I fly out of JFK a lot. I find the BA staff working the CX desk to be pretty good relative to other CX outposts. (yes, LAX is the worst...)

not sure if this was for the previous trip experience or not- but that is not a nice move of the agent at all

I think most people can sense when one is being treated with extra consideration and when one is merely brushed off. As I indicated earlier, it is not so much the fact that I did not get the seat I wanted or the seat block but the fact that I felt no effort was made to assist. The fact that this agent was in a sour mood and was relentless in complaining about another passenger led me to believe that she was not service-oriented. As other DMs have pointed out, the CX check- in experience, especially in outports, can be hit or miss.

IN the past, I would see agents pick up the phone and ask control for a better seat, a seat block, or an upgrade, I saw nothing of the sort in this case. Yes, the agent may not have final say in any changes, but they are "gatekeepers" and can make the difference.

So it was a full flight, and well, yes, sometimes being a DM won't make a diff. So what? That is life.

I've been on full HKG-YVR flights when the person next to me was also a DM, J and F class were full and well, no chance of an op-up either.

So you make the best of it and enjoy sitting in the class of service you bought in.

+1. Well said GB

Uh...thats what I did. I was pleasant to all CX staff both on the ground and inflight. You are missing the main point. The point is the check in staff had a poor service attitude.

You mean that you would have preferred to make some sort of show of calling a supervisor and so on even though they knew that the flight was totally full and you were just going to have to sit in the assigned seat? Personally I would simply prefer a "Sorry, but the flight is totally full, here's your boarding pass and lounge invitation. Have a nice flight." and that's all. I never felt any desire for a great song and dance when I was a Diamond.

I feel OP just needs a good moan so let him have a whinge, he knows all the rules and just didnt get that ... kissing experience at check in.

No I got what you meant...

Back in the old days before the KA/CX merger, when DM mean something, op ups were better. But still, it wasn't a given privilege. Yes staff attutudes can be better, but LAX is well, LAX. You also have to see that the staff are bogged down by other duties rather than fulfil your one request. You're not the only one asking for possible op ups, you know.

But what constitutes 'good service attitude'? IMO, good service attitudes would mean , quick check in, boarding pass issued, lounge invitation given etc. Just as what christep mentioned above. Perhaps if you are a cantopop star, they might make a better deal of it.

While I am just a lowly Silver (I accumulate AA at the same time trying to get the best of both worlds, could be a mistake), here are my 2 cents regarding this OP's complaint.

1) Diamond, as far as I can read in the CX benefits, do not include seat blocks and guarantee economic class seats. While it is true that as a valuable Diamond they should value you more and try to accommodate you as much as possible, but with a full Y and which means they are probably already busy to death, I don't really understand why you are so upset.

2) Yes, CX staff can make mistakes. Many years ago I was taking my wife on CX. Like I said before my wife is an elite Northwest flyer (equivalent of Diamond of Northwest I believe), and took me awhile to convince her to fly CX instead of me flying Northwest. Anyway, we were happy, she was semi-impress that we get to check in using the Business Class counter and the JFK staff let her use the lounge as well. However, the upsetting part was when we were checking into the gate, the rude Business class agent told me "get to the Economic line, this is Business class tickets only", I told him I am Marco Polo Silver and I'm entitled to use this line, and he rudely replied "no, this is Business Class tickets only", and I stand there to argue and he restlessly took my boarding ticket and my wife's rudely and checked us in and wave us off "just go".

3) To be fair that is the ONLY time CX rubbed me off the wrong way. I have no such incident ever since. And a complain to Marco Polo netted me 1,500 miles as compensation (1500 miles, are they serious?)

For someone wrongly suggesting that you were in the wrong boarding line (and therefore had to stand rather than sit for perhaps 5 minutes)? I would say 1500 miles was quite generous. Moreover, you might have been entitled to use the J line, but you haven't said anything that would explain why your wife should be able to do so.

First, he stopped me, not my wife. Had he stopped my wife I would not have made any fuss about it but walked with my wife to the Economy line.

Second, read my post again. The agent was very rude and hostile. Had he just politely tell me I am in the wrong line I would of pay back respect with respect. However, that was not what happened. The entire encounter was very rude and hostile by the agent.

Third, yes, I think I should get more miles for such insults. This is not me demanding extra service from CX that they didn't explicitly claim to give. I am being insulted and rudely treated because CX doesn't communicate their policy clearly to their employees/BA contract employees. I am rudely treated for something that CX says I am entitled to.

"Rude" is very culture specific. I guess you are Chinese and hence have quite a different concept of rude from westerners. I have lost count of the number of times that locals in HK have been extremely rude to me by western standards but are just trying to be friendly by Chinese ones. I respectfully suggest that some cross-cultural tolerance is in order. And 1500 miles for a few words out of place by a ground staff which made no significant difference to your travel is extremely generous. "Sorry" would have been quite sufficient.

Excuse me Chris, but please do not police other people's reaction here. If you have an issue with what's being posted, you can contact the moderator directly, or simply moving on. Making a suggestion that other people are causing trouble simply because they are being Chinese or western or "cultural" is not advancing the posting one bit.

And you don't even know me, what do you mean you guess I'm Chinese? What? Since when is common decency limited to culture?

I have no idea why do you seem to like to argue in a forum like Flyertalk. But based on your exchange with sealualu I am not surprised.

Anyway, I'm posting this not to argue with you, and simply pointing out you are very arrogant to pass judgment here and try to argue off other people's bad experiences. It's one thing to try and defend Cathay, but it's another to suggest alterior motives in others.