I meant to post about this right after the flight, but I ended up having to wait due to schoolwork I had to finish. Over the next ten years there’s always going to be delays as Alvin and I finish off school, but hopefully we have our work sorted out better after that.
While Alvin flew Korean Air to and back from Seoul back in early April, I flew Cathay Pacific, playing it kind of safe (as we did still have miles to burn).
Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 Business Class Seats
The tone was set when the flight began boarding. I had to board first before my parents, who were caught up in some shopping tax free thing. As I walked down the jetbridge by myself, I saw the ISM who just looked indifferent. The tone persisted as I told her that my parents were still at the duty free, where she gave me a “f*ck off” gaze and said “they’ll come soon”, before walking away.
Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 Entrance
Let me just point out that I was the only person wearing jeans and a t-shirt with every single other person in the cabin being the stereotypical tech toting traveller wearing a suit. I guess I dampened their spirits by not being stylish? Guess I’ll grab a thousand dollar suit at the airport before my next flight…
Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 Business Class Cabin
Welcome drinks were offered by the flight attendant, who I initially tried to poke to find out if she was a robot. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but she wasn’t really friendly, didn’t even smile once during the flight and seemed really pissed when I prompted her to speak Cantonese… What!?
Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 Business Class Drink
Service throughout the flight with the Senior Purser coming through the cabin to give menus and interact with passengers… Or so it seemed. I swear to God she was taking forever with the other aisle, and it got so bad that I timed her after she spent ages chatting with a passenger. As it turns out, our aisle was predominately Asian business travellers. I continued with my timing and found that she finished the menu distribution three minutes faster than with the other aisle. My mother commented that she had been given a warmer welcome in economy as a gold member…
The ISM then came down the other aisle… Basically stopping by every single person wearing a suit, and just engaging in friendly conversation. When I tried to ask her for a glass of water, she just huffed, and said “I’ll get you a water” and walked away. So much for “service from the heart”.
So I guess you could naturally guess why I was puzzled to find that service aboard a regional A330 flight in economy was better…
Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 Regional Economy Class
