I'm planning a trip to Tokyo, and was thinking to fly with CX instead of JAL.
Am also still thinking whether I should buy the ticket in economy (which works out at Ł350) or take out a reward flight via BAEC (I really wanted to try one way in business), but use as least points as possible by paying more taxes, and eventually buying the rest of points. As I need to save as many avios points possible to use in a future 2-4-1

Just wondering if anybody can give me an idea which planes are used, and if I take a reward flight in business class, which is the flight where they use the reverse herringbone seats? Is it worth spending it for the experience?

I saw that buying a business class flight is very expensive, so that was out of the question, what are the chance of upgrades?

Will explain in detail once i head home but mknd you i don't think you can mix class with CX in one ticket except some routes except redemptipns.

thank you! I think through reward it's possible, to go one way in economy and the other way in business class. It was something like 30000 avios, but I really wanted to push it down as lowest as possible by pay more more taxes and make it up with avios. if that was the case. but only if it's worth it for a 4/5 hours flight

if you are referring to buying the ticket, then I have no idea as I only flown once CX to SIN in economy will wait for your reply

CX524/CX504/CX450 almost always have the inferior regional J product. Not worth it.
CX548 is the 'prime' flight, perhaps the most important regional flight for Cathay, and the happiest FAs (longest layover, best config to work in). But the main meal is breakfast.
CX520 seems to have reverse herringbone all the time, but not as guaranteed as 548. Lunch service but the FAs are quite stressed since it's one of the longest same-day turns they do (aka no allowance).
CX500/CX542 is primarily comprised of Japanese pax so it's a lot more quiet and orderly. But reverse herringbone is a mixed bag and definitely don't count on it too.

tldr; 548 or 520.

PS you can do mixed class for revenue or Avios award booking.

PPS somehow, CX is very popular among the Japanese. Don't count on upgrades happening. The exception may be the red eye 524 but the J product is inferior anyway.

Thanks for this, it's very useful!! If i were to take out a reward, I was going to avoid the regional CX business class, as I saw it and doesn't look special at all. On another hand, I booked my J flights to HKG but on BA A380 as I was swayed by the triple points offer, but was so tempted to try CX for the seats.

That's why I thought to try it on my flight to Tokyo (or back to HKG). is there any way to be as sure as possible, by selecting seats while booking it? if I were to book it via BAEC using avios, do I get the booking on my BA app, or CX app??

Let us start with using Avios both ways in economy class with CX -- this works out to be around 20,000 Avios plus Ł50 of taxes and fess. Given the cash ticket costs Ł350 your Avios will worth 1.5p, which is not too bad. I can not price mixed class for cash ticket between HKG-TYO on CX website but I can tell you you are using the Avios points well either way.

The part pay with Avios should work very well With mixed class redemption you can still pay 15000 Avios plus Ł172.50. I will say this is a very good price. Just think it in the way that you are paying more taxes and fees this time!

I don't really look into which flight number offers long-haul config. but rather I look for clues on the BA redemption page. If I see premium economy available and it is a B777 then I know for certain that you will get a flat bed for the 5 hours flight back to Hong Kong. This trick should work for A333s too.

Not quite because CX does put the A33E on certain TYO rotations too.

CX548/CX549 rotation to Haneda is 100% guaranteed long haul product (unless there is a rare rare exception like a typhoon, but you get what I mean), for the rest, there's still some variance possible. When you book through BAEC, the booking ref is the same as what you enter on CX website. You may try to do a dummy cash booking to take a look at the seat map using CX website, but even if so last minute swaps can still happen (with the exception of CX548/549).

thank you guys! both very helpful

So the CX549 would be the morning flight, I'll try and see if I can work it out, and confirm a seat as well during booking. I guess it would show on the map like on BA.

Last but not least, do you guys think it's worth it for the experience? Or I shouldn't bother?

I've booked the HND and NRT flights in J/F using Avios numerous times and always felt it was worth it. The HKG lounges are great. You get the best deal using the pay with cash + Avios option.

I'm BA silver so overall I can get into the lounges, I do really enjoy the HKG lounges! thanks for your two cents!

I'll definitely consider booking using avios

Definitely worth spending the money using avios, as I checked the business fares if I wanted to pay, and they are Ł1700-1800 return. It's so much money!!!

by the way, am I better off going from/to NRT or HND?

If you're visiting Tokyo, HND is much easier transit as it's considerably closer to the city. It's also got a very cool over-water approach NRT is mostly for international connections.

HND swamps NRT because of its proximity and lounges. The FAs are also a lot happier to work on HND route.

As for avios redemption, this is one of the biggest bargains across the whole oneworld network. I usually maximize the avios and money options and sometimes get excellent value of less than $0.01 usd per avios for the copay portion (using HKG based account).

Unfortunately for CX548/549 the catering is done in HKG. But I feel like us here moaning about how bad the catering is is because we fly CX too much; if you seldom do, it'll be okay.

haha why unfortunately? is it better from Tokyo? Overall, Ideally, I was thinking to go business on the way back from Tokyo/HKG

Thanks guys, I think I'll take the plunge

I flew this route offen, 520 genernally has better service than 548.