New regional business class - is it that bad?
 

I live in UK and am thinking of a trip to SE Asia later in the year for my 60th.

It's easy for me to get to AMS, where CX have some cracking fares. I was hoping to start in Bali and then work my way back up for a flight back from BKK. The main flight AMS - HKG is fine, but there is a 5hr leg HKG - DPS in new regional business class.

New regional business may be better than old regional business, but it does get a bit of stick with it's 2 - 3 - 2 angle flatish layout. Is it just PE by another name, or do I have a reasonable chance of getting some sleep on the flight?

Depends on your frame of reference. Compared to European and US business class, it's better. Compared to long haul CX it's terrible. Personally I think it's better than premium economy.

Like everything it also depends on your fellow passengers. I've been on absolutely awful long haul Cathay flights in J surrounded by screaming kids and parents who don't care but also on absolutely packed regional J (2 in the last few days) where actually the whole experience was rather nice as everyone just kept quiet and read their media or watched a film.
I think regional J is fine for 3-4 hours especially as sxc says your reference point is European "J".

I wouldn't want to take regional J though for a 5 hour flight where I "needed" to sleep, especially overnight. Daytime is fine.

It's miles better than any European J class. People just moan because its nowhere CX long haul J and other Asian airlines do regional business better.

IMO new regional business is a good seat but not a good bed. Pretty good for you to work / watch movie, but quite difficult to get some good sleep.

To/from dps are daytime flights. New regional is more tolerable if sleeping or snoozing not contemplated

The HKG - DPS flight departs about 3am UK time, so I assume I will still be in sleep mode.

I could fly SIN out and BKK back (lie flat all the way), but then I would have to get down to DPS and back again. I would like to try CX, but don't want to pay J rates for a PE experience.

If the idea of a recliner as part of a J fare at a time you'd like to be sleeping is anathema to you, I'd probably try and take a layover in HKG, then maybe fly a daytime flight to DPS or SIN.

Given that DPS-HKG is during the day Bali time, maybe open-jaw AMS-HKG-SIN//DPS-HKG-AMS? The recliner is probably OK for a daytime flight.

My understanding is neither BKK nor SIN is "sticky" for longhaul equipment (decent chance of an equipment sub last minute even if CX says your flight has longhaul at the moment).

I wouldn't have a problem with the recliner during the day if my body was working on HKG times.

I was looking at last week of October and first 3 weeks of November. At this time the weather in Bali is getting worse and the weather in Thailand is getting better.

To maximise the chance of sunshine I need to get to Bali early, and then hopefully a week on the beach in Thailand later on.

If I was paying for J, and didn't care about program, I would route via SIN on SQ. It's just a better routing. If I wanted to accrue in OW, or had some other reason to fly CX, I wouldn't hesitate to book CX regional J. As others have stated, it's a less comfortable seat than long-haul, but it's not exactly torture and there are plenty of other reasons to like CX, including the service, AVOD, and the lounges at HKIA.

CX is about £1400, SQ twice the price.

I am on this route in May- what can I expect in terms of in flight catering?


Thanks

Easiest way to do that is to take a stop and a hotel room in HKG, probably.

If you don't take this flight on CX in J, what are your other options?

I worked in HKG back in the 80's, and wouldn't mind visiting again.Only problem is any stopover adds £1k to the airfare.

I don't have a fixed itinerary, just 3 - 4 weeks holiday to visit 3 - 4 countries. I was in Bali about 5 years ago and would like to visit again. I had in mind something like DPS, SIN, SGN, BKK.

An alternative would be to fly to SIN, have a few days sightseeing and then Air Asia to DPS. It then becomes a bit of an issue to get to SGN as there are no direct flights, and I would prefer to avoid 7hrs in the company of Tiger Airways.