Behind the Scenes: Troubled Cathay Pacific Flight

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!

[ryanlau]

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.

[patrickyu]

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

[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.

[jasonbernard]

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

[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.

[robertmarton]

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.

[hubertl]

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!!!!

[djbuckeye]

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!

[jmikhael]

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

[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!

[Brian_L_]

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 !

[melpol]

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.

[juanito]

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 😃

[jcnbw]

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 👍

[davidcole]

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.

[cleefho]

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

[georgeolwena]

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.

[mcc]

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!

[Cleo-hx]

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! .