I think those used to CX's A350s would disagree with you. We love the current Cirrus seats, definitely the best reverse herringbone seats out there. AF's seats couldn't compared with CX's...
In terms of crew & food, unless AF is million miles ahead of its European counterpart, it is hard to believe it can even come close to Cathay.
For the lounge in HKG, QF lounge is less crowded simply because the Pier is better. No decent food available (other than cheesecake) out of the 2 or 3 hours before QF flight departure...

If we must pick a reason why the French prefer their own carrier relatively more than other Europeans, maybe it's just because they are generally more "xenophobic"? Like how they dislike English and proud of French is world famous, you can't find a French-speaking crew on CX right?