thank you for your replies! i didn't realize that the mod had kindly moved my thread to it's own thread to better suit the topic, hence my delay. thank you mod(s)!

i tried Korean Air a few times and had a very mediocre experience, especially during the layover transit times in Seoul. they told me that as my First Class round trip was a Delta code share ticket, that i was NOT allowed to use the First Class lounge! each and every time, they said the same thing, rather rudely on top of it all. they told me outright to buy the tickets directly via Korean Air if i want to use the First Class lounge. it didn't matter to them that all my boarding passes were obviously First Class and all my documentation was First Class all the way. yes, the Seoul to HKG was Business only, as it was an intra-Asia route, so no First Class option at all.

i think in terms of practicality, the direct CX jfk-hkg is the only option, no other choices at all.

might there be any reasons for being concerned if they decided to not buy parts from Boeing? then what? these few direct flights are all on Boeing 777 planes. in the general media, they have floated the possibility that not only are new planes canceled and no longer taking deliveries, but sometimes, even not buying parts was mentioned, iirc. this is concerning, right? or am i overly concerned? this is not my area of expertise at all and just thinking about not being able to buy parts for a Boeing 777 sounds not the best to me in terms of safety. how much are they willing to compromise before grounding the plane?

also, it's not as though Cathay is the same Cathay as pre-pandemic when they had many more planes! now, they are a much smaller company, and i don't know how much they have compromised or cut corners.

the above are my concerns.

in terms of service/cuisine, good enough is fine for me. though i do have severe dietary restrictions. may i ask if anyone might know how best to communicate dietary restrictions to Cathay in order to get the best chances of getting the dietary restrictions correctly?

thank you all!