Subtitled, "I may move to Hong Kong so I never have to fly an American carrier again."

My wife and I just completed our first trip on CX, and it would be an understatement to say that this easily topped anything we have ever experienced on a US carrier.

We booked a flight using AA miles BOS-LAX-HKG-DPS on the way over, BKK-HKG-LAX-BOS on the return, with the US portion on AA F and the non-US portion on CX J. Despite our desperate phone calls every day to try to find space on the LAXHKG and HKGLAX in F, there was only one seat open. I still have the bruises from where my wife hit me when I jokingly suggested that I would visit her in business class. Although there were plenty of seats, none in first opened up.

After spending some time in LA, we decided to head over to the CX lounge. I had been warned that the CX lounge was a pit, but wasn't quite ready for the actual site of the lounge. Looked like a shoebox. An old shoebox. Since we are emerald, though, the woman at the lounge directed us to the first class lounge. We allowed ourselves a rookie mistake, since it was 2 am body time. Alas, a final phone call to AA assured us that, despite the fact that seats were open in F, CX had not released them.

The F lounge was small and a bit nicer. The Ghiradelli chocolates at the front were a big plus. We settled into the big chairs to watch TV when the woman in the lounge called us over. Turns out that J was overbooked, and since we were Emerald, we had been bumped to F, not only for LAXHKG but also HKGDPS, even though the latter flight had plenty of space in J. We got 4 D and G for both flights.

Needless to say, we were spoiled rotten. By the time we took off, it was 3 am LA time. I don't even remember taking off, although I must have woken up shortly after to adjust my seat into its full lie-flat position. I'm sure that the dinner was good, although I slept right through it. The seats have 22" of width, which meant that I practically had enough room to roll over easily. I was surprised, though, that they didn't offer pajamas. Unlike the US airlines, they actually offered the pre-flight drinks. Fresh squeezed orange juice, if you please.

The FA service was impeccable. I felt as if there was someone watching me just to see when I woke up so that they could run over and offer me something. I woke for a few minutes at one point only to have the FA come offer me an incredibly comfortable duvet that easily would have been hotel quality. The bathrooms were always clean and the flight attendants couldn't have done enough for us.

The IFE was also excellent. I think it took me about 20 minutes to read through all the different options, with more movies and television shows than I could watch in ten flights. Some of the movies were even good. I regretted even sleeping seven hours, since it took away from my time with the IFE.

We had a couple of hours to kill in HKG, so we went to the lounge (don't remember which one, but it was the more centerally located of the two). We sat down and had a quick breakfast, which they provided with table service. There were also a number of computers so we played on the internet for a while.

The Return

BKK-HKG was a 777 and we were back in J (sigh). Actually, the seat was just okay, but felt a little stiff to move around. The IFE kept breaking and needing to be reset, which is probably just a function of me, since I have the worst luck with IFE. Also, some of the channels were out. Still, the crew was excellent and there were certainly no real problems to complain about. The lounge in BKK was small but pleasant, with a couple of computers in the back. Not much in the way of food in the lounge.

HKG-LAX was fine. Turns out that J wasn't too different than F. We had a nice choice of meals (that I was actually up for) and I had the lamb with a decent cheesecake. The seat was lie-flat at an angle, but it was such a slight angle that I couldn't really feel it. The IFE was almost the same as the way over, but since I ended up sleeping most of the flight, it didn't matter. I did miss the duvet, though. As usual, my IFE broke, so they moved me into the aisle part of the 3 seats together in the 2-3-2 configuration. I tried to explain that my IFE always breaks, and that it was just my bad luck, but they seemed upset anyway.

Alas, all good things have to come to an end, but we're looking forward to burning more AA miles on CX.

Mike