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Rant: Decline in customer experience SFO-HKG

Rant: Decline in customer experience SFO-HKG

Old Apr 22, 2012, 3:31 am
  #1  
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Thumbs down Rant: Decline in customer experience SFO-HKG

I'm a long-time CX fan and fly at least one long-haul per month with them, usually SFO-HKG. My latest flight experience has just about pushed me to SQ or even (gasp) United.

In the "old days" (last year) I used the nice First Class BA lounge at SFO and enjoyed private boarding from the lounge to the 747 which was always well maintained.

Now, I go to the always overcrowded new lounge at SFO, try to find a seat crammed in with everyone else like a bus station, go to a boarding gate and board with everyone else getting on the 747....

Which brings me to the condition of the 747's. On 25-50% of my flights in the past 4 months I've had major problems with mechanical issues with my seats, including:

1. A seat that stopped working (stuck in fully flat position) halfway through 14 hour flight. Had to move to crew rest seat 80K.
2. An entertainment system that constantly rebooted and then died, so no video on demand for 12 hour flight.
3. A bright reading light over the seat which would not turn off. Fortunately flight attendant found a piece of plastic or metal which covered the light after much work with me standing in the aisle while they tried to turn off light.
4. A defective headphone jack that would only play sound on one side even after headset was swapped twice.

You get the idea.

Each of these things in isolation (overcrowded lounge, mechanical issues, etc) are annoyances, but as you add them up they begin to impact my perception of the quality of CX. Combine this with poor management of delays (my flight was delayed 1 hour last night and there were no announcements and the departure time was never updated to reflect the delay, even after the time had passed).

The 747 is my favorite aircraft, but given the poor maintenance of these old systems, I now find myself eager to try the 777. I am hoping they are in better shape. As for the lounge, CX really needs to at least build a first class addition to the lounge in SFO. I saw one gentleman last night walk in, look at people sitting on the floor (a common occurrence from my experience), ask Annie at the front desk if there was a F lounge, and walk out when told there was not.

CX needs to return to the standards they have set in the past.
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 3:47 am
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But the 747 still got you to A to B, so I don't see how they're at fault. Mind you, the 777s got the new seats at just about the same period time as the 747s, I don't see how you could be better off if you switched to those.
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 6:34 am
  #3  
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So your gripe is only with the 747's right, not with all of CX's fleet. So be patient while the airline refurbishes its fleet or try to avoid the 747 altogether. Easy solution.

Last edited by djjaguar64; Apr 22, 2012 at 9:24 am
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 8:10 am
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Originally Posted by djjaguar64
So your gripe is only with the 747's right, not will all of CX's fleet. So be patient while the airline refurbishes its fleet or try to avoid the 747 altogether. Easy solution.
...although admittedly, the issue with the lounge at SFO (and the delay problem he encountered) are a bit annoying as well.

I just can't believe they underestimated the size when building the new lounge at SFO. Everything looks nice when it's not crowded but twice I've seen people having to sit on the floor. Seems like a dumb mistake, considering CX has to know on average how many Silver members and above (+ other OW elites) would be on a fully-loaded 747. It just can't accommodate all the elite members if 74A is full....not to mention there's absolutely no room for additional flights (or addtl flights from other OW airlines, for that matter). And as I pointed out before, for CX873 (night flight) the terminal stores are closed, no restaurants or bars are open at that hour....so the packed lounge or seats at the departure area are your only choices (or just hope your flight isn't full).
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 8:39 am
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Never been to the SFO lounge before, so to how many gates does it have direct jetways for?
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 8:48 am
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My advice would be to take the 77W instead of 747 when its on the SFO route. E.g. at the moment 1 of 2 flights is operated by 77W. Less likely to get glitches.
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 10:11 am
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Maybe it's a dumb question but since I've never been SFO so I really don't know...

If CX's SFO lounge is so crowded... How come the OW elite members don't go to other OW lounge given that they are taking OW member (CX) flight?
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 11:00 am
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Originally Posted by QRC3288
.
I just can't believe they underestimated the size when building the new lounge at SFO. ....
Could it be possible that Cathay was told by SFO management that this the allotted space for the your facility and Cathay had to make do?
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 11:13 am
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Thank you for the advance warning. I was thinking about going that route to try the new CX lounge. Now I will avoid that and stick to departing from jfk
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 2:53 pm
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Originally Posted by sscywong
Maybe it's a dumb question but since I've never been SFO so I really don't know...

If CX's SFO lounge is so crowded... How come the OW elite members don't go to other OW lounge given that they are taking OW member (CX) flight?
At least when I was there last December for the midnight flight (CX873), neither the BA nor the JL lounge was open.
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 2:54 pm
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Originally Posted by OnTheAsile
Could it be possible that Cathay was told by SFO management that this the allotted space for the your facility and Cathay had to make do?
CX used to use the BA lounge until sometime (October?) last year.
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 3:22 pm
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Originally Posted by ernestnywang
CX used to use the BA lounge until sometime (October?) last year.
Well, had a California business trip coming in June, was thinking about flying up to SFO to HKG, luckily I didn't and stuck with LAX to HKG. Doesn't sound too promising for SFO.
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 3:36 pm
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Originally Posted by Cathay Boy
Well, had a California business trip coming in June, was thinking about flying up to SFO to HKG, luckily I didn't and stuck with LAX to HKG. Doesn't sound too promising for SFO.
LAX better than SFO ?
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 3:53 pm
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Originally Posted by ernestnywang
At least when I was there last December for the midnight flight (CX873), neither the BA nor the JL lounge was open.
Originally Posted by ernestnywang
CX used to use the BA lounge until sometime (October?) last year.
The SFO BA lounge was operated by CX before 879 and 873 boarding until 1 Dec., 2011. After CX switches over, BA lounge closes after BA's last flight in the early evening.
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Old Apr 22, 2012, 5:59 pm
  #15  
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Originally Posted by GE90-115B
But the 747 still got you to A to B, so I don't see how they're at fault. Mind you, the 777s got the new seats at just about the same period time as the 747s, I don't see how you could be better off if you switched to those.
I don't think this is a fair comment if the poster is really flying F/J once a month and experiences problems 25-50% of the time. If there are mechanical faults in the cabin, CX really needs to fix them. I think you would be pretty peeved if you got on a flight and your seat couldn't recline properly.
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