In no particular, those airlines with a current F product (newest version of respective F) definitely better than CX F overall:

- Emirates
- Qatar Airways
- Singapore Airlines

Airlines with F product that may be better than CX F depending on personal perferences, in no particular order:

- ANA
- Japan Airlines
- Asiana Airlines
- Qantas Airways
- Ethiad Airways

I think when you consider this list, there are at least 8 other airlines whose current F can best CX on any given day. Notice among these carriers, there are 4 Asian carriers. All except ANA, has introducted their new F in the last 18 months or so.

Equipment wise and in terms of the seat, I think CX F is very competitive. What it comes down to and this has really hurt CX is the downgrade of soft products and the service level along with it. For example, serving farmed caviar compared to others who still use very high quality & expensive caviar is a significant difference to those who care about it. Even if you don't care for caviar, what about champagne? CX rarely carries Krug or something equivalent or better. This again puts CX a step below its competitors. In general, the CX F catering is relatively weak these days against most of these airlines. On a typical and recent CX F menu, the same dish is recycled 3 times within a same menu but named differently:


Why is beef served 3 times in the same menu in F? Notwithstanding there are many people who don't eat beef, if you look at the Main Meal, for a non-beef eating F pax, there is only ONE choice available and that is the vegetarian dish of ravioli. Does that make any sense to you? Both the $20 Chinese Favorites (how ironic, I wouldn't call a cheap set like this, "favorites") and one of the only western dishes = non-eatable for non-beef F pax. So the same pax now skips the main meal because beef is not good, guess what's served for snacks? More beef! You can always have some pre-packaged ice cream like Y pax I guess... And this is for a 13 hours flight. If I were on this flight, I'd be completely pissed off. But if you listen to some of the CX apologists here, the "Real F pax" don't eat. Right, those who eat are "fake F pax" I guess.

And when you are going to fly those ultra-long haul like JFK-HKG non-stop, you better have an extensive snack list. With CX, the snack list is a joke, some carrier's Business class snack list is more extensive and interesting than the noodle soup served by CX on almost every flight.

All these food/beverage and amenities cutbacks really add up. Then there is service, which is highly contingent upon what crew you get. With the talk about a demotivated cabin crew and their poor pay, it is not surprising that some seem to be careless. Against the 8 airlines listed above, CX F service, although good in general, may simply not be good enough when compared to others' more consistent and professional service. You don't ever see ANA F FAs drop a smile or even make a mistake. They are incredibly consistent like clockwork nor will you ever have a problem of them congregating in F galley and chatting loudly. Instead, your every single need is anticipated. For example, you sniffed, one would immediately come over with a package of kleenex. You want to go to washroom, before you even reach there, they are already there to open the door for you. You want to get yourself a drink and as soon as you get up, one already offers to bring one to you. All this, while you never actually see them or feel intruded. How they manage it? It's anybody's guess on how they do it. But that's the kind of competition that CX is up against. So instead of cutting here and there, CX needs to strive to improve itself or else its F is going to go down the same miserable path that BA F suffers, once great but not anymore.