QRC3288

CX845/CX830 normally are the JFK based crews. It's always possible to get some on other flights due to strange rostering or sick calls, but generally CX845/CX830 are partially or fully staffed by JFK crew, and the rest are HKG crew.

I haven't flown that route in J in a while, but in F class I categorically avoid the JFK crewed CX845/830. It's a bummer because CX845 is great timing, but I have enough business in Boston or the West Coast that I can usually figure out a way to end my trip there. Last time on CX845 in F, it was probably 12-16 months ago, the FP forgot my order multiple times, and then gave both my appetizer and main choice away to other passengers.


Worst all time crew though was last year CX873 in F. Beyond bad. That was a SFO based crew. US Big 3 airlines style bad, the SP was a disgrace to Cathay.

As I read upthread, I think I musts walk back a little bit (or at least qualify) what I said praising the SFO crews. When you know the crew well, similar to another thread where the fellow flew 1mm miles in a year !!!, it really is a service level on a different level. A few years ago I flew more J class and that really gives an F class service touch if you know the crew. I mostly fly F these days, and had that dreadful experience about a year ago to the day. I also flew F to SFO a few other times last year, and ended up with a HKG-rostered crew on CX870 so hard to say.

Anyway I am not a fan of the US crew bases overall. Although, what I was referring to upthread holds. If you know the crew on board it is excellent service particularly in J. And, since the overseas bases are so small, you can get to know them if you fly the same route 6, 9, 12+ times a year. This isn't possible with ex-HKG base because there are something like 10k+ flight attendants based in Hong Kong for CX.

Rumor among the line staff at CX is that JFK base may be cut. But that's pretty plain vanilla rumor and has been going around for half a year already, I haven't heard an answer from anyone senior about it yet.

derek2010

QRC3288

Almost certainly not.

G-CIVC

CX 255 more than often crewed by HK base (entirely), but yes I love LON base. (And SIN base!)

SFO base I flew once, apparently with one of the most popular ISMs (A young chap Mr. J). He was awesome too

ma930407

Anyone knows for the latest roster, which HKG-JFK and JFK-HKG flights are staffed by JFK based crews, especially after the introduction of CX842/843 nonstop JFK flights? Thanks.

brunos

As there is now a single flight HKG-JFK CX845/846. not even operating every day, the question is theoretical as there is no choice left.

ma930407

Sorry for reviving this topic. Anyone knows in the normal situation (not because of the COVID-19), which of CX882 or CX880 (from HKG) and CX881 or CX883 (from LAX) are served by LAX base crew members? Thanks heaps!

HKGglobaltrotter

CX880/883 is HKG based and CX882/881 is LAX based primarily with some days mixed with HKG crew.

My prefer pair flight are 884 out of HKG and 883 from LAX - all HKG based crew operated.

nov11

Flew HKG-LAX last month when LAX is down to 1 daily. Flight is staffed by a mix of HKG and LAX based crew on CX880 (which is rare since LAX crew usually work on CX882). Guess they are trying to balance LAX and HKG crew based on the limited number of flights between the two cities.

ernestnywang

I thought they mix crew from different bases quite frequently especially in F/J?

nov11

Not that I am aware of. I know 882/881 is mostly LAX based. Flew 884/880 and 883 quite a few times and they were all HKG based (at least those that were working in my aisle).

QRC3288

I have no idea how it is being done during coronavirus.

But in the past, CX882/881 was LAX base, although on 1-2 days per week it would be a "mixed" crew. Sometimes the "mixed" crew was only 2-3 FAs from HK and still mostly LAX. Essentially the same protocol for SFO's CX873/872 and JFK's CX845/830. By and large you should've been banking on a US-base for those flight numbers. And...if you were like me, avoiding them in F class like the plague. I used to fly a lot more J class, and ironically I found I preferred US-based crews because I would get to know some of them. J class experience could really be elevated, and essentially a la carte if you knew the crew. But it was mostly just a function of knowing them. And in F the US base crew lack of professionalism, inexperience, and generally far inferior standards shone through time and time again. I'm not speaking of one or two anecdotes. I'm talking about too many long-haul flights in F to count, with at least 15 on US-based crews in F. The sample size is too big for me to think it's just random. I think the US crews were a very bad look for CX.

Also, once in a while you would get weird situations where HK crew were rostered on those flights for whatever reason. It wasn't guaranteed those flights were US crew, but very high likelihood.

All of this is obviously changing bigtime now and I don't know what is the result of the rostering during corona.

hikouki

I haven't flown CX in ages, but I used to fly LAX-HKG 2-3x per year from 2015-2017. I always flew Business as an upgrade from PEY. Looking back, I think I do notice some difference in the crews. HKG based were more attentive and less transactional.

At this day and age, what is the main benefit to CX of having overseas-based crews? I am pretty sure in the old days it was pretty common as CX hired FAs from 10 or 12 nations? I noticed on my flights that the Philippine, Thai and Singaporean crews were usually pursers and up, but none were junior crew. Does CX still hire foreign crews from around Asia?

ernestnywang

I believe the HK base has some non-HKers (e. g., Taiwanese), so there are more nationalities than crew bases.

QRC3288

yea these are mostly different things, you're a bit confused. The overseas bases are not about hiring crew from those places for diversity sake, they are for cost measures. True the bases are all citizens from those places but the outport bases are all very small relative to HK. I don't know what thread it is but I walked through the logic recently.

Most of the non-HK nationality crew are actually based in Hong Kong. They are recruited from around Asia and given various incentives to move to Hong Kong and work for CX here. Yes, there were bases elsewhere in Asia but a ton of Korean, Japanese, Thai, Taiwanese, Filipino, Indonesian, and some Indian FAs are all part of the Hong Kong base.

The logic behind recruiting around Asia is CX is an intl airline and flies to a lot of destinations where many languages are spoken, especially with a lot of flights in Asia. And since CX cannot hire mainland Chinese staff (although some are seconded through Air China, and obvious KA has some but they don't fly CX), the Taiwanese crew are CX's native Mandarin speakers. Mainlanders were, until recently a big % of CX's total traffic everywhere not just on China flights. Japanese speakers for Japan flights Korean speakers for Korean flights. Etc. etc. Definitely a nice touch for CX to have all the nationalities on board. They still do recruit regionally and bring people to HK to work, although who knows what will happen after coronavirus.

yes, this. although your modesty is understating it a lot...the majority of the non-HK crew are still based in HK! The outport crew as a % of total is not big, and shrinking still. The main point is outport crew have nothing to do with having diversity, as I think the other poster was referring to. The crew for diversity purposes are all based in HK. The outport crews are all hired mostly for cost measures.