Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Which is better, the afternoon or midnight flt - HKG-LAX?

Well, it looks like I'll be flying stand-by on a BC freebie tomorrow between HKG and LAX. The flights are wide open at the moment but, CX is not releasing inventory for me - in hopes of accommodating all empty seats w revenue psgrs.

Anway, any preferences on the trip. Is the actual service better miday or in the evening? Thx.

I have taken both flights. The afternoon flight has a FULL dinner service which is absolutely fabulous. The evening flight has a supper service which is an abbreviated dinner service. Also the evening flight is an airbus 340 while the afternoon flight is a 747. Please let us know how you made out

As RTW4 says, the midnight flight gets an abbreviated dinner service. Add this to flying the Airbus (much inferior to the 747 especially in J) and I prefer the afternoon flight. I also find it is easier to sleep the night after arrival when taking the afternoon flight.

If you are on standby...then the logic is to try for the a/c with the most J seats : thus the 4P flt : 74J with 63 seats..
But plz be warned that Y is almost overbooked already between now and Xmas...they will accomodate the overbooked Y pax first , and keep bumping up : Y to J , J to F and fill the airplane up first , before they would accomodate you. Good luck...
Yes , food wise , the 4PM 's meal is much more copious : amuse gueule with drinks , appertizer , salad and entree etc....
Late evening flight comes out with a tiny salad with some tiny bit of seafood , then entree etc...

[This message has been edited by AA2MM (edited Dec 03, 2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by AA2MM:
...they will accomodate the overbooked Y pax first , and keep bumping up : Y to J , J to F and fill the airplane up first , before they would accomodate you. Good luck...</font>

I was actually cleared in BKK all the way thru. A trip report is here. (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/004196.html)