Cathay Pacific woes worsen with an eight hour delay and poor service. That's the headline and the following is this correspondent’s story. Firstly, let me say that I'm not a rookie to the pointy end of the plane, having travelled for years in P and J class on Asian, Australian, European and US carriers on long haul flights around the globe. So, my remarks now are from a full fare paying, business class customer, familiar with the class and the airline. An eight hour delay is unfortunate but good customer service can alleviate the stress. What do we get from CX? We’ll, for a start, their deal with the VIP lounge in Barcelona is anything than VIP, nor is it business class in any fashion. After a few indifferent wines and some salty crisps, we board our flight from Barcelona to Hong Kong. We settle into 17 G and 17 D, two side by side in the middle of a 1 x 2 x 1 configuration. None of the 24 seats in the middle line have working lights, call buttons or entertainment/AV system. Luckily we know the safety procedures by heart. All attempts to fix the problem fail and we spend 12 hours without entertainment, apart from Flashy's jokes. They offer us a $100 US voucher each to spend on Cathay products. There's a bit of grumbling going on. Oh well, there’s always the business class dining and excellent beverage list, to enjoy over a leisurely interlude. The menu reads well. Excitement builds. The Champagne aperitif is cold and fresh. The seats are spacious but a bit firm. I'd say hard in 12 hours time. Due to the eight hour delay - an excuse if you ask me – the food is a bit stale. My burger looked ok. Brioche bun with nice mayo, a few fried chips and an excellent Chris Ringland red. But it was disgusting. Not even Burger King standard. The meat was overcooked, rock hard and tasteless. I sent it back. The service was so rushed, I thought there was a competition between the staff as to who could get all three courses out and back, so the bloody punters could all go to sleep. So much for a relaxed, special dining experience. The tray setting was not Qantas domestic business standard and so far removed from an Emirates business cabin as to be unrecognisable. Full marks though, to the staff. They at least smiled and responded when asked but there was not that professionalism of other carriers’ business staff evident here. Time to put the flat bed down and snooze. Unlike other airlines, you have to do this yourself. There's no turn down service, nor is there a mattress say, like Emirates. So after a few hours the firm seats felt, well bloody firm! After making sure all my fellow passengers were tucked in and sleeping, I ventured to the toilet, to find paper on the wet floor and a sink full of slowly draining water. For the next six hours the cabin crew had the opportunity of clearing glasses and empty water bottles from the passenger tables and servicing the toilets .They did neither. After a fitful sleep, the smell of brewing coffee awakens us and we all prepare for the full cooked breakfast. You know the one you order before you go to sleep and after a gut full of wine and whisky. The full monty. Tick all the little boxes. The bacon was undercooked, the eggs overcooked. What was once a hash brown looked like potato porridge and the pastries were stale. “Excuse me, where is the salt and pepper?” was met with the delivery of two disposable, plastic rip top containers which went all over the place when you ripped the tops off. Hardly business class. And another thing.... We’ll it's not worth the words. Bloody poor show Cathay. At least, after three different requests, I managed to exchange our vouchers for a sexy little Swedish watch. And as we left the plane they handed us each $USD20 to cover the cost of the Wifi connection which Lady P kindly set up to enable us to track the Tigers slaughter of GWS. So that will cover our duty free gin which I guess is something. About to board the final leg to Cairns. The anticipation is killing – but at least it is on time and we even have a gate number.
Saturday, 28 September 2019
Saturday 28 September
Cathay Pacific woes worsen with an eight hour delay and poor service. That's the headline and the following is this correspondent’s story. Firstly, let me say that I'm not a rookie to the pointy end of the plane, having travelled for years in P and J class on Asian, Australian, European and US carriers on long haul flights around the globe. So, my remarks now are from a full fare paying, business class customer, familiar with the class and the airline. An eight hour delay is unfortunate but good customer service can alleviate the stress. What do we get from CX? We’ll, for a start, their deal with the VIP lounge in Barcelona is anything than VIP, nor is it business class in any fashion. After a few indifferent wines and some salty crisps, we board our flight from Barcelona to Hong Kong. We settle into 17 G and 17 D, two side by side in the middle of a 1 x 2 x 1 configuration. None of the 24 seats in the middle line have working lights, call buttons or entertainment/AV system. Luckily we know the safety procedures by heart. All attempts to fix the problem fail and we spend 12 hours without entertainment, apart from Flashy's jokes. They offer us a $100 US voucher each to spend on Cathay products. There's a bit of grumbling going on. Oh well, there’s always the business class dining and excellent beverage list, to enjoy over a leisurely interlude. The menu reads well. Excitement builds. The Champagne aperitif is cold and fresh. The seats are spacious but a bit firm. I'd say hard in 12 hours time. Due to the eight hour delay - an excuse if you ask me – the food is a bit stale. My burger looked ok. Brioche bun with nice mayo, a few fried chips and an excellent Chris Ringland red. But it was disgusting. Not even Burger King standard. The meat was overcooked, rock hard and tasteless. I sent it back. The service was so rushed, I thought there was a competition between the staff as to who could get all three courses out and back, so the bloody punters could all go to sleep. So much for a relaxed, special dining experience. The tray setting was not Qantas domestic business standard and so far removed from an Emirates business cabin as to be unrecognisable. Full marks though, to the staff. They at least smiled and responded when asked but there was not that professionalism of other carriers’ business staff evident here. Time to put the flat bed down and snooze. Unlike other airlines, you have to do this yourself. There's no turn down service, nor is there a mattress say, like Emirates. So after a few hours the firm seats felt, well bloody firm! After making sure all my fellow passengers were tucked in and sleeping, I ventured to the toilet, to find paper on the wet floor and a sink full of slowly draining water. For the next six hours the cabin crew had the opportunity of clearing glasses and empty water bottles from the passenger tables and servicing the toilets .They did neither. After a fitful sleep, the smell of brewing coffee awakens us and we all prepare for the full cooked breakfast. You know the one you order before you go to sleep and after a gut full of wine and whisky. The full monty. Tick all the little boxes. The bacon was undercooked, the eggs overcooked. What was once a hash brown looked like potato porridge and the pastries were stale. “Excuse me, where is the salt and pepper?” was met with the delivery of two disposable, plastic rip top containers which went all over the place when you ripped the tops off. Hardly business class. And another thing.... We’ll it's not worth the words. Bloody poor show Cathay. At least, after three different requests, I managed to exchange our vouchers for a sexy little Swedish watch. And as we left the plane they handed us each $USD20 to cover the cost of the Wifi connection which Lady P kindly set up to enable us to track the Tigers slaughter of GWS. So that will cover our duty free gin which I guess is something. About to board the final leg to Cairns. The anticipation is killing – but at least it is on time and we even have a gate number.
Cathay Pacific woes worsen with an eight hour delay and poor service. That's the headline and the following is this correspondent’s story. Firstly, let me say that I'm not a rookie to the pointy end of the plane, having travelled for years in P and J class on Asian, Australian, European and US carriers on long haul flights around the globe. So, my remarks now are from a full fare paying, business class customer, familiar with the class and the airline. An eight hour delay is unfortunate but good customer service can alleviate the stress. What do we get from CX? We’ll, for a start, their deal with the VIP lounge in Barcelona is anything than VIP, nor is it business class in any fashion. After a few indifferent wines and some salty crisps, we board our flight from Barcelona to Hong Kong. We settle into 17 G and 17 D, two side by side in the middle of a 1 x 2 x 1 configuration. None of the 24 seats in the middle line have working lights, call buttons or entertainment/AV system. Luckily we know the safety procedures by heart. All attempts to fix the problem fail and we spend 12 hours without entertainment, apart from Flashy's jokes. They offer us a $100 US voucher each to spend on Cathay products. There's a bit of grumbling going on. Oh well, there’s always the business class dining and excellent beverage list, to enjoy over a leisurely interlude. The menu reads well. Excitement builds. The Champagne aperitif is cold and fresh. The seats are spacious but a bit firm. I'd say hard in 12 hours time. Due to the eight hour delay - an excuse if you ask me – the food is a bit stale. My burger looked ok. Brioche bun with nice mayo, a few fried chips and an excellent Chris Ringland red. But it was disgusting. Not even Burger King standard. The meat was overcooked, rock hard and tasteless. I sent it back. The service was so rushed, I thought there was a competition between the staff as to who could get all three courses out and back, so the bloody punters could all go to sleep. So much for a relaxed, special dining experience. The tray setting was not Qantas domestic business standard and so far removed from an Emirates business cabin as to be unrecognisable. Full marks though, to the staff. They at least smiled and responded when asked but there was not that professionalism of other carriers’ business staff evident here. Time to put the flat bed down and snooze. Unlike other airlines, you have to do this yourself. There's no turn down service, nor is there a mattress say, like Emirates. So after a few hours the firm seats felt, well bloody firm! After making sure all my fellow passengers were tucked in and sleeping, I ventured to the toilet, to find paper on the wet floor and a sink full of slowly draining water. For the next six hours the cabin crew had the opportunity of clearing glasses and empty water bottles from the passenger tables and servicing the toilets .They did neither. After a fitful sleep, the smell of brewing coffee awakens us and we all prepare for the full cooked breakfast. You know the one you order before you go to sleep and after a gut full of wine and whisky. The full monty. Tick all the little boxes. The bacon was undercooked, the eggs overcooked. What was once a hash brown looked like potato porridge and the pastries were stale. “Excuse me, where is the salt and pepper?” was met with the delivery of two disposable, plastic rip top containers which went all over the place when you ripped the tops off. Hardly business class. And another thing.... We’ll it's not worth the words. Bloody poor show Cathay. At least, after three different requests, I managed to exchange our vouchers for a sexy little Swedish watch. And as we left the plane they handed us each $USD20 to cover the cost of the Wifi connection which Lady P kindly set up to enable us to track the Tigers slaughter of GWS. So that will cover our duty free gin which I guess is something. About to board the final leg to Cairns. The anticipation is killing – but at least it is on time and we even have a gate number.
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