rick.shaw,
Although, the cynical side of me would still say that a non-management Capt may not get away with it so easily. I'd like to be proven wrong though, and the precedent has been set it seems.....
I know a STC on our fleet that offloaded the ISM - there had been a disagreement between them whilst on their way to the aircraft, he felt she was being rude to him, and ordered the SP to take over. She finally walked off the plane at about 20 mins before pushback. He has done this twice now. I applaud him for taking a stand and reminding the 'guilty' what are the ranks of the Chain of Command - ISM is #5, not #1 or 2, as some think they are.
By the way, speaking of FORMER CP's, did he have some farewell drinks lately? Was the bar overflowing with sympathites?
Um, dunno, I wasn't in the vicinity.
Just like yourself, I find that the HKG based crews are the ones that act like Mongkok specials. I've heard that they are trained from ground school to dislike us - not sure whether that is fact or just someone's opinion. I would like to think the latter.
It's been my experience that the based crews seem much more approachable than the HKG based ones albeit as others have said, it's more or less a hit-and-miss.
Personally, I agree 110% with ACMS,
Still, it helps my marraige in the long run ( and my wallet )
and Yeager
unless you fancy Mickey.
....to each his own...