Great comments
 

Good replies. Have never flown CX J long haul so I thought I'd give them a try (flew their J Asia regional A330 and it was great). That said I have read legions of sites, incl. FT, re: degradation of CX J soft product, particularly the food and quality and the bizarre mid-flight TPAC meal service. I wonder if CX listens to customers or even bothers to have their head office read what customers are saying about their airline's service. How difficult would it be for the CX CEO to simply write a one sentence order to start serving the second meal 2.5 hours before landing?! Do they need a pen and paper, a computer to get that order change made? Very bizarre things taking place at CX, strange. I'm wondering if CX really has a future once HKG becomes fully part of communist China. It seems that they're already taking down the airline in preparation for its closing. Sad. Is it true that Air China has a stake in CX? Here's hoping that a CX F seat comes open.

agree. CX J food is not the same league compare to AA on the main course. (8-10 years ago, I would say the opposite) However, I would pick CX mid-flight snack, compared to AA cold dishes..

Well this thread just scared the hell out of me. Wife and I are heading to SE Asia while kids are in camp in July. Thought we'd go LAX-HKG on CX J, HKG-NRT CX J, and NRT-LAX AA J. Should I be choosing different metal? Was going to use AA miles for the end flights and Avios for the middle. Thanks.

I'm sure there's more discussion in the CX forum, but my recollection is that they've gone back and forth on this, sometimes varying by route, and apparently based on feedback.
The majority here seem to think the second full meal shortly before arrival makes the most logical sense, so I'm not sure who's providing the contrary feedback...

Maybe keep an eye out for JL space? Or if AA still has DFW-HKG see if you want to deal with the backtrack?

Or another option would be a third city like PVG. Lots of awards to PVG were available on AA not too long ago. From there you can connect on KA to HKG. KA's food is still supposedly good.

I was on a CX flight last Sunday from HKG-ORD in J and was not impressed with the overall product except wonderful FAs. They were very cheerful and willing to work (unlike most of the AA Intl FAs). The quality and portions of food compared to AA were a minus IMO.

How is the 788 in J on the HND-LAX route or 777 NRT-LAX route vs. the 772 in J?

You know I think my colleagues think I'm nuts for preferring AA J on the 77W vs. CX. I'm glad to see others who agree that in spite of the inconsistent cabin service @ AA, on food and climate control AA come out ahead.

So CX is so poor compared to AA that it would be better to do LAX-PVG-HKG? That is available, but obviously gets in hours later w/ extra flying.

Well it's up to you if you value the few extra hours saved by flying CX vs the theoretically (I can't believe I'm typing this) better product on AA. Was just putting it out there as an option, that's it. If your goal is simply to reach HKG as quickly as possible, hard to argue with CX. The seat is still comfortable and the IFE is decent enough.

This is actually interesting: Why is it that the CX J regional product is (considering the flight durations ) so much better than their long haul? Whether CX or KA ( Dragonair, soon to be renamed Cathay Dragon), I only have had flawless experiences with good food, a perfectly adequate seat for the distance and the same IFE as CX. If you add that the KA FAs are younger, more enthusiastic and invariably impeccable, CX has remained an excellent regional airline. Two hour sectors like HKG - Shanghai are still a world service benchmark.

Apologies to Mods if this seems a more suitable post for the CX forum than for AA

I don't think regional CX J was any better. I find it to be worse than their long haul J. Those god-awful dim sum they always like to serve. I'm always shocked to see people eat those. If you go to Ranch 99, pick up one of those assorted frozen dim sum bag for $3 bucks and microwave it yourself, it will taste 10x better than CX food. Completely inedible.

I heard they are in the process of changing the food to something more local and authentic. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Aren't these flights staffed by CX's YVR-based crews? They are no match to their HKG-based primarily Filipino counterparts who are incredibly hard-working and gracious.

The F cabin crew on my last JFK-YVR flight was terrible--lazy, rude, and nearly incompetent.

Well now that we're off topic already - I swear I've seen it posted on the CX forum here (or maybe on a.net?) that KA uses a different caterer and now has noticeably higher standards than CX. Coming to think of it, the chicken curry we had on KA HKT-HKG was far tastier than anything I've ever had on CX, even in F.

I might give the edge to AA over CX on the 77W, but the 788 seat on LAX-PVG is inferior (although I do like the 788 as a plane). I would not go out of my way to connect in PVG.

However, JL J is quite excellent, and I may consider doing LAX-NRT-HKG to fly SkySuites, have wifi, and eat Japanese food--warm cabins notwithstanding.