Had a blast on 841 yesterday coming back from JFK. . .got to sit on the plane 25hrs straight.

The fun started at JFK when we taxied out and quickly towed back to the bridge because of a mechanical problem. We proceeded to then, over the next 4.5 hours, taxi out two more times only to again return to the gate. They were good about water/snacks in J (where I was), but eventually by 7pm (departure time is 3:45pm) they decided to serve dinner onboard. That went over splendidly, with the chief purser starting a yelling match with the passenger next to me because he put his tray on the floor. They timed it perfectly so dinner came out right as we taxied out for the fourth time, when apparently all was fixed so we got to actually go. Chief purser went nuts again, freaked out and started grabbing everyone's trays and running up and down the aisles.

Unfortunately at that time they also announced that since crew duty limits were 20 hours max, we couldn't do go HK anymore - we instead would route to Beijing and get a new crew. More on that in a minute. After we taxied to the runway, CX (and us) got really lucky, actually - we taxied right around the massive line of 10+ aircraft that always is at JFK in the early evening and straight to the runway. Credit new US ATC rules. Anyhow we finally departed JFK around 8:30pm, nearly five hours late.

We get to Beijing a little before 10pm Beijing time (10am NY time), new crew comes on, etc. etc. but they leave the lights on the entire time and kept turning AVOD on and off so that was useless. A few people wanted to get off but that wasn't okay, because CX doesn't have flight rights from JFK-PEK regardless of whether or not some of us have visas. Then the new pilot comes on and tell us the same mechanical problem that grounded us five hours in JFK has returned. In the meantime, they leave the lights blaring, have maintenance staff running up and down the aisles and keep messing with AVOD. So after nearly 5hr delay at JFK and routing to Beijing instead of HK, we get stuck for nearly 4 more hours at Beijing until 1:30am. The ONLY good thing of the whole mess was a.) the junior flight staff was incredibly kind b.) the pilot kept us informed and c.) there is so little air traffic at 4am that you can drive right out of Beijing and into HK without bs'ing any lengthy approaches. We got back to HK at 4:30am this morning, hardly beating the JFK-Vancouver-HKG flight that had left JFK 7 hrs later and had to go the slow way.

CX, after all this, offers nobody anything. . .just basically apologized a lot. I really couldn't believe it I didn't say anything to the flight attendants because they're pretty much the last people who need to be yelled at, but I'm sure I wasn't the only person who missed a breakfast meeting this morning and was rather inconvenienced by the whole bit, not to mention hanging out 25 hrs on CX metal eating airplane food isn't exactly my idea of fun. Can't imagine what Y was like. Should I write a letter?

The 841 service hasn't even started yet. You're talking about 831 aren't you?

Sounds like the tech-prone A340-600 strikes again! No wonder CX wants to replace them with 777s.

I can imagine another reason why you couldn't get off at PEK is that they would need to sort out your baggage as well, further delaying the flight for others.

831, right.

Gotcha, but no we were just seeing if we could go out and stretch our legs in the terminal or somewhere. Apparently even that wasn't okay

Flew up to PEK from HKG on Sunday night and sat next to the ISM who was flying up to Beijing to get on 831 for PEK-JFK. She seemed to be dreading what she was about to walk into to.

i assume she was going to do the PEK-HKG leg?

Does sound like an awful experience.

Yea, I felt bad for the new crew they got it really hard in J. There were some real POS in J who were just harassing the new crew about stupid stuff, stuff they obviously didn't have the answer to and then they'd make really obnoxious sighing sounds and saying "S*$T" every few minutes out-loud with a sigh so everyone could hear them. The junior staff was awesome, but overall a horrible flight. Again, people in Y I can't even imagine. . .25 hours in Y without being allowed to deplane.

Yes. CX remains one of my favorite carriers, but when they screw up, IME they screw up big (mechanical failure is purely on CX), and they don't own up to it. Write a specific and non emotional letter stating the facts of the flight and that it was unacceptable. They should have made a gesture to pax, which they don't do. I feel sorry for the cabin crew in these cases, as pax turn really really ugly. My 'worst' flight ever was on CX where we were held on the aircraft for 5 hours at HKG of all places. The airlines performance was crap. My partner had a similar experience in paid F. In both cases instead of "customer service" CX stuck their head in the sand.

Quite agree.

When CX are good they can be great, and when they are poor they can be downright appalling. The spectrum of treatment can range from the sublime to the ridiculous. Especially when dealing with mechanicals.

And heaven forbid HKG gets some bad weather or a typhoon. They just seem to go into complete meltdown when it comes to providing info and sorting out pax. And that too at their "home".

Compare to BA @ LHR and AA @ ORD during a snow storm etc....

I have only been on one flight with mechanical problems, and that was x-HKG - lucky me!

We already boarded. I already had a glass of wine. Then came the announcement. Fortunately it was a 744 and we were in HKG. It took CX a short time to prepare another 744 for us to get on. There was only a 2-hour delay!! I can imagine what happens for another aircraft in an outpost.

In this case, the only place passengers can deplane because of a mechanical problem, except in very unusual situation, is JFK. So all passengers get stuck in PEK.

Ooops. Yep, PEK-HKG.