There was a time, prior to CX's take over, when KA offered a consistently better service than CX. A time when the pain of travelling up North was eased by friendly crews, clean aircraft, and the feeling of being pampered for the last 2 hours (even in Y) before the door openned on the smelly, smoggy and long immigration qeues at PVG. A time when setting a foot on KA's A330 or L1011 at the time, was the first breath of HK service, a fresh dose of non censored news in the form of an SCMP copy, and a 2 hour relaxed and comfy flight out of mainland. A time when the "Elite" benefits, even as a blue were superior to anything CX could offer in to China. For frequent travellers to China, the CX integration was negative in most senses, with worse service, fewer and diluted FFP benefits, and a downward pace all over....
The old KA was and is missed....
Long live KA!