CX Other Airline Staff Travel: Premium Economy?
 

Greetings everyone.

I was curious if anyone knows the policy at CX for handling other airline staff travel on a flight that has no available seats in Economy, but availability in Premium Economy. We are only an Economy ticketed agreement, and our agreement details mention nothing of eligibility for Premium Economy. Just curious what your experience, understanding of this scenario would be.

Cheers!

Barnoon,

l flew on CX from Sydney as l work for Qantas and was givin a Premium Economy seat after all economy seats where givin out to passengers(staff) on standby. l was the last staff member to get a ticket and it ended up being a premium ticket.
it was unexpected but l definatly didnt argue about it.

Our outports are usually friendlier than the Hong Kong port. Not sure you would get the same treatment if you were flying out of HKG. I hope I'm wrong.

So let me get this straight, CX upgraded a QF staff member whilst leaving CX staff in Y..........

Only in CX would this happen...:D

With respect to our friends at QF :ok:

Thanks for the reply's so far everyone. We had a hell of an experience last month getting in and out of BKK/HKG/TPE. I understand that CX policy is to not upgrade into premium cabins, as we were left behind on a few flights that had premium seats. But I really didn't expect getting upgraded to business class as those were the only seats that went out open. However none of those flights had premium economy. So I guess it might be worth giving NRT-HKG a shot in a few days that has according to my friend at CX has wide open Economy plus but no Economy.

As far as the comments for HKG agents goes, holy hell guys! You all are an incredibly patient bunch. I tip my hat to you guys that deal with that cluster of an operation known as Counter A in HKG. I still wake up in cold sweats thinking about our several hours spent there!

Thanks again for your help!

Apparently BA has the best staff check-in and they too will A. Upgrade non BA staff and B. Not treat staff like something you stepped in.

Barnoon - no chance of upgrade in HKG

SMOC - absolutely agree, BA in general treat non-BA staff the best

I even ended up on a crew seat in the cabin on a BA flight once as they were trying their hardest to get all staff on!

BA are great. Common sense, politeness and humour seem to be their forte.
A real shame our clowns couldn't go there for some training.:mad:

Rather than subject myself and my Family to CX and their (our) Staff Travel, I'd rather (a) not bother or (b) go with another carrier (ie BA who are simply excellent) or (c) Pay for a ticket (definitely not on CX now). Nice to feel wanted. Thanks Bob N and 'Director People'.
Mates in BA are genuinely shocked when I try to explain 'The System'

Indeed, what a sad state of affairs at CX.

I know that if/when BN and his 'department of people' were to ask me for a jumpseat or to find a reason to help them out in anyway.. they can get stuffed. I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.

With a young child travelling you're banished to economy anyway, so I wouldn't bother with Cathay Pathetic anyway, just give EK or BA the business, and we do it full fare to boot most of the time!

I absolutely agree BA is one of the better experiences for other airline travel. I figure we will give a go at the 16:55 NRT-HKG that only has premium, hope for the best and if not the 18:00 flight supposedly is wide open.

Final question from me regarding this matter. Arriving NRT on United Terminal 1. If we took the transfer bus to Terminal 2 and showed up at the gate to check in would they snarl and tell us we need to check in at the ticket counter? We tried to do the transfer desk in HKG last month and they were furious that we even asked to try and check in there instead of clear customs/immigration and do the ticket counter song and dance. Would rather not waste any time if you all think a gate check in would result in the same response.

Thanks again everyone!

I think the Japanese would be helpful. If anything they will appologise and ask you to clear customs. They will do this with tears in their eyes and a great sense of shame. They very nice people! :ok:

Agree. Japan is the only first world nation in the region, and it has some of the most polite and hard working people in the world.

In Japan you must use the check in desk. You will not be able to short cut the normal procedure.

I am a retired BA staff member, and used a BA staff ticket on a CX flight from HKG to BKK six months ago. I did not get on the first flight that I was listed for, then assumed I would not get on the second flight as they had already called what I assume were all CX staff and given out boarding cards. Around 5 minutes later they called me and I was given a boarding card for Business Class.

Aisle A team do try hard!
 

I think you guys are putting your own team down too much. I too am retired BA and always travel LHR/HKG [BA] and HKG-JKT [CX]. the schedules are such that there is 90 mins connecting time! tight to clear customs and make the dash to aisle A with bags before the cut off [published as 120mins!].

I have always been treated courteously, sometimes abrupt, but never rudely, as always in a dash.... They have always tried to get me on - in economy - even at -39mins! Carry on the good work!

BA system is automatically geared for staff - auto sms text telling when you accepted - just values staff as an asset, and treats them accordingly.

Thanks for the info guys! Really appreciate it. I suppose we will just rally on through customs and transfer over instead of trying to take the short cut!

Cheers!

Hong kong is by far the worse place for staff travel..just a bunch of c:mad: at the counters..

A few weeks ago I gave my friend J1. He was waiting at the stby counter waiting for the boarding pass. When I arrived on the flight deck, I told the traffic guy to release the jump seats. A few minutes later he comes back telling me that there are no jump seat passengers. I then tell him that there is someone standing infront of the counter waiting for J1. The stby counter then tries to tell me that I did not release the seat! When I told them that they must stop the BS and get the Jump seat pax on, the finally sorted it out.
Im sorry but they are good at times and terrible at other times.

I swap numbers so you can either call or use the airport wifi to whatsapp the J1/2/3/4 pax and give the ground staff a good slap in the "loss of face".

The other bull:mad: is the "sorry no time to get them from checkin to the gate as the flight will be delayed", why can't they just be issued with a boarding pass and wait at the gate?

CX just to let you know this is what other airlines do!

I actually know the answer it because the checkin staff will lose some of their power/control just like the way the rest of the company is run!

The Staff at HKIA are a special type who seem to have been briefed to be as unhelpful as possible. Whether it is the Airport or Cathay itself who do not allow us to stand by 'at the gate' I'm not sure. The inevitable rush to get to the gate before it actually closes is quite unnecessary but happens all the time. The stress with wife and kids is unbearable and totally avoidable too.
Hence my earlier comment that I would rather not go or pay full fare with someone else than subject my lot to that nonsense.
Also, when you do get a premium seat, they take great pleasure in scrawling 'N/L' on your boarding pass - meaning 'no lounge'! There we are, loyal, hard working Company people and we get N/L! Will we mess the place up or drink all their poxy champagne?? Go with BA - they treat Staff brilliantly. Shame on you Bob Nipp as you've been in charge of this rubbish for decades.

I remember once travelling standby on a wide open cx flight. I asked the girl at the counter if she could possibly give me a seat with an open seat next to it.

When I boarded the aircraft there was virtually no-one on the aircraft - row after row of empty seats. When I arrived at my allocated seat I realised I had been seated right next to another solitary passenger - I just shook my head, carried on walking and took the next available empty row.

If I have a choice I would rather travel on an airline other than cx - one that recognises that standby passengers are still customers providing a lucrative revenue stream, and filling otherwise empty seats.

Travelling on a full KLM flight I was even offered the jumpseat since I had my crew card - when they found me a seat in economy they apologised profusely for sticking me down the back. Last flight on Finnair I was given a business seat, and frequently on BA.

The standby system at HKIA is a horse and pony show - the BA system at LHR makes it look third world in comparison.

Wheels Up: that is because it IS third world. The other salient fact to bear in mind is that CX seems to have an institutional policy to treat it's staff with contempt. The staff travel system is degrading, frustrating and above all, it is costly. They have turned it into another profit center, instead of what it should be: a benefit to staff to help them travel and facilitate their family and holiday needs. As you mentioned, you only have to experience the BA system to appreciate how appalling our system is. Now they have gone and basically put in place a bidding system for empty seats that will probably kill staff travel for all intents and purposes. As I mentioned in another post, if that is the case, they can expect hundreds of expat pilots to start disrupting the roster in the biggest of ways, as we will be forced to manipulate our travel so as to ensure we are spending time with our families. They will reap what they sow. Greed is always a self-destructive tendency, and CX has just taken one too many bites out of the cherry...

Just got back from the trip. We were late getting into NRT so missed the flight that only showed premium economy available. Was stunned how apologetic and helpful the Japanese ground staff were. They relisted us on the next open flight and handed us our seats and off we went.

Going out of HKG, we checked in for NRT 1.2 hours prior to departure... tight on time I thought and apologized for showing up so late. Given the standard number and told to come back 1 hour prior. 1 hour came and went. 40 prior I am addressed by an agent with "we need you to wait as there are seats available, but there may not be seats available so you need to wait". WTF does that mean?!? 35 prior to departure we are given premium economy seats and off we went. Cleared Immigration exactly the time the ticket said to be at the gate no later than. Lovely. I must say that the premium economy seats were a very nice surprise and the service was very professional and friendly.

Upon arriving Narita, it was nice to just take the shuttle bus over to Terminal 1, check the availability of which United flight was most open, list for it and check in right at the gate. If Cathay would take the laid back approach to staff travel as United does you guys would really be an incredibly enjoyable experience. The lock down at the ticket counter is indeed stressful and unnecessary. With that said, I am still grateful for the ability to travel with you guys and it was a pleasure getting to and from our destination safely in your hands.