Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - CX vs KA J Class

Hi All

Having never yet flown with Cathay Pacific or Dragonair, I though i'd seek opinion from those who have flown re the above. I have to take a flight from PVG - HKG in Dec, will be travelling J. CX only has 3 flights but KA seems to go hourly, any advice re the difference between the two?

Thanks.

David :)

Hi All

Having never yet flown with Cathay Pacific or Dragonair, I though i'd seek opinion from those who have flown re the above. I have to take a flight from PVG - HKG in Dec, will be travelling J. CX only has 3 flights but KA seems to go hourly, any advice re the difference between the two?

Thanks.

David :)

CX goes exclusive widebody while KA there're a few Airbus 320 which may feel small. For such a short hop the difference is fairly minimum (for me) but I think many people here says KA metal has better food and service than CX metal.

Seat wise CX you may be lucky to get the long haul product to do short hop when they lay over in HK. Note that KA flight with 4 digit number is operated by CX and vice versa

To summarize : Do check the exact metal you are flying on. It may be nice to do one trip on KA and another on CX ?

Cheers and enjoy your time in Shanghai ! (I have enough time there and happy that I am grounded for the upcoming months ...)

Hi All

Having never yet flown with Cathay Pacific or Dragonair, I though i'd seek opinion from those who have flown re the above. I have to take a flight from PVG - HKG in Dec, will be travelling J. CX only has 3 flights but KA seems to go hourly, any advice re the difference between the two?

Thanks.

David :)

I prefer taking KA over CX on short haul routes mainly because KA has better crew service and food as said with the poster above. However, I tend to choose the flight with the lightest load of pax.

The difference between KA and CX for J is the in-flight entertainment. KA J on 33R, 32P and 321 aircrafts lack PTVs. If you travel with CX, you have AVOD. Which KA lacks in all their aircraft and classes. But I don't think you would mind on such a short trip.

Seating will be different if CX chooses to send their 33B, 34B or 77A. That can mean lie-flat seats for you.

Hi All

Having never yet flown with Cathay Pacific or Dragonair, I though i'd seek opinion from those who have flown re the above. I have to take a flight from PVG - HKG in Dec, will be travelling J. CX only has 3 flights but KA seems to go hourly, any advice re the difference between the two?

Thanks.

David :)

Don't base this decision on CX or KA. Honestly - it's a 2 hour flight. KA and CX are very similar , with a nod to KA on consistency. For seats, on the vast number of flights they are also extremely similar. Whatever you're doing in Shanghai, just base your flight around those activities/meetings whatever.

KA J all the way, if the new biz seats on two class 330 are available. The food and service are tailor made for short and medium haul routes, excellent.

I flew KA in J from PVG to HKG recently (May) and frankly I thought it was pretty lousy. The J seat didn't even have a PTV, which is pretty ancient.

Might be nice if you get a new aircraft but that's a big if as I think there aren't too many of them flying from between PVG-HKG yet.

With CX you're guaranteed a PTV and I think in J you're also guaranteed to have AVOD (though no movies on this sector).

Seats wise, both of them are going to be pretty basic for J unless you happen to get lucky and get a long haul aircraft.

However the flight is really so short I don't know if any of this even makes a difference to you. Though I guess it does, since you're asking :)

Flexibility wise, I think there's no difference as I believe that on a CX ticket you can fly KA, and vice versa, so if you show up at the airport early you can still probably get on the next flight on either airline if there's room.

Seats wise, both of them are going to be pretty basic for J unless you happen to get lucky and get a long haul aircraft.I can't speak for KA (haven't flown them recently), but on CX for a flight of 1.5-4 hours duration my preference for seats would be:

1. New F
2. Old F
3. Old long haul J
4. Old regional J (the cradle seats)
5. New regional J
6. New economy (shell seat)
7. Old economy if exit row
8. New long haul J
9. Old economy (not exit row)

I can't speak for KA (haven't flown them recently), but on CX for a flight of 1.5-4 hours duration my preference for seats would be:

8. New long haul J
9. Old economy (not exit row)

Ouch! So harsh against the new long haul J seat!! :D

CX vs KA - I've done both recently and KA wins out on food and drinks. They have XO cognac, Fuding Jasmine Silver Fur Tea (usually served in CX First) and (I think) a nicer presentation.

I flew on an A321 yesterday up to PVG - the seats were surprisingly ok - quite comfortable in recline - and better then the CX new regional business class.

Also regarding CX - not all regional J class has AVOD. IIRC none of the regional 777-300s do??

(ps I do like the long haul J - ymmv!)

I can't speak for KA (haven't flown them recently), but on CX for a flight of 1.5-4 hours duration my preference for seats would be:

1. New F
2. Old F
3. Old long haul J
4. Old regional J (the cradle seats)
5. New regional J
6. New economy (shell seat)
7. Old economy if exit row
8. New long haul J
9. Old economy (not exit row) Interesting, as it got me thinking about the hierachy for long haul (>5hrs). No.1 and no.2 are no brainers, you really have to hate yourself to put anything else up there. My no.3 would be New Long Haul J and the last would be New Economy.

Interesting, as it got me thinking about the hierachy for long haul (>5hrs). No.1 and no.2 are no brainers, you really have to hate yourself to put anything else up there. My no.3 would be New Long Haul J and the last would be New Economy.

For regional & long haul, I have to concur with you. New Y is a back breaker. What I'd love to see on long haul is old Y with new IFE. But that'll never happen, CX is already too far invested in the Olympus seats to change that.

For short haul, I concur with christep's ranking pretty much except that I would rank the Olympus J much higher up, though still lower than old long haul J.

For long haul / regional over 5 hours to me there are two subsets - do I need/want to sleep or not? If I do then only new F, old F, old longhaul J and new long haul J (in that order) work at all. If I don't want/need to sleep then it's driven more by the AVOD:

1. New F
2. Old F
3. Old long haul J
4. New long haul Y (exit row)
5. New long haul J
6. New long haul Y (non-exit)
[No AVOD from here]
7. Old regional J (cradle seats)
8. New regional J
9. Old long haul Y (exit)
10. Old long haul Y (non exit)

Thanks everyone for the tips/info.
I think i'll go with the midday CX 773 PVG-HKG flight in J.

Happy Flying ;)

I tend to choose the flight with the lightest load of pax
Hi, how do you figure this?

Another vote for KA! I always fly KA when shuttling between HK and Mainland China. Definitely better food and better service compare to CX. The food is actually tasty and I like how they push a trolley out with the food unwrapped so you can actually look at the actual thing before you order. I think (but not sure) that CX planes might have better AVOD though I'm not sure since I don't use them on short haul.

Seat make not much difference in short haul flights unless you are unlucky enough to end up with one of those dreadful new CX business class "coffin" seats.

Go for the flight that suits your schedule best....CX and KA are both good.

I vote for KA, the aircraft doesn't really matter on a short-haul flight.
KA's A320s have an exclusive feeling as there are only 8 seats in J.
with 2 FAs(usually senior which translate to excellent service) dedicated to the cabin.
Food is a little bit better than CX on Chinese routes.
Premium Tea(Oolong and Jasmine Silver Fur) from Fook Ming Tong Tea Shop is served on KA as mentioned above.
I do think the A320s have better service due to FA-PAX ratio.
On the other hand the A330s have better entertainment system.
J seats on KA is enough for me to relax for a 2-hour flight.

In my opinion, CX is better. I have flown both. As a foodie I think the food is also better on Cathay. Took a Lufthansa flight from Germany in January. Food was pretty awful.