Cathay Pacific - Extremely poor service
#16
Join Date: Oct 2012
Programs: CX - DM; Hilton - Diamond, Marriott - Titanium
Posts: 549
It is extremely rare, almost not believable, that CX airport control will not be releasing seats to your family if there were indeed space available in business class cabin. At that point, airport team takes control on seat release/redemption and once they are ok to release then you just need to call the CX hotline to change the ticket and pay for the new taxes. I did it a few times myself and I was with miles redemption tickets. Essentially I was on 'standby' and trying to fly out on an earlier flight or a change of cabin on the same flight. I am also a CX Diamond member.
Anyway, if your case is true that it is simply ridiculous!
Also I am not defending the ISM, but the cabin crew have no clue what type of tickets one purchased. Whether they are revenue or redemption tickets, full or discounted fares, it makes no difference to them. So she was only doing her job to inform you that swapping seat with a child is not allowed. Cabin crew only know which passengers have been upgraded by airport control (involuntary upgrade) due to cabin oversold.
Anyway, if your case is true that it is simply ridiculous!
Also I am not defending the ISM, but the cabin crew have no clue what type of tickets one purchased. Whether they are revenue or redemption tickets, full or discounted fares, it makes no difference to them. So she was only doing her job to inform you that swapping seat with a child is not allowed. Cabin crew only know which passengers have been upgraded by airport control (involuntary upgrade) due to cabin oversold.
#19
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Hong Kong SAR
Programs: JL Diamond, CX Gold, HH Gold
Posts: 343
Sorry but I laughed non stop after "top tier asia miles member", and coughed non stopped at "Asia miles diamond member".
I am saving this as a pdf in case the thread disappeared for some reasons in the future.
I am saving this as a pdf in case the thread disappeared for some reasons in the future.
Last edited by AmD950; Jan 9, 2024 at 7:56 am
#20
Join Date: Jan 2017
Programs: Cathay Pacific, IHG, Air Astana
Posts: 107
And of course, if CX now try to ramp-up schedules (assuming they can find sufficient Captains & First Officers), cabin crew will be further stretched. Once again, lost a lot of seniors and numbers appear to be spread very thinly. Hence reduced service based on my recent experiences: (i) no drinks service in Y other than at same time as serving dinner; (ii) cabin crew basically disappear whereas pre-Covid they'd still do walkabouts; (iii) breakfast being a derisory and barely edible chicken sandwich.
Yes, maybe "first world problems", but when CX continues to charge premium fares as compared to other full-service carriers, service delivery has got to match.
So, I'm more-than-half-expecting service quality to further slip during the course of this year.
Yes, maybe "first world problems", but when CX continues to charge premium fares as compared to other full-service carriers, service delivery has got to match.
So, I'm more-than-half-expecting service quality to further slip during the course of this year.
#21
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 20,264
#23
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: Marco Polo Club, KF
Posts: 215
And of course, if CX now try to ramp-up schedules (assuming they can find sufficient Captains & First Officers), cabin crew will be further stretched. Once again, lost a lot of seniors and numbers appear to be spread very thinly. Hence reduced service based on my recent experiences: (i) no drinks service in Y other than at same time as serving dinner; (ii) cabin crew basically disappear whereas pre-Covid they'd still do walkabouts; (iii) breakfast being a derisory and barely edible chicken sandwich.
Yes, maybe "first world problems", but when CX continues to charge premium fares as compared to other full-service carriers, service delivery has got to match.
So, I'm more-than-half-expecting service quality to further slip during the course of this year.
Yes, maybe "first world problems", but when CX continues to charge premium fares as compared to other full-service carriers, service delivery has got to match.
So, I'm more-than-half-expecting service quality to further slip during the course of this year.
#24
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Don't know....
Programs: BA LTG, SQ TPPS, CX DMP, AA EXP, Bonvoy LTT, ALL PLT, Hilton DM
Posts: 4,017
The only experience i have with these kind of ticketing scenario is that the "taxes" paid for Adult are more expensive than kids tickets. I learned this once (cannot remember which airline). So they won't allow us to change. I.e. in your case 1 adult + 1 kid in J is cheaper in taxes than 2 adults in J. So in your case I wasn't allowed to swap seats. So after that I just paid for adult tickets even though they were kids (I just declare a wrong birth year if asked). Never had an issue after that.
#25
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BKK
Programs: Mucci Chevalier de la Brosse a Cheveux Dore, SK GfL, BA Gold, TG *G, HH DIA, IHG Gold, Hertz PC
Posts: 4,156
I can’t be bothered to read the OP’s mile long rant, but from the first few paragraphs, it seems they got the exact seats they paid for?
#26
Join Date: May 2023
Location: UK/HK/USA
Programs: BA Executive Club, CX Asia Miles, FlyingBlue, TrueBlue
Posts: 349
Yes indeed, it’s a real worry to which can be added the issue of senior pilot staff to which you refer. I assume CX hasn’t got a chance as long as it retains the remuneration approach largely as implemented during COVID. I’ve been a loyal customer throughout and CX has been good to me over the years. But I won’t hesitate to walk away if core safety standards are compromised because of inexperienced, exhausted or utterly demotivated cockpit crew.
#28
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: HKG
Programs: CXDM, SQ Gold, SPG, HHonors and Shangri-La
Posts: 551
I have been a long-time visitor to this forum and sadly am feel very disappointed by some of the responses in this particular thread. Irrespective of whether the OP was reasonable or not with his actions/expectations, the sharing of his experience is useful data for other travelers. It does not take a great deal of mental extrapolation or empathy to work out what the OP meant by "top-tier member of asia miles" is what we would normally call CX DM, he has a post count of 3 which suggests to me he normally has better things to do with his time than lurking on these forums and learn the lingos of FFPs. How is the pedantry adding to the discussion? Why not just focus on the subject of the inquiry?
If the OP was an unreasonable person he would probably have demanded that his children be sat in J with him and his wife, something that I am sure many of the regular DMs here may hope/expect if they were in the same position.
Regarding "the same number of miles" argument, I believe what the OP meant is that adult and child (AM) prices are the same, hence swapping seats would not result in an adult occupying a cheaper-priced child seat.
Of course, the ISM had all the rights to demand pax remain in their own assigned seat, but taking the story at its face value, I think the ISM could have acted with more flexibility and empathetically. It would have cost CX nothing (not even an extra bottle of water) but added plenty of goodwill for this top-tier member of their Aisa Miles program, Sorry it should be "Top tier member of Cathay".
If the OP was an unreasonable person he would probably have demanded that his children be sat in J with him and his wife, something that I am sure many of the regular DMs here may hope/expect if they were in the same position.
Regarding "the same number of miles" argument, I believe what the OP meant is that adult and child (AM) prices are the same, hence swapping seats would not result in an adult occupying a cheaper-priced child seat.
Of course, the ISM had all the rights to demand pax remain in their own assigned seat, but taking the story at its face value, I think the ISM could have acted with more flexibility and empathetically. It would have cost CX nothing (not even an extra bottle of water) but added plenty of goodwill for this top-tier member of their Aisa Miles program, Sorry it should be "Top tier member of Cathay".
#29
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: Top Tier Flyertalk Member
Posts: 746
[mod edit]
Which was precisly what OP tried to from the beginning to the end. And failed.
Which was precisly what OP tried to from the beginning to the end. And failed.
Last edited by l etoile; Jan 17, 2024 at 2:02 pm Reason: If you have concerns, hit the report button
#30
Join Date: May 2023
Posts: 10
I have been a long-time visitor to this forum and sadly am feel very disappointed by some of the responses in this particular thread. Irrespective of whether the OP was reasonable or not with his actions/expectations, the sharing of his experience is useful data for other travelers. It does not take a great deal of mental extrapolation or empathy to work out what the OP meant by "top-tier member of asia miles" is what we would normally call CX DM, he has a post count of 3 which suggests to me he normally has better things to do with his time than lurking on these forums and learn the lingos of FFPs. How is the pedantry adding to the discussion? Why not just focus on the subject of the inquiry?
If the OP was an unreasonable person he would probably have demanded that his children be sat in J with him and his wife, something that I am sure many of the regular DMs here may hope/expect if they were in the same position.
Regarding "the same number of miles" argument, I believe what the OP meant is that adult and child (AM) prices are the same, hence swapping seats would not result in an adult occupying a cheaper-priced child seat.
Of course, the ISM had all the rights to demand pax remain in their own assigned seat, but taking the story at its face value, I think the ISM could have acted with more flexibility and empathetically. It would have cost CX nothing (not even an extra bottle of water) but added plenty of goodwill for this top-tier member of their Aisa Miles program, Sorry it should be "Top tier member of Cathay".
If the OP was an unreasonable person he would probably have demanded that his children be sat in J with him and his wife, something that I am sure many of the regular DMs here may hope/expect if they were in the same position.
Regarding "the same number of miles" argument, I believe what the OP meant is that adult and child (AM) prices are the same, hence swapping seats would not result in an adult occupying a cheaper-priced child seat.
Of course, the ISM had all the rights to demand pax remain in their own assigned seat, but taking the story at its face value, I think the ISM could have acted with more flexibility and empathetically. It would have cost CX nothing (not even an extra bottle of water) but added plenty of goodwill for this top-tier member of their Aisa Miles program, Sorry it should be "Top tier member of Cathay".
However, what I really take issue with (and maybe this ticked other users off as well) is this fatalist attitude some OPs have on this forum and immediately call doom upon the airline. Just because they had a disappointing experience, doesn't mean they have to be so dramatic about it. And to be honest, if he really is a diamond member, he should know what is and isn't allowed.
Also, like so many other things in RichMegaCity, the CX's "travelling with children rule" is so ambiguous.
For their safety, child passengers aged between 2 and 12 years old travelling on a Cathay Pacific flight need to be accompanied by their parents or guardians (at least 18 years old) at all times. Children under 6 years old must travel in the same cabin class with their parents or guardians.