alect

As the closing segments of my DONE4 I chose to fly with CX to Aus. I routed myself LHR-NRT on BA5 (packed flight, slippers handed out) and connected in NRT with CX to HKG and then onto MEL. When booking they would not allow me to connect BA5 arriving NRT at 9am to CX509 dep 10am but got ticketed on CX501 at 11. Ofcourse arriving at NRT connection could not have been easier and I was in the CX lounge within 5 mins of disembarking. I asked whether I could be changed to the CX509 flight (777 and all) and they said no problem - they would even make sure my luggage made it on the same flight. That's what I love about service on CX (in flight and on the ground) - nothing is ever too much trouble and they do it all efficiently with a smile - it's what every frequent flyer wants to have to make their travel more enjoyable. I found some PCs in the lounge (4 - 2 desktops and 2 laptops) with internet access - managed to check that fiance's upgrade on QF94 had come through and she was confirmed in J(U).

The lounge was good - bothing special though - standard open bar and snacks - but I didn't spend a lot of time there so no complaints.

So got on the a/c and the load in J was light - maybe 25-30% full. Especially love the twin-airbridges boarding. I happened to have a seat mate on the H/J side - but he moved after the door shut and it was obvious there were many empty seats. Immediately greeted with a smile and offer of a drink. The seats were the old style (OBC) - they looked somewhat dated but quite comfortable for the short flight nonetheless. I noticed the impressive seat back recline - felt almost flat without being flat.

The CX service was up to its usual standard (even on a regional flight as this one) - it's always the little things - like water - a tray is brought around with a large bottle and individual glasses are poured for PAX - BA didn't do that. The IFE was good but smaller screen than BA. Also the ratio of F/As to PAX in J seemed higher than BA (even assuming a full load).

The meal service was done using the cart/trolley, which is much nice than the usual catering cart (ie BA). The china was great and the salt and pepper shakers (in the shape of rocks) caught my eye - nearly snapped up a couple as they looked so good. The lunch menu was as follows:

- Seasonal Salad served with Thousand Island Dressing
- Shiso Soba Noodles
- Vinaigrette Halfbeak rolled with Kelp, Seasoned Scallop with Fish Roe and Roast Duck Breast
- Braised Portk Kaku-ni Style, Shiso Rice, Seasonal Japanese Vegetables
or
-Fried Fish Fillet in Bouillabaisse Sauce Parsley Potatoes, Assorted Seasonal Vegetables
or
-Five Spices Chicken with hoi sin Sauce Egg Fried Rice and Chinese Style Vegetables
- Cheeseboard
- Fresh Seasonal Fruit
- Mango Pudding
- Ice Cream

The service again was impeccable - nothing too much trouble, and the food kept on coming. The food was Japanese based - and I loved every morsel of it.

The captain was a Kiwi - very matter of fact in his announcements.

Overall I was very happy with this flight - seat, food, drink, service.

We arrived at HKG where I was in transit heaven in the Pier for several hours. I also walked around most of the airport to stretch the legs and went and paid a visit to the QF lounge - why would anyone go to the QF lounge with the Wing and the Pier available to them. The Pier was almost desserted (maybe because there were none too many departures from that part of the HKG terminal). The lounge is extremely tastefully finished and furnished. Showers, noodle bar, food, open bar, espresso bar, 20-30 internet PCs available, Wi-Fi free available. Staff who could not do more for you, nor with a bigger smile. These lounges are definitely the benchmark.

Soon I was boarding CX105 headed for MEL.

Again the boarding for the A330 was via twin-airbridges - and separate doors - much better way to enter a plane than have to fight with the school groups in Y. Other great advantage is not to have lines of Y PAX walking past you headed for their seats (not always as I found out). Apparently J was completely full - I had 11K - right behind the F curtain.

Now for the most interesting part of the flight for me - and the main reason I had gone with CX instead of QF HKG-MEL (and forgone my status bonus miles) - to try the seat out and compare it to BA's. The seat looked better than I had expected - and at least to my CX untrained eye not that different to the F seat on that aircraft. I would hihghly recommend the front row A/C or J/K seats in J cabin - on this a/c there are only 2 full rows (2x2x2) and then a partial row around a galley separating it from the other J cabin. Other advantage is that you get a sort of bulkhead shelf with your IFE screen embedded and an extra shelf space on top of it and decorated with some nice bamboo.

Seat buttons are not obvious at first - I was looking for the seat recline button and couldn't find it - only to figure out that the only way to do what I wanted was to press "Sleep" button for as long as I needed the seat to recline - not really intuitive. But then the foot-rest has a separate control button. Under the front section (or under front seat) is a concave section where the feet go when seat is stretched "flat". Under the IFE screen is a slidable/stowable little table - not sure what for, but it's in addition to the in-arm-rest-dining table. I found the seat a little uncomfortable in the upright or take-off/landing position - the head support section seems too far forward and uncomfortable for my back.

The noise cancelling headphones were great - not sure whether they are Bose or otherwise - unbranded. Despite having above mentioned the advantage of separate air-bridge boardin being no Y PAX walking past you once seated I was proved wrong. Some walked past (presumably airbridge boarding is not enforced once past BP check). One of them to my amazement was a friend from MEL - who I had no idea was in HKG nor flying back to MEL on my flight. We had a good chat and he quite blazenly asked whether he could be upgraded and sit next to me - only to be informed that the flight was full.

Captain Tim Brown (an aussie) came on with some announcements - and sounded like he had come straight (sic) from the Sydney Mardi Gras. He informed us that the flight time would be 8 hrs 44mins. I had a champagne prior to the doors shutting - not being a connoisseur even I could tell the champagne was not as good as I sampled on the Concorde ( ).

The meal service was excellent as usual - although I didn't enjoy the selection as much as on the NRT-HKG flight - I am a sucker for good japanese. The manu was as follows:

- Sesonal Mixed Salad with Pesto Marinated Chicken served with Balsamic Vinegar Dressing
- Grilled Beef Fillet with Onion and Mustard Sauce served with New Potato Wedges and Seasonal Mixed Vegetables
OR
- Prant Butterfly wrapped in Bean Curd Skin served with Egg Fried Rice and Choy Sum
- (Light Choice) Noodles in Soup with Roast Duck (also available at any time as a snack)
- Cheese Plate
- Fresh Seasonal Fruits
- Pear Charlotte Cake served with Cherry Sauve


After the meal I got down to the business of sleep in the "flat bed". Clearly there is a distinctive incline to the seat - this aint no BA J bed and not as comfortable. There was definite wedgie there - although insufficient to bring tears to my eyes. The head was definitely elevated - upshot is if you sleep curled up or legs bent then you will be fine but not much better than a normal J seat. On the other hand if you sleep straight (legs) you will be more comfortable than in a normal J seat (as the seat surface is flat along itself). The blanket and "silk" pillow were also appreciated.

The seat is also clearly better than the QF Dreamtime seat or the CX OBC. I am 5'10" or 175 cm but my feet touched the end of the seat - although that's a good way to keep form sliding and increasing the wedgie. The width of the seat could be improved - it was slightly wider than BA but not significantly. There was good storage on the side of the seat and on top of the bulkhead shelf in front.

The amenities pack was also good quality - Botherm - in a nifty package of two smaller bags strapped at the side (bottom to bottom) to make it look like a larger bag.

The highlight of the product for me was the IFE. Clear large screen - largest I have ever had - even seemed larger than BA F. AVOD is fantastic - gives you the ability to choose not only the channel but the program within the channel and when you want to play, stop, pause, rewind, fastforward.......heaven. Only small complaint was that sometimes after fast forwarding the video and audio became out of sync. Othewise it was the best IFE in the sky as far as I was concerned.

We soon arrived in MEL and Passport Control/Customs were a breeze, and my bags were out quite quickly - as was I.

Overall - I don't think the WB compares to the BA J sleeper. As was so eloquently put by another FTer in another thread:

If you want to slepp - go BA J
If you want to be entertained, dined, wined and served well - go CX J.

I fear that the new QF WBs will be close in design to the CX WB - may force us OW FFers flying in BA J after an initial curious dally with QF J.

JetCity

Nice report. CX gets my vote for best service at any airline.

Speaking of salt/pepper shakers, I once appropriated a set of cute airplane shaped shakers from a Virgin Atalantic UpperClass flight some years ago. Days later I discovered a little note molded into the plastic on the bottom of each ... "Pinched from Virgin Atlantic". I love attention to detail!

B-HXB

Nice report.

The reason why you found some Y pax boarding through 1L is probably because the 2L bridge is withdrawn once the main economy class horde has boarded. So any late-boarding Y pax will have to go through 1L. Signs are pretty clear in the airbridge directing Economy pax to the second bridge, and F/J pax to the first one (of course, this assumes that people read the signs).

As for the salt and pepper shakers, you are aware they go for around USD17 in the inflight sales shop...

alect

Yes - became aware of them after the meal when perusing the inflight shopping catalogue.

daniellam

Just a note:

If you are flying J class (upperdeck) on the B747-400, it is actually faster to board through the 2L airbridge as the stairs are closer to that door. Also, it helps alleviate "first class envy" :-)