I knew this would be a great TR the moment I read your snippets of conversations with friends/ family. Something to relate to

Great report and great pictures - CX F looks like something I need to try out. I was in CX Y a few weeks back to HKG, and while the hard product is quite poor (on those 'new' seats), the service was impressive. My IFE didn't work, and after the FA couldn't sort it out, the Y cabin purser came over, and when she couldn't do anything, the Inflight Manager eventually helped sort it out.

As for check in at HKG - I don't think it is specific to any airline, but the airport in general. Having checked in on Thai (in F) and with a friend checking in on China Eastern (in J), I found the staff to be quite blunt in general.

And I also thought the UA lounge was much nicer than the SilverKris lounge in HKG - at least in terms of food and beverage. I'm not a big fan of SQ (in J), so I'm looking forward to reading what you have to say about the F experience.