Behind the Scenes: Troubled Cathay Pacific Flight - What Happened?

I follow the Cathay Pacific pilots and cabin crew for flight briefing before boarding the Boeing 777-300/ER to Paris. However, we encountered trouble before takeoff…What happened?
I boarded the flight early to film how Cathay's crew prepared for departure. While the pilots were checking, they discovered a mechanical fault on the B777. Engineers were called in for troubleshooting while all the passengers waited. Later, it was determined that the best solution was to change to another aircraft.
Luckily, Cathay found another 4 class B777-300/ER so all the catering, baggage, and cargo were moved to the new plane. All passengers and crew had to deplane and our departure was delayed by 2 hours. The efficiency of the airline operations was noted during the recovery process and we managed to depart without further issues or delays.
After takeoff, cabin crew started their busy duty on the 13-hour-long flight. They explained their workloads on the overnight intercontinental flight to me. Go behind the scenes to discover the inflight operation.

[@SamChui]

I'm from HK originally and quite proud to see Cathay's operation as it shows integrity, discipline and efficiency. With some hard work and luck, In less than 2 hours. We’re off to Paris on another plane. Not every airline can do!

[@vnse725]

Indeed! As a Hong Konger, very proud to see Cathay bounces back so quickly after it was hit particularly hard by the pandemic!

[@louislee3286]

though there were ups and (more)downs, cathay is still my favourite as i am from and i am here (hong kong ) thx Sam for your video

[@vnse725]

@@CryptocurrencyInsider you are such a genius! The whole hydraulic leak must be staged right?

[@clchat]

@@dannylove7507 but it was the HK people who asked to close the border in the beginning.

[@dannylove7507]

@@clchat you are right. But the gov didn’t close the border in the beginning… when people were asking to open up and again the gov didn’t listen. It never listens to the voices of the people

[@patrickyu0329]

As a CX crew, thank you Sam to mention and let everyone know we are still short of manpower, no matter which aircraft

[@A2KLAU]

It just highlights even more how hard you guys work to look after your passengers 🙏 even in the face of adversity everyone just did what they needed to do. Majority of passengers don’t appreciate what you do but I certainly do and hope this message reaches you safely and feel my sincerity in saying a heart felt thank you for taking care of us 🙏

[@felixshaibu8449]

How can i apply for Cathy airway

[@wil_wilqueen3552]

I believe everything towards to good signs

[@willieho3056]

@@patrickyu0329 Sam Chou is doing propaganda, he flying free

[@I_am_BlinkStar]

I applied to Cathay Pacific more than 5 times and my applications were always thrown out

[@ryanlau8415]

It is definite the best "behind the scene" for Cathay, and even the best one along all airlines around the world I have ever watched.

[@jasonbernard1277]

That’s never ideal, but super impressed with their crew’s professionalism and efficiency. Just got on with it and got the job done 👏

[@christopheryim6618]

Cathay crew are always so efficient… sometimes a bit hurried I would say 😅

[@Hawktotalwar]

Big appreciation for those cabin crew and ground crew to handle the unexpected situations in switching planes. The way they tackled the problem was really efficient, thanks sam for sharing.

[@Brian_L_5168]

Cathay CEO should see this video about short-staffing issue that Sam & other passengers bring up. Employees are the most valuable asset to make Cathay shine in this competitive business !

[@clchat]

The CEO did mentioned in annual result release (or interim result release) that some flights will have additional crew member from this year.

[@vnse725]

They are hiring rigorously this year......including new places that didn't have Cathay crew before e.g. Vietnam

[@dcf4psu]

Employee shortages are everywhere post pandemic.

[@ht2001jeff]

I believe Hong Kong had been changed, the spirit never die ~

[@yo2trader539]

Management obviously knows because they're the folks who made the decision to reduce staff count. The impact of HK's lockdown was so enormous, Cathay had to be bailed out by public funds. They had no choice but to cut costs in every possible way just to survive, which is why Cathay eliminated 8,500 jobs or around 24% of its workforce in 2020, and number of pilots were reduced to half of 2019 levels. Many of them are now working in other airlines or sectors, and it will take years to recruit, train, and rebuild competent staff.

[@enjoypladecorrals]

a blessing in disguise for Cathay: you notice a quality airline in times like this. Bad airline means huge delays or cancelled flight. I had to go home once to come back the next day cause my Delta plane broke down in Ams. Other times it took me 5 hours to change planes. You're always lucky if your plane has an issue at the home airport. Thank you Sam for showing care for the Cathay staff, they suffered during pandemic like nobody else because of the quarantine requirements of HK.

[@cassandratq9301]

Quarantine was smart move to keep crew healthy.

[@robertmarton8858]

Big round of applause to flight crew and ground staff for saving this flight. Midnight early hours a tough time to manage what they did in these circumstances. I hope the CX management recognize this group and also understand the importance on these folks. Respect. Thanks Sam for the video which shows CX crew is such a good light. 13 in a 4 class 777 a bit of a joke.

[@jmikhael5200]

I get to know now about all these behind the scenes tedious preparations . Everyone knows his job . Crew members work in harmony . Extraordinary job .

[@SamChui]

Thank you for appreciating the work these crew do. (don't forget ground staff, engineers and operation personnel too!)

[@ReeM-wz7bs]

@@SamChui ...as a former airline worker...the reservations team and ticket desks as well...the ticket desk are usually the last to know about any tech or delays with the aircraft, they rely on the airline Ops team. Its the grief and verbal abuse you got from some passengers. Please be nice to them, theyre doing their best

[@jmikhael5200]

@ReeM-wz7bs Exactly , The front desk officers are the front line ones who face different kind of passengers with their different kind of attitudes , and for this they ought to be not only well trained ( I guess they have behavioural science course training ) but also need to be having enough experience to be able to manage the difficult situations .

[@hubertl75]

I have watched many, many airline vlogs and this is one of the best. It was quite refreshing to see a new approach showcasing the internal operations of a long-haul flight and on top of that, you documented the change of aircraft very well. Thanks Sam!!!! More of this!!!!

[@royskidubai]

Impressive performance of CX crew in addressing the technical issue with the aircraft! Nice to see cabin crew with diverse nationalities (headed by a Filipino ISM - great job) who handled the passengers with great service! Awesome job Sam in documenting this flight! Kudos!

[@melpol1338]

Both ISM （ Inflight service manager) and SP (Senior Purser) featured were Filipinas! That’s the last thing we’d like to happen..change of aircraft, but for safety’s sake, it has to be done..2x the effort . Thanks for showing how the crew work so hard . I am leaving CX after 34 yrs and 5 mos of dedicated work as an FA, we only wanted a safe and happy flight all the time 😊. Hope more pax will appreciate the crew from all airlines.

[@teazerfemi]

❤❤❤❤❤thanks so much sweet angel, I wish nothing but the best for you during your lovely time off, I love you from Nigeria 🇳🇬 I only spent 7 years flying and I am sadly off

[@russellatwell784]

And that’s why Cathay is one of the best even with the delay and low crew numbers they still strive to provide the best experience they can, just hope management helps out and increase the crew numbers to take the pressure and stress of the current crews so as to enable the total joyful Cathay experience throughout every journey. Well done guys & girls it’s always a pleasure to fly Cathay Pacific.

[@djbuckeye1417]

I have flown Cathay Pacific once and was very impressed with the flight. While it's unfortunate that the passengers on this flight had to switch planes, but it was good to see how Cathay Pacific handled this situation! Sam, I'm sure Cathay Pacific didn't want your subscribers to see their hydraulic issue, but I think it was actually a blessing because you showed how well their crew transitioned from one plane to another and in such a really short turnaround time. Of course, seeing the "dahn taht" and the "jook" served on this flight must have been a nice treat for the passengers! Keep up the great work, Sam!

[@wowpeter]

I think a lot of the times what set Cathay apart to a lot of other airlines is when service disruption happens, CX generally are very good at service recovery and tends to have very robust procedures to handle these kind of events, and also the ground staff and the crew always show the can-do spirit in situation like this and they just get on with it and get the job done! Whereas, this type of event at other airline is usually when their service tends to fall apart. So well done to CX on the quick recovery.

[@604xrp8]

I had this happen to me before covid from HKG to YVR. Everyone was boarded, drinks passed out in biz class, then the announcement there was an issue and everyone had to leave the plane. we got a new plane and were only delayed only about 1.5 hours, and only had a slight delay arriving to Vancouver. Props to all Cathay staff. Former diamond member here, miss flying Cathay...

[@cleefho8156]

Blessing in disguise that a switch of aircraft is required for this flight. End up we get to see the team work of everyone from ground to cabin to cockpit pulling it off smoothly in this video

[@davidcole333]

Absolutely first-rate work by Cathay. What an incredible opportunity to see everything that is required for an aircraft change. That crew must have been exhausted.

[@lcfflc3887]

Except for some of the cabin crew still wear mask, that's not OK, passengers expect a smile from the people serving your food, management should look in to this.

[@kovy689]

@@lcfflc3887Agreed

[@wowpeter]

@@lcfflc3887 There are still plenty of people in Hong Kong who still Wear mask on a daily Basis. If the crew feel more comfortable wearing mask in a crowded environment for person hygiene and safety, then why will any management force them to take it off. It is a personal decision on their own health and safety well being. Weird things for you to advocate here.

[@jcnbw01]

as a filmmaker/creator this must've been like striking gold - you get to document the inner workings during a non-standard event! so much insight and perspective captured here; good job 👍

[@user-nm8st5eo4o]

I am also impressed: the company changed the aircraft only in 2 hours, the passengers had only two hours late for such problem. The cabin crew work very hard. Thank you for the video

[@phillipmaguire4671]

Very impressed with Cathay's professionalism, and the crew were lovely.

[@lcfflc3887]

The cabin crew members wearing mask, very disappointing, management should look in to this.

[@griselanemeloon7463]

Happy & Proud to see a Sri Lankan Pilot on Cathay Pacific Airlines. Love from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 ❤

[@SamChui]

I am also happy to see more diversity in the cockpit, cabin, at the airport, and in the airline office!

[@rawmango1321]

Love sri lanka from India , hope to visit your country soon ❤

[@IamnotShawn777]

Srilanka❤ love from China

[@islandcactus1508]

He’s a mate of mine, he’s the Tamil Tiger!

[@kefzz311]

Yes fuck the Aussies who once dominated the airline

[@georgeolwena5530]

The changeover was absolutely efficient. This is because there is always panic as soon as such an incident happens as I have witnessed with other airlines. But this crew did not panic at all. They took their duties diligently and worked hard without any panic. Thank you Sam and well done Cathay Pacific crew. Well done again.

[@deenpon7486]

Actually a two-hour delay for an entire turnover for the change of plane is pretty outstanding😊 Compared to the typically lousy airlines in the US. Turned out to be an more insightful video with this delay. Much appreciated.😊

[@lunzwi]

Flew Cathay Pacific to Busan, South Korea a few years back and I was very impressed. The plane was exceptionally clean. Awesome work team. ❤

[@Cleo-h3x]

Hi! Sam. Thank You for sharing this lovely video. CX crews on the ground and onboard did a remarkable job at such high speed to minimize passengers discomfort at this early hours of the morning. The Captain and flight attendants deserved a pat on their back. Kudos! .

[@ozmozis6073]

Impressive professionalism under the extra circumstances. A very upbeat crew. I'd fly with Cathay for sure.

[@sebinamuwanga]

Last minute airplane change can be an operational nightmare because so many moving parts have to be taken care of and this involves several departments. Network control center, Flight operations, Engineering, Catering, Air Traffic Control, Airport Operations, etc. It can be more difficult when the flight has special needs passengers like PRM and the sickly. Hats off to CX for pulling this off within 2 hours and nice to see everybody in good spirits at the end of this flight.

[@juanito1195]

The lady who greeted you with the ISM and David and who was covering First Class ! Her happiness and energy was wonderful and made me smile 😃

[@wowpeter]

Her happy attitude is infectious and it definitely helps keep the mood upbeat despite the delay and aircraft change. Crew like that is hard to find nowadays and they should be the most valuable asset to any company.

[@balisaani]

What a great and fortuitous overview of Cathay's flight operations - including the mechanical issue, which allowed CX to showcase their agility and resolve in dealing with it, and transferring everyone from one 777 to another. Out of crisis: opportunity. Well done Cathay, well done Sam in showcasing them, and stressing the importance of properly staffing cabin crew, or face burn out. Long live Cathay!

[@skaxman99]

Despite the challenges, the Cathy crew and operations were so resilient and professional in dealing with it. Well done Cathy.

[@max08957]

I’m from Taiwan, I like to take CX for my first priority flight to destinations. Even we have so many direct flights to somewhere from Taiwan, but I still like take CX. I saw this video and feeling this is very trustable airline. I like it so much, thank you Sam to let me more like it 👍

[@jennad6805]

I always enjoy my flight with Cathay Pacific. I think they are one of the best in terms of crew's professionalism, efficiency, and hospitality. The crew are always friendly and helpful. It's clear to me they're working hard, and I appreciate their services. I agree with you on regarding the manpower. I hope the company will take a good care of the crew and avoid burning them out. The crew are actually one of their strongest assets. Great video, Sam!

[@jtns2845]

cx gold member here. cx management really needs to step up its game to fully recover its 5 star status. crew and line staff are really hardworking.

[@HassaneiHeykal]

Videos like this make me appreciate even more the hard work the crews have to do. Looking at how stressful it can be for the crews to deal with all the hassle, I'll be more understanding if it ever happened to me.

[@chickcreations]

Thanks Sam for showing this to us. What an eye opener. The ISM and Purser were so warm and kind. They set the mood right. The whole crew were a delight despite the challenges. Cathay is definitely one of the best airlines in the world ❤

[@pogsp8849]

Man i can’t be more proud of those Filipina crew. They are nice and welcoming. I wish some of the PAL cabin crews are like that😅

[@josephdunkle1152]

Wow what a top notch crew, they handed the unfortunate mechanical problem professionally and efficiently and maintained high spirits!

[@remuel1]

Glad to See a Filipino ISM on Cathay Pacific, so glad other international airlines (Qatar Airways, Emirates, Saudia, Oman Air, Etihad) besides CX to have a very diverse nationalities of their crew and workers,

[@MyBelch]

Best qualified beats diversity every time.

[@mcc271]

This is a great video to show to passengers that no matter you're in Economy, PE, Business or First Class whatsoever, there are a lot of people, a professional crew behind the scene preparing everything for you. When anything happened like changing an aircraft reluctantly, passengers only need to walk out the plane and wait for another boarding, the crew has so much more to do. So, try not to be demanding and grateful for what all is well-prepared for passengers. Here, Salute to all the CX crew members, although it's still not as easy as people think recovering from the pandemic, you did a great job really!

[@marcwong9207]

Great to see how CX handled the situation. As a Gold member, totally appreciate the hard work from the crew and pilots. Keep up the great work!!!

[@highlandersixtysix]

There is absolutely no substitute for quality in personnel and organisation. Cathy have come under some criticism for their lack of crew numbers, but they were in considerable financial difficulty post-Covid; I'm sure that there's a program to return to the appropriate numbers, but this video just exemplifies what training, and having the right people selected, does for the business and passenger experience. Well done Cathy, one of the finest legacy carriers in the skies - this is a crew that you'd happily fly with any day.

[@bernardtan3639]

Hi! Sam. Thank You for sharing this lovely video. CX crews on the ground and onboard did a remarkable job at such high speed to minimize passengers discomfort at this early hours of the morning. The Captain and flight attendants deserved a pat on their back. Kudos! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@darcy6874]

Jeez, total admiration for the cabin crew, that must have been a tough night for them!! but they worked super hard and efficient whilst maintaining a great professional attitude despite the challenges. Good so see an airline putting safety first

[@rogertsang4169]

Thank you Sam, to bring us a chance to see this 十年一遇 的壞飛機！hard to believe such an efficency teams to recover all issues within 2 hours , may be Sam was there , haha

[@oey]

This is very rare and precious footage of natural and humanely professionalism! Mad respects to all the crews, staffs, technicians, and just everyone involved!

[@realvnl]

Wow ISM is from the Philippines. I think 24:37 is a Filipino. High Spirit Proud of you Mam : )

[@pgilb70]

Yeah, a gem!

[@msvcprez]

the Senior Purser is from the Phils too. Both very senior in the company and very efficient. Both my good friends

[@JCRocker102181]

🇵🇭

[@Chief_officer_Daller]

Oh i love that crew so much ... Crews like this always make the flight special even if there are changes in things like this flight. Love you Cathay Pacific . Have a good one all of you and thanks for this video Sam .. Always a pleasure to watch you.

[@tonyInPA]

Rock star crew. Outstanding example of a highly professional crew working through a problem as a team. This is a situation where failure of a single person could have prevented a successful outcome. Great to see Cathay persist despite economic and political challenges of the last 5 years.

[@hmgkt]

Good to see safety is given priority everyone still smiling under so much pressure.

[@Grace-qb2vb]

That is the quickest change I’ve seen!! Way to go Cathay! I’ve been in same situations before where is over 5-8 hours delay for international flights!

[@WendyKiwi]

Same thing happened to my husband’s flight HKG - AKL last year. All pax boarded then found hydraulic issues with the toilets. They have to switch plane like Sam did and departed 2 hrs behind schedule. My husband was amazed at the speed of the transition. Well done CX. Hope to fly again with you soon.

[@agustinroa1597]

This was an amazing video Sam! Proud to be a Filipino! The purser was indeed an expert.🇵🇭

[@vidorliang6507]

One of the best episodes of Sam Chui channel. Would like to see more stories, behind the scenes, of other airlines which is definetely much more interesting than just normal flight experience.

[@skanus4652]

Hi Sam, I am a former Ism and its refreshing to see all that you have filmed. Really true about the short of crew on board to give a better service to our passengers and the crazy rush that goes on behind the scenes on board ,before pax boarding.....I used to literally perspire doing as much as possible especially in F & J class. Safe flights ✈️ .

[@albertpagunsan96]

I noticed in my Cathay Pacific flights there were some senior flight attendants who seem to be Filipino. and this video confirms that there are FAs from the Philippines. I love this. Thank you Sam.

[@remuel1]

There is a lot of them, not only in CX, Qatar airways also has a lot of filipina pursers, so proud of them ❤❤

[@dumboelefunt4690]

As a Hong Konger and loyal Cathay customer all my life, I am so excited for the good news about Cathay lately! Can't wait for the new Business and the rumored First Class seats coming in the next few years. Thanks Sam for the Cathay coverage and I look forward to the day Cathay regains the #1 spot! Edit: Can't wait for the expansion in T2 HKIA as well, I hope you will make a video on the new T2 concourse when construction is finished and the new Cathay seats soon, the pictures look very promising!

[@ramisotraghchi4076]

Whatever I see from these clips, I can't get enough of them, they are informative and excellent, aviation is very beautiful world, dear Sam I am extremely grateful for the time you spent preparing these clips 👍🏻👍🏻❤

[@ItsBugsy]

Amazing from Cathay - so fortunate they had a spare plane. AOG can be a worst nightmare especially in peak summer.

[@Rayhk32]

Nice Video Sam! As a HongKonger, it feels good when I travel by CX everytime, most of the crews are great and provide very high standard of service.

[@MrLouieG23]

Safety FIRST! Good job Cathay Pacific

[@freechina-8964]

Cathay pilots are the best ❤❤❤❤❤

[@lcfflc3887]

Well i would also like a refund 50% of the total paid. Make it right, all of those people are now very late, job meetings, family gathering and all that, let's be real, airplane should have been checked way before this people got to the airport, maintenance crew was far behind airline needs to hire more people to avoid last minute check surprises.

[@wowpeter]

@@lcfflc3887 Things happen. Sometimes tech issue do pop up in the last minute, and they can sometimes happen after the passenger boarding has started. In this case it seems like they started with an intermittent APU fuel Valve issue which is not that big of a problem, then additional fault came up (hydraulic leak), which is rare but can happen. I am pretty sure if these full happen before boarding then the Captain won’t board the passenger. Considering all of the above, the turn around was very efficient and only 2 hours delay, you got to give CX credit for having very efficient operations and very well established contingency plans for non normal event ops.

[@yangtze873]

Cathay Pacific (to me) is still World Class. Mechanical issues, Electrical Faults, these things happen. But they caught it early (while on the ground) so a 2 hour inconvenience is nothing. Awesome content as always @SamChui and well done CX 👍🏻

[@wenjavier]

❤

[@mita6010]

It’s so interesting that this problem could’ve manifested prior to boarding the aircraft. The crew have to work so diligently to prepare, and now have to start all over again. I’m massively impressed. Thank you for a look inside of the process.

[@geoffreyhui830]

In about 1983 I took a CX flight to Sydney. Just before pushback, it seems that a catering truck ran into the no.4 engine. We swapped aircraft. From memory (not reliable) we had a delay of about 4 hours as we swapped aircraft. It seems that CX has well trained its crew for this sort of contingency. Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, and not in the air wishing you were on the ground.

[@reonlim]

I’ve been flying with Cathy a lot this year. Always a pleasant experience

[@seanschulze5418]

Continually impressed with the high quality of your content Sam. Bravo to Cathay for managing a challenging situation so efficiently - that is a phenomenal crew and ground operation.

[@vnse725]

Update: Cathay has started to add back 1 crew to its long haul 77W flights from July this year, very good news for both the crew and the passengers!

[@wil_wilqueen3552]

They said will employ 5000 more staffs by the end of this year.

[@tilllatelomo]

Good decision from the management. 👍

[@Saphir8]

I have had that once.. the caterer took everything from the old plane into the new plane. everything we had distributed was obviously still on the old plane.. good thing they provided new blankets and headphones except for the menu cards ^^'

[@cristian.c.duarte]

I love these "behind the scene " content , congrats Sam, great Channel

[@morriskyalo7152]

The purser and the fellow Cabin crew at 25:17 were so good in the whole video, awesome spirits.... The whole crew too did an awesome job

[@tomsonchan9622]

Thank you Sam and all the hard working crews in CX. This is one of best videos that show us what is behind the scenes including plane issues giving me a better appreciation for all the airlines crew and how much work they have to do for the whole flight. Kudos to CX and all their staff 👍👍

[@isaacjamestea9652]

Damn that's a very impressive briefing area both for pilots and flight attendants.

[@mrcannotfindaname]

For those who don't know why the change of aircraft is necessary for some mechanical faults but not others, the ground engineer will refer to this document called MEL (Master Equipment List), which will state all the fault codes and all the necessary equipment/systems for safe flight dispatch. Pre-departure status messages shown on EICAS (Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System for Boeing) or ECAM (Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor for Airbus) MUST be addressed individually and ensure all messages are responded accordingly before the ground engineer can sign off and release the aircraft, then the captain will accept the aircraft and the aircraft will be under the captain's responsibility from then onwards. Most of the status messages are for info, some can be minor fault which can be deferred to a later time and documented down ADDL (Aircraft Deferred Defect Logbook), while some will be 'No-Go' message that will prevent the aircraft from releasing. I hope the short explanation above will answer some viewers doubt. And this is a wonderful and unique capture on how airline respond to Adhoc/unexpected situation and more importantly, how to salvage from it. Excellent video Sam!

[@SamChui]

Thanks for sharing this info.

[@-DC-]

Minimum Equipment List now get back to flying your Armchair.

[@mrcannotfindaname]

@@-DC- Sorry, it's typo error. Should be 'minimum equipment list'. I was thinking about MMEL (master minimum equipment list) when typing this.

[@ellischernoff8603]

At a lot of airlines, the cabin staff doesn't even get extra pay for all of this. Hope Cathay treats them better.

[@wowpeter]

Crew only get paid for the block hours. So only when door close engine start to engine shutdown and door open. So delay like this doesn’t get any extra paid unfortunately.

[@charlesandrewalvezbayabord3244]

Filipino flight attendants are the best! Ms. Aki is from our beloved Calatagan Batangas👍🏻👍🏻 Thanks Sam!

[@DelhiBelly1620]

A United States carrier would never be able to pull this off in 2 hrs. Good job Cathay Pacific! Hope to fly you soon!

[@ellischernoff8603]

Hate it when you have to change aircraft at this stage. OMG, all of the baggage, catering, security checks. Of course, the replacement plane is not clean or fueled. What a mess having all of the passengers gather their stuff and get off and start all over. Good that you show that this happens; rarely.

[@SamChui]

Yes it is delayed, but in some way, this is also a rare situation. Glad to share it here.

[@ellischernoff8603]

@@SamChui I had a similar occurrence on a Tower Air B747-212 out of JFK. What a mess as you can imagine. I had plenty of plane swaps as a pilot with FedEx.

[@FarmSimGuy23]

​@@ellischernoff8603what year was this

[@ellischernoff8603]

@@FarmSimGuy23 I'm pretty sure it was 1999. Let me know if you're going to be in SoCal. I assume you flew to CDG for the Olympics. Sure it was a blast.

[@MA-yh2ko]

​@@ellischernoff8603 WOW Tower Air. Those were the days😊

[@wenslyoscario9503]

25:05 loved the vibe of this crew member 😁

[@annieyeung3730]

18:29 thank you so much for voicing this out, cutting manpower and income really matter and strongly affect Cathay crews' morale. Despite they work that hard, still some ppl are unsatisfied and picky to the front line.

[@realvnl]

Thanks Sam for this Behind the Scenes

[@tonyduy796]

Had a very similar situation with cathay last year. Was scheduled on a 2am flight to New York on their a35k, but we had a last minute aircraft change due to a mechanical error. Was phenomenal that the crew could prepare a new aircraft in less than 2 hours, definately impressed with their efficiency

[@grantlu6973]

Watched the Qatar and Cathay crew operation videos, both done by Sam. Clearly, you can see the working atmosphere in Cathay is much better than in Qatar.

[@SamChui]

With the change of management and easing of rules, I can tell you there are lot of improvement at Qatar.

[@grantlu6973]

@@SamChui - However, the rumor says they withdrew the applications from Asia, Africa, etc as the new management preferred the crew from the European nations now

[@remuel1]

@@grantlu6973 and do you believe in rumors?

[@JCRocker102181]

Yehey......... in-flight service manager (ISM) from the Philippines 🇵🇭 where I am from. It sucks that there's an aircraft change due to technical issues. Yeah, safety first.

[@melpol1338]

Senior purser too! Glad both were Pinays on this trip. They’re very nice as well.

[@bucketlist7721]

Flew with Cathy pacific in 2018 from Manchester to Philippines.. I was very impressed, on time.. Food was OK and I got my first time on the A350..very quiet and smooth especially as Hong Kong was heavy rain, when we landed.

[@vanessawyndham8791]

Ive flown Cathay Pacific several times and I've always been impressed with the professionalism of the crew and the overall quality of service. Bravo! Well done!

[@raramonika7070]

what crew love the most during boarding is to hear our purser make an announcement "boarding completed, all ground personel please leave the aircraft ,thx u" 🎉 .. so tiring to see this boarding-disembark-boarding.. did that once and it was for the tech failure as well.. good job cathay for smooth trasition ❤

[@imanfarhan4602]

Dont know why but i love when sam speaking cantonese even i dont understand a single word 😂

[@beagle7622]

I have done Hong Kong to London on Cathay a couple of times. Basically a similar flight. There is no reason I would fly anybody else , it was spot on every time.

[@SteventWK]

Super impressed with the CX crew and HKIA ground team to turn around the aircraft change in 2hrs ! Those crew were professional.

[@DanDan-x9d]

Very interesting to see how the crew prepare before departure and very impressive to see how cx to handle sudden outburst🎉

[@katjun286]

Amazing video like an aviation thriller 😅 The crews are amazing very professional efficient despite the challenges. 👍One of the best behind the scenes aviation videos I have seen

[@JohnDavis-iw9lj]

My takeaway from the video is Cathy Pacific is very professional! They handled the plane change way better than most airline teams would have. Of course such a hiccup happening at the airline hub no doubt was a big part of the problem solution.

[@LV515009]

Amazing video of what happens behind the scene and more inportantly, how the entire staff stayed positive and upbeat. Very impressed and also with you Sam, still the best out there sir.

[@lawrenceflowers2680]

Love the cabin crew ❤ after all of that , there is still a smile 😊 on the face of that very happy lady. I love 💕 her! With her attitude she would make a bad day into a good one! 🎉🎉

[@alanwilson2743]

Thank you Sam, what an excellent and informative video. I’m flying CX business soon and excited to do so.

[@NicolasTRANG]

The lady in yellow jacket is a treasure for Cathay. It's people like this that can make customers love an aircraft. Although this can happen to any plane, I can't but think that Boeing definitely can't shake off this image of bad quality.

[@NYC-2-BKK]

I have flown on CX many times between NYC and BKK and have never had a bad experience with the flights or cabin crew. The CX crew are always very professional and efficient.

[@rajalam9344]

Wow, very impressed with how efficient everyone was. Scandinavian carriers has a thing or two to learn from the Cathay crew.

[@filmnoirnyc]

every single person had the right attitude and dealt with the issues quite professionally and with a good smile!!!!!! Thank you Sam, and the CP crew.... 🤩

[@Farang_Lifestyles]

Crew Duty Day,,,, goes on for ever.... bunks on board for rest during cruise....Excellent Video Sam,,,, Reality Show with an awesome crew... great to see a Second Officer at check-in

[@teazerfemi]

Everything about you is Great Sam Chui, love from Nigeria 🇳🇬 Fantastic video, the cx crew are great