I don't know why the original thread starter put a line of 5 years to his argument. I think the service has been on a downward trend for the last 10+ years, and I don't see the trend reversing. I see it getting a lot, lot worse. I've flown KE and TG and OZ recently, and they all put CX cabin product to shame. The KE 380 EY cabin is like Premium CX product. CX are quite simply losing the war. The TG crew were phenomenal. In fact... these were probably the same gals that CX would have been hiring 10 years ago, but apparently CX does most of its hiring from Tin Shui Wai these days.
I recall flying CX in the late 90s and the service was incomparable. In fact, I remember writing on a feedback card once something to the effect of, with EY service like this, who needs a business class. The service was topnotch. It was my first time flying with Cathay and I had flown with KE, OZ, JL before and lots of European and American carriers, and no one could touch them. KE service back then was more rigid and the KE CA's spoke near zero English and were about as friendly as dead fish. JL left me indifferent... I think the Japanese rate JL so high simply because the crew speak Japanese and bow a lot. CX back then were the perfect mix. A range of crew from all over Asia, all smiles, all working hard, got drink refills without ordering, used my name (in EY), simply put, perfect pax experience. Then top it all off with a Kaitak night landing. Memorable flights every time.
It's hardly the same airline today.
Broadly speaking... I see a wide range of reasons, but it all traces back to one route cause: management. Example... everyone who's been with CX over a decade remembers when Cathay were actively recruiting crew from over 14 countries. I remember a crew composition list once and quite nearly every country had anywhere from 6-8% representation of crew back in the 90s, Hong Kong had a few more percent, but not by much. At some point CX stopped actively recruiting foreign CA's with the exception of bare minimum number of CA's from a few key countries for their language requirements; Korea, Japan, and most recently India again. But nowhere near in numbers they used to. The point is not to go off on another rant bashing Hongkie girls. The point is, for a lot of girls from other countries the perception of a CX job as being a big prestigious thing was a lot more relevant, and so they treat the job as such. You move from Sri Lanka, or Manilla, Mumbai, or Taegu, or Bangkok, or Taipei, to Hong Kong to take a job... that's a big thing. For some of them in terms of salaries too. They had a better perception of the job, and treated it accordingly.
It's relatively easy for any Hongkie to land a job as a CX CA, so they approach the job with the same mentality. Easy come, easy go. But what was more disturbing was getting a look behind the training process of CX's CA lately. I think the CX cabin crew training strikes out on every conceivable front. Start with your trainers. In any organization, who are your trainers? And how are they rewarded? I had always thought being a trainer was a recognition of excellence and accumulated experience. CX cabin crew trainers are actually punished for opting to be trainers. They actually lose money for choosing to go to training school, and their chance of being promoted is actually harmed because their CPP scores nosedive. Thank you management. The trainers can actually invest zero time imprinting anything of value on the new crew. The training schedule doesn't allow it. The training schedule is a variety of modules that basically focus on teaching the new crew how to shovel food the CX way. And you're surprised that's what's showing up in the cabin? Look at this way... the crew themselves are treated like meals that need to be shoveled out as fast as possible. How are they not supposed to think of the job that way? Here's a real laugher.... a lot of the training has been slapped onto disks and the trainees are supposed to "home school" themselves. Have a good laugh every time I hear about CX's "excellent training program" for CA's. FAIL.
In a nutshell... the CA job was a quasi prestigious job for a lot of young girls from all over Asia that was much sought after in the 80s and 90s. The crew hotels were topnotch, the training pre-internet age was actually face-to-face with an emphasis on service excellence, and their salaries stretched a lot further. Fast forward 10-some years.... all of Asia has become more prosperous, the CA job has lost a bit of its luster, the Hong Kong dollar has lost half of its purchasing power, in outport you've moved from 5-star hotels to airport motels and seen days cut off of every outport stay, you're teaching yourself at home from a CD-Rom. And you're saying you think service has gone downhill? ROFL.
CX has gone from a small airline that offered a high end product to being a shuttle bus for mainlanders with more money than they know what to do with. BUT... record profits. Just not for the crew who have invested 10+ years of their lives in the company, have seen near zero increase in their wages over the same period, have seen their purchasing power cut in half while prices in the city for everything from a bowl of rice to flats have nearly doubled. Management don't see CA's as a value-adding asset except for the billboards that tout "the face of CX." In reality, management consider crew as a financial liability and treat them accordingly. You get what you pay for.