Well, my CX907 flight from Hong Kong to Manila was delayed about 3 hours yesterday, 6/26, due to baggage and then a technical issue that had us sitting at the gate, in the plane, for about 2 hours. I guess after about 300,000 miles of flying CX in the last 3 years, I finally had my first significant delay.

However, this post is about what I saw happening at the galley prior to landing.

Inez, our love FA, was pouring leftover Diet Coke from one bottle into another. I'm not sure that this is SOP. One other thing, she poured the Diet Coke into a Coke Light bottle!

Crazy..I had an FA in F the other day SFO-HKG pouring me Deutz N.V. with my caviar when Krug was onboard! When she was pouring the N.V. I asked her if they had Deutz vintage or Krug instead, as I believed that N.V. was the business class champagne. I was trying to be polite in case for some reason they just hadn't stocked it or there was some issue. She blushed and said "I'll be right back," and came back with a fresh bottle of Krug.

The reason I was slightly suspicious was
1.) I had asked for my caviar service about two hours into the flight (I don't like going to sleep right away on the 1:20am SFO departure, because I find myself too tired the next day in HKG...so I like to stay awake for about 5 hours on the flight before going to bed, which ends up being about 9pm hkg time and then I wake up right before landing. I don't like to have the meal service/drinks right away because the alcohol makes me want to sleep immediately).
2.) All the other F pax were either done entirely or on their cheese and desert when I was just getting started on the champagne, so all the other champagne service was done in F really.
and
3.) They had to crack open a new bottle of Krug (I heard the great pop from the back right before it arrived) when I told them I thought the N.V. Deutz I was being poured was the business class champagne.

Very possible it was a simple mistake. I talked with the (very kind) FA later who had done it and she said she had worked at CX over 15 years, including over 10 yrs in F.

Possibly some strange orders coming down from management to save $$? Or just a mistake?

they just got hit with a $60-million fine

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080626/airli...ce_fixing.html

- just watch how cost cutting corners are coming our way

I wouldn't read into the Champagne issue too much... unless we hear more reports.

Two years ago I was flying out of JNB and was the only F pax. Once airborne I asked for a glass of champagne and was poured NV Billecart Salmon (the J Champagne at the time, and incidentally one of my favorite under-$50 Champagnes). After politely asking about the Krug, the FA blushed and came back a few minutes later with a bottle of Krug. I felt confident that this was an honest mistake and not some subtle cost-saving measure designed trick F pax into drinking less expensive wine.

-FlyerBeek

Frankly I don't think most of the FAs give a damn about cost saving. Even though they all realise the bottom line will have an effect their bonuses, everyone of the FA / Pilots that I know working at CX have lost all motivations to do good for the company. One particularly pilot told me he no longer tries to save fuel and the only reason why he would fight for a short cut on landing is so that he can go home earlier, even if it means burning up more fuel he will do it.

My wild guess - it may be their SOP not to open a new bottle unless someone is drinking, esp for Krug. Anyway, passengers can always order Krug if it is on the wine list.

Here is how Krug is served on other airlines such as SQ or NH. The FA brought the whole new bottle to you, then open it in front of you and then pull some into your glass. They do it very graciously.

Now, I am inclined to give CX the benefit of the doubts but it is not a secret that CX is trying to save cost. Besides, from what I understand, Krug is only back recently into the CX Wine List.

This kind of odd behavior should be concerning. Certainly, I think anyone would have preferred if CX would do it as graciously as its competitors without giving the apperance that it is hiding something but unless we start to hear more and more reports in this regard, then I don't think we should jump into any conclusions.

The next step for CX would be to source Krug from Shenzhen, like it did with the new J seats.