brunos

I would avoid doing UK-AMS-HKG-DPS all in one go.
The five hours in the poor regional seat would be extremely painful after a long flight.
The new regional seat is less comfortable than the old one; but the AVOD is much better.

If you have a fare from Europe that allows a stopover in HKG, then that might be a bit better. If you have to pay for J on HKG-DPS, it makes little sense as food/wine and seat will be mediocre. Some time ago, CX used a LH plane and it was great to buy a package (hotel+flight) in J at reasonable price. Now I don't do it again. HX (Hong Kong airline) has three nonstop flights and one of them is usually with flat beds. But they are not so reliable. CX/KA had scheduled more flights to DPS but used to cancel some too, even without volcanic reasons. Their market share on the route has gone down dramatically.

Unterwegs

Just my 0.5 cents:
- For me it is almost impossible to sleep in these seats. And if I do I feel horrible afterwards. It is better than domestic F in the US or Europe and fine for a daytime flight, but i would avoid at nighttime flights or when connecting from a longhaul and I might want to sleep.

- DPS to SGN: MH often has good business class fares. Their seats on their regional planes are even worse than CX, but better than tiger or airasia etc in any case.

eponymous_coward

That's unfortunate and the KA flight that sometimes flies HKG-DPS doesn't really help you (only gives you two extra hours or so in HKG).

Can you schedule something like a 16 hour HKG layover (< 24 hours) and go AMS-HKG-SIN/SGN without hiking the fare? At least get some time in a hotel before you end up in a regional CX seat?

tropikey

Hi,

I'm doing similar flight in July/August. I'm flying with my wife for our 20th anniversary as follows: GDN-WAW-AMS in Y, then 1 night in AMS in Hyatt Place, then AMS-HKG-DPS in J (including new regional J) and after 3 nights on Bali DPS-LBJ in Y and Komodo for 9 nights. Afterwards, we return on the same route (including additional 2 nights on Bali but no extra night at AMS).
I don't see any reason, why HKG-DPS flight in J could be as bad as some people describe it. Come on, I'm sure it's far better than Y and Y+ and the flight is not that long. I think, the most important thing is to sleep as much as you can during AMS-HKG flight and to take advantage of all benefits of lounges at HKG (like nice shower). I hope, we'll be able to do so and therefore, we'll be in quite good condition to take the final leg to DPS and survive it :-)
Anyway, I'm very exited about flying in CX's J class and I'm pretty sure we won't be disappointed...

Best regards, Bartek

hphreak

Indeed most of us here probably dislike CX regional J simply because of a)CX's excellent long-haul J, and b) other Asian airlines' regional J offerings. It will be miles better than US domestic first and Club Europe.

SIN and BKK are definitely prone to equipment swap. Luckily I just came back from SIN yesterday and we were not swapped. Had the longhaul Cirrus J on the way back. But the HKG-SIN leg in regional J was less than preferable. It's not too bad if you have the 2-2-2 configs, especially for day flights, just lounge around (although I was still a bit sore afterwards). I think it's the way it angles, it doesn't take as much pressure off your body as some other seats could, maybe it's the lack of foot support. But if you're stuck in the middle of the 2-3-2 on the 777, on a full flight, then.. I guess you can take comfort in the fact that it's still better than domestic business/first :P I wouldn't sleep on them though, unless you are very tired and happened to fall asleep (sometimes I do).

DPS for 5 hours is somewhat stretching it, but it's still not bad I would say. Meal service will probably take up 2 hours already, so another 2 hours-ish to do whatever, excluding the 30min post-takeoff/pre-landing.

rienhart87

I've flown on this route before and I found the catering to be just so-so. Typical CX regional offering. I think the onboard catering suffices for the length of the flight, it's not bad but it's not spectacular either

You will get a welcome drink during boarding. After take off, there will be cocktail service with nuts distributed and your choice of drink. Champagne is available.

Lunch will be the usual 3-course meal: salad and starter will be served together. Then you can choose the main course. Cathay usually provides 3, though sometimes only 2. Then dessert which is cheese or fruit or cake. Sometimes you don't get those three and instead you get haagen dasz ice cream.

After that, no more catering service. You can still ask for drinks anytime but in terms of meal/snack, no more. So I suggest you eat more at their lounge

MSPeconomist

SQ has regional aircraft configurations and service on the DPS route, although it's not as long as from HKG.

ADDED. I'm not sure whether the flight still operates, but KLM used to fly SIN-DPS as a tag on continuation of their AMS-SIN flight, using a longhaul aircraft at a reasonable time.

KACommuter

Then go with CX. Those who complain about the regional J seat being scarcely better than premium economy are really making a mountain out of a molehill. It reclines a lot more than the PE seat, which only reclines a few inches more than Y seats. It is as wide as the older flatbed J seats for long haul on other airlines as the layout is 2-2-2 on an A330 and 2-3-2 on a 777.

CX has few regional flights longer than 4-5 hours so it's perfectly comfortable for that. And when these seats were deployed for some of the Indian sub-continent flights, I have slept the entire flight in them without difficulty.

rienhart87

Yes, KLM still flies SIN-DPS route. Fare is always fantastically low, even in J class. The caveat is this route is prone to aircraft substitution. You might end up in the old J class cabin that is arranged 2-3-2 with angled flat NEV 3 (same like Air France's). This flight is only slightly longer than 2 hours so it does not really matter whether you get a full flat bed or not.

NoStressHere

Based on some other posts, equipment changes happen often on regional.

Our upcoming MNL-HKG and HKG-ICN has seen a few changes over the past month. On my manage your booking page, it says equipment is a 772, but the seating chart is for the a340 - with the 1-1-1 in biz.

eponymous_coward

I actually sympathize with the OP's complaint. Leaving Europe during daytime and having the HKG-DPS flight during your body's wee hours be in a recliner that leaves your body at odd angles is sub-optimal. I don't sleep well (or really at all comfortably) sitting up; I prefer my sleeping surface pretty close to flat and sleeping on my side. That's just not happening in a recliner with 47" pitch, even with footrests.

Now, if this was a daytime flight (as far as OP was concerned), no problem (I'll cheerfully fly coach on 5 hour flights if there's decent seating). But I really despise recliners like this or coach seats on redeyes (which is the OP's complaint; as far as his body's concerned he's going to be flying it during redeye time).

Thus the suggestion to try and break up the flight enough in HKG to get sleep in a bed, so that the DPS segment is "daytime".

alphaod

It's better than economy.

miamiflyer8

The new regional business product sure is an improvement over the old one.

Jane's Addiction

CX Regional J is crap, but I would't pay 2x for an SQ routing to avoid it on a 4 hour flight to Bali (also I like the CX longhaul seat better than SQ longhaul)

Agent69

Many thanks for the various words of wisdom.

Think I've abandoned the idea of regional J to DPS, but one option would be SGN -AMS on the return leg. Only problem is that there is only 75 minutes transit time.

I need a flight out from UK to AMS to start my trek. Fortunately flights to AMS are plentiful and I can depart from my local airport (BRS) or take an extra 90 minutes up the motorway and fly from LHR. So the question is, if I miss my return connecting flight from HKG to AMS, will I :

1. have to wait a day in HKG for the next flight to AMS
2. get a seat on the HKG -LHR flight that leaves 45 minutes later, along with a connection from LHR to AMS
3. get on the LHR flight and be allowed to get off at LHR

If it's option 1 or 2 I am better off flying from BRS, otherwise a flight from LHR would suit