Update: as commenter Christopher Tin noted, this labor issue has been resolved. I should have checked current status before I posted. I fell behind news while in China where the WSJ and many other news outlets are blocked, and even VPNs are now being blocked, so I skimmed through everything in a batch yesterday and did not take the care appropriate.
“The Flight Attendants Union says members will consider refusing to serve food or alcohol or even smiling at customers during the upcoming weeks of peak holiday travel time.”
So reports the WSJ in Cathay Attendants Threaten to Withhold Smiles, on Cathay Pacific’s labor dispute.
No more smiles, photo by thetravelguru
Those flight attendants may need a crash-course in bad service, and Rapid Travel Chai readers can lend a helping hand, especially those familiar with US airlines.
So, readers, give your suggestions, based on experience, of how Cathay Pacific’s flight attendants can let passengers know they could be on one of those other airlines.
I might just have a surprise, seductive prize award for my favorite, comment by end of 2012!
(My favorite moments from years of commuting between China and the US were always when Asian passengers unfamiliar with US airlines would push the call button and expect someone to come and provide service. Hahahahahahaha! Some would push and push and no one would come. When someone does come, there are great grunts from the flight attendants such as “Is there an emergency?” then walking away the the ‘no’ answer, “I’ll get it later” and never getting ‘it,’ “Someone else will bring it,” of course not, “It is not time for water service,” and of course, the lengthy death stare of rage.)
Time to frown! photo by Steven W. Belcher
Cathay has already resolved the disputes. So there will not be any disruptions now during the holidays.
@Christopher Tin – good news! I should have finished catching up with two weeks of news from my China blackout before I posted…
Did not see t h e original, here, but familiar with the story. Threaten as they like, those wonderful kids at Cathay are so incapable of offering bad service that this becomes hilarious. No matter whose flag is on the tail, the cabin service (in any class) will be superior to those with the Stars and Stripes on the tail. In the immortal words of Lilly Tomlin (referring to Bell Telephone, not an airline), “We don’t care; we don’t have to.” While the industry has changed, the attitude of many Amerikan service workers has not. Ms. Tomlin got it right, more than forty years ago.
If I were the head of their union. I’d just send them to the U.S. to fly some of our airlines. They’d learn bad service in a flight or two. I’d have them fly each of the U.S. carriers legacy and low cost. The one thing they’d need to learn is how to use credit card machine! I’m used to airlines that provide NO service unless you pay for it.