Cathay or Eva?
 

First time posting. I will be flying from Vancouver to Singapore in July. My options are Cathay via HKG or Eva via TPE. I will be travelling economy. Eva is about $200 Canadian more, return. I can afford it, but is Eva the better choice? Good food and beer, as well as service are my priorities. On the other hand, Cathay flies their new A350 from HKG to SIN, I kinda would like to try the A350, but it is not a deal breaker. Thanks guys for any advice or comments

Thanks, my schedule is flexible. There really is not much difference in terms of total hours either way. I have read that Eva is fantastic, I'm just trying to figure out if they are superior to Cathay to warrant the extra $200

Usually the question is the other way around, that EVA is cheaper than CX and is it worth the savings? I can't imagine they can justify being more expensive though.

Same seat on both airlines. You'll get pajamas and better champagne on BR. OTOH, HKG lounges are pretty nice if you fly CX.

But for me the clincher might be the ground experience at SIN, both in and out. I would rather fly BR. New T4 where CX is based gets lots of criticism, as does the CX lounge.

Because it's now considered one of the very best business class products in the sky?

He/she will take economy

Choose Cathay. I do not see Eva will be worth $200 Canadian more. They are no significant difference between each airlines for the economy class.

Well that is an important fact ;)

Fly the airline that is not 10 across in Y on its 77W.

On Eva u can get on the Hello Kitty plane with hello kitty everything on the flight, if that makes a difference. :)

Both will have chance,

Actually CX operates A350 3x weekly between HKG and YVR (CX856/855 on T, W, Th). Given that you can take one of these A350 flights and that CX being $200 CAD cheaper, I'd definitely go for CX. In economy, I cannot imagine BR to be much better than CX.

Only on very selected flights.

what's with all the unfair CX bashing in this thread...

I'd try the A350 myself.

I'd go with EVA.

have you considered JAL if economy? their product is superb down back and you can break your flight midway.

demographic - without being anyway discriminatory, nor pointed hint, i would think CX plane may fill a lot more mainland chinese clientale than EVA due to immigration requirements and EVA fills more taiwanese ppl, i guess?

Transit is hardly an issue at HKG.

but 200CAD difference.
downgrade the service for lower ticket price.

hk airport is better for shopping

You can't go wrong with either one, quite frankly. In economy, it will pretty much be the same. Both airports have their positives and negatives. If you have Priority Pass, you have access to a number of pretty solid lounges in HKG.

For that price difference in Economy, just go with the cheapest.

Transit in HK is fast and efficient.

Tried a few times transit in hk, from the point I left the aircraft, thru security (usually you can finish in less than 5mins) and to the new gate, just took me 15-20 mins. Now i get it why CX sell their tickets with only 55mins transition time in HK.

HK airport has so many transit point not like TPE which only have one and not open all times (you have to ask the official)

CAD200 is probably a difference of 20-25%. Not worth paying extra to fly BR in Y (in J, perhaps). I would probably pick CX over BR in Y even if CX cost more (unless it's CX865 which departs at 2am).

CX also flies the A350 from YVR to HKG 3x/week (CX855); otherwise it is the 77W. From HKG to SIN, equipment often changes, so there is a risk you will be flying a regional 777 instead of the A350.

Agree with you, but I am just saying HK transfer is efficient as compared to the airport (TPE) mention in this thread.
Tried BKK and ICN transit before too, efficient but they have less transit point, not as convenient as HKG.

this is the CX forum... thus the normal bashing :p

for examples: *see below*

it is time we have an announcement at the top of the CX forum.

"If you have any question about Cathay vs "other airline" always chose other airline..."

It does not matter if Cathay offers more flights, better seats , better transit , the best lounges, best entertainment, best service
if the food is 10% worse than any other carrier " Cathay is a thrash airline worse than the scum of the earth, choose the other one"

not really even sure why 80% of the posters here including the MOD are supposed frequent fliers of CX....

even airlines like AI get the occasional praise from their customers.

I must be hypnotized when I travel CX, but I did not know their economy class was so terrible and such a nightmare that it was worth spending 200$ more on another carrier....

and I am not "white" which according to people here CX offers better service and food to....

Because the grass is always greener on the other side (and technically Eva is literally "greener" than CX)
And bashing too hard is always better than letting any bad thing missed so we tend to do so.
Anyway having tried transit in HKG (a slow one) and TPE (kind of) which airport isn't much to concern. Schedule wise, in July, the flight pairs with minumum layovers are
BR9-BR225 0200-0440+1 // 0740-1200 3hr layover
BR216-BR10 1510-2000 // 2355-1950 3hr layover
* CX865-CX759 0220-0645+1 // 0835-1225 1hr50min layover
* CX837-CX715 1500-1915+1 // 2025-0015+1 1hr10min layover
# CX658-CX838 0950-1405 // 1615-1330 2hr10min layover
# CX716-CX888 1805-2205 // 0030+1-2120 2hr25min layover
Which are only for reference only because we don't know when OP is travelling and not all combinations have equal pricing (aka 200CAD difference), only it seems CX has one set of schedule similar to BR and an extra set of choices (again could cost more). The offerings would be similar in economy and more down to a personal preference.

You'll likely (if not always) get a wider seat in JAL Y, and likely better food, but the cost of flights with comparably short layover seems a bit higher as well.

Most BR 777 are 10 abreast!
CX is the obvious choice

this is the CX forum
BR hypothetically could be 11 abreast and have only muffins as the meal option on long haul flights and cockroaches in their toilets and most here would still recommend that the customer go with BR....

facts are not used for comparison
only an emotional hatred for CX....

Welcome to FT, OP.

No offense - but your expectation is way too high. You are traveling in Y as an ordinary passenger. There will be nothing special on either of the airlines. Unless there is an incentive (i.e. elite status), it is not worth choosing an airline based on the service aspect. Even some airlines may be rated better over others, the bottom line is YMMV and it is unlikely for you to get anything special out of this ride. I would choose the cheapest ever option instead.

OTOH - Airline food is barely edible regardless of service cabins. The main reason is the food quality is not only related to the airline's budget for a meal, but also where the food is prepared. For example, I don't eat anything out of ORD as a practice, because the catering company simply does not know how to cook.

That's not incorrect in this context but also exactly why the decline of Y service we complain about - once we decided to not care.
Low expectation right but there's still differences thus choices. In this context I believe both airlines would be similar in service, however in some cases this can go much better (JL?) or worse (some really low ones on skytrax?)

Can you really care?

I agree with watery, in the sense that there are worse airlines than others in Economy, in the sense that some airlines treat you like rubbish, and others don't... but in the case of CX and BR, i think they unequivocally fall into the latter category

I believe JL is better than CX for Y but does not worth for CAD 200.

As a general rule when flying Economy : If all choices have more or less the same product, then take the cheapest one.