I heard that the first class seat pitch may be different in the 747 vs. A340. I am talking about the old 1st class seats without the new Betsy beds. Does anyone have any information on this? I am planning to travel on CX within the next two weeks and want to see which route to take. Any tips would be helpful.

Thanks.

Hi bagold,

CX's F-class on Boeing 747-400 has 60 inches of legroom and has about 18 seats per aircraft.

CX's F-class on Airbus A340-300 has 72 inches legroom with more recline, but it has a 2-2-2 seating (instead of the usual 2-1-2 seating). The extra legroom is to compensate the slightly decreased width. Not much though.
There are 12 seats on A340.

Have a good trip!

Carfield

Hi Carfield,

thanks for your help... now I am trying to figure out whether I should still gamble and book myself on the 747 route from HKG-LAX and hope they change to the Betsy plane last minute, or just to take the A340 route from HKG-SFO. My final destination is SFO.

It is certainly quite a difficult decision to make, especially LAX-HKG may or may not have the Betsy seats. I personally like the A340s much, but SFO-HKG has a slightly longer flying time, compared to SQ or UA's Boeing 747 flight. Also, SFO is a pretty new destination for CX and it does not have its own lounge facilities.

I personally like LAX better because it is more established and CX has its own lounge. Most of the staffs are kind to premium class passengers and Boeing 747 is still the Queen of the Skies. But the extra 12 inches legroom featured in A340 is a pretty good deal.

However, connecting from SFO to LAX can be a nightmare. Those AA or Shuttle flight can delay for long hours. You may save yourself much trouble by flying the SFO-HKG nonstop.

In terms of catering service, you get the a la carte dining for all the redeye or late night departure flights. The meals are pretty much the same.

You can call CX and check again to see if the Betsy seats are available. If not, I will stay with the SFO-HKG nonstop.

Have a safe trip!

Carfield

[This message has been edited by Carfield (edited 03-17-2000).]

Or dump CX and go SQ!

SQ's beds in First Class are actually quoite short. If you're over 6', the beds will seem very confining to you.

CX is hurrily putting beds on its LAX route. The official launch for full beds will be in late April but there have been a few flights where the beds are being flown even now. You need to ask CX to check each day. However, there are days when CX can have sudden change of aircraft.

Still, I find service and food on CX better than SQ.

CX web site--flight skeds section--can give you an idea as to which flights have Betsy. They list as 74B, if I remember correctly. YVR is a pretty good bet, at least for April.

Carfield,

Thanks for all the information and advice. Right now I have decided to go SFO-LAX-HKG in a few days as CX does have the Betsy beds on the LAX-HKG route!!! And I'll be returning HKG-SFO since it is a shorter flight back and HKG-LAX don't have the beds on the day I come back.

I will let you know how it goes...

As for SQ, I like CX because it is part of OneWorld... and when SQ joins the *A, then maybe I will fly them... amazing how these alliances influence what you fly!

Hi Bagold,

Make sure you register yourself at the Maximizer promotion with CX. You can get 25,000miles bonus if you fly a roundtrip between HKG and SFO/LAX/YVR/JFK. It is a good deal. Make sure you register with AA before flying...

Have a good flight! Let us know how the flights go!

Carfield

To bagold's point, it is amazing how many times I flew IB last year due to oneworld. I have flown J class on both CX and SQ and even though SQ has such a "high" reputation for service I do not believe their level of service is any better. I am flying CX from YYZ to HKG in F (A340) so I will have to compare J to F.

As it turned out, CX changed the 747-400 from the Betsy plane to their old configuration 747 at the last minute. So my trip from SFO-LAX just to catch the Betsy plane (LAX-HKG) turned out to be a waste!

According to the chief stweardess, the old configuration had fewer J class seats, so they had to upgrade some people to F class, and downgrade some to Y class! So it looks like I wasn't the only unhappy person!

transborder, please report your impressions after your flight.

How many different configurations does CX have for its 747-400s? I've flown on 3 recently (alas none in F/P).

They seem to imply they use the new configuration on the JFK-YVR route as of last December. These are the ones where J class comes all the way back to No. 3 door, and the Y seats have individual TV.

Due to low demand after the X'mas hols, they used the old configuration where J class ended up between No 2 and 3 door (or at No. 2 door) with no individual videos in Y.

Didn't notice what they had on the NRT-HKG in Feb. as I was upstairs. These planes are supposed to be the new P/F with beds.

I just flew HKG-LAX on CX First in the old configuration. Aside from the seat , the service is second to none and is the best there is - I find CX so much better than SQ. Food is plentiful and good. Service excellent. I chose this flight because it arrived at LAX at noon compared to 730pm for the Betsy flight. I didn't mind.

It would have been nice - but as the LAX route has not been officially confirmed to go full Betsy yet, one really cannot complain.

Celestar, don't you find CX transoceanic service to be different (much better) than the short hops around Asia?