everton_flyer

As flyers may have experienced the weather at HKG on Sunday morning the 29th was very bad so understandable that my flight CX755 to BKK was delayed. What I do not understand is why Cathay made a CONSCIUS DECISION to send the flights with no bags loaded on board!!!!

I am sure CX wanted the equipment in BKK for another flight but is this normal practice for CX. Here is what else happened:

- Captain did not inform us of this until 30 mins before we landed
- Captain said team would be there on ground to meet us and assist. No team was present
- No-one told us we had to go to Thai to file a missing bag report. And as you can imagine, there was quite a line after having not loaded any bags on an A330
- I went to the Cathay office to get more info and they were closed for lunch
- We were promised bags later that afternoon by the Captain onboard and Thai's baggage service confirmed that is what Cathay said
- I got my baggage 2 days later and I am OW Emerald
- Hotel I am at said most people got bags 2 days later as others at hotel had same problem
- The phone number to get information on bags was constantly busy. I tried over 30 times at different times of the day and never got through once

For those of you who fly Cathay frequently (I do somethimes but more AA, BA and QF), would you think some type of compensation is owed???

It wasnt like they just lost the bag. They decided to screw us all over and go without any bags.

fakecd

You can choose to not fly CX in future like I have done. Multiple threads are available if you do a search about "bad" service etc etc. I doubt you get any compensation, maybe 'goodwill' 1000 asiamiles? if you thinking about free ticket or upgrade vouchers forget it.

this is the place you can vent off your steam
http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_...tomerrelations

perhaps you get answer in 3mths time.

happy flying and sorry to hear your ordeal.

everton_flyer

But at least I am not the only one!!!!!!

Cathay Boy

I hope you have travel insurance...

ChrisLi

Last time I have failed IFE unit on both ways of my TPE run, end up 5000 Asiamiles for the whole thing as compensation (with complain letter submitted inflight, and I was a SL member) .... for you as benchmark

I guess the pilot's decision of not telling is to try to give FA some time to breath (and avoid people ranting and stuff like that) ... Did CX give you petty cash for inconvenience?

May be just for me: Lost my luggage anyday so the airline delivers to me and I can buy new clothes from the petty cash (+ travel insurance claim)

percysmith

I'm very sorry for your predicament, I wouldn't want to it to happen to myself. I've friends who were massively delayed in the same storm (6 hr delay to TPE).

And the follow up in BKK really stinks.

But I have to ask - even if you were offered the choice, would you prefer to stay behind with your bags, or fly without? Unless the bags contained life-critical meds that can't be readily replaced on arrival, I would prefer to fly and have my bags follow.

(If there were life critical meds then I would probably hand carry them, or if LAG then at least enough supply for 3-4 days)

kamiao

I am sorry to hear about your story. Shame on CX.

Hope you have bought travel insurance and can minimise the cost of the inconvenience caused.

QRC3288

I've had that happen going to SIN, I got SGD$100 petty cash. My situation was a lot better than yours. My bag was delivered to my hotel 5 hours after I arrived. I was perfectly fine with the way it played out and didn't complain.

CX knew our bags didn't make the flight (Airport Express was broken if I recall, after checking in bags in at In Town Check-in). We found out when we landed, and it was a madhouse at the lost luggage area. CX placed had one person at the baggage reclaim area with a list to inform heaps of passengers that our bags didn't make the flight.

I got lucky by snagging a second CX employee I saw walking through the baggage area. Her initiative is the reason my situation got resolved promptly. She took us to the lost luggage guys (it's manned in SIN by another airline, as I suspect it is in BKK as well), got me the paperwork, then sorted it out with them, and I was on my way somewhat quickly.

If I hadn't seen her walking in the baggage area I was probably SOL. She left after helping me and another DM who jumped on the bandwagon. As we left there were heaps of passengers - both CX and other airlines - being served by two guys to do claims. I bet I would've been at the airport another hour or longer if she hadn't helped me.

rxziebel

I think you might not have meant this as it sounds, but that is really not a choice to make. I want to have my bags loaded on the plane before it departs. If that means a further 30 minute delay (or whatever amount of time to load bags) then so be it. Meds are not the issue - nor is insurance or compensation.

Any pilot that intentionally accepts the plane with no baggage loaded and departs is a fool and frankly not someone I want in charge of my life. It shows a lack of concern for the passengers and a desire to meet schedules no matter what the cost. How simple would it be for this pilot to dismiss a minor mechanical problem under the same reasoning...

IncyWincy

A shame. CX is not quite the same airline, it sometimes seems (phones always engaged, not responding to customer complaints, dirtier planes, dilution of Diamond benefits etc). I had a friend joking that CX is trying to catch up with airlines in the western hemisphere. That said, CX is still one of the best if not the best airline, IMHO.

So sorry to hear of your predicament. I would feel very frustrated too if I were you.

Quite honestly, if I were asked whether I would like to spend a couple of days in BKK not having even a change of clothes, toiletries, my personal beach gear, hat, and all the things I have put together in order that I can enjoy my stay there, I might jolly say I might as well not go or at least wait for the next flight later on in the day.

In any case, whether or not one prefers to stay or fly without one's suitcase is not the question, at least when one was not given a choice beforehand. Nor does it have to be "life critical meds" that tip the balance or render luggage important. People take the trouble to pack a suitcase and lug it around because there are items they need in order to carry on without too much inconvenience in a civilized society. For suitcases to arrive BKK 2 days later is really bad management. One would expect the suitcases to arrive by the next flight or at least the same day. There are many flights a day to BKK which is quite near HKG and there must have been many who were to go onward to other destinations or even returning to HKG after 2 days! Worse, it would appear that passengers were not told that the luggage were only arriving 2 days later, so they would have been worrying all that time in a hot and sticky city such as BKK without even a change of clothes, pajamas, daily, their hats, swimming gear, or other essentials.

Who would want to spend a holiday without his/her suitcase?

It is sad if one has to count oneself pretty lucky that he/she got to the destination albeit without luggage for 2 days, just due to a rainstorm. It was not an earthquake or tsunami and it is Cathay after all!

hadsst

The red lightning warning was in force in the early morning of 29 April, which means all ramp activity had to be suspended, and the flight schedule had already been disrupted following days of bad weather at/near HKG.

CX had to make a choice between waiting for the bags to be loaded and flying without the bags to avoid the backlog of delayed flights from growing further.

unfrequentflyer

I think that was a management decision

percysmith

I'm sure CX - management, pilots and ground staff - did not deliberately take a planeload of passengers without taking their bags if there was a way to so do. As hadsst mentioned, there was a red rainstorm warning, so there is a presumption that CX will have difficulty loading luggage.

The alternate may have been to ground the passengers with their baggage for two days.

I'm not sure if that's possible. What were the loads like?
(At least Swire seems to put a premium for leaving on the 29th http://www.swiretravel.com/UserFiles/Image/Leisure%20Package%20Flyer/Thailand/BKK/BKK-CX0638F-R5-Kempinski-29Jun12.pdf)

I had problems getting award tix for DPS on the 28th probably cos of the public holiday (both HK and Mainland) on the 1st making 4-day getaways attractive (I went two weeks earlier).

Just cos there're a lot of flights doesn't mean there's a lot of empty space on them.


This part I agree. Communication seems to have almost totally broken down.

An opt-out option for a later flight should be offered (even if it means in two days time...)


Well, if given I choice, I'd still go. Perhaps its cos I've applied for leave from work and have hotel bookings. I'd just try and pick up what I need there, and get compensation from CX and my travel insurance. It'd be a pain, sure, but there's no such thing as guaranteed luggage delivery and I'd have to manage somehow when things go lopsided. But, YMMV, and OP should have been allowed to opt out.


What would you do in a tsunami or an earthquake, when your suitcase has either been swept away or dropped into a chasm? Not the fault of the airline is it?

unfrequentflyer

This will not happen to me. I only use a carryon for short trip. I have done 7 days, 2 cities trip with only a carryon. However, I would have exploit the situation to the max

adamak

CX should have made announcement before leaving the gate. Those who still want to board the plane without any luggage can do so. They shouldn't strand passengers this way, knowingly. And agree with the phone (nobody ever picks up on a regular day).

CX has great flight service. But really really really terrible ground / phone support.