Very misleading advertising and Many disappointed and furious Cathay passengers

Dear Cathay

I travelled with your airline Sydney to Hong Kong

Business class Friday evening 15 Feb 2008 on CX 138 I was in seat 12H.

I had booked on Cathay as I needed an evening flight and I needed to get

a good sleep on the flight to do business the next day after a further

flight to Beijing. I had paid full business class fare only to find an

OLD plane which did NOT live up to the "Flat out to Hong Kong "

advertising slogan. The seats were awful , the trip consequently a

very unpleasant experience , and business the next day went poory

because of lack of sleep.

ALL the business class passengers on that flight complained to the

senior stewardess that they all had paid top dollar for the pleasure of

a flat bed to Hong Kong. We were told we had the option of not flying

on that flight and we could opt for another airline. The stewardess

said only once per week or LESS did a more modern plane fly the Syd

Hong Kong route and passengers like us in business class were often

complaining about it.

I completed my flight and my business and returned Hong Kong to

Sydney on Tuesday evening 19 Feb 08 on CX 161 , sitting in seat 12 C ,

business class , only to find again an old plane , nowhere near a flat

bed and again a very miserable bunch of travellers in business class.

Again we were told we could complain !!! or choose not to go on the

flight !!

I have decided not to travel Cathay again. I was a friend of the

late Sir Edward Scott , a senior executive with Cathay based in Sydney a

few years ago and I know he would have been disgusted be the performance

of Cathay in this instance ; a once great airline that now advertises

one thing , takes passengers' money , and then provides a poor quality

substitute service and then says " So Complain " !

I talk frequently to my patients about airline travel , as my

interest is venous thrombosis , including travel-related thrombosis ,

and believe me the poor standard of Cathay now frequently comes up in

conversation.

I hope things improve in your airline and that truth may reappear

in your advertising. If not you will have a large number of

disappointed and angry former clients.

Yours faithfully Dr G Mark Malouf

Surgeon

236 Edgecliff Rd Woollahra. 2025

Sydney

Australia