I am relocating to HK in august and will be flying on CX883 LAX-HKG in F! I'm sure this topic has been covered before(don't know how to search for just the letter F!), but do you guys have any suggestions for maximizing my experience in F?

Do any of you guys end up pigging out on the food, spend most of your time sleeping, etc? I read they give you a pair of pajamas, I guess you go into the bathroom to change into them? Are there any other tips/tricks I should know? Really looking forward to it, thanks for any info you guys can offer!

Happy 4th everyone!

Of course, eat as much as you want, drink some fine champagne and sample the wines, watch movies or listen to music, whatever you desire, (within reason) until you succumb to sleeping in your comfy lie-flat bed in the sky. Enjoy yourself to the utmost extreme. Isn't that what F is all about ? More than a ride from here to there!
Oh yeah, please change in the lav.
There are some trip report with photos & menus on here that will show you what to expect.
Also, welcome to FT.

...and eat whenever you want. Enjoy the top-class IFE as well.

Recent threads on the same topic:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...hkg-lhr-f.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...ze-jetlag.html

As others have said, eat whenever you want, drink as much as you can (Body Permitting of course, although go for the 8 bottles of Dom if you got the guts to challenge other FTers.)


I recently just wrote my trip report on CX 883 First Class, look at part 4. If you have photo loading trouble, click on the individual post, it seems to be easier for photos to be load that way
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...nior-year.html

And have a fun flight, you won't want to get off the plane!

The food on CX F is nice, the wine is also nice. The IFE is great (although this applies to any class in an aircraft with CX Studio).

But I think the real clincher for CX F is to just enjoy the service. The service is often quite sincere, and they really make you feel very special.

My wife and I look forward to our F experience SFO-HKG later this summer. Thanks for this advice!

Check out the trip report forum for some great descriptions on flying in F. Here's one example: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...-bkk-sq-f.html

The main forum page is here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports-177/

Go for a walk down back to see what you are missing out, then go up front and enjoy your champagne.

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_...ls/wineanddine
They dont serve Dom its Krug as anyone who into Champers will tell is well different

Welcome to Flyertalk, benjaminm3 !

The best thing is not to expect anything nor read anything in advance but to just enjoy the experience. Otherwise you'll be wondering why you didn't get this or do that... cos sometimes a certain dish or item isn't loaded and you're expecting it.

I'll tell you one of my best expectations... I was expecting a great meal when I boarded for my HKG-MEL flight in F. When the flight took off, I dozed off... and then I heard clinking of dishes etc. Next thing I knew I was being woken up.. as the plane was coming to land! The cabin crew will not wake you unless advised.

Oh well...

haha so true been there and done that. I flew 2 weeks ago HKG AMS having eaten in the F restaurant lounge I got on board and went straight to sleep after take off as we were delayed about 90 min, and was woken for landing.

If you like Champagne, then CX F is a great place to be. I did a trip over NY 2009/2010 to SFO and back and was the only person in F on the outbound. I can't say I matched the 8 bottles of Dom man (my HERO!) but I worked my way through three of them and enjoyed the best service in the air ever. The crew gave me two bottles of Krug to take with me at the end because they said they'd kept some handy for the descent because I seemed to be rather fond of it. This was just after the underpant bomber incident so I was confined to my seat 1 hour before landing but this was no hardship with a constantly refilled glass of Krug.

Since then I've had two op ups to F from J albeit not alone and enjoyed it just as much. There really is a world of difference from J to F, especially where the food is concerned. Personally I think the food in CX J is absolute slop which surprised me.

I'm quite fond though of the Billecart-Salmon they serve up in J so I usually just have a liquid dinner, pop a sleeping pill and snore my way across the Pacific. I love CX F so much I've upgraded my next trip to SFO using miles. Bring on the Krug!

At retail price of $16K-$26K (US, long-haul) there better be a world of difference...

Well the key with CX F is to sleep around to maximise your awake time to enjoy the experience. For this CX883 is not the most ideal flight - on the west coast transpacs I prefer CX885/CX879 as this means after a full night's sleep in a hotel I get to stay awake for all if not most of the flight, and then crash once I reach HK.
However when availibility or schedule has forced me to take the overnighters I like to do the following:
1) Take an afternoon or evening nap that day
2) Enjoy relaxed supper on board and watch a few movies. Probably stay up for the first 7hours of the flight, help myself to the snack menu before taking a nap. Get around 5 hours of sleep and then enough time to enjoy breakfast freshen up and land - not too jetlagged on arrival that way.


Either way - enjoy the experience like most others have said - have no expectations, make conversations with the crew - they always respond to friendly / less uptight customers with a lot of warmth and are willing to go out of their way for you if you are friendly.
I often do little things to ease their burden - for example if I am in doubt between two main courses I ask them how their catering load is and suggest that I'd be ok with either a or b, if they are running low. 99% of the time I still get my first choice and they are so touched with the gesture that they really go out of their way for me.

Enjoy CX F - you'll be quite spoiled after that...

Hmmm...... That hadn't occurred to me as a strategy, but I'll definitely consider it!!!