I was aware that some staff commuted from Scotland to London for LH work and some from just across the channel BUT to commute from HKG to THEN do a LH trip? No wonder they can't wait to get us all to shut up so they can get to sleep.
If I was an employer, I would never hire staff that had to commute that distance. You cannot call them in on urgent standby and they are ALWAYS going to be tired and jaded. This sounds like another bit of the last century that has been allowed to go way beyond any reasonable usage. If mgmt allow this to continue, they are silly.