Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Just booked RTW on oneWorld... Seating?

Hi All,
Last summer we did a great trip to NRT and BKK on *A (ANA) in F... This time we want to give the competition a run for their money...

My Mom and I are going on CX889 JFK-HKG in F, CX751 HKG-BKK in F, QF1 BKK-LHR F, AA115 LHR-JFK F.

It's all been booked through the CX office in the states (after hearing horror stories about booking CX through AA). A few questions for ya'll

1.) What are the best seats for 2 people on a 34C, we are in 1DG, is 2DG better?
2.) How is the service on QF1 (if anyone around here has done it)
3.) CX was unable to give us seat assignments on QF1, can I call QF and have them do this or is this something that has to be done at checkin?
4.) Is a 2hr connection in LHR cutting it close? Will our bags be checked through to JFK? (I tried to get us on the BA flight at the same time but there was no A class fares available...)
5.) I know the sights to see in BKK, how about HKG... What are things we must do?

Thanks for all your suggestions and help!

You are flying BKK-LHR-JFK with a 2 hour connection interlining QF/AA? I'd say that is a major screwup, about the worst routing that you could possibly have done. You miss out on the great T4 lounges at LHR, the MB arrival spa, QF to AA luggage transfer is pretty iffy (much safer BA to AA or QF to BA), and 2 hours may be just enough to miss your flight if delayed out of BKK (westbound seems to be running an hour late the past few weeks due to heavy winds). As for QF1, service is abysmal in F out of BKK, the BKK ground station has been stealing the wine and food causing catering to be erratic for the past 6 months. On my last F through BKK QF had only the J wines available, the F had been stolen. SIN-LHR or HKG-LHR doesn't have this problem, but BKK does. So please don't judge Oneworld based on your experience, you've scheduled a worst of OW tour and maybe it will turn out well, but maybe it will be less than stellar. I'd reroute BKK-HKG-LHR on CX and LHR-JFK on BA or at least with >4 hours connecting time.

To answer at least 1 of "y'all's" questions,

What are the best seats for 2 people on a 34C, we are in 1DG, is 2DG better?

I can think of no difference between 1DG and 2DG. I was in 1G last week, and never was aware of goings-on in the nearby galley or toilet.

You might consider taking the window and adjacent center seats. The window seat has a lot more room in the shelf between the seat and the window. Moreover, it is a near-certainty that if you take 1G/K, then 1D will be the last seat in F to be filled. So, unless F is fully booked, the 1G occupant has 1D for storage. (And, if in fact F is full, the Id occupant is likely to gladly switch with 1K.)

As far as sights and things to do in HK, there are approximately 33.4 gazillion posts on that subject here and in the HK forum, and I'm sure y'all wouldn't want weez'all to retype all that stuff.

You are flying BKK-LHR-JFK with a 2 hour connection interlining QF/AA? I'd say that is a major screwup, about the worst routing that you could possibly have done. You miss out on the great T4 lounges at LHR, the MB arrival spa, QF to AA luggage transfer is pretty iffy (much safer BA to AA or QF to BA), and 2 hours may be just enough to miss your flight if delayed out of BKK (westbound seems to be running an hour late the past few weeks due to heavy winds). As for QF1, service is abysmal in F out of BKK, the BKK ground station has been stealing the wine and food causing catering to be erratic for the past 6 months. On my last F through BKK QF had only the J wines available, the F had been stolen. SIN-LHR or HKG-LHR doesn't have this problem, but BKK does. So please don't judge Oneworld based on your experience, you've scheduled a worst of OW tour and maybe it will turn out well, but maybe it will be less than stellar. I'd reroute BKK-HKG-LHR on CX and LHR-JFK on BA or at least with >4 hours connecting time.

Hmmm.. That's a bummer then... I have to go BKK-LHR-JFK as we would like to get home the same day for a function...
BKK-HKG-LHR-JFK would be too much of a hassle, especially since we are coming from HKG to begin with and we really wanted to sample all the OW airlines.
Thank you for your advice number_6 and wideman, I also felt that the connection between QF1 and AA115 was extremely tight. Since we have done BA before and we don't want to waste miles that can't be accured on AA, we are going to go ahead and fly on AA101 which leaves at 10:05. I hear that the AA lounge is a treat, this should also (hopefully) give QF/AA enough time to get our bags checked through...
Looking to the CX portions the most, we'll see what happens soon enough!

Two hours is a legal connection at LHR, so I would stick with the original reservation. AA will find you a seat on a later flight if you are delayed (assuming this is a revenue ticket). The AA lounge at LHR is nothing special - the BA one (praticularly the associated complimentary spa) is much better.

Here's another option for you (assuming you want to visit BKK). CX runs a daily flight from HKG-BKK-SIN using a 747 that has First Class service (CX 713). Why not fly to BKK as you plan and then continue to SIN on the CX 713, from where you can pick up either a BA or QF flight to LHR? The CX BKK-SIN flight arrives in SIN in the mid afternoon, so you will have no problem connecting to the SIN-LHR flights, which leave later in the evening. These flights will arrive in LHR with plenty of time for you to catch an AA flight to JFK (there are approximately six sich flights per day).

Here's another option for you (assuming you want to visit BKK). CX runs a daily flight from HKG-BKK-SIN using a 747 that has First Class service (CX 713). Why not fly to BKK as you plan and then continue to SIN on the CX 713, from where you can pick up either a BA or QF flight to LHR? The CX BKK-SIN flight arrives in SIN in the mid afternoon, so you will have no problem connecting to the SIN-LHR flights, which leave later in the evening. These flights will arrive in LHR with plenty of time for you to catch an AA flight to JFK (there are approximately six sich flights per day).

Thx Pres! That sounds like it would work out well as we wanted to see SIN, but had trouble navigating the OW timetable... OW should get a RTW mileage calculator as *A does (not to promote envy :) )

Thx Pres! That sounds like it would work out well as we wanted to see SIN, but had trouble navigating the OW timetable... OW should get a RTW mileage calculator as *A does (not to promote envy :) )

Happy to help. If you wanted to do this without a stopover in SIN, you do the following, in which you would leave BKK at Noon and arrive in NY by 11 AM the next day:

CX 713 BKK-SIN 12:00 PM - 3:20 PM 747-400 (Lunch)

QF 9 SIN-LHR 11:20 PM - 5:25 AM 747-400 (Supper/Breakfast)

AA 115 LHR-JFK 8:20 AM - 11:00 AM 777-200 (Breakfast/Snack)

This would even allow the chance to spend a few hours visiting Singapore during your 8 hour layover!