Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Comparison of CX and QF's F class

My father will use his QF FFP to redeem a F class ticket for me from SYD-HKG, as I have never flown F before, can anyone give me some idea as to which is a better product and why? (After reading some of the trip report, I'm leaning towards CX)

Thank you very much for your help!! =)

No question. CX far superior F product. Try to get the afternoon flight on CX. Service in F is great

I like the QF staff but the beds-seats are not a patch on Cathay.
On QF you feel like you are sleeping on a ledge and might fall out at any moment.

CX is the go IMO even though on an 8 hour afternoon flight most people won't be in need of serious sleep. New biz class on an Airbus which services the afternoon flight from SYD is almost as good as 1st bar the actual sleeping suite and some other srvice related perks. I personally would fly J instead to save some miles for the next trip where real overnight sleep might be needed.

CX costs 135,000 miles in F (105K in C) while QF is 125,000 miles ... so 10% premium to fly CX instead of QF. On average it is worth the premium, but QF can be quite good and the best QF flight will have better food and service than the worst CX flight. Also QF is in the process of upgrading the food and wine service in F ... with ultra-premium wines listed on their new wine list (Grange and Bin 707 -- these are wines costing several hundred dollars a bottle!). The seats in F are almost identical (BA, CX and QF have similar seat designs, with BA being the most different and CX/QF seat being from the same manufacturer). Normally I would pick CX but in this case Qantas is not a bad choice (in view of the lower cost and chance to get some rare wine). Both CX and QF offer an outstanding F product so there isn't a bad choice.

Having recently flown 7 QF segments, only one a long-haul in 744 F class, I would comment that they are the most inconsistent airline I've ever flown. The F segment was so-so, the service about on a par with the worst F-class BA crew I've even flown with.

But on another business-class segment the crew and the product they got to deliver were as good as a typical CX F-class segment. That's a stretch, of course, but for a business-class product with no competition(BNE-SYD) I was so flabbergasted by the quality I wrote 'em a letter.

The physical product was extremely inconsistent, too - I concluded that when a QF a/c was about to come off the assembly line, someone at Qantas quickly shopped around for the cheapest close-out interior they could lay hands on, and bought it for that aircraft. Even the amenities kits (which I think are pretty silly in any case, but that's a different story) were all different - more jumble-sale merchandise?

But my overall impression is that I'd certainly not choose Qantas in any case where there was a BA or better on the route.

CX First is miles ahead both in cabin comfort and staff. QF has much to learn especially in the latter part but are one of the better non-Asian airlines if that's any comfort should you go the less costly QF way.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JohnAx:
Even the amenities kits {...} were all different - more jumble-sale merchandise?
</font>

That could be deliberate policy so that frequent travellers get some variety - I know other airlines have done this in the past.

Thanks for the replies guys, I know CX is better than QF from all aspects (at least from my own experience).

However, there are no seats available for CX for the first half of Dec so I booked it on QF instead, requested seat 2A from SYD-HKG and 2K from HKG-SYD.

that it is fully booked perhaps also proved the product is better?

Yes, I always wonder what CX can do with their F product since I think their J is already top notch. Well, I guess I'll have to wait a little longer to find that out huh?! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Cathay Pacific:
Yes, I always wonder what CX can do with their F product since I think their J is already top notch.</font>
There is a big difference between F and C on CX. I've never flown long-haul C but have been on some 2-class flights. Almost as big difference C to F as from Y to C (unlike some airlines where there is little difference). But QF really can be competitive with CX F when QF has a good day, the problem on QF is a lack of consistency. While CX is very consistent.