A Great Way to Fly?

[NYK]

So ...... after 16 years as QPP and then TPP, I did the unthinkable this week ....... decided to fly CX on J. Why?

Because I no longer feel loved, the food and booze is getting from bad to worse.The crew - ground and air - appear disinterested and unhappy.

So what was CX like? - been 5 years since I was with them between SIN-HKG-SIN.

Food was better as was the booze. Entertainment was also better. J seats smaller than SQ. Service was attentive.

As they are not worse than SQ, I think I will switch over to CX so long as connections are doable. This means I can try and build miles on AsiaMiles and perhaps even reach Marco Polo level.

No point staying with SK, since SQ no longer interested in encouraging me to be a life member.

So ..... no longer a great way to fly .... just an expensive way to fly.

[SilverChris]

I see.

[lingua101]

So ...... after 16 years as QPP and then TPP, I did the unthinkable this week ....... decided to fly CX on J. Why?

Because I no longer feel loved, the food and booze is getting from bad to worse.The crew - ground and air - appear disinterested and unhappy.

So what was CX like? - been 5 years since I was with them between SIN-HKG-SIN.

Food was better as was the booze. Entertainment was also better. J seats smaller than SQ. Service was attentive.

As they are not worse than SQ, I think I will switch over to CX so long as connections are doable. This means I can try and build miles on AsiaMiles and perhaps even reach Marco Polo level.

No point staying with SK, since SQ no longer interested in encouraging me to be a life member.

So ..... no longer a great way to fly .... just an expensive way to fly.

Which flight you took?

I only flew SQ J class once on red-eyes flight between SIN-TPE on A333. I have flew CX J class on their old B777-300/200, A333 (on SIN-BKK-SIN and HKG-BKK) and their B744 upper deck on fish bone seat on SIN-HKG route.

I think SQ J class is still far superior from CX J. All their old regional B777-300/200 and A333 have no AVOD. There is AVOD in B744 but the seat configuration is very bad in my opinion. It is so cramp and you have to put the TV back everytime you need to get off from your seat.

Food wise I can't compare, as SQ flight only served breakfast. But I feel the CX food is just OK, now wow factors even on SIN-HKG flight.

Can it be more on your expectation, as you have been flying with SQ so many years? Personally I feel SQ service is quite "standard" across, so there is no longer surprise, as you will always get almost same level of ("good") service everytime you fly for the past 16 years.

In CX, even I do not fly on J so often, you will have variations of experiences, even sometimes they forgot to do certain things even in J class

Also I though for SIN-HKG-SIN CX and SQ fares are quite comparable?

[vsepr]

I think SQ First Class & Business Class is seriously overpriced.

In SQ Business Class, there is no amenity kit, not even on long haul. CX, TG all have. TG just need 4 hours and above in Business Class!! Now in Suites/First Class, they are giving out a cheap looking Kiehl's amenity kit.

SQ's strong points are the food and beverage and the IFE. A long list of drinks and elaborated meals. CX, TG, NH's meals are simpler, like their fruits, cheese etc..

For SQ lounges, basically, just nice decor. Full stop. Don't even have a printer!! There is a printer in EACH PC in CX's lounges in HKIA!! SQ's Private Room and First Class lounges don't have printers!! The buffet food in the lounges are like "chap cai ben" or mixed rice in local food court!! CX's lounges are so innovative, have noodle bar, coffee loft etc...and can keep you occupied for hours!! Same for other airlines' lounges like NH, BA, QF etc...Same for TG, which has a spa. Just that these airlines, their onboard catering and drinks is not as good as SQ's. EK has limousine transfers for their First & Business Class passengers. SQ's Suites passenger don't even have!

But SQ's Suites product is the best amongst all the airlines' A380. A lot of privacy and big. Only thing is SQ's A380 does not have a lounge.

Their onboard so called bar in Business Class is really lousy. Just Lay's potato's chips and famous amos chocolate chip cookies. For SQ, personally, I feel that if you fly Suites/First Class, their crew sincerely want to serve you. If you fly Business Class in large cabins and almost full, like A380, their crew is very fake. After the flight, you can see and hear them gossip about passengers ("SO SMELLY AH") etc... Even during the flight, you have this feeling of "troubling them" when asking for drinks and they will take notice of you and gossip amongst themselves.

Let's discuss.

[SilverChris]

Don't we have a thread dedicated to these sort of rants?

http://www.sqtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12075

[Doraemon]

Hard product wise, CX regional J seat (on B772, B773 & A333 regional config) is way way behind SQ J seat (retrofitted B772, B773ER, A380). IFE on CX regional fleet is still the pathetic old tape-based broadcast style while it is AVOD on SQ. On rare occasions where CX put the long-haul aircraft on SIN-HKG, then experience would be comparable.

Food has never been SQ's strength, but BTC does help to narrow the gap to a certain extend.

Price-wise should be pretty similar between SQ and CX, with SQ being more expensive ex-SIN and similarly CX is going to be more expensive ex-HKG. I'm sure HK-based flyers will be complaining CX being too expensive ex-HKG. It is the way airlines price their tickets.

FFP-wise, there has been a common mis-perception that Asiamiles being far more superior than Krisflyer. I do fully agree that elites on CX Marco Polo are treated far better than SQ Krisflyer (MPC Silver can access CX-operated lounges while KF Gold can only access the sub-par KF Gold Lounge instead of SilverKris in SIN), and more op-ups for MPC vs KF (or even PPS). But for the purpose of mileage, Asiamiles earn rate is pathetic. AM gives you 0 bonus miles as an elite, at least you do get 25% extra miles by being a KF Silver/Gold. With the recent change in KF redemption for the not-so-new "New Business Class" and "New First Class", the argument on KF members not able to redeem on premium classes is a mute point now. As for life membership, I don't think MPC offer life membership (maybe by invitation only).

SQ is going to be more expensive ex-SIN, just as CX is going to be more expensive ex-HKG. This is just the way how the airlines are pricing in their home market.

[MAN Flyer]

Let's discuss.

There is so much utter nonsense in your post it's difficult to know where to start.

[NYK]

Thank you all for your comments;

lingua101 - I took CX710 (747) out and CX739 (340) back - Both older Herring Bone Config

Doraemon - many thanks for your insight on FFP, much appreciated.

Guess I am just very frustrated on how I (and other QPP/TPP) have been treated. There has been a clear and distinct deterioration of service and attention to all customers/passengers at SQ over the years. And they sad part is management don't seem to care.

The incident that broke the camels back for me is on a trip to NRT on SQ12. I secured 12K on the internet. But when I checked in they put me on the "best seat in the house - 11A" !!!! No one at check-in could explain why or how it happened.

I can only surmise that at SQ to today - it's not "how loyal you are as a customer, but who you know". I believe I was evicted from 12K to sit in front of the toilet at 11A because some one higher up decided to give 12K to a friend.

The ground staff and crew were apologetic and attended to the situation as expected. But what can they do? The management is screwed up and don't care.

I am looking at alternatives because I fear SQ is going MH's way.

[vsepr]

It will be good if Book the Cook has a brochure like Malaysia Airlines' "Chef on Call". Not just words:

http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/cont..._201211_lo.pdf

[259850]

We have choices, and choices are good!

I really don't see the point of debating which airline - SQ or CX - is better. As a consumer, I am happy that both (and many other airlines) offer good services. The beauty is we have a choice. And unlike say a mobile phone contract, we are not locked in with one service provider for two years. For each trip we make, we are free to choose the best value for money airline (based on cost, schedule, services, etc). As I'm based in Singapore, I usually fly SQ as they offer the best schedules, but I've not hesitated to choose CX, GA, TG, VN and even AK, TR, etc when they offered better value for money for the trip I was purchasing. My corporate travel policy is to fly SQ so I don't have much of a choice there, though sometimes I do fly other airlines when they offer better schedules (e.g. UA/CO offfers a crazy, but more productive, daytrip to HKG from SIN).

As far as I can see, the only way an airline has some grip on its customers is via its loyalty and frequent flyer program. And even that, as far as I'm concerned, is not a tight grip. Miles are getting harder and harder to use, and there's no point in hoarding them as they get inflated away inevitably. What I do is I assign a dollar value to the miles and deduct it from the ticket price when comparing prices. Of course, each of our own dollar value would differ - we all know that the best value for miles is to redeem them on long distance premium classes - but I rarely fly long distance or premium classes when I travel for pleasure - so miles are not worth much to me but they could be worth more to others. But sometimes, there are better value flights on alternate airlines even after you assign a higher value to the miles you earn on your preferred airlines. Best to always do your math.

Similarly, is getting lounge access and priority boarding really worth building status by being loyal to one airline? I always board late (after almost everyone else has boarded) and almost never spend much time at the lounge (preferring to hang out downtown and arriving at the airport just in time).

In summary, I try not to complain about airlines not being loyal to me. Instead, I maximize my value by not being loyal to them. All airlines are cutting costs....I don't blame them...look at the rising competition and falling costs. So services do suffer. But we get to choose!

[lingua101]

Thank you all for your comments;

lingua101 - I took CX710 (747) out and CX739 (340) back - Both older Herring Bone Config

Doraemon - many thanks for your insight on FFP, much appreciated.

Guess I am just very frustrated on how I (and other QPP/TPP) have been treated. There has been a clear and distinct deterioration of service and attention to all customers/passengers at SQ over the years. And they sad part is management don't seem to care.

The incident that broke the camels back for me is on a trip to NRT on SQ12. I secured 12K on the internet. But when I checked in they put me on the "best seat in the house - 11A" !!!! No one at check-in could explain why or how it happened.

I can only surmise that at SQ to today - it's not "how loyal you are as a customer, but who you know". I believe I was evicted from 12K to sit in front of the toilet at 11A because some one higher up decided to give 12K to a friend.

The ground staff and crew were apologetic and attended to the situation as expected. But what can they do? The management is screwed up and don't care.

I am looking at alternatives because I fear SQ is going MH's way.

You are lucky that you are on their B744 and A340. When you fly CX, you are basically cannot tell which aircraft you get it until you fly. Both of the aircrafts have newer "cabin" with AVOD IFE. But don't you think the seat is rather cramp? I cannot stretch my arms when I read newspaper properly.

I won't pay $2,000+ on CX biz class for SIN-HKG-SIN on the "old" regional aircraft. I rather pay $700+ to take SQ Y class.

On your seat assignment got changed. You will face similar situation also with CX, may be even worst. CX likes to change the aircraft last minute.

I was scheduled on 77W with new business class seat on SIN-BKK route. I was assigned seat 11K which will be mini private cabin (2 rows) which was reserved for MPC elite. I got this assigned when I booked through the Call Agent in Spore (this was the time just after the migration).

On the day itself, I did not check my boarding pass upon checking as I was expecting to get my 11K on the new biz class and the agent did not say anything also. I was happily waiting on the waiting room and just before the flight I just realized that my seat was changed to 12K! And I have a strange feeling that told me that this must be an "old" regional aircraft, as there is no row 11 on this aircraft.

And it was true!! 12K is the first row in C cabin on the old regional aircraft. 3 things that made me sad:
1. They swapped the aircraft last minute. When I did OLCI it was still the 77W
2. The agent did not told me that there is equipment swap so that he has to reassigned me a new seat as 11K is non-existance
3. 12H(??) was occupied and there are plenty seats in the cabin unoccupied. Why on earth I have to seat with someone if I can seat by myself? Of course at the end I decided to move to other seat.

Moral of the story, you will probably face the similar issue with CX for SIN-HKG-SIN. CX likes to change aircraft last minute, and in my opinion, I do not think worth to pay extra $1000+ flying biz class to HKG, not knowing what product you will get.

You can see in my other post, I found on some of my flights that some of the items are broken. I posted the broken remote control when I flew economy. I did experience some broken remote also in C class and this remote is on the arm rest, but I did not bother to take the picture of it.

Well if want alternative and happy with CX, do fly them. They are very good to recognize their "loyal" customer and you can be on their top list even if you just flying Economy (it will never happen in SQ!)

[SQflyergirl]

Í don't get this SQ vs CX fanboyism going on here. I fly them both regularly, and very happily. On any given day, they're arguably the two best airlines in the world. I'm glad they're BOTH around giving each other a run for their money.

If SQ wasn't SQ - CX would have a gala time alone at the top of the heap. The same applies in reverse. What we need is more airlines rising to these standards. When that happens the winners are us.

[NYK]

Í don't get this SQ vs CX fanboyism going on here. I fly them both regularly, and very happily. On any given day, they're arguably the two best airlines in the world. I'm glad they're BOTH around giving each other a run for their money.

If SQ wasn't SQ - CX would have a gala time alone at the top of the heap. The same applies in reverse. What we need is more airlines rising to these standards. When that happens the winners are us.

It's not really Fanboyism ...... I have been a faithful customer for SQ for the past 16 years. Seldom venturing to other airlines unless scheduling is an issue. I dare say SQ has been good to me too (and I guess to all of us). It just that in the past 2 years there has been a marked deterioration. And it's sad.

Perhaps you are right. I have just been naive all these years.

[lingua101]

Í don't get this SQ vs CX fanboyism going on here. I fly them both regularly, and very happily. On any given day, they're arguably the two best airlines in the world. I'm glad they're BOTH around giving each other a run for their money.

If SQ wasn't SQ - CX would have a gala time alone at the top of the heap. The same applies in reverse. What we need is more airlines rising to these standards. When that happens the winners are us.

I am not really SQ Fans, but I think it is the fact that on CX regional routes, the fleet is really quite outdated and if we specifically talking about SIN-HKG route SQ has much better equipment compare to CX which is very unpredictable.

[Handiman]

Í don't get this SQ vs CX fanboyism going on here. I fly them both regularly, and very happily. On any given day, they're arguably the two best airlines in the world. I'm glad they're BOTH around giving each other a run for their money.

If SQ wasn't SQ - CX would have a gala time alone at the top of the heap. The same applies in reverse. What we need is more airlines rising to these standards. When that happens the winners are us.

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