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Cathay Pacific Airlines

Terry of santa rosa, CA September 27, 2009

Booked a trip from San Francisco to Bali on Cathay connecting via Hong Kong. Was not allowed entry into Bali because my valid passport expires in 6 months. Was taken into custody and held under guard for 26 hours in a small restricted area of the departure level of the airport. My passport was taken away from me. No food or water was provided to me, had to buy what was available at one store/ restraunt when open. Payphone out of order, bathroom unserviced with no toilet paper/paper towel/or soap.

Was told by Cathay that I would be taken back to Hong Kong. I was escorted by guard to my seat on the plane. Before landing in a cyclone, was taken without explaination to a seat in the front of the plane. I was taken by Cathay staff after landing off the plane, not allowing me to speak with my travel companion. I was taken to immigration in Hong Kong where I was questioned and released, finally receiving my passport back. We stayed in Hong Kong over night, then tried to plan our return home. When we called Cathay the next day we learned that someone from Cathay had already changed our return to SFO to that day, and that we had missed it. No one told us of the change, and they refused to credit my account or offer to credit another ticket.

Steve of Toronto, Canada September 22, 2009

In May 3oth, I booked a returned air ticket from YES travel in Toronto to go back to Singapore to visit my aged parents and my scheduled returned date was September 16th 2009. In late July, I needed to returned to Toronto to attend to some matters urgently. I checked with my travel agency-YES Travel in Toronto how to reschedule my returned date so that I could come back earlier. The staff checked and told me that there are some seats available but I needed to top up another two hiundreds and seventy dollars for that. Due to the time zone difference, I could only call Cathay Pacific in Singapore the next day morning. Next morning. I called Cathay Pacific and they told me that there was no seats available and I was advised to buy a new ticket from another airlines.

I told them to put me on the urgent waiting list and I am prepared to top up some monies if there was a need. Cathay Pacific staffs asked me to call everyday morning to check whether there was any seats available. I called for a couple of days and the staff kept telling me there was nothing for me. I doubted what they had told me and I checked up with a friend who works in the travel agency in Singapore. After checking, my friend told me that on certain days, there were some seats available and she told me to call Cathay Pacific directly. I did that and once again, they told me that there was nothing for me. My friend was shocked after hearing that and she even gave me the flight numbers and details. Once again, I quickly called Cathay Pacific and they replied that the seats were just taken up. I got so upset and mad after hearing that, so I made a trip to Cathay Pacific head office in Singapore immediately. I demanded to see their manager but the staff offered to help me. She checked the system and told me the result was still negative; but I questioned her why everytime I checked with other travel agencies, it seems to have seats available and Cathay Pacific system showed negative. After a while, the staff told me that YES travel in Toronto had reserved a seat for me but I need to confirm it with Cathay Pacific.

I found it ridiculous and I was made to pay one thousand dollars to secure the seat. I paid the monies and returned to Canada. I went to Cathay Pacific website to file a complaint. After one month, I received a reply from the Public relation manager. His name is Monisha (Customer Relations) and he insincerely apologised and defended that their staffs in Cathay Pacific were simply doing their jobs. I told him that just because they overlooked, I had to pay another one thousand dollar (Singapore dollars) for their mistakes. I thinked Cathay Pacific airlines simply does not show any sincerity.

Maria of Baguio City, OTHER June 2, 2008

I travelled from Philippines to Honkong Via Cathay Pacific then Hongkong to London, Heathrow via British Airways then London to Madrid via British Airways then finally from Madrid to Las Palmas via Iberia. Upon claiming my luggage on our final destination ,my luggage cannot be found. I have no idea where my baggage got lost. Up to this date I have no information about my luggage whereabouts.Until now, no financial assistance was extended from which ever airlines is responsibled.

Kasturi of Sunnyvale, CA February 12, 2008

Kasturi of Sunnyvale CA (02/12/08)
I came in on Cathay Pacific flight CX 750 BOM-HKG. The 5.20 flight at Mumbai was delayed to 6.45 due to the late arrival of incoming cathay flight from Dubai. We were informed of this only after passing through security. I had a connection to San Francisco on CX 872 at 1630 hrs which I missed as our flight reached at 1704. The ordeal started from then onwards. We were offered no options. I had been put on the 2340 flight to LA CX 880, a halt of 21/2 hours and immigration check at LA and then a United airways flight out to SFO at 2230. At HKG airport,we were asked to wait for 6 hours.

Only after the passengers demanded for phone cards/hotel stay/lounge facility/dinner, were they provided with them. No Supervisor came forward with any information initially. The ground staff that was there either pretended to not speak English or the ones who did speak were plain rude. Inefficiency could be seen from the moment I boarded the flight. None of the attendent caller buttons seemed to be working. The light would come on but there was no sound to it, finally most of us after waiting for 20-25 mins found ourselves getting out of our seats and proceeding to help ourselves.

For some reason, the crew seemed to concentrate in the kitchen alley. I have been unwell and had requested that the seat next to mine be kept empty. The staff at BOM airport had done the needful but after the rerouting, the staff at HKG refused to do it for me. When I went onboard, I saw a lot of seats empty..Inspite of requesting them for an upgrade or a transfer to another carrier, or a seat on the next day's flight, they did not attend to my request. Thanks to Cathay, I had to travel for an extra 12 hours (waiting time included)with a fever and cold.

In addition to this, the food, the seats were also horrible. But it doesnt end here. After arriving in LA, we were asked to collect our luggage and recheck it in with United airways after clearing immigration. I waited for eternity at the baggage claim area only to find one of my 2 bags missing. The CX staff at the baggage claim area refused to take down a report saying I still had another flight out of LA and that Cathay had their Headquarters at SFO and were better equipped to take a lost baggage report there. (None of the staffs' name tags were visible).

After I travelled to SFO, I was informed that since United was the last carrier to bring me in to SFO, I would have to file a report for delayed baggage with them. I did that on the midnight of Feb 7th and 8th and have been calling them in twice a day everyday. Their site doesnt seem to be updated and their call centre in India keeps on giving me stories. At one point, they gave me another tag no on the bag and said it was due to arrive on the american airlines flight AA1954 from LA to SFO at 1535 on feb 9th.

After calling them on Feb 11th, they put me on hold for 30 mins, contacted the AA staff at LA and SFO airports and said the bag wasnt with them. Today is FEb 12th and I have now be told to fill a baggage tracing/claim form and post it to their Head quarters in Chicago. I do feel that Cathay should be blamed for all this. The last I saw my bag was in Mumbai, India when I checked it in and saw it go on the conveyor belt..

I had high expectations from an airline of such magnitude which is apparantly also considering expanding its fleet of flights. I am sorely disappointed and very very upset . I will never travel on this airline again and am definitely contemplating action against the airline for all the economic, physical and mental trauma I have had to go through.

Craig of Northridge, CA September 10, 2006

After requesting and receiving a window seat, immediatly after the plane took off I was I asked to close the blinds. I don't think this is fair since I paid for a window seat so I could look out the window.

Rebecca of Redondo Beach, CA May 4, 2004

April web site deal of the month was advertising in LA Times promoting 599 roundtrip LAX/Bali on Cathay Pacific. Valid to book through 30 April, according to fine print in ad. Went online to book on evening of 30 April and offer was no longer there. Cathay offices close at 5:30 p.m. so no support/assistance available. Reached someone at Cathay reservations the following morning, and was informed that the offer expired at 11:59 p.m. EASTERN TIME on 30 April.

The ad ran in Los Angeles and it did not specify Eastern Time as deadline. This is very misleading, as most individuals will assume the time zone applicable is the one in which the publication is located, unless otherwise stated. I will now have to purchase a fare that is nearly twice the advertised special.

Instead of two adults paying 599 each, we will need to pay about 1,200 each for air transportation.

Annica of Englewood, CO June 11, 2000

In October 1998, I purchased a ticket with Cathay Pacific in India (where I was staying for social services in rural areas) for travels between Bangalore-LA. My travel agent had scheduled an 'estimated' return date for December 3, as the date could not be left open, and informed me this could be changed without additional fees. Since I was in process of passport renewal in the U.S., it became clear to me that I would not make it back to India by December 3rd, but needed an additional week in the U.S.

I called the airline to reschedule. Cathay Pacific was using one 800-number for the whole U.S. region, with all airline inquires and services, with consequence that it was even more horrendous than in India to get through on the phone. In most cases I was put on hold by auto-response and often waited more than 30-40 minutes until I have up.

When I finally reached an airline rep a few days later and requested to schedule a new departure date, she confirmed that seats were available on flights plus connectin flights at dates I had requested, but would suddenly refuse to book me for the open flight, as, according to her, my ticket was not endorsed for travels to Bangalore. I told her, the ticket was indeed endorsed and valid for travels to Bangalore, but the operator would not accept my statement. I then offered to fax a copy of my ticket which she was not interested in.

Consequently, it took me until January 8 to get a booking from Cathay Pacific, with return date to India the earliest on January 18, with a one-week stay-over in Singapore. This was nearly 1 1/2 months later, after the airline admitted to have committed a mistake and arranged a booking for me. These delays, however, cost me an estimated 3500 in additional expenses, not to mention the huge amounts of expenses I faced in India several months later in property paymnets and penalties I had to pay, for being delayed in my return to pay dues.

Cathay Pacific airlines never offered to put me on another airline to speed my return, nor to pay for accommodation for the overstay, neither in the U.S. nor Singapore. When I contacted Cathay to make a claim, they waited for weeks at times to even respond. First, they would deny any faults of theirs for refusing to book my valid ticket, but some one year later they admitted that the fault was theirs due to their inability to read an endorsement issued in India. However, the airline felt that this did not make them liable to reimburse me for any of my expenses and offered me a travel voucher valued 500 as compensation, which I rejected.

I felt this airline intentionally kept slow contact with me, because I was situated in a poor country with little access to faxes and email from the rural district I was placed. I also feel that the airline very much intentionally extended their investigation to almost one year for the same reasons, knowing that it would be hard for me to do anything from here.

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