thegoons wrote:

> I flew from Osaka (Kansai) to Sydney last week, on a Japan Airlines ticket.
> Was most disappointed to learn that whilst it was still listed as a JAL
> flight, it was in fact operated by JALways, a JAL Group company (subsidiary,
> but operated independently as a separate company with separate
> board/chairman etc) with Bangkok-based flight attendants (mix of Japanese
> but mostly Thai) and Honolulu-based pilots (Americans). To add insult to
> injury, the JALways aircraft (complete with the old livery that was starting
> to be phased out 2 years ago) was a 747-300 series, extremely worn and
> battered. The interior was like from some cheap motel in the 1970's
> (complete with peeling retro wallpaper and worn-out carpets).
>
> Funny how they try and fake it too, the Thai stewardesses had obviously been
> handpicked, they chose those that most resembled Japanese, put their
> hairstyles in the same JAL standard and try to flog-off an inferior cheap
> "product" at JAL premium prices.

This has been the situation on their "Resocha" flights to Hawaii for about as
long I as I have lived where I am now, perhaps eight years. All foreign cabin
crew except chief flight attendant or crew chief.

I see no difference in quality (which is telling) between the Japanese
attendants and the well trained Thai attendants. And now I realize that most
Japanese customers have been satisfied enough, for the practice to be
continued, and expanded.

It is a cost saving measure, I am sure, NOT to provide an exotic experience on
the way to the resort destination, as the in flight announcement used to claim.

> I am not complaining about the service, that was quite good, but I do feel
> that it is wrong for JAL to exploit cheaper crews,

I am pretty sure the Thai ladies are well paid considering. I do feel sympathy
for Japanese flight attendants in general, who had experienced a hiring freeze
for a number of years, or been hired for only part time positions. It is a far
cry from the days in which the  news reported the average salary of a Japanese
flight attendant was eight million yen a year.

> and have the hide to
> charge passengers the full premium JAL airfare. Nowhere on my ticket or
> itinerary was it published that the flight would be operated by another
> airline. Keep it up JAL, I'll try another airline next time.

I'm still hard pressed to find an airline with flight service home better than
JAL or JAZ (charter), as it may be called here. Particularly if going through a
ticket discounter such as H.I.S., the difference between a JAL flight and the
cheapest flights like Korean Air, Northwest or Continental, is only about 3,000
yen. There is no reason for me to try to save money by choosing another airline
now.

And in 11 years of living in Japan, I have never flown cheaper. I've flown
round trip to Hawaii for as little as 58,000 yen on JAL. My previous low was
more like 78,000 yen. And I've paid as high as 198,000 during a peak season,
and been asked for 300,000 during a walk up (and had it "discounted" to the one
year ahead rate of 130,000 at the time because I was flying home when my father
died). This year I flew again for 78,000 this summer, probably due to higher
fuel costs.

--
 "I'm on top of the world right now, because everyone's going to know that I
can shove more than three burgers in my mouth!"