Cathay Pacific has saved Air Canada’s ass. And mine. I’m ever so thankful.
The miracle is that I still managed to make it to Bangkok at the appointed time -- after missing two flights!
I know that sounds weird, but you’re forgetting some people (rumoured to be this author) can really screw things up and still come out at the right place and time.
I left Toronto’s Pearson Airport Monday, May 16 and arrived in Hong Kong early afternoon of Tuesday, May 17. Then plunked down at Suvarnabhumi late the same afternoon. Exactly as planned.
Now, back to the scene of the criminally stupid act of my travel planning. I arrived at Pearson around 7 a.m. before my 10 o’clock flight to Hong Kong thanks to (wonderful Toronto) agent (at Tour East) and separately booked my connecting flight to Bangkok because I wanted to use up Cathay travel points.
Only I booked the HK connection for the same day I left Toronto. Well, if you’re following this and knowing HK is 12 hours ahead of Toronto, you’ll understand the problem. Simplified: you cannot fly out of Hong Kong before you’ve even left Toronto.
Yep, while I was sleeping in Toronto, my HK to BKK flight CX751 had left at 2:25 p.m. on Monday, May 16. How many times have I gone through HK on this very same itinerary? More than enough to make this act of planning stupidity dumbfounding.
It was the patient and kindly Air Canada agent who pointed this anomaly out about 7:30 a.m. when I asked AC to forward my luggage through to BKK.
Well, time to get on the phone! I got through security after several cigarettes outside (Pearson does NOT have any smoking rooms, damn them! How uncivilized!)
Who do I call? Asia Miles, which booked the flight, or Cathay. Last time I called Asia Miles (which is like Cathay’s Aeroplan), I gave up after 20 minutes of waiting on my mobile phone. I had resorted to a landline for the original booking. Took 55 minutes for someone in Hong Kong to answer the line. Couldn’t book online, as tried, because the Asia Miles/Cathay booking completion always failed at the last step.
Okay, to prepare, I added more top-up minutes. Just in case. But inside I found a convenient land line, called Asia Miles and waited, and waited, and waited. Half an hour and it became 9 a.m. Soon, AC will call for boarding. Yikes!
I had called Cathay earlier but they only open up their lines at 9 a.m. Eastern time. Since Asia Miles wasn’t answering, I called Cathay. They explained they couldn’t touch the booking because it was through Asia Miles.
Side rant: what is so hard to do when an Asia Miles booking is solely for Cathay and its subsidiaries? Same same Aeroplan for Air Canada. Why make any customer call a third party for a flight issue when it’s the airline’s planes carrying you. Argh!!!
It was only when I explained to the Cathay agent my dilemma that she volunteered to send an email to Asia Miles in HK to call me. OK, I know I’m not going to get a call, if ever, because Asia Miles is understaffed, in my estimation. So I headed for boarding, knowing I’m going to have to rush in HK to the airlines’ transfer desk and beg to get on a Cathay flight. And hope they let me use points. Ha! The alternative was paying an exhorbitant fare. Yes, I was prepared to get on my knees.
So, into the AC boarding lineup and my mobile phone rings, 20 minutes later and two steps from entering the jet cabin. My heart leaped and I looked at 852 country code. Yes!!!! HK. The Asia Miles agent had already booked me into the 2:25 Cathay flight. Whoa! I must have sounded to others in the lineup like I won a lottery.
So my compliments to Asia Miles/Cathay for believing my story, calling me long-distance and having it all ready to go -- and this didn't cost me a cent in rebooking fees, unlike AC and Aeroplan (read below). It’s probably happened to many others, forgetting about the change of day across the International Dateline.
I can relax on the 15.5-hour torturous flight. That is until it was clear we were going to be late when the takeoff time came and went. It was almost 20 minutes past before the tug pushed the Boeing 777-300ER out to the taxiway. And half an hour after takeoff, the captain announces we are going to arrive in HK at 1:40 p.m., half an hour late!
What bothered me was that no reason was given before we were going to be late unhitching from the gate. They would have known. I did overhear an attendant saying two people were coming in late. Hmmm. Suspicious. No one gets on a plane that late unless they’re VIPs. Anyway, no one showed up and when the captain said we’re going to arrive at 1:40, nothing was said and no one apologized. Hello, Air Canada! Wake up! That lateness also screwed several other passengers, as I was later to find out at the Cathay HK transfer desk, including a husband, wife, toddler and their grandma.
As soon as the seatbelt sign went off, I got up and told a flight attendant that now I’m going to miss my connection in HK. Her response was a soothing, “we’ll probably be close” to the original arrival time Stupidly, I believed her and should have pursued this nearer the end of the flight. We arrived about 1:25 but by the time one gets out of the cabin and walks the half km to W1 transfer point, it would be way too late.
The Cathay agent was shocked Air Canada didn’t take care of my needs by calling ahead to try and find me another seat. It was their duty to do that. While I have nothing but praise for in-cabin service on the AC flight, nothing was done on the more important matter of making sure your customers can get to where they’re going.
So another flight missed.
The Cathay agent at the transfer desk must have dialed her phone 12 to 15 times, speaking with unknown persons at Cathay, the gate and the Air Canada agent on the ground. Air Canada uses generic agents at HK, not their own personnel. She consulted her colleagues several times. I was impressed how helpful Cathay was. But the agent was none too happy with AC.
I was put on standby for the 3:50 flight and told to come back to the desk at 2:55 p.m. When I did, it was then I met the Canadian couple going to the Philippines and missed their flight, too.
So at 3:10, Cathay found an empty seat on a 99% per cent booked flight. I had to rush to gate 27 and be there by 3:25 p.m. or I’d miss the connection. Fortunately, it wasn’t too far from the transfer desk.
Cathay had taken my AC luggage tags and redirected my two pieces to the correct flight. I and luggage miraculously made it to Bangkok at the originally appointed time, well a day later!
Flight service quality:
One thing I noticed was how much nicer the Cathay aircraft interior was on their Boeing 747 400 (to BKK) than Air Canada’s 777 300ER (to HKG). The CX seat is made of a fixed shell and the passenger seating portion slides up and down within the shell, therefore not bothering the passenger behind with the yo-yoing TV screen and food table. It’s been three years since I flew with CX.
The TV screens worked, too. On the AirCan flight, staff had to reboot the information system several times to get most of the screens working. Cathay’s was fully operational right from the beginning. It was quick and responsive, unlike AC’s. Also the route information system worked on Cathay’s plane, but it was “unavailable” for the entire AC flight. On Cathay, you got thorough information; I especially liked their at-the-gate update as to where you may need to go to connect with other flights.
Also, the Cathay food was of a higher standard, if one meal is anything to go by. The Air Canada meals were from the same menu since 2004. I swear it’s the same food because it looked identical.
And last, I had to rebook my original AC flight. I bought a one-year ticket for Bangkok, but got a notice from Asia Miles that I was going to lose 16,000 plus travel points this summer. So I called my (wonderful) agent at Tour East to shorten the flight to HKG, and I would use points to BKK. Air Canada wanted $200 to cancel and rebook! On top of that, it would take an astounding 6 to 8 weeks for AC to credit my credit card with the original airfare! Meaning, I would also pay the same taxes twice. Aeroplan imposes a $90 fee for flight date changes, no matter how long in advance. I know from experience, Cathay does not charge for return flight changes.
I think both airlines have some work to do: for Cathay it’s easing access to their Asia Miles service and Air Canada, upgrading their food services and cutting out this greedy fee scraping.
UPDATE: May Air Canada be blessed because it refunded my credit-card-paid airfare within 24 hours!
PHOTO NOTES: Top picture of Cathay B747 at HKG Airport; rest of the images show the back of the Cathay seat with its thorough and responsive information systems setup, plus the clothes hanger retractable button and cup holder.
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