Just returned from Indo on CP-Bali to HK to NY. No weighing of the carry-on, which might have had something to do with all the questions I had for the check-in person and the fact that I parked my regulation roller bag right in front of the counter where she couldn't see it. They also allowed me to accompany my bags over to the TSA screening area to make sure they were OK with my small, empty rebreather cylinders in a checked bag.
But they do have a few annoying quirks.
First, they did not inform me in Bali that any duty free liquor I bought in the Bali airport would be confiscated in HK as soon as I tried to board the HK to JFK flight, due to the TSA ban on carrying bottles of more than 500 ml. Lucky for me I passed on the $80 bottle of scotch and they took a bottle of high quality arak for which I only paid $5. Still, it was my only Indo souvenir.
And as I was not informed by my Bali point of departure check-in person that my booze would be confiscated after dragging it around for 18 hrs, I was determined to get my money's worth on the flight. Not so fast, it took me 2 hours to get 3 Johnny Walker and sodas, worse service than a NYC dance club. But they were very polite while ignoring me. Finally I got the manger who told me that they were in fact ignoring me for pushing the call button too many times. I informed her that pushing the button 3 times in 2 hours was not so much, given that they offer complimentary cocktails on the 15 hr flight. She agreed 3 times was not so much and brought my girlfriend and I 2 glasses of wine from 1st class. The drinks came in a timely fashion after that, but I hate that I had to ask for the manager and make an issue of it. The manager also apologized for the check-in person forgetting to tell me that I shouldn't buy any duty free booze before boarding my flight, which she confirmed, was her responsibility. By way of contrast, flying on Singapore Air 7 times, I never had to wait more than 1 minute before my call button brought a smiling attendant who was happy to bring me another scotch and soda. They were even funny when I asked for my 10th and 11th drink, "You want another sir, are you sure? Well no, you don't seem drunk sir, sure I'll get that for you, right away". FWIW, I don't drink at all during the diving part of my trips.
CP's seats are also narrower than Singapore's, but I guess the price difference may explain this.
Another strange quirk of CP is that their counter people don't ever seem to know if there are any empty seats left. They only say, "the flight is very full", even when it's not. I hate watching somebody have to tell me a fib because of some weird policy. There were several empty rows on the outbound NYC flight, which every other airline I've flown would have let me know when I asked.
On the positive side, the food on CP was above average and the in-flight movie screens are bigger than anybody else's. Also they have the only sensible reclining seats-they move forward to make room for the back to recline, and don't impinge on the person behind you. Absolutely brilliant, to quote my English friends. But I'm still not sure if I would fly them again, if only for the seat width issue... -Andy
