Originally Posted by
jah718
Hi all, I am based in Shanghai and I have flown quite a bit in CX J. I usually select CX over KA, because CX use a large amount of their long haul A330's on the PVG route.
As CX/KA are sold interchangeably, at least to Shanghai, I assumed that the onboard product would be the same. Yesterday I took my first KA flight from HKG - PVG and I noticed quite a lot of difference.
- No champagne offered on KA as PDB
- Different drinks options, Taittinger champagne instead of Billecart
- No hot towels on KA, just horrible smelling wipes
- No introduction from flight deck, every CX flight I have taken has featured an intro from the captain.
- Different menu on KA, I quite liked the Asian Delights option that changes every day. I thought the food was in general better than my recent experiences on CX.
- IFE on KA did not tell you how long was left on the flight (this could be isolated)
- I thought the service on KA was much warmer and friendlier than my experiences on CX.
I just thought it was strange that there was these small differences between them. Surely they have the same suppliers in HKG and it would be more cost effective to have a uniform service. Also, CX/KA operate a lot of flights to Shanghai and it seems strange to differentiate.
One other question, why would anyone pay for F on KA, when they can get the same seat on J on CX?
Originally Posted by
jah718
I have had 7 flights between PVG - HKG in the past 6 months, all long haul J.
Flights were: CX365, CX367, CX360, CX369, CX364, CX369, CX360
I usually try to pick the long haul J, I get that there are flights with regional J too.
As one always have 7 round trips between HKG and PEK / PVG every quarter, I'd say while I also always try to book CX with long haul equipment whenever I fly J, equipment always change last minute. Most recent example is my CX368 departing this Monday... Was a 33E until last minute it becomes a 33P... So there's no guarantee you can get the long haul product nowadays... (Seems CX332/1 to PEK has a higher chance of getting long haul equipment...)
For the two bolded items they should be the same for both CX and KA (save for KA's 320)... Others... Mostly agree
Re KA's F, you'll get vastly superior service from KA F v. CX J... You may give it a try