Saltire74

Hi All

As per title. Checked in yesterday morning at PEK and as I approached the tense barriers was met with a rather curt "First or Business"? Which set the tone for the whole check in procedure. The check in staff, of only two who were there setting up their desks at the Y section, then proceeded to start checking in. I was standing at the J queue and another couple had just moved from there down to Y desk that had just been opened by the not so friendly check in agent.

Waited 15 minutes as the furthest desk processed Y pax and the first agent dealt with the first two J pax. Was then called forward and got "time your flight" as I handed my passport over. Quickly replied good morning my flight is at 7:30. A few taps on the computer then "you print your boarding pass let me see". To cut a long story short, the interactions from the agent were curt, barely short of monosyllabic and not the best customer service.

I didn't see anyone in the usual CX/KA uniforms and only at the gate was wondering if ground services were handled by CA.

The last time I used CX/KA at PEK it wasn't the best of experiences either. Is this a usual thing to expect from any of the more regular PEK CX/KA users?

Have used other airlines lines from PEK and never encountered such downtrodden staff.

Safe & Happy Travels

S

ashsong

I don't think subtleties like your "good morning" register well with PEK.
Did I understand correctly in that the J queue started 15 minutes later than Y queue, or was it just moving more slowly?

Saltire74

Check in was just opening as I arrived. There were already a few people in the Y queue. Both check in desks were at the Y section (about 4 desks along from J/F). Although I waited for 15 minutes, it was the unfriendly customer service that irked a little (it's nice to be nice as my dear Gran used to say). I will admit I couldn't see the uniform as they were wearing winter coats but at the gate the uniforms looked more like CA handling agents than CX/KA.

Having lived in Beijing for the past two and a bit years, very rarely have I come across staff in a customer facing position (although has happened once or twice) to be as curt and would have thought airport staff would be masters of politeness and courtesy (as experienced with BA/EK/QR & CA at PEK).

Safe & Happy Travels

S

moondog

I'm pretty sure KA manages check-in there. I haven't done PEK-HKG in about 5 months, but I've always been reasonably impressed by ground services there (they are rather skilled at moving people around to flights that have prospects of actually leaving...not an easy task during the summer months).

craig44485

Just to be clear, if I am flying out on KA to HKG, connecting to CX to MNL, is it the same check in counter for both CX/KA at PEK?

Kachjc

KA is CX and CX is KA

does not matter when I have done it
BLR-HKG KA
HKG-AKL/BKK/SIN/MNL CX

ernestnywang

You check in with the first airline. In this case, KA. KA and CX have the same counter in PEK, but even if they were different, you would still just go to KA.

kaka

QRC3288

Haha oh boy okay...not getting into this rhetoric but...

Kaka's gist is right. It's BJIA staff manning the desk (not CA, but close enough); although either one or two are directly employed by KA. The true KA/CX staff usually sit on the side closest to the terminal entrance. l think those managers also oversee the CX ops but could be wrong.

Anyway, ernestwang seems to give what I think the OP is after...you check in at KA desk (which is the same as CX anyway) since it's your first flight.

Isochronous

You're in Peking and you're surprised that the customer service is bad?

kaka

tbh you should write CX to complain about such incidents. rude agents should have no stand on a decent airline. wherever the airline and station is.
If they dont like their job, they can always quit.

garykung

For the record - just because a staff wearing a CX/KA uniform does not automatically mean the staff is employed by CX/KA. It only means the staff represents CX/KA. The staff wearing CX/KA uniform can be an vendor's employee which CX/KA has outsourced its ground service to.

Saltire74

Cambo

Having no Mandarin or other Chinese language versions knowledge, I do have some experience with several Asian languages. When literally translating into English, the wording becomes pretty harsh, despite the speaker having perfect and very positive intentions. Even several China visits gave me that impression. Let alone, the stress listening/speaking English puts on the person.

So, rude sounding could very well be a limitation of English knowledge/fluency and not so much of a bad customer appreciation.

Not so say, my Asian speaking efforts are often laughed at, though generally also highly appreciated. For the same, I don't blame non-native, maybe even primitive, English speakers for their limitations.

kaka