NOT SQUEAKY CLEAN

I am a long-time Cathay Pacific customer, flying long-haul in premium cabins at least twice per year. On a recent trip to San Francisco from Hong Kong, I was less than impressed by the ground service before departing. I am a Oneworld Emerald member and was booked into first class from a miles redemption. I used the first class Pier lounge but an hour after showering, I realised I had left my Cole Haan washbag with all of my toiletries in the shower room. When I went back to recover it, I was told, regrettably, that it had been disposed of.

Knowing that I had a conference the next morning in San Francisco and that we would be landing at about 2300 the night before, I was not terribly happy at the prospect of re-buying all of my toiletries. The ground staff tried to help but the best they could say was that, since I was in first, I would receive amenities on the plane.

A complaint filed through Cathay’s website has had no reply. While I would like to underscore that usually Cathay exceeds my expectations in service, this was well below par as I would expect the airline to hold on to any unnamed belongings at least until the end of the day before deciding to dispose of them.

Gregor Wilson, Hong Kong