[tomyam42]

I flew out last Thursday on one of the only two daily flights to Manila. The lounge in the wing was very enjoyable with better food and wine than in recent years. Then a long, long trek to gate 46, passing only a couple of gates with passengers boarding or waiting to board yet Cathay planes paned at most. I looked to see what aircraft were on the ground, only two were not either Cathay or Hong Kong Express. I did not notice any shops as I use an airport to board or disembark from planes, in the same way that I look for an airline to fly me safely and comfortably to my desired destination rather than push me to open a new credit card, go to a spa, buy insurance or have afternoon tea in one of one their shareholders other ventures. I had bought one of the most comfortable seats in the sky but Cathay chose to switch it to one of the miserable regional seats on a plane about due for retirement. Cathay kindly kept the seat next to me empty while almost all of the 440 or so other seats were full. Clearly it was not a shortage of passengers that was keeping them to only have 2 flights each day. We taxied round the airport and the was rank after rank of Cathay planes in addition to the many, many that had been parked at the gates. It is hard to imagine that they are all flying. If they are it must be incredibly busy at some other time of the day or night.

I see that in December Cathay is adding a third daily service to Manila but is assigning an A321 neo to it. Based on the load on my flight I think that they could fill a much larger plane. I guess that is because they have pilots qualified to fly the A321 neo and the intended routes to mainland China have not opened up yet. That is their business but if they switch me from purchased comfortable seat in a twin aisle plane to a third rate one in a single aisle one they will not see me again for a long while. I fear that they have still not learned the damage it does to their reputation when they play musical chairs with aircraft types. It really is a joke that the aspire to be a lifestyle brand then bait and switch on aircraft seating. Their main consistency in their service is to carry undrinkable wines (again in contrast to the standards of yesteryear). The other is the outstanding quality of their front line staff, whether on the ground or in the air, they are the best. How they manage these contrasting standards baffles me.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Polly, cwoodward

[cwoodward]

It was encouraging to read today that since July Cathay have employed or reemployed 2000 front line staff, cabin crew and pilots.
From the many additional flights this month include now 3 par day to LHR and many more Hong Kong Express flights it seems that the group is moving forward quickly and profitably now.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Polly

[CathayLoyalist2]

[postquote quote=1275157]

With those flight times are CX still avoiding Russian airspace?

[Chris in Makati]

[postquote quote=1277432]

Yes. Both Russian and Ukrainian airspace. It’s a long diversion.

2 users thanked author for this post.

FormerBA, CathayLoyalist2

[cwoodward]

Very clearly FormerBA has a political axe to grind which is unfortunate as this should have no place on a business travel forum.
Should it Tom ?

[Tom Otley]

We all have an axe to grind, but I’ve read the post and it seems to me an opinion moderately expressed.

Some have left Hong Kong, some have stayed. Some think it will continue to thrive. Some don’t. It’s impossible to judge who is correct and I certainly would not try to do that.

If you mean the reference to a ‘totalitarian state’, I don’t think I would censor the comment, though it doesn’t mean I agree with it.

I’d encourage everyone to stick to travel in their postings on this forum, but since this thread is about government restrictions to travel, it’s quite difficult to discuss without mentioning those government restrictions and what their effect has been.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Polly, cwoodward

[MartynSinclair]

This thread is about “Hong Kong further eases visitor restrictions” – nothing to do with how CX are performing…

HKG restrictions have stopped me from meeting with cwoodward this trip as I would not be able to enter a restaurant for the first 3 days after my arrival into HKG. AND G-d forbid I catch a flu (or covid) I would be stuck..

The bigger issue for me right now, is how to shut up the baby in row 1 on my Finnair flight (HEL-BKK) from constantly howling and stopping me from sleeping.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Polly

[Author]

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