Guy Betsy

There is an attitude with foreigners that they think that Asians are subservient and therefore its alright to talk to the staff or 'help' that way. They would not dare do what they did in the US, UK, Australia or a Communist country like China!! But in any case it's time for all Asian carriers to step up their authority and be firm in dealing with such abusers. It may be just verbal but lay a finger on him and he'd likely bite!

Psychiatrist

Someone like that should be named and shamed.

bagold

Redacted

IncyWincy

Agree.

Should have been removed from lounge and blacklisted.

Mafai

Good point.

Really uncalled for. Another reason to limit those aa redemptions?

taipeiflyer

since i am the person in the video, i thought i would provide a full detailing of what happened so that people can form their own conclusions.

my friend and I were in the lounge, waiting for our flight to TPE. We asked the lounge agent for a buggie if one was available. They said sure- wait one minute. We waited about 5-6 mins and inquired again- they said wait would be right there- again we waited for a couple mins. At this time, I started to worry that we would miss our flight and didn't want to take that risk so we told the agent we were going to walk to the gate and asked them to phone the gate and tell them we would be there in 4 mins. We walked to the gate in 3 mins and they had just closed the gate, and the plane had not yet pushed back.

I asked politely if they could let us on. She said it was the pilot's choice to close the door and once the gate was closed there was nothing they could do, and they would have to rebook us on next flight- I said "the lounge agent said she was calling and letting you know we waited for a buggie and were told to wait, but the buggie never arrived". She said it was "the pilot's call" and there was nothing she could do. I said "that's fine, just get us on the next flight and we will go back to lounge."

so we walk back to the lounge, and i said to the agent, "that was very disappointing- you told us to wait, and then we did and then we realized the buggie was not coming and we walked and missed our flight." My companion was less diplomatic and chimed in: "this is bull$%*&- very unprofessional." Another passenger who was next to us said, "I don't pay for first class to hear your complaint." I looked at him and said "sir, this does not concern you." At that point, he said "%$#@ you" and grabbed me by the throat. I pushed him off, and then asked CX to call the police.

Once I asked for the police, he immediately apologized but I said I would still like for the police to come. CX staff didn't want to make a scene and said, "he apologized- everything is ok." I said, "no, everything is not ok... I was assaulted and that is completely unacceptable." The agent didn't want to interject and started to walk away saying she was going to rebook us on the next flight thinking that everything would just smooth over, and then that is when I got upset and said "first you make us miss our flight and then you let another passenger assault me and do nothing?"

She walked away and another staff came over and just told me to "sit down and not make a big scene." His telling me to just be quiet and pretend like nothing happened caused me to just lose it. I had never gotten upset at a ground or air crew before that and I have never have since. But what happened was due to the fault of the CX staff, and compounded by their inability to handle what happened afterward.

I was the one that insisted on the police and only once they came did CX step up and do what they should have in the first place. I chose not to press charges but wanted everything documented because I didn't want to be blacklisted. The police were very level-headed and others who were there corroborated what happened, and we were booked onto the next CX flight.

I wasn't drunk- I wasn't even upset until the guy grabbed me by the throat and CX didn't interject on my behalf.

i got a letter from CX afterwards.. they apologized profusely for what they called "a misunderstanding." I have flown CX since- I am still a CX fan. I was not the one at fault, and I absolutely was upset about the way they handled it. I am a very understanding and level headed person- but if you put your hands on me then all bets are off.

and to the person who made the flippant remark- it was a revenue ticket.

chinatown

KuroNekko

Level headed after the incident ?

percysmith

Re taipeiflyer

You are not 100% in the right because buggy is not an entitlement and you should have left enough time to hoff it over to your HKG-TPE gate on foot.

But other than that I am sypathetic with your case - especially since CX lounges have form in this regard (my own experience included) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...ded-4-oct.html

jacobsleather

taipeiflyer is completely out of line. Its not the lounge staff's responsibility to get you, or anyone, regardless of cabin or status, to your gate on time.

I guess he won't hang back and pin every bet on that buggy service again!

taipeiflyer

It wasn't the missed flight that caused me to get upset. I was fine with hanging in the lounge and waiting for the next flight. What caused me to get upset was them not taking an assault on their property seriously.

jacobsleather

But you wouldn't have been assaulted if you had just got to your gate on time, instead of waiting until the last minute and calling for a buggy, which was too late, causing you to get mad...

taipeiflyer

I didn't get mad at missing the flight. Missing the flight is not permission for an assault. You seem to have trouble grasping that.

taipeiflyer

Nor did I want until the last minute- I requested a buggy 15 mins before the gate was supposed to close. We waited 10 mins for one when they said it would be 1 minute. I enquired a second time during that period and was still told to wait. Had they simply been upfront about the buggy arrival, I had plenty of time to walk to the gate. Just as easily as you can use the butterfly effect to cast all blame on me, it can just as easily be flipped. My issues with CX were not with respect to missing the flight- it was with respect to how they handled everything afterwards.

kyden

Regardless of what happened, repeatedly saying "fix it" without offering any clear solution/reasoning does not help towards resolving the situation. The use of foul language in front of other passengers is not acceptable either.

But then again, you probably already know this. Learn from your mistakes and move on.