Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - U.S. Gateway to HKG for Best Experience

I am considering cashing in AAdvantage miles for a trip to HKG in December in CX First Class.

Assume I am leaving from JFK or some east coast feeder city to JFK. My question is, what routing should I take to get the most bang for my buck in terms of overall experience. I am interested in food, service, aircraft and departure lounges (which probably vary the most between gateways).

I took CX First all the way from JFK several years ago and it was great. However, given the late hour, service/food was so so. Departure lounge was BA's and is was pretty good, but not great.

I also took CX first from SFO several years ago, but got burned when they ran an old Airbus with seats that didn't even recline all the way (I was pissed) -- my understanding is that they now use a 747. The departure lounge there (assuming they still use JAL's Sakura lounge) is worthless in my opinion.

I guess what I'm asking is should I go on CX all the way from JFK (most time efficient)? Or should I route through SFO or LAX and enjoy the AA Premium Flagship service to the west coast and then hop on the CX to HKG. What is CX like out of LAX -- I think it's always a 747, but how is the departure lounge?

Basically, how would you route this if you were me? Thanks in advance for any input.

I woudl recommend staying far from LAX. I go to school in Los Angeles and I fly back to Hong Kong a lot. CX is the real deal. Although I have not flown on first on CX for many years I can tell you that you should fly through SFO. Keep in mind SFO's International Airport is brand new. It is a beauty.

I have not flown on CX in SFO. I have been a loyal UA Premier Exec Member for about 10 years. UA has the largest lounge in San Francisco. Its as big as a toys r us. I believe takign CX via SF is faster newer and should provide a better experience. Hope this helps.

I will recommend you to take the following routing --

JFK to YVR CX 889 Redeye from JFK
Overnight at YVR (Airport hotel at YVR should be priced fairly reasonable in the winter -- if I am correct, AA award allows one stopover... but the new structure may have changed this aspect)
YVR to HKG CX 839
Daytime departure with a hot dinner with caviar and salmon board first...

Return you can take CX 888
CX all the way...

Personally, all North American gateways have late night flights so supper service at all gateways. If you don't want to stop overnight at YVR, I will recommend CX 889 all the way to HKG via YVR.

Just one reminder -- avoid CX 828/829.. The Toronto flights are lowest among all North American flights.

Carfield

[This message has been edited by Carfield (edited 08-20-2003).]

Of all the North American CX gateways, you will get the best lounge at JFK as a first class passenger.

I wouldn't bother with the AA's transcontinental flagship service. CX's transcontinental service (JFK-YVR) will be markedly superior than AA's.

If you took the AA transcontinental flagship service, you will be disappointed with the AAdmirals Club at JFK and the oneworld lounges at Tom Bradley or the Sakura Lounge at SFO.

As Carfield suggested, I recommend taking CX to YVR, check-in at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport (Nice hotel. Don't forget to get a spa treatment at the hotel. Spa treatments in Canada are cheaper. My first choice would be the Four Seasons, but you would only have a 12 hour layover and it wouldn't be worth the hassle to go downtown).

For the speed/service trade off, I would take CX889 all the way to HKG. The marginal benefit, if any, in taking the daytime flight out of YVR probably is not worth the extra expense of a hotel and the inconvenience of checking in and out of the hotel and the airport.

I am taking CX F out of JFK in October to Hong Kong/Bangkok. I'm sure it will be great http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

From a feeder city to JFK using an award (Y, J or F), I do the JFK route to HKG, but on the return I go HKG to YYZ and use that city for the layover. It is a brilliant city to rest for two days or more. Then from YYZ, after your rest, you should be able to get to the US destination without the jetlag accompanying you.

The old awards allow two North American layovers. Using AA to CX as one and CX back to AA as another. Unknown if that policy has changed, I hope it hasn't.

SHADO

The YVR stop should not count as a stopover as it is less than 24 hours. Do keep your BP to avoid paying the AIF (at least for YVR-HKG). The trouble is being able to get Z inventory on 838/9 (harder to get than 888/9). I have been able to price discounted fares on CX.com on 889=>839/ 838=>888 with stops at YVR both ways (earns 800 or so extra base miles per direction).

I live in the NY metro area, but still prefer to take an AA premium flight to SFO or LAX to connect with CX. I know CX'as transcon servioce is better, but AA's transcon Premium service is, IMO, its best service. I like to experience it, even if it means less CX time.

Without trying to get the very last drop of blood or wine out of the trip, keep the trip fun and convenient.

I found the lounge at LAX very comfortable without any plans for checking in for the day like into a hotel. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif The staff made sure I was fed well and made me comfortable after missing dinner and flying up from SAN. What more can you expect? A sit down dinner?

First Class was very nice and more then you could expect from flying in a plane. It always amazes me, when people complain about little things, that disturbed their flight, when there were so many nice things to focus on.

Bottom line, I would fly CX all the way. and stop wondering if AA might be a teeny weeny bit better. CX has a great FC product and taking the most convenient routing would be my FIRST Choice!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by terenz:
The YVR stop should not count as a stopover as it is less than 24 hours. Do keep your BP to avoid paying the AIF (at least for YVR-HKG). The trouble is being able to get Z inventory on 838/9 (harder to get than 888/9). I have been able to price discounted fares on CX.com on 889=&gt;839/ 838=&gt;888 with stops at YVR both ways (earns 800 or so extra base miles per direction).

</font>

Not only is Z inventory harder to get on 839, but it is also the NA-HKG flight on which you run the highest risk (still quite small) of getting a 340 with the dreaded old F (2x2) configuration.

A few quibbles about using SFO gateway:

- CX uses the dreaded 74B which means:
a. No audio/video on demand. Some planes even use obsoleted 8mm video tapes for "on-demand" movies. Jittery video, muffled audio, poor selections.
b. No in-seat power supply (Empower).

- CX FC lounge at SFO is just a tiny little room to the side of the BC lounge. Wins my "CX's Worst Lounge in a Major City" award. Drinks selection: so-so. Food selections: next to nothing. If you have a long layover, spend the time elsewhere.

My other quibbles on CX's FC product are systemic (i.e. affects all FC) such as an unbelievably bad headphones (see separate thread). But that's another story.

Aside from those minor nitpicks, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy CX F class from any gateway.

thanks to all for the feedback

unfortunately, a lot of these decisions will be made for me based on availability

i tried to set up a reservation and couldn't get anything within 1-2 weeks of my desired date -- finally managed to get something 2 weeks before i really wanted to go but on comparable days of the week -- have a tentative reservation set up for JFK-Vancouver-HKG in First, returning HKG-LAX-JFK.

They're holding the reservation for 2 weeks, but I'm only about 30% likely to actually do the trip given the suboptimal available dates for the award.

The equipment on SFO is the issue I avoid it vs. LAX. Sure the lounge in LAX "sucks" but it's not bad as long as you see how much worse some of the other lounges in the Bradley terminal are.

May I ask why the YYZ service is considered so bad? Is it because of the supper versus dinner service? The aircraft used? The mid-flight stopover, now at YVR rather than ANC [which means one can at least stay onboard]? With the exception of the midday YVR departure, it appears that all CX's flights ex-NAmerica depart in the very late evening, meaning a truncated initial meal service at a time most of us would rather go to sleep.

Is YYZ equally bad heading ex-HKG?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Shareholder:
May I ask why the YYZ service is considered so bad? Is it because of the supper versus dinner service? The aircraft used? The mid-flight stopover, now at YVR rather than ANC [which means one can at least stay onboard]? With the exception of the midday YVR departure, it appears that all CX's flights ex-NAmerica depart in the very late evening, meaning a truncated initial meal service at a time most of us would rather go to sleep.

Is YYZ equally bad heading ex-HKG?</font>

I prefer JFK over YYZ for outbound to HKG mainly due to inconvenient connection schedules and the necessity to clear Canadian immigration.

The BA lounge at YYZ is pretty nice, but it's a long hike to the gate from the lounge.

Returning from HKG, I find it much more civilized to overnight at YYZ and fly out the next day than trying to go direct to JFK and connect home.