Originally Posted by westcoastman
I do not know for sure where I read the exact discussion on 883 vs. 881 but this is the reason I booked 881 almost one year ago for an upcoming trip. The feeling was 881 would be a nice backup if 883 got cancelled BUT 883 stops much more frequently for fuel. So I decided one year ago when I booked to sit around the airporttill after midnight to avoid the fuel stop. Hope my gamble pays off.
About a year or two ago when I was flying a lot of LAX-HKG, and we discussed this same issue in the thread....
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=378057
The consensus was that CX intentionally off loads cargo and passengers from the later 881 to 883 so as to not delay 881, since even if 883 makes a fuel stop in ICN or TPE the flight will still arrive in time for the morning connections, whereas 881 won't have this cushion.
So, if 881 is not "planned" to have a stop you will arrive in time, but if under extreme circumstances that 881 needs to stop, you'll most definitely miss you connection in the morning (particularly the BKK flight, where there's only afternoon flights at 2:30PM after 713 departs)........