Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - HKG-BKK CX or AY

I am schedule to fly from HKG-BKK in business class. I read several postings on how good AY's business product is on this route. If I have the choice b/t CX and AY, which one would you go for. I have flown CX regional business before. It is nice but certainly nothing to write home about.

I have also seen the recent discussion in the other European airlines board. That is what sparked my curiosity.

Please advise.

Thanks.

[This message has been edited by AA EXP DFW-LON (edited Dec 11, 2003).]

I have flown both intra-Asia and strongly prefer CX. To be clear, however, I have only flown AY on the SIN-BKK routing, not the HKG-BKK route for which you requested info.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by HKG_Flyer1:
I have flown both intra-Asia and strongly prefer CX. To be clear, however, I have only flown AY on the SIN-BKK routing, not the HKG-BKK route for which you requested info.</font>

Thanks for your preference. Can you elaborate a little on why you strongly prefer CX? Service? Seat? Food? IFE?

Will time be a major factor in your consideration? If it is, then I think you can forget about AY as they leave HKG at 2205.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Cathay Pacific:
Will time be a major factor in your consideration? If it is, then I think you can forget about AY as they leave HKG at 2205.</font>

I'm either going to take the AY flight at 22:05 or the CX flight at 21:55. So time is not a factor per se.

I would choose AY. Because seating, picth is 50 and seat is very comfortable.

As service, difficult to say. Both are good. Most of the C-class passengers will come from BKK, as this flight continues to HEL so you will have probably 3-5 other passengers with you and 3-4 fight attendants.

IFE I think CX as they have more options for short haul flight. Finnair only shows 4 channels on this leg.

Food, Finnair. They even serve better food than long haul BKK-HEL as this flight continues.

Wines, Finnair have many award winning wines.

Overall, AY http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif

I guess AY will be the better choices, especially the time does not matter to you. I flew BKK to HKG and the meal was excellent -- a bit more heartier than CX, since AY serves a full international standard meal on this flight.

It is true that AY serves a better dinner on the HKG to BKK then the long haul BKK-HEL segment. Also there are more seats on the HKG-BKK segment and you can be pretty comfortable. I recommend the seats on Row 1 and 2... with the six abreast seating, instead of seven abreast on the last couple rows.

There is also some discount going on this AY flight. You may want to check out www.tiglion.com (http://www.tiglion.com) or www.aerohkg.com. (http://www.aerohkg.com.)

Carfield

if you can use the wing/pier based on your ow status then let the factors such as wine seat food ect.. influence your desicion, however if the only way you are getting in to the lounge is via your j class ticket then use cx bec. the wing/pier is great, (unless ay uses the wing/pier in hkg)

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by azmmza:
(unless ay uses the wing/pier in hkg)</font>

I flew AY HKG-BKK-HEL last year, and they used the inferior Dragonair lounge in HKG. However, with a C tix, you should be able to get into the Wing/Pier.

I'd go with AY and agree with all the points above: better food, excellent wine and champagne, decent service, mostly empty J cabin on that route. The IFE is not good, but on a short flight with a full dinner service, you won't have much time for video anyway.

Personally I prefer CX on this route. I have flown AY on this route and I like CX's frequency and service over any other carrier on the HKG-BKK route.

You flew on CX Regional Business Class and you've nothing to write home about? The kind of service one receives for a flight less than 3 hours long is certainly one can write home and everybody else in USA about!

If you're buying your ticket in HK, then AY would be at least 30% cheaper than CX.

If you get a meal for a flight of less than 2 hours in coach on AA, do write and let us know.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Guy Betsy:
If you get a meal for a flight of less than 2 hours in coach on AA, do write and let us know.</font>

CX doesn't have to face low fare competition who serve nothing.

The main thing I prefer about CX on the shorthaul route is the service. AY's crew was fine, but didn't evidence the legendary warmth of the CX FAs.

Also, I prefer Asian food, and my recollection is that AY served primarily Western-style meals.

Finally (and this is a more hypothetical issue), in the event of irregular flight ops, I feel like CX would be better able to accommodate me since they have substantial operations in both the origin and destination points.

As one who has flown both BKK-SIN and BKK-HKG on AY and CX (most recently 2 weeks ago), I would say if you are after service and cabin ambiance, go for CX (unless you can get on CX713 or the other flight that uses a B744). If after food and wine selection, and the seat comfort (compared with CX regional biz), go for AY. AY planes are not the state of the art (MD11), but the biz cabin is very spacious, especially row 1 center seats!

CX excels in the service, I must admit, but if you would look at my previous posts about "Why is CX's Wine List Inferior" under the CX Forum, and "Finnair Business Class?" under the Other European Forum, you will get a more clear idea of AY biz class. Personally, for me a short route like BKK-SIN and BKK-HKG almost is just run of the mill in biz, but AY really stands out in the F&B servie, as it connects with AY98/AY92 to HEL. The downside of course, is you have only 1 flight on alternate days. If your schedule permits it, by all means go for it! The icing on the cake is that AY biz class prices are almost always 50% of what CX's are...... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif