Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Business Class-- "main Cabin" or "upper deck"? Which is better?

On the CX NYC- Vancouver-Hong kong, I see the 747 donoted as a "large" business class aircraft.

With such a configuration, what do you recomend?

Sitting "Upstairs" or " Downstairs".

Finally, althogh my search function efforts yielded little, If someone knows of exsisting threads, then the posting of LINKS would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks to all for their time and input!

Short answer, upper deck. Much quieter and isolated from the rest of the seats.

I think the choice is far less clear-cut.

My choice would be an inside aisle downstairs, to give the greatest likelihood of an empty seat next to you. Even if the bus section is completely full, you have more than a 50% chance of not having anyone climb over you to get to/from the bathroom (as opposed to upstairs, where that becomes a 100% chance).

Downstairs--B cabin (the forward cabin). Even the C cabin is better than upstairs except if you are in the last row.

Upstairs:
1)smaller cabin environment.
2)No middle seat.

Downstairs:
1)Greater chance of an empty seat next to you.
2)More space to store your carry on.
3)Less radiation exposure.
4)Get off the plane faster.
5)Larger windows to look out of.

I normally prefer the upper deck, but in my experience Cathay consistently keeps that cabin uncomfortably warm.

I think B compartment, main cabin is good. Avoid C compartment as it is only seperated by a curtain to the Y class cabin. I feel this cabin is mostly for op-upgraders.

But window seat of upper deck's got that little cabinet which comes in handy.

my ideal seat was 11h, then i switched to 86k.
due to the popularity, upper deck is usually more full. because there is a side storage box for upper. in most circumstances upper deck is more spacious, and quieter.

but as discussed, when the flight is far from full, u have the whole row in the lower decks

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 01-18-2003).]

try both! top deck one way lower deck the next. see for youself. let us know what you decide is better

And sort of mildly relatedly, I would choose the plane which has the New Business Class versus an upper-deck\main deck option offering the old business class. Per other threads, I thought the YVR-HKG on the A340 is guaranteed to have the NBC, whereas not all 747s have it yet. Thus, if this is true, I would see if its possible to get on the A340 instead for the guaranteed NBC.

Against the grain, I far prefer the upper deck.

Granted it's often full, but has a much more intimate feel - more like a private jet. And I 've been surprised how often I score an empty seat next to me (as I did last night on the 250 from LHR). Service is normally excellent with 3 FA's to serve a maximum of 26 people. However, if you like looking out the window, UD is not a good choice. I find the main deck far too open, and the rear C cabin noisy due to the proximity of the Y class masses.

FWIW, I prefer the A340 main deck over the 747, again beacuse it feels more cosy, and a lot brighter!

Either way, you will have a good flight!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by wideman:
(as opposed to upstairs, where that becomes a 100% chance).</font>

Hardly true. There are 4 seats in row 86, the exit row. None of these require climbing over anyone. Also, If you have the window seat, you will be doing the climbing rather than being climbed over. So, the number is under 50%, not 100%.

The big problem with the exit row on the upper deck is the extra space is seen as a good place for fellow passengers to chat. The FA's are usually on top of it and tell the offending passengers to move their chat to the back of the cabin but you are still disturbed more often than not.

How much less radiation? Cant imagine 3 metres making much of a difference?

i could never understand this radiation fuss.
flying, handphone cooking up your brain.....all those fake science 'discovered and proved' by people whose brain cells are well cooked.

you will get a lot more radiation by spending an hour on the beach, or go for jogging on a sunny day

I've never understood why anyone would want to lug their baggage up those stairs and then back down again. I never check luggage and therefore always have a fully-packed rollon bag in addition to a tote bag. In addition,upstairs always struck me as being a bit claustrophobic as well, so I avoid it like the plague. Nonetheless, de gustibus non disputandem est.**

Some people place their luggage in overhead bins downstairs and walk upstairs .... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif