(whinge)I have just hung up after waiting 50 minutes on hold. I was trying to get a seat allocation for a CX sector on a Circle Asia/SW Pacific D booking. I also needed to call the Qantas Frequent Flyer call centre to get a seat allocation for the QF sectors and I was talking to a customer service agent within 80 seconds (including navigating the menu). The QF agent was also able to get the seat allocation for the CX sector - if I had known that I would have saved myself 50 minutes of listening to a woman warbling "I can fly". In the end I stayed on the line out of morbid curiousity in seeing how long this could take and even that motivation wore thin.

CX lurkers please note that such lengthy waiting times are totally unacceptable and it doesn't reflect very well on the airline.(/whinge)

Nothing's changed in the 3 years since I went through that then I see. A written complaint to CX at the time got some emollient response but clearly no action. The answer is simply to call Hong Kong (doesn't cost much these days).

I hate that song ssoooooo much now. Copping it for a minute is manageable, but I wish she would pack up and p!ss off and fly somewhere else.

If it makes you feel any better, non-status members of Asia Miles in HK also have morbidly long wait times.

Yep...CX have horrible wait times on the phones.

Was stuck in Pune, India once needing to change my flights...40 mins on the aussie mobile paying $8 a min (?)

I can sympathise with you as I have had the same annoying experience. However, I found out that I got a quick response by choosing the "Fare Inquiry" option on the automated menu when I phoned. When I did this, my call was answered quickly and professionally. With other inquiries other than seat allocations I found I had better service/response by emailing CX .

I have simply given up calling the local number - I simply email them and have always had good responses every time.

Indeed, even if you want to change a F class flight it can be the same 50 min wihtout answer in HK for non AsiaMiles members. Some say "just go through a travel agent", but that misses the point that CX service should be good throughout, not only inflight or at the airport. Other major airlines manage to have a much better telephone service throughout the world.

There is indeed a desperate need for a F/J class service which is separate from the queue for people on their HK$2000 package deals. I guess the problem is that there isn't an easy way to validate the caller in the way that you can with an MPC number. I suspect there would be a huge number of people calling the F/J line who weren't actually F/J customers.

I have a need to discuss seating; what email address do you employ? I've been trying to find it on cx dot com but the web site is returning an error when I look for Australian contacts.

I was able to click through and the email address is: [email protected]

The Australian phone number is 131-747

The HK number is +852 2747 1888

Wot he said.

I have used [email protected] many times and routinely expect a 24 hr turn-around. It works well - especially if you can specify exactly which seats you want.

Thanks guys, email sent Tue ~4pm, reply received Wed ~2pm and all is good.