Originally Posted by
UnitedSkies
I, too, flew CX (LAX-HKG in J) late fall, and found that the catering was quite disappointing. What was your experience, especially in regard to how entrees were plated and the quality of the food? I was very surprised, and found SQ to be light years ahead of CX.
This difference may be due to staffing levels. I have only flown Regional Business Class on CX, and my experience (especially on the 777-300 which has 56 Business Seats) is that the service is assembly-line like. Entrees are not plated on board, but served in casserole dishes, beverage refills were limited, and no post meal or pre-landing beverage service was offered (on a 4 hour trip from BKK to BOM). We had turbulence, so per CX policy, hot beverage service was suspended, but the F/As didn't bother offering a water/juice service instead.
To offer quality service and to individually plate entrees would likely require more F/As. When I've flown both long haul Raffles and regional Business Class on SQ, F/As are always running around serving me, and the meals are always nicely presented (regional meals may be pre-plated, but they end up looking nicer - maybe because the dishes are bigger?).
I remember getting about 5 refills of green tea (each time in a fresh cup) flying SIN-KIX, all within about a 20 minute interval. So does anyone know if SQ staffs more F/As than CX for a comparably sized cabin?