Seat auctions
 

According to the SCMP CX is considering an online auction for passengers to bid to upgrade their seats .If their bid is successful they will be notified 4 days before departure
The whole point of this is to fill up any spare seats in premium economy or business with upgrades

Well staff travel is going to go to S--t in a hurry

True, but at least now they're getting some $ from the passengers, rather than giving the upgrades for free. If a punter paying $$$ gets a J class seat before me, I can live with that. What I can't live with is presenting an ID J ticket, and getting downgraded to Y when a Y punter gets a free upgrade to J that they didn't pay for.

Think this will piss off full fare J ticket holders.

Seat auctions
 

Air NZ have been doing this for years! Works very well.

Cathay Pacific not interested in starting up a low-cost carrier now | CAPA - Centre for Aviation


Of course you don't want to start a low cost carrier CX.

You are already one

You're slowly introducing all the tricks of a LCC in your current operation.

So,
They've gone and done it:D
This is the beginning of the end for staff travel on CX!
Their aim is to fill every seat in J and F with those lovely people from down the back.
So, this, following on from last month's little bombshell is going to make long haul travel difficult, to say the least, because the traffic lights will be even more meaningless now until 48 hrs from STD.
I think I'm going to try full fare on Qatar next time I need to go home at my own expense.
For the first time in 30 years of flying I am now truly disillusioned with everything.
Thanks Ivan. In two months you have put the final nails into the coffin of what was, until quite recently, a great airline and a great career!

I thought they were canning it due to the backlash from the frequent fliers.

Front page of intracx yesterday. It's all go!

Quite astonished at reading this. From someone who is no way connected with CX, surely a passenger airline is in business to fly as many PAX (sorry "scum down the back") as they can from A to B and yield as much from them as possible to be profitable. If people can pay to upgrade, either a set fee or however else so be it. The seats are there for the business to be profitable not to allow pilots to commute to the far corners or go on holiday for free. If the seats are available then take them, if the 'scum' are in them paying your wages then take what is available down the back. Surely it is a perk not a god given right...

Well, Lookoutbelow....

This is a PILOT's Rumours network after all!

To answer a couple of your points... If you were in our position (ie in command of the aeroplane and the crew) then you would see what our Cabin Crew have to put up with on a very regular basis and you would see the reason for my use of the words 'lovely people'. I am sorry if that upsets or outrages you but we now sell the tickets so cheaply that indeed 'lovely people' can afford them and indeed they do!
Secondly, you are correct that staff travel is a perk and not a right. I would be the first to acknowledge that the passenger (who pays our salaries) must come first, BUT ONLY if he has paid the going rate for his ticket.
If I was a Diamond Card holder I would be mighty p'd off at this news. This despite a supposed canvassing of opinion amongst our most valued customers coming up with a resounding NO WAY to the project!
As an outsider, you are not privy to the recent savage attacks prosecuted by the Company on our conditions of service. As a passenger, if you fly with CX you are probably acutely aware and comforted that our standards are amongst the highest in the region, if not the world. Now, an airline markets itself to potential employees using conditions of service (which includes staff travel perks) as a big carrot. If those conditions are eroded, then ultimately the loser will be our standards because the high calibre pilot you have become used to won't be here any more and you'll just have to accept a higher risk when you travel!

HKG to LHR - CX255 JUL 1st - Y Class $13,697.00

HKG to LHR - CX255 JUL 1st - J Class $49,167.00


Think I'll buy the EY ticket pay $500 and go hang out with a Diamond member who paid lets see ........ $35,000 more than I did :ok:

So if you do your homework online you can easily rip CX off, even dropping 20k will save you $15,000!

How long will it be before no one purchases a J class ticket and just scams the system?

Oh and I see the crap IT is CX wide, it kept crashing and saying I'd entered the data incorrectly using their own pre filled data :ugh: plus as usual it's so full of crap extras making purchasing a ticket a pain in the ass.

Oh I forgot and then I'm going to drink and taste every bottle of wine a champagne because I can easily get my $500 back!

Max reheat,

It has got nothing to do with being a rumour network. If you are so professional and set the highest standards at CX your personal view of the paying public that pay your industry leading salary is quite frankly appalling IMHO.

Although not for CX (and maybe having read some of these threads i am pleased not to be), I am in your position and I am sure I have seen much worse, down the back on my flights (if you have you ever operated the Hadj charters out of JED to West Africa with PAX urinating in the aisle you will know what I mean!). That said not sure I have ever referred to these people as scum..

I appreciate that CX are gradually eroding your platinum conditions but unfortunately, it is a case of welcome to the real world. It is happening at QF, BA, KLM, all the flag carriers as well as charter companies and LOCO's alike. Whilst you would probably like to think it, CX is no different, it is an airline and has to make money to continue. They are probably trying to remain competitive and affordable to the 'scum' they rely on to fill the aircraft and make routes profitable.

The tripe you spout about standards shows your naivety in that you have very little idea what goes on outside CX. Some of the pilots I come across in a training/checking capacity with LOCO or charter backgrounds are very talented indeed and to pretend your standard is a cut above the rest is presumptuous at best. After all your job cannot be any harder than any other airline pilot and indeed some i am sure would say easier in many respects (modern fleet, technical reliability, large well equipped airport to large well equipped airport and so on).

You remain some of the best rewarded pilots in the industry. I am sure you have worked very hard to get there and honestly well done to you.

It might be worth thinking from time to time life hasn't been that unkind, after all you could have ended up working for Southwest, Ryanair, EasyJet etc or worse still could have been one of the scum at the back saving up for weeks, months or years in order to afford to visit a relative or take a holiday.

Bollocks.

I'm with Max Reheat on this one.

:E

Max, we all share your frustration and lament at the seemingly never ending decline in our benefits.....

However, your choice of words are, to say the least, unprofessional and offensive. They reflect badly on us.

Do us all a favour and edit your posts....

If I find I am not able to travel reliably and comfortably between London and HK, then I will 'modify' my travel to reflect such a difficulty. Basically, instead of taking a week back home, I will 'extend' that in the time fashioned way to two/three weeks.....a couple of times a year at least. Make my life difficult....you can have it back the same way in spades. Contempt for their staff.

Trafalgar,

That is exactly the right way to handle this. I believe it is called a PRA, and it is the only true weapon with which we have to fight back against this offensive company and their attack on our CoS.

Max,

I think "scum" is a bit harsh, but your point is spot on. I wish more were as outraged as you and me, but the company loyalists never cease to amaze.

CXorcist

Chaps,

I get the point and have edited my choice of words... perhaps initially posted in a red mist of anger.

It's not just the impact to staff travel that I am upset about but also the image to the airline. Perhaps we should just rebrand as 'Ebay Pacific'.

To 'Lookoutbelow'...
If, 20 years ago I had wanted to join a LoCo then that is what I would have done. But I was fortunate enough to get a job with what was at that point one of the best carriers in the world, not only for the staff but the passengers too. I flew to LHR last week in Business Class (on duty), admittedly a midnight departure but the meal choices were, Fish, Caesar Salad or a Meat Pie... A meat pie for Pete's sake; on 251, one of our premier services.

Some of the guys know who I am from my PP handle, they know I generally put the Company first, but now our lords and masters have taken one further step over the line.

It just all very sad.

Max, you're spot on.

lookoutbelow, you're not. Unfortunately the jealousy we see within CX that constantly helps to erode our pay and CoS is obviously prevalent in a wider field. I'm a long way from being amongst the highest earners here at CX but am well aware that we need to try to keep the highest level and preferably increase it (a battle we've already mostly lost) otherwise the aiming point gets constantly lowered.
The same is true of staff travel. The locos in Europe started off with none but one be one have had to introduce and improve this perk to help with retention of, amongst other things, the constant attrition to airlines with a good travel scheme.
Your excuse that "They are probably trying to remain competitive" is one I've seen many times coming from our management... and is utter rubbish.

geez cheap staff travel is a bonus & should always be subload. +ve space ?


Your dreaming.


Some of the comments above make it sound like staff are more important than paying customers.


Get your head out of the clouds & enter the real world.

Being competitive means paying higher bonuses to managers. That works.