Whatever happened to courtesy in Hong Kong ATC?
I'm new to this forum.
I fly into HK two to three times a month with a longhaul low cost airline and found an article in (I think it was) Sunday's South China Morning Post. Interesting how something as relatively minor can make an article in a national paper. But the contents did strike a chord.
For the mostpart I find HK ATC polite and efficient but I was more than a little dissapointed by one controller (from a large landmass to the south south east of HK by the accent) who, when he thought my FO had not replied to his request repeated it and then told him to 'listen properly next time'. It was the controller, not the FO, who had missed the reply. An easy misunderstanding but an unecessary display of bad manners which I have never heard in Europe.
And yes, there is time for a 'good morning' or 'cheers' even on a busy frequency. It takes some 2 seconds...I think we can spare that.