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I too have asked if I could keep a souvenir spoon, no problems... BUT - if Items are offered for SALE, and then TAKEN without Payment, that is THEFT, plain and simple.

It would be interesting if airlines started added that note to peoples files...

Are you sure of that? They don't seem easy to clean efficiently to me (too fllimsy to go through any mass dishwasher). If they were reused I would expect to see more scratches on them. And considering that all food uplifted is thrown away, even if unopened, I wouldn't think they would care about disposable style plastic cups.

I guess I'm not totally sure, but as I said I would be very disappointed if CX didn't reuse (or at least recycle) a lot of the plastic stuff used in the meal service. Maybe this would be a good topic for an upcoming edition of the MPC magazine - CX's recycling, reuse and general environmental friendliness.

[Dom - are you reading?]

The CX plastic cups in Economy are not reused, but indeed for recycled as bulk plastic, I was told.

Firstly - I think Guy Betsy's insinuation that op-ups are the ones that steal is a little off. To me that sounds a little like the argument "only poor people steal", which of course is not true. No one really knows who pinches stuff from airlines, but given that elite cabins are usually 80-90% paying pax, adn given the numbers reported by the MPC newsletter, you surely can't assume it was only opups that did it.


Anyway, as a passenger who only ever flies biz when bumped up or when paid through miles, it wouldn't even occur to me to take the cutlery, crockery, or other miscellaneous bits and pieces. I'm just so bl**dy grateful to have a bit of legroom and peace.

VK888 - the MPC quarterly print newsletter goes out to Silver and above I think. It's not very exciting, you're not missing too much

Not disagreeing with anything else you said, but do you have a source for that? There are some flights (normally regional ones) where op-ups are the majority of business class judging by the number of blue boarding passes lined up at the gate. I get op-up'd more than 80% of the time on MNL-HKG, for example, so some routes are consistently well over-booked in Y just to fill the plane up.

That was from a friend who works at CX, but in hindsight I do suspect that he was referring to longhaul, so you're probably quite right that this no would be lower for regional.

(OT question for you - what are the chances of an op-up for two MPC silvers taking a Friday night to BKK together and a Sunday night flight back? I have no idea what loads are like, and don't have access to the EF tools - thanks!)

You can always go to the CX website and do bookings for your flights. If it says full in full economy, then your chances are higher. However, I've recently been on a number of SIN flights which have said full on the online booking page, and not been op-up'd (CX Gold here). Only been op-up'd once on what I would have considered 5 potentials

I have to agree with Ann Tyrol, to assume someone wouldn't steal because they can afford J/F is a fairly 19th century view of the world.

I think thats quite appauling for an FA to berate a passenger under any circumstance. If I heard that happening on a flight I was on I would be very wary of using that airline again, of course the exception is the US where berating pax seems to be the rule not the exception

Well I would say that this is a little too condescending/accusatory, but a tactful FA would simply say "Would you mind checking if you could see if the shakers accidentally fell on the ground as I couldn't find them on the tray. Let me know if you find them."

It seems odd to me that CX would have significant numbers of those cute little rocks going missing.

But then I started wondering, what is the actual rate? If they were referring to only 3 months, that would work out to about 80 per day; and even an airline the size of CX has a few hundred flights per day, giving a loss rate of somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 per every 3 or 4 flights (depending on just how many use the rocks). And if the few months referred to a longer period the numbers only get lower. Then run it against the number of J/F pax serviced.

IMHO this sounds like a breakage rate with some additional losses from items walking out the door with pax. Especially for the tea sets, which I have seen broken by FAs (if they drop, they are history).

Actually poor people don't steal.. only the rich ones.. and that is why they remain rich..

That is the opinion. And of which I have blatantly witnessed in F and J class when people just take something and wrap it up in linen to put into the seat pocket, or their bag if it is near.

The salt and pepper shakers don't go missing as a pair usually.. no that would be too obvious.. most of the time one would go missing, and then another..later on.

"Oh, I dropped it when using it, and it rolled under the seat" would be the most common excuse.. I think.

But I've seen people who do get upgraded for the first time on CX usually clean everything off whatever food or drink that is presented to them. And take whatever there is to take.. yes, the odd spoon goes missing once in a while, but other than that, nothing can be of use much unless people do want the salt and pepper sets because they are so cute.. (in J).

So I am not insinuating anything... I write it as I see it.

I don't take offense, but stealing is an apt word no doubt, but I think slightly too harsh.

Maybe it's a need to want to take something tangible away from an experience to satisfy some irrational inner want that cannot be rationalised unless you like talking about psychology and what not.

Or maybe it's defending the indefensible?

My take on this is that the numbers lost are insignificant, and confronting premium passengers about such minor issues would do much more harm than good due to the loss of goodwill.

I am absolutely appalled at the way a SQ FA allegedly handled such an incident as reported by Mr. Moderator. The tone of the FA�s comments is beyond rude and untactful. Even more disturbing is that the FA verbally (indirectly) accused the passenger of stealing even though his accusation was based entirely on the fact that the said items were missing from the meal tray. His comments were extremely inappropriate in the first place. But what if the items were really dropped onto the floor under the seat inadvertently? If I was in the shoes of the passenger I would have been so enraged that I would write a very strongly worded letter to the Management and would consider filing a lawsuit against SQ for undue emotional distress.

This incident in my opinion is grounds for immediate termination for the FA and I would be surprised to learn that SQ (or any respectable airline) would disagree.