[donkeyasia]

CX

[consult717]

Donkeyasia, yes I flew on cathay and have been for the last 2 years as my business is in HK and it takes me directly to HK and never ever they have offered any upgrade not to mention I cant even use my miles to buy or upgrade a ticket for myself or my family. I just had very good experience on etihad, they knew that I am a valued passenger from the moment I entered the plane

[IanFromHKG]

consult717 : – 02/05/2015 23:59 BST :
For here is a link of how food is served in Etihad
http://www.etihad.com/en-us/experience-etihad/on-board/fine-dining/
and here is how cathay’s food is served in terms of presentation and variety.
http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/travel-information/inflight/food-and-beverages/wine-and-dine.html

First of all, consult717, I think you are missing a very obvious point here. The CX site shows meals from all four classes. The Etihad clearly shows the butler service in the Etihad Residence/Apartment, and First Class. So you aren’t really comparing apples with apples, are you? In fact, you very clearly haven’t even shown how food is served in business class on Etihad, which is the CX class you are complaining about. Perhaps you should have shown the “Food and Refreshment” picture on this page: http://www.etihad.com/en-us/experience-etihad/on-board/economy-class/ and with the food picture on this page: https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/travel-information/inflight/travel-classes/first-class/first-class.html, since you are mixing-and-matching classes.

Like others, my own onboard experiences on CX do not match your own. Yes, upgrades are hard to get on busy routes, and I am sure that if you tried on the flagship routes of SQ, Lufthansa, Air France, JAL, or any other major point-to-point airline you would find the same. It is a sad fact of life that the world’s busiest routes are – well, the world’s busiest routes, and that the limited space available on any airline for redemptions on those routes get booked up well in advance. Tarring CX alone with this brush is again failing to compare like with like.

[stevescoots]

I flew CX 645 to DOH on Tuesday, as always the service was excellent, actually more attentive than the QR flight I connected to. whilst I am no snob being BA and QR OW emerald it was a nice touch to be told I should use the CX first class lounge when I got to the business class lounge and on board personally greeted and asked first what food I want and it woudl be reserved if I wanted to sleep. I am not a diamond club member so cannot comment on flight for points availability, however I have used CX several times using avios through BA booking. in 12 years flying with them never had a problem except for food quality in flight can be hit and miss

[consult717]

Ian, I am gold member of etihad and I have traveled extensively on the airline for the last 4 years so I am well aware of the fact about the quality of the food, options available and how it is served on it and how food was served on cathay. you can go to etihad website and click on board and check out business and see it for yourself. i am not talking about their apt suite here, not to mention etihad offers cheauffer service to their premium members at most destinations. to top it off, they offer free spa services to their guests at abu dhabi airport. I am not sure which cathay you guys are flying, I have yet to see any of this from catahy. and almost 50-70% of the time, I have been offered an upgrade on long haul and short haul fligths. it seems very obvious to me that they know their customers and they cater to them.

[rferguson]

The point is then….why would you chose to fly CX if it does not offer services that you desire? If I wanted airport transfers, spa treatments or a la carte dining I would fly EY. Their services are clearly stated on the website. As are Cathay’s on theirs. Cars, spas and a la carte dining does not feature for them. However, the guarantee of a flat bed, a consistent service offering and for me an unblemished record of flights ranging from good to excellent is what keeps me coming back to them versus EY.

[MickBettesworth]

Absolutely agree with rfurguson. Have just returned from a round trip to Brisbane via HK with CX. Product on all 4 sectors was totally consistent. Comfortable flat beds, acceptable food, good entertainment and punctilious service. A complete contrast to a totally unacceptable BA flight from Sydney to Singapore last October in Club, after which I decided to give up on BA.

[RichardBall6]

Hi consult717,

I couldn’t agree more with you.

I think the issue is that Cathay’s service has gone down while service and quality on other airlines, especially Middle Eastern ones, but also Qantas, has markedly improved. However, CX prices still remain at a premium level.

It recently cost me as much to fly PER to HKG in J CX as much as it cost flying PER to HKG to LHR in J on QR.

I used to travel frequently on Cathay from Australia to Europe, always in business. Over the last 4 years, however, I have been flying Emirates and latterly Qatar.

Many things on CX have gone down in quality. The wines in the lounge at Hong Kong for a start. Many things are noticeably worse.

The single starter option in J, for example. Thankfully I do actually like seafood. There has been a notable reduction in the quality of more or less everything to eat, drink or use in the lounge or on board.

Most surprising to me, however, is the deterioration in the customer service, which shouldn’t cost anything. In my most recent PER to HKG trip, for example, the speed with which the cabin crew threw the meals out was a real shock, literally running up and down the cabin. We wondered what the rush was, an hour into an eight hour flight. It became clear that the sole reason for this was so that the entire cabin crew could retire behind their curtain and read and eat and mess around for most of the rest of the flight – didn’t hear a peep from them until the snack before landing.

This is just plain bad training/leadership from the CSD. It doesn’t cost to provide good customer service, but if there’s a sure way to push more customers onto the Middle East carriers, this is one.

I could mention other things – the poor amenities, no dining on demand option (it’s now or never, chop chop), no mattress, no pyjamas etc. etc.

Compare this with Qatar. There’s no real comparison actually. And Qatar is cheaper!

[simeoncox]

Tick, rferguson.
So for each of us and our statuses, it comes down to our priorities. Mine is seat comfort and snacks. For others, it is upgrades or cabin recognition. Overall, as noted, is safety. Cathay remains in the top three Asian-hubbed airlines, no?

[donkeyasia]

consuly717, T lunchtime today I was in the QR office in Manila and purchased using my points a HKG-YVR-JFK-HKG in business class. I even got seat selection confirmed. Interestingly the cost of 200,000 points was the same as if i had booked HK-YVR-HKG. Excellent value getting JFK as well, so i can see my new grandson.

And this is for 4 days time on Saturday 16th. I wonder if asking CX of availability is frustrating the process as you are only enquiring. you must us the airline with whom you have the points to make the booking and issue the ticket. Or perhaps i am lucky.

[CathayLoyalist2]

You will be surprised how often redemption seats become available a week or a matter of days before a flight is schedules to leave as the expected seat take up doesn’t materialise. I got a business class companion about 2 weeks prior to departure date to LHR, a busy route we know, albeit an early departure from Singapore and a day flight to LHR out of HKG. Ii is a case of keeping tabs on the website. Equally consult717 you can always make a booking get on the waitlist and if seats free up you’ll get a txt and an email confirming the upgrade based on your MPC status. Sometimes you have to work the system!. I think most of us are surprised and the experience you have had over two years. I can only put that down to bad luck

[ExecPlatAA]

I agree RichardBall6 and Consult 717.

As RichardBAll6’s post rightly points out – the standards of others have gone up significantly and CX has deteriorated in comparison and in many cases in absolute terms as well. While I get to use the First lounge in HK, even that is not a uplifting experience – esp at late evening hrs (during the HK-LHR flight times) – crowded, poor wines, grubby (yes grubby) seating – understaffed and generally not a pleasant first experience. Shudder to think what the business lounges are like at peak times – have tried a couple from time to time (as was traveling with a couple non Emerald passengers) and it was downright bad.
As far as consistency goes – why chose to be consistently “average” – how about aiming for consistently “delightful” especially as thier fares are among the highest (at least from NA to Asia) in premium cabins. How much does a mattress, pajamas, better wines etc cost esp when when you have a 40 pax cabin full of $6K+ r/t passengers (we have already established that awards and upgrades are rare on CX)?. Now compare that to the ME3 experience, and one feels cheated paying the high fares on CX and not get the perks (at least on the established long hauls -I fly ME3 between NA and ME, India, Australia, HK and SIN and hey have always been exemplary)
Crew training also needs regular refresh – could it be that the early stage career enthusiasm etc is now lacking in the CX crew? I mentioned in one of my previous posts that re rushed service, turning on full lights in the middle of a 14 hr flight (not a smart move on NA to HK night flights!), galley noise, sloppy presentation, etc just makes CX a less desirable choice in comparison with ME3.

For me, the moral of the story is, don’t rest on your laurels – constantly innovate – competition is always eyeing your business.

[consult717]

rferguson, the reason I am stuck with cathay is bec it goes directly to HK from JFK, if I had better options, I would switch with no hesitation. My experience with other aisan airlines is much superior bec their offering and product is superior.

thank you richardbal6 for your input, even I noticed that they were serving the meal in a hurry, I thought may be it was just me but now I have someone who has experienced the same. in order for the airline to be a top tier, it must be compared with top tier airlines in all aspects, whether it be flat bed, ontime dep/arr, food, service, seat, and their ability to satisfy their customer request and frankly speaking cathay has deteriorated. when you fly premium, it is about how you cater to your customers and what you offer them, it establishes your brand identity but refusing a meal when requested is no way to treat any customers all along their premium customers.

ExecPlatAA, thanks for your input, you are on the dot about consistency and choosing to make a difference is the distinction bet a good and an average airline. if you cannot improve or re-invent yourself then others will and in this case EY, QR have done so very well.

[CathayLoyalist2]

At the end of the day it is down to a matter of choice and we all have that right. Consult717 and ExecPlatAA you do have a choice i.e. BA via LHR or the ME3 via their ME hub or American via Dallas or JAL via Tokyo. A plane change is not ideal but I would guess that whatever CX does it is unlikely to please you after two years. Cut your losses and choose another airline. There is always going to be groups who think a certain airline. hotel group, car hire is top notch whilst others have a very different view. There will never be pleasing everyone. I am basing my comments on 25 years of an overall great CX experience across all cabins and that includes economy , albeit being in economy as a Diamond member I’ve got that extra welcome, extra water, meal order taken and served first not to mention numerous occasions with help with other issues, expiring miles being one of them.

[consult717]

Dear CathayLoyalist2, yes we know what our options are to travel to asia and if we haven’t opted for them then there is a reason for it. My intention is not to put cathay down and its not a matter of pleasing, we are merely voicing the facts and distinctions of what the service used to be and what it is now. the reason we traveled on cathay is bec the service was really nice and not it isnt. since i have a roundtrip on cathay and I will be traveling on QR next. I will see the service again and post accordingly in the near future.

[Author]

Posts