Kiwi_FF

I'm a long time SQ PPS living in NZ and traveling regularly to LHR in SQ F on a contract fare.

It was great but the A380's means no more direct flights to LHR , requiring an overnight in SIN there and early departure back, which is becoming tedious. Also availability of seats is an issue with constant waitlists, as SQ tries to sell at higher yields than its contract rates.

Alternative options are go SQ J. New flat seats available are very wide but shorter than old seats and have footwells from the seat behind intruding on head space and mean you have to sleep on an angle.

CX have J to HKG then F and more choice of flights out of LHR with less capacity restrictions. Seems the new CX seats are narrow as a seat but ok as a bed?

So for anyone familiar with both would your advice be stay with SQ J or switch to CX J, which is the best option?

sxc

Try CX J once and see whether you can put up with the new seat. However they sometimes use the old slanty seat on the AKL leg so you might not get to try it.

The CX J seat you also have to sleep on an angle, and your feet are sticking out in the aisle, so they can often be brushed or fall off the footstool. So you have the same issues as the SQ J seats, with no upsides of wider seat and protected footwell.

I suspect after you try the new CX J seat once, you won't want to continue using it compared to the new SQ J seat.

hau cheng

Im not so sure that the CX J seats require you to sleep on an angle to the extent that the SQ J ones do.

Other points: The food on SQ and possibly cabin service can be better than CX. The cabin ambience created by the layout of SQ's J class may also be better than the 'feedlot cattle' feeling you get in CX's J class.

However, from what I can gather, CX treat their upper tier FF better than SQ do, and as you say, the timetabling and scheduling is better. I have a feeling SQ may also be more expensive as they place a premium upon their A380 and 773 J, F and R seat prices.

CX F may well solve all your problems.

JohnSIN

I have the same problem about the new J on SQ where I find it difficult to slot my feet in (there are not that huge).
However, as a DM, I definitely enjoy much better service that when I was an SQ PPS. Waitlist clear, companion award clear, upgrade clears and the chances of upgrade on a full flight are great.

Guy Betsy

Yes that was the biggest advantage of being DM over PPS. When I was both (sigh...) once upon a time ago, I can be on waitlist forever on SQ flight whereas on CX, I would get instant confirmation even if the waitlist is closed for the lowest fare available. I also got upgraded quite frequently. It never happened on any of my SQ flights!

Now its very hard to get DM especially from zero status. But it is doable for less than S$25K, but it just takes time! See the FAQ - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...xperience.html , Post # 11 for info.

On the other hand, although CX does not status match, they may be able to offer you SILVER to start, and the journey towards DM may be slightly shorter.

cxfan1960

If OP can start from Silver, then he/she can get better waitlist clearing, advanced seat reservations (if flying Y), and lounge accesses immediately. The journey to DM is not just shorter, but also a little more enjoyable.

MilesBuzz

Arguably, status pax on CX does enjoy these benefits compared to KF EG (1 year for me) or PPS members. Since I ditched KF for MPO, I have never looked back. MPO upgraded me to SL in 2007 despite short of a couple of thousand miles; and I just made GO in time, a few days before my membership year ended last year. Hopefully, I still can retain GO this year.

DM will be impossible this year, but, with planning and the availability of tons of cheap short-haul flights to the Mainland (thanks to KA's acquisition), a GO member should reach DM with less than S$25k needed to make PPS (based on sectors).

Each round trip to PVG costs only HK$2,400, TPE for less than $2,000, and even cheaper to SYX (just $1,600) or XMN ($1,700).

alemdohorizonte

i can add some perspective to this.
i spend a lot of time in sydney and so only knew cx's biz class seats from their a330 aircraft as that is all that they now fly into syd. i'm 6'2" and sleep on my back and found their new biz class product uncomfortable as both of my feet would not fit into the wedgy end of their new biz class jump seat (or whatever that triangular shaped bench thingy is called). this meant that one foot was always forced to rest on the elevated raised hard ledge that borders seat whenever i would stretch out. this is uncomfortable for me.

i recently ended up travelling in cx's new biz class seat from jnb-hkg. as soon as i reclined to sleep, i discovered that cx's new biz class seat on a 747 is quite a bit longer than the ones they have in their a330. in the 747 seat both of my feet can can fully extend and sit very comfortably flat without touching the end of the ledge around the jump seat. i find the new cx biz class seat on the 747 very comfortable and sleep very soundly in it. so i am a new convert to liking the new cx biz class seat--just not on the a330 aircraft.

my perspective is that if you can avoid the a330, you probably will prefer the new cx biz seats to the new sq biz ones (which cramp my legs even more than the cx seat). even if you cannot avoid travelling on an a330, you might still prefer the cx seat if you are not too tall.

also, i think you will find cx's customer service hard to beat compared to the sq service you currently have. as others have mentioned, when you are gold or diamond, cx seems always to find a way to get you on the flights you want to be on. i was very sceptical about this when i first decided to switch, but even as a gold (when i was climbing the cx ranks) they always came through. i finally decided i could trust their "wait list" when i as trying to get a biz class award seat for a friend on a very complicated routing from australia to hkg to south africa to hkg to europe. none of the flights were available when i called. but cx put me on waiting lists (i remember thinking "yeah, that's a clever way to get me off the phone"). but, much to my surprise, cx managed to clear every one of the flights--calling me each time one of the many segments cleared to update me and give me the status on the remaining sectors. this was before the "new economy" hit us and was back when premium classes seemed to be always full.

i would suggest that if you have elite status with sq, fax the marco polo club a copy of your card and recent travel statement along with a letter stating that you wish to transfer from sq. i believe that they will elevate you to the equivalent status in the marco polo club (they did with me).

i would encourage you to switch to cx. i used to fly sq a lot and although they were very good in comparison with us based airlines, i found them to be overrated. i grew to feel that their premium class service was a bit too shiny and rehearsed to be genuine and i found their service desks to be unyielding and at times arrogant when i found myself in a situation with them that wasn't described in their rule book and required them to think on their feet. while by no means perfect, cx has earned my respect and it's a nice feeling to truly believe that the airline you patronise really does value you as a customer.

one word of advice from my hard experience. the hold times when calling the marco polo club can be egregiously long. once you attain gold or diamond level with them you automatically jump to the head of the queue so it's worth the effort to try to get them to match your sq status if you can.

NYC1K

As a non CX Top Tier passenger albeit 1W Emerald that gets upgraded with impunity, I say CX FFP is better than SQ's. ^

I never got an Op-Up on SQ in my three years flying them to SIN.