No drink until entree. Standard?
 

Was on CX 845 the other night (the 130am departure JFK-HKG). I recall in the past there being no pre-dinner beverage/cocktail snack service on this flight. But last night the appetizer tray was served with water. Then nothing. Then the entree was plated and only then were drinks offered. Is this the service standard on this flight or a lazy crew? Honestly, I find the lack of proper dinner service on this flight to be pathetic as a general matter but not having cocktails offered before or with an appetizer is even more sub-par.

Did they refuse your request for a drink when you asked?

For the most part, service on flights departing in the middle of the night try to keep the intrusions to a minimum because most people want as little interruption as possible.

But, if you aren't one of those people, just ask. If you didn't ask....

Cabin?

Likely J. OP mentions the appetizer tray and a separate plated entree.

I'm not sure what CX's technical protocol is, but from experience that's the ISM's gametime call. Some ISMs try to keep service very quiet on late-night flights. Count me as someone who appreciates it when they do. I CX fly ex-US every ~6 weeks, mainly on late night flights and I prefer the minimalist service in J as I'm usually trying to sleep. I will have already eaten dinner in SFO, LAX or JFK, and usually pass on food unless I'm in F.

Fyi, a full service in J on a normal flight can go up to 2.5 hours after takeoff, and is tough to complete before 90 minutes have elapsed after takeoff. And a fast service full service is a loud service, plus the cabin lights must be kept on during the service. It's a matter of preferences but I suspect I'm not the only one who prefer the lights off and quiet as fast as possible.

On CX, the crew expect you to use the flight attendant call light for servicing needs. It was an adjustment that took some getting used to when I moved from the US - where use of the call light seems to be shunned - to HK, where you are expected to use it proactively for your food and drink needs. It's not considered rude or impolite to use the call light, rather on a flight like yours the crew is probably fully expecting pax who want a little more to bang away at it.

Now...if they would only stop the droning announcements in multiple languages during turbulence...but that's another issue.

I generally avoid CX redeye flights, as they really cut back on services. As I always say, there is an express service option and if you want to maximize rest, you can request that service.

Anyway, I went back to my logs, and the last redeye I had on CX was February 2012 on CX 255 from HKG to LHR. There is an initial beverage service with almonds first, followed by appetizer tray (no salad), and then entree, and then a combined dessert/fruit/cheese service, followed by tea/coffee and pralines.

I think your crews on CX 845 definitely does not follow the manual, unless CX has changed their redeye flights recently. Some crews might take all the meal orders prior to takeoff, so service can go more efficiently. But JFK at that hour is not busy at all so they might not have time to do it prior to takeoff. However I find it a bit bizarre that there is no beverage trolley immediately following the starter tray. That is not usual. Even if they may cut the cocktail service with mixed nuts, I can't imagine them cutting the beverage service following the passing of first course. The beverage trolley should be set up prior to any main meal services. I will write or drop a note with CX.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

Carfield

Strongly agree with this, and there is no point for pax to eat up faster so that they can fold away the table and get to bed earlier because sometimes FA's may only do one round of collecting dishes for each course, and also they do wait till most (if not all) pax to finish the entire meal first before lights are all killed. Taking the expedited dinner choice isn't really going to help if you hope to sleep in ASAP. I personally don't like sleeping with eye shades so that is not an option. Night time dinner service IS indeed too long.

My last two CX red eyes (CX 101 HKG-SYD 2135 departure) and (CX 138 SYD-HKG 22:20 departure) certainly had a full dinner service after take off; with an option to skip to main/dessert or skip dinner altogether if I wanted to sleep right away.

Both flights also had a fairly regular breakfast service before arrival, which, in case of CX138 (and its often earlier than scheduled arrival into HKG) involves eating a full breakfast at 0300 local!

Eye shades (and ear-plugs, and wine, and pills) are pretty much a must for me.

Perhaps you could get some better eye-shades (I use ones with contours around the eyes and nose, something like this, and they're extremely comfortable). Even if you can wait out the cabin lights, someone (possibly me) would open the window shades and wake you.

This is standard for CX.

They first dress the table and give you the tray with the first dish and salad. Then they come around with the trolley with the choice of main dish and wines.
I do not like that either. As you basically have no wine to drink for your first dish.
You can call but the crew is very busy preparing the hot dishes in the kitchen and setting the table with the first dish, so not really available. A couple of times, I got the answer: "it's coming" pointing to the trolley coming out of the kitchen (but it will take many minutes before reaching my row). Then I insist forcefully and get the wine.

When there is a preliminary cocktail/drink/nuts service, I load on wine in anticipation of lack thereoff with salad and first dish.
On late flights with no cocktail service, I specifically ask for a glass of wine when the linen table cover is set so that I have one when the meal arrives.

I do not like that CX standard procedure of not serving wine with the first dishes. But I have adapted.

I like to have wine paring up with each course, so sometimes I just ask for 2 glass of wine in one go.

You dont say what cabin you are in but I dont think in business class I have ever not been offered pre take off drinks and as soon as they can they are running around with the drinks trolley pre dinner service and when serving the first course I always ask for something they dont have on the trolley and they send someone back to fetch it right away. If for any reason they didnt do this I would simply ask the FA for a drink and I am certain it would be on my table within a minute or two. I think the secret to this is asking.

Last time I flew in J, I was given a drink before the appetizer but was not given nuts. I thought it was weird but didn't really feel like asking for them and just had another 2 drinks before the meal came out.

I definitely hear you on keeping disruption minimal and sleeping on red eye flights. But CX 845 isn't a typical red-eye flight. Its a 15+ hour flight and passengers seeking to adjust quickly to Asia time should stay awake as long as possible on that flight. I tend to make it until 5 a.m. before I have to succumb to sleep and then pop my ambien to get a full 8 hours. A full dinner service on that flight would be appreciated to give passengers something to do to try and stay awake as long as possible. This isn't JFK-LHR with a flying time of 6 hours or something where passengers often want to sleep from take off to touch down.

Noted about the call button. I am used to the American FA's disdain for it. That said, that doesn't make the service standard ok. Just like the salt and pepper.

To the poster who asked if I asked for wine, I didn't. I assumed when my tray was dropped off that wine would soon follow. Instead no one showed up for 20 minutes until the mains came. I was in 11K so there were no FAs passing my row either.

That's in your opinion. For others, a 2am departure might be quite late to them already....and some, if not most, might just prefer heading straight to bed.