Reporting back. Picked BR, then booked CX for a follow-on flight due to significantly better pricing. Having flown both, my feeling was there is not a clear winner.

I had a good BR crew on the outbound, but on the return they were disinterested bordering on apathetic. CX crew was definitely more polished and professional (though CX is clearly understaffing the cabin). The layout of the 77W J cabin hurts CX here . . . the huge main cabin is just too big to be properly served with the number of FAs CX is assigning.

Hard product on the 77Ws is obviously very similar, though the CX version of the Cirrus seat felt better padded and adjusted to a better lounging position. Studio CX much better than BR IFE choices. Lack of slippers on CX was annoying.

I do prefer HKG for transit. BR lounges suck. Very crowded. Had to wait 90 minutes for a shower, and there was no toilet in the shower room. Additionally there was a horrific back up at transit security at TPE at 5 a.m., with probably over 500 pax in line. (I knew there was another checkpoint about 500 meters farther, and sure enough there was no line at all.)

Food was serviceable on both airlines. But no one ought to be picking either for the meal service.

Next time I would pick purely on price, and if price were the same, would probably choose CX for the more polished service, better lounges, and huge AS mileage accruals.