Cathay Girls
 

Hey guys what's up?

Just started at Cx and was wondering about the cabin ladies working for us here.

Having flown with passengers and c/a's for years now in Europe I am kind of feeling things are a BIT(MASSIVELY) different here especially when it comes to the cabin attendants.

Not really getting the "CREW" feeling here, it's like you check in the evening and you introduce yourself and that's the only eye contact you'll get for the rest of the trip or layover, kind of feeling we're not on the same line/team or we(cockpit) don't even exist or something. Very little social relationship between Cockpit and C/A's.

Maybe I'm wrong and it's probably only me but just wondering IS it like that usually here at Cx?? Did something happen in the past that there is no kind of "CREW" feeling between the C/A's and the cockpit??

And of course probably it's a cultural thing and I shouldn't expect loads of fun and partying and drinks with the ladies on layovers,like other carriers in EU(or ME) but , DOES IT HAPPEN????????? What is GOING ON here man????? I'm going crazy with these gals man, they are not up for any crew fun mate. Did something happen in the past?? Or are they briefed during the course NOT to mingle with the Cockpit or something?? Or is it just me(probably is).

Would like some input on this matter, thanks mates.

p.s. PLease some serious input I know for 90% of you Cx is the WORST company in the world and the most horrible..... etc. etc. etc., but please just keep it about the gals, thank you guys.

In this respect, Cathay is good for marriages!!!!

Nope nothing happened, thats just the way it is!

Can you say "Olympic Flame"

hahahaha....some of these new guys just KILL me...!!! :}

Personally I notice a difference between the based girls (and boys) vs the Hong Kong crew. I put that down to culture. The fact they don't go out is probably in direct correlation to their abysmal T&Cs. Saving allowances can make a big impact on take home pay when you are starting on around 10000HKD! Thus the Olympic Flame title, ask someone when you go flying next.

Ahhh,

you just wanted somebody to be your friend. Sitting at the front of the plane makes you none the following:

- more attractive
- more important
- more popular

Once you've been in Hong kong just a little longer gipilot you'll realise that because of what you are/where you work will not make "gals" more likely to "catch your eye". Respect and friendship with people in HKG needs to be earned just like anywhere else in this world. Women were not put on this earth or CX a/c for that matter - to give you pleasant flattering conversation.

By the way what is "crew fun" - is this some sort of parlour game?

Regards,

N1 Vibes

PS - "Oh you have such a big wallet, yes I'd love to have a beer, oh, you're room key - how nice, is that a camera, I'm not that kind of girl, well just this once, is that a real 0.10 carat diamond, you shouldn't, marriage - of course, wanchai with your mates, of course I don't mind, who is that girl you were with, ah your sister, no she can sleep here as well......etc, etc."

PPS - Get a Life!

gipilot
 

Repeat after me: I am utterly ignorant about cultural differences.

Repeat after me: I am totally clueless about socio-economics.

Repeat after me: I can't believe that I've exposed myself as a cultural dumbass, by postng this thought on a public forum.

Yes it is "just you".

If you really are after that "crew feeling", ask one of the male cabin attendants out to the pub (or maybe that's not really what you're after).

You sound like a real catch. I can't understand why the women aren't all over you.

Have a nice day.

CW

''the guy is just asking are our girls a good bunch?'' as oppose to a Bad bunch?

Nothing wrong with the girls or guys.Have you checked for BO or dragon breath?

Old Spice? Wow! that's from the 60's right?

Constructive Cold War

T o s s e r

gipilot, ask your crew up front. Don't ask the morons here!

This forum is not the place to search for a serious answer. Drunken bums live here!:}

"Cold-War" "N1 Vibes", bit harsh boys. You wouldn't wear long sleeves to work would you? :E

of course, I would have to second the 'dumb-ass' comment. (remember, it's important to have a straight crease ironed down the length of the sleeve):ok:

Ok, I will stick my neck out on this one!

CX has definitely become a far less social airline among crew during my time.

Probably the biggest change was during 1995-1997 when cockpit ULH patterns were shortened to 4 days (so we could get more days off in HKG!!!!), while cabin crew remained in accordance with their contracts. The fact that you went outbound, and then returned with completely different cabin crew tend's to split crews apart. For cockpit crew the day of arrival is the only day to go out, while Cabin crew treat this as a day of rest, and go out the next day.

My more social trips have tended to be the longer ones when you all stay together as a crew, such as 5 or 6 day Jo'burg's, Amsterdam's, Adelaide's, Bahrain's, Penang's etc. These patterns are now ancient history!

However, things are now even more challanging for various reasons.

Our new cabin crew recruits are only paid $79 per hour, for a 100 hour month. This work load does not leave much enthusiasm for going out socialising with anyone on overnight stops! Also when the basic is only 8k, saving overnight allowances to cover living costs is even more important than before.

It is understandable that when staff are so poorly paid they tend to treat their employment as a short term job, rather than a long term career. Hence high levels of sickness, lots of resignations and low levels of motivation at work. This also affects how people fit into a crew.

CX Management have chosen to ignore the fact that it has been an employees market for jobs over the last few years in Hong Kong. They continue to cut back packages for staff, and struggle to fill classes for new cabin crew, by compromising on standards.

With HKG unemployment at 3.3%, and lots of jobs paying far better than CX, our new Cabin Crew recruits are either people who failed to get better jobs, or the minority who just really want to be Cabin crew (despite the pay, etc).

No doubt our longer serving pilots could make the same observation about newer generations of CX pilots, B scaler's, Freighter pilot's, etc. Basically CX get's what it pay's for.

The declining english language skills of our younger crew are an added issue. Current crew list demographics are typically for the bottom 2/3rds of the crew to be all cantonese speakers. Basically the aircraft effectively divides into two seperate operations with the cockpit and senior cabin crew being CX, and the back of the aeroplane becoming Mongkok Airlines.

In the outport these crew prefer to not "change channel" (speak english), so are reluctant to go out with non Cantonese speakers. Maybe if we all learned to speak cantonese we could overcome this!

Nothing is going to change with regard to the social situation, so just accept it. To socialise with cabin crew, it is probably better to latch on to other airline crews. This is definitely a better option, especially if you are married to CX cabin crew!

As a Captain, you have to try and build enough of a team to face the possible challanges of the trip. This is not easy when you only get 5 minutes or so on the crew bus, and half the crew are yakking away on mobile phones etc. You just have to put in the effort to make sure that all the senior crew are comfortable to call you when something goes wrong in the cabin.

Good post J68.....

Your world....
 

Freighter pilots......... Oh my.......... at least it was capitalized.......

J28

to pick up on the "need to build enough of a team", if there isn't a feeling of same-team-same-dream and professionalism when you get on the bus, then there is something wrong with the selection/training/community within CX. If it came to a difficult situation on a plane, one would have hoped that the people selected through interview and selection process, for cabin/flight crew, have the carachteristics to be able to work together straight off the bat. If there is a need to 'bond' before the flight do you need to ask - is there a real problem here? And is it being communicated to cabin/flight crew management? Thoughts.

Regards,

N1 Vibes

and from some of the comments above, 1/2 full of w@nkers too :ugh:

''I also agree with Fac6 in that most of them will write you up any chance they get, it's disgusting.''

Why do you think that is so? as always there are two sides to a story.

Cody yea really? What kind of deluded state are you in? Even Flight Ops get tired of the influx of reports but what can they do? ISD is a much bigger and more powerful dept.

I personally know the crew on the flight where they had a Jumpseat pax and First class had 2 occupants. The ISM cleared the guys to sit at the back of First and eat and watch a movie. It's true the ISM went to bed and they were told to move by the SP who then wrote them up.

I have other friends who suffered similar and even worse situations than that but if I went into detail it would give their identities away.