everything here is speculation. Now where are the "CX employees" when I need them here ?

Just write in and see... we may all be very surprised.

But let's just say theoretically, that on the day of your flight, that aircraft snagged, and CX decided to put you on another aircraft with no flat seats. What then? CX fulfilled their obligation and contract in taking you from A to B.. though of course having a flat seat is one of the perks of flying CX, but flat seat or not, the fare is exactly the same.



But in this case, all the seats on that plane were working perfectly well except one. (aren't they?!?)

cigarman, I've found CX customer relations to be very defensive when it comes to complaints, and more often than not I don't even receive a reply, despite being MPC Diamond, so I don't know how they will react to this. I did have a somewhat similar situation recently on BA, when my F seat would not recline at all (it was paid F, however). BA sent me a voucher for a free return F ticket to any BA destination, which I thought was generous of them. I hope CX compensates you in a manner that leaves you satisfied. Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

In this case, I'd say you probably will end up having to dispute the charge.

1. The upgrade means nothing. They chose to do an op-up.
2. Compensation in the form of a 1-way upgrade is also useless, as it would require the OP to buy another very expensive ticket to use it.

In this case, a lot of money was spent to ensure comfort, and that comfort clearly wasn't provided. The only acceptable response would be a large refund. I'd even go so far as to suggest a full one-way refund, if only to ensure customer goodwill. I'd send a letter, and wait 2 weeks for a reply. With that much money at stake, they'd better answer you quickly. If you haven't heard anything in that time, call AMEX. That'll get you a response from CP.

I would try not to expect too much, as comfort (as important as it is) is one component of the whole CX experience.
But that's just me.

A few years back, I was upgraded to F at CDG and it was in the midst of a rather long spell of strike by catering services at the airport. CX carried foods from HKG for CDG-HKG. They did not have a full range of food typically available and they offered some meal vouchers as compensation to all F pax at least. I don't remember the value, though. I didn't take them as I had access to the Wing/Pier's F section.

The point is that the flight was overbooked and that this passenger really did CX a favour by opting for the first class seat.

That's because, under EU passenger rights, CX would have had to pay a hefty amount of DBC (amounting to several hundred US dollars) to any passenger it bumped from that flight.

Also .... shouldn't the crew on the flight ex-CDG have known that F class seat was faulty. I thought that the in-bound crew (ie HKG-CDG) would have filed a report which would have listed any problems with the seating ?

Bingo! Ding ,ding..........this is the correct answer!