Professor dies in SFO CX lounge shower and isn't found for 17 hours
May 10, 2019, 3:19 am
#31
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I was told by a reliable source (although I cannot disclose the identity of this source) this did not happen in any of the shower stalls. He was found inside a toilet cubicle in the original section of the lounge (not the new part taken over from AF) with his back leaning against the door.
May 10, 2019, 3:25 am
#32
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Do the walls of those toilet cubicles go down to the floor or is there a 6 to 12 inch gap between the bottom of the wall between stalls (or the bottom of the stall door) and the floor? If there's a gap, someone should have noticed. OTOH, even if the walls go down to the floor, cleaning people should have noticed an apparently closed and locked stall beyond closing time.
May 10, 2019, 3:33 am
#33
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Do the walls of those toilet cubicles go down to the floor or is there a 6 to 12 inch gap between the bottom of the wall between stalls (or the bottom of the stall door) and the floor? If there's a gap, someone should have noticed. OTOH, even if the walls go down to the floor, cleaning people should have noticed an apparently closed and locked stall beyond closing time.
Last edited by sfosuw; May 10, 2019 at 3:39 am
May 10, 2019, 3:39 am
#34
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Did he leave any belongings at his seat in the lounge or did he go to the lavatory on his way into or out of the lounge? A jacket, briefcase, laptop, etc. remaining at a seat upon closing time should have raised red flags too. If a staff member had tried to investigate the location of the owner, they would have found that he had missed the CX flight. Also, items left behind in the secure area of a major international airport generally raise security alarms.
May 10, 2019, 3:46 am
#35
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Did he leave any belongings at his seat in the lounge or did he go to the lavatory on his way into or out of the lounge? A jacket, briefcase, laptop, etc. remaining at a seat upon closing time should have raised red flags too. If a staff member had tried to investigate the location of the owner, they would have found that he had missed the CX flight. Also, items left behind in the secure area of a major international airport generally raise security alarms.
Last edited by sfosuw; May 10, 2019 at 3:52 am
May 10, 2019, 4:08 am
#37
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What is even spookier is the fact that CX lounge at SFO has only two shower units. How is that possible for no one to notice that the key to one of the two units had not been returned for 10+ is inconceivable.
May 10, 2019, 5:07 am
#38
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If you get a bad coffee from Starbucks in the airport - operated by contract employees wearing Starbucks uniforms, owned by a third party and only licensed by Starbucks - would you blame Starbucks or the random 3rd party operator for the bad product quality? Not identical but similar logic applies to when you stay at most Marriott Hotels, eat McDonalds, and so forth.
When you check in Pudong Airport, and something goes wrong or your Cathay Dragpn plane is delayed, do you look the other way and say "well, technically these staff are outsourced...so CX/KA isn't to blame"?
Blame lies squarely with CX, just as much as the bad wine in the Sodexo operated Pier is CX's fault, not Sodexo (who provides Krug in the AA lounge 8k miles away).
Just so we don't end up in a silly legal argument here which seems to occasionally happen, I'm speaking about the concept of basic responsibility and where customers should blame. Vs any sense of legal culpability, a topic I don't want to wade into. I am woefully incompetent when it comes to legal matters and that's not what I'm referring to. I can only imagine there may be some lawsuits regarding this very situation.
When you check in Pudong Airport, and something goes wrong or your Cathay Dragpn plane is delayed, do you look the other way and say "well, technically these staff are outsourced...so CX/KA isn't to blame"?
Blame lies squarely with CX, just as much as the bad wine in the Sodexo operated Pier is CX's fault, not Sodexo (who provides Krug in the AA lounge 8k miles away).
Just so we don't end up in a silly legal argument here which seems to occasionally happen, I'm speaking about the concept of basic responsibility and where customers should blame. Vs any sense of legal culpability, a topic I don't want to wade into. I am woefully incompetent when it comes to legal matters and that's not what I'm referring to. I can only imagine there may be some lawsuits regarding this very situation.
May 10, 2019, 5:55 am
#39
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I think someone mentioned earlier that this tragedy happened in a toilet unit, rather than a shower unit. Nonetheless, it is still inexplicable that nobody in CX's SFO club ever cared to question a closed toilet unit when their lounge had been closed.
May 10, 2019, 9:47 am
#40
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i can let it go for the operation during the day (any cleaning staff would not expect the closed cubicle is used by the same person every time you check) but....
that means they did not clean the bathroom during the time the lounge is closed. great....
that means they did not clean the bathroom during the time the lounge is closed. great....
May 10, 2019, 9:56 am
#41
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Unlike many airports outside of the US, you can just walk out of the departure areas of the airports without any checks. No security flag would be raised if someone decides to not take a flight as you can just leave the airport without telling anyone.
May 10, 2019, 10:05 am
#42
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Airlines have been known to escort IFC passengers from the lounge to the gate.
I wonder what times were involved: What are the hours for the lounge and when does the CX flight depart? Seventeen hours suggests to me that the lounge closed for the night without discovering him. In fact, doesn't the SFO terminal close for a few hours in the middle of the night? If so, wouldn't it be a security violation to permit someone to stay through the night?
I wonder what times were involved: What are the hours for the lounge and when does the CX flight depart? Seventeen hours suggests to me that the lounge closed for the night without discovering him. In fact, doesn't the SFO terminal close for a few hours in the middle of the night? If so, wouldn't it be a security violation to permit someone to stay through the night?
Opening hours:09:00 - 01:00 daily
Don't have the old CX schedule for you. Not sure if current schedule pertinent. Presently 3x 00:25, 01:15, 13:15
May 10, 2019, 10:11 am
#43
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May 10, 2019, 10:19 am
#44
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May 10, 2019, 10:20 am
#45
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So the lounge is open seventeen hours per day. Moreover for a SFO originating passenger, the obvious times to arrive at the lounge might be around 11 pm to midnight (close to the 1 am closing after the two late flights leave) or around 11 am to noon for the 1:15 pm departure.
The lounge should have been cleaned thoroughly daily either shortly after the 1 am closing time or early in the morning (starting at 6-8 am using morning shift employees) so as to be ready for the 9 am opening time.
I'm trying to get to a sensible seventeen hour scenario and it looks to me like he wasn't departing on a CX flight. OTOH, someone upthread said very definitely that he was scheduled to depart on the CX flight leaving at 12:40 am, so let's say he entered the lounge around 11 pm, he would have spent the night in a closed lounge (and closed airport terminal for a few hours? Or does SFO operate 24/7, which would be unusual in the USA) and would have been unnoticed by a a crew tasked to give the lounge a good cleaning as well as many hours of lounge guests using the lavatory.
I feel sorry for the Chinese student who was assigned to meet him at the airport when he arrived for the conference.
The lounge should have been cleaned thoroughly daily either shortly after the 1 am closing time or early in the morning (starting at 6-8 am using morning shift employees) so as to be ready for the 9 am opening time.
I'm trying to get to a sensible seventeen hour scenario and it looks to me like he wasn't departing on a CX flight. OTOH, someone upthread said very definitely that he was scheduled to depart on the CX flight leaving at 12:40 am, so let's say he entered the lounge around 11 pm, he would have spent the night in a closed lounge (and closed airport terminal for a few hours? Or does SFO operate 24/7, which would be unusual in the USA) and would have been unnoticed by a a crew tasked to give the lounge a good cleaning as well as many hours of lounge guests using the lavatory.
I feel sorry for the Chinese student who was assigned to meet him at the airport when he arrived for the conference.
Last edited by MSPeconomist; May 10, 2019 at 10:29 am