Trip Reports - BA CX business comparison

Gone back to some CX trips recently, mainly because most of my trips are LHR-HKG and they now have a third flight which on the return leg arrives at a civilised hour. Why on earth do 5 flights arrive at 5am each day?!!

I had to think about the advantages and disadvantages of both airlines.

CX+
Champagne pre take off
All food served from a trolley with good choice and you can see what it is.
Choice of vegetables
Excellent cheese trolley
Real amenities bag inc comb shaver
On some flights video on demand which really does start when you want and gives huge list of films and programs
Additional third flight which arrives back at LHR at sensible time
More friendly staff. Better service.

CX-
The 'new' seats are better but still not flat so you tend to finish up wedged in the seat in front. One wag at the London launch said it was 'only 3 deg but all planes fly 3 deg nose down so....' Glad he's not a pilot!
More seats crammed in so more using the same space.

BA+
Flat beds. Definitely the BIG one for me and the guarantee of a good nights sleep

BA-
Staff are better now - must have had training but still not up to CX. At least they don't now give mouth as in 'you put the blanket there so you put it away' when a sleepy me asked a stewardess nicely to do it for me.
Food not as good as CX. It's OKish and sometimes the curries are really good but not that frequent.
Poor choice of drinkies on loading.

There we are. What do you all think?

Personally I do prefer CX's new C Class but it has to do with combination of things.

1. Like you said the crew are better on CX, BA is improving but I do not think BA can ever reach CX's level, its just my personal opinion.

2. The food is better on CX in terms of choice and presentation.

3. The AVOD is light years ahead on CX. I really wish BA had this, but I am sure they will eventually.

4. In terms of seats, BA's are a bit more comfortable but CX's are still good. I find BA's to be a bit more spacious.

5. CX beats BA in terms of amenities offered like the quality of amenity kits offered.

They both are great products but I do agree, on the whole, CX's products is better.


[This message has been edited by SR 103 (edited 03-14-2003).]

Hi

Welcome to Flyertalk

I'd definitely like to try out both BA and CX's business classes. How much did your trip cost?

Since the BA Club World seating arrangement is weird, is it hard to leave your seat? Is the seat belt different in the back-facing seats?

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9V-SMU
The 1000th 747
Currently operated by Singapore Airlines

Having no experience of CX J but extensive of NCW and OCW, as well as J in other airlines, it strikes me that the key difference is that BA NCW is an 'uber-economy' class with trayed service etc. whereas CX J is a 'mini-First' with trolleys and much better service. Much more like Gulf Air J which I have found to be quite comically over-the-top in recent months!


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Ignore me, I'm just rambling.

Interesting comparison, very informative. Thanks.

Cost of tickets? Well that actually is a good question and one where BA score at least at the level of the website.

BA have a really excellent booking system where you can choose the cheapest option and the spread is offered over a 7 day period.

CX website is always the top dollar price so it means that I must phone the travel agency.

As I tend to book my travel at odd hours - well maybe I'm just an odd person - the website approach serves me just fine and when the price of the ticket is also good I just tend to book without then going to a CX comparison.

Seats? Well I have never had problems with the rear facing seats. Seat belts are the same and getting over the next person a lot easier than CX IMHO.

Still the business of the third CX daytime flight from HKG is a goodie, even though it is an airbus 340 which last month had only a choice of 3 movies the whole flight. There were profuse apologies but you would think that someone had a checklist for self loading cargo the same as the flight crew ;-)