Fly cx over AA?
 

Newbie here,

I have an upcoming trip and want to earn miles, but afraid my CX flights won't earn any AA miles. I can't pony up for premium economy or business, and the economy fare bucket isn't Y. I could still fly Cathay from LAX to HKG on the way over (as I've never flown them and have heard great things for Economy), and do AA or even United coming back. I have no status on anything, but would like to at least bank some miles flying all that way. Any suggestion would be great!

Within Oneworld it is indeed difficult to earn miles on partner flights if you only buy cheap tickets.

If you want AA miles and do not have any status at all, why don't you fly with AA (which does offer LAX-HKG)? Was the schedule inconvenient?

Would you mind one-stop flight? Like flying JAL

If you want AA miles, you should fly on AA.

And if you want a better experience fly JL or CX.

If you end up on a 10x 77W, AA is the same as CX, and has much better food. And, JL has the NRT stop, which makes it a nonstarter for me.

While I 100% disagree AA has better food, you can fly AA - ticketed CX - operated flight, whose price sometimes is higher due to AA codeshare.

LAX-HKG fares are generally pretty cheap (routinely ~$400 RT), so your earnings on an AA coded flight are going to be fairly minimal. Example: a $700 AA ticket on LAX-HKG (of which $90 is taxes) will only earn around 3k miles. You really can't do much of anything with that, so unless you plan to continue to fly oneworld on a somewhat regular basis I wouldn't overthink your decision here.

I'd suggest flying the carrier with the best balance of cost, timing and inflight product.

Also, AA food in J and F is pretty dire (can't speak to long haul food offerings in Y on either carrier). CX definitely has a clear competitive advantage on this score. Cabin service on CX is also worlds more consistent than AA. AA can be fine, but it's very hit or miss (more miss than hit, in my experience).

1. I want to clarify my boast about AA's food. While I do think it is better than CX in Y and J (CX has a solid edge in F though), the bar is pretty low, so I would not make this a deciding factor
2. I certainly agree that 4 flights is better than 1, but when the AA flight goes tits up, they will usually endorse you to CX
3. IIRC, getting AA miles on CX flights requires an H fare or higher; this is expensive
4. I think the NRT connection idea is dumb on multiple levels
-you get 20 more miles, BUT the JL flight will probably only accrue at 70%, which is obviously a net loss v the AA nonstop
-as much as I dislike AA's 10-abreast 77Ws, the planes JL flies NRT-HKG are worse

Just to add my latest experience recently in Y on CX [I've not flown CX in Y for the last 4 years], albeit not between US and HKG, I found that the standard of service on CX in Y to have gone down dramatically (based on 2 long-haul flights)
- Cabin Attendants are rather surly and arrogant
- food quality if ok - though seem to be much smaller
- cabin attendants seem to 'dissapear' after the meal service - did not notice any offerings of water/liquid throughout the flight. Even going back to the gallery to get water/snack - attendants were quite surly (like even you going back there to get your own items, it was a burden to them)

If i had a choice between the 3 considered airlines here I would go for
1) JL - even with the stop in at NRT (if the transfer time is about 2-3 hours) - to enjoy some Japanese shopping/food
2) AA - at least service (although not the best) - but still more or less consistent and you can mentally be prepared for it
3) CX

Cheers!

I really never heard my EXP/CK friends praising AA's services are consistent; hit or miss with mostly miss is what I would expect.

I think CX has introduced wifi to many aircraft. My Feb. HKG-YVR-JFK//IAD-HKG and Mar. HKG-LAX-HKG all had wifi. CX also bans VOIP.

[QUOTE=moondog;30967883]1.

2. I certainly agree that 4 flights is better than 1, but when the AA flight goes tits up, they will usually endorse you to CX

Problem is that the AA flight, depending on the time of year, is circa midnight, by which time all CX (and JL as a JV partner have left). In my experience (and the reason I pulled by business) is that MX or other problems, happen late, and can't get onto another flight till the next day. Happened 3 times for me late 2017, and I then pulled my business. The DFW flight is no better. For me, going to HK / Asia every two weeks, I cannot deal with the operation efficiency issues of AA, never mind their surly flight attendants.

On a simliar note, I'm currently waitlisted for a 5/4 flight in J on CX from HKG to IAD. I am not sure how much longer I can wait to see if that gets cleared.

Should I rather book PE in AA (found a relative cheap one way PE flight in AA) so I can at least accrue some miles? I can still book the same CX flight in Y but thinking PE in AA will be a better bet than CX Y comfort-wise.

Thanks for the response all. The main reason for Choosing CX is schedule wise. I am meeting family whom are flying in on a different flight, around 5am. AA gets in at 645, cx gets in a 545AM - so that's my rationale. The way back I have to eventually fly into PHX for for a work obligation, so I either have to spend the night in a north american connection city, since no flights get in to PHX via west coast late night.... or spend an extra day in HK, or cherry pick a flight that is good and accrues miles. I am leaning toward staying in HK until mid/late afternoon and either hopping on the cx flight at 445pm or the AA at 6:30pm. I could take the 2:20 AA thru DFW, or United via ORD or SFO around 11-1130AM, but then I forgo the extra day, tough call not ever having flown this route as to my option. Ideally need wifi for work related tasks on such a long flight coming back...

As much as I like wifi on planes, I'm actually kind of happy when my long flights don't have wifi because then I can peace out, and watch downloaded Netflix without being bothered by my work chats. Basically, I can endure a small seat for 15 hours, but I like being able to take a break from chats when I'm in it. On airlines with paid wifi, I usually buy a 1 hour pass mid flight, just to make sure there are no emergencies I need to address. But, whenever I fly MU, my colleagues assume that I'm online for the entire flight (because wifi is free, and works almost everywhere).

You can do AA all the way.

I don't see why you need to take CX at all...

I just felt OP has over-complicated things...

I wanted to experience cx as I will rarely fly to SE asia, and wanted to have the experience. If you guys are saying, I'm not missing much, and that AA or united is basically the same product in coach, then taking an american carrier r/t makes sense. However, if it's a markedly better product, I'd fly one inbound the other outbound, or just cx r/t and try to figure out how to code the miles. Having wifi is important and I've read the LAX/HKG route could be hit or miss, which might be an issue. I might be over-complicating things, but thought there might be a slam dunk choice...

CX has been working hard to ensure that the days of its product in economy being head and shoulders above AA are receding daily. If you end up on a 10 abreast 777, there is not a huge difference alas.

Traveling on CX, especially in Y, is not really an once in a lifetime thing. So next time maybe.

But this time - You simply complicated things here...I don't see why you have to do so.

many threads on FT are over-complications XD but i do see the last flight of day to be a valid worry. my GF have had a 8 hour delay on AA193 - if on other flights she would have been moved to an flight before the delayed departure - except for this one because there simply isnt one.

As a result, i would pick one of the earlier CX flights and bank the miles to AA. banking miles to AA do not necessary require flying with them.

Haha yes mate, about half the 77Ws have wifi now and the conversions are going very quickly. Some routes you can guarantee it. That fleet guide we maintain has the regs with wifi all marked accordingly. Cathay Pacific / Cathay Dragon Fleet, Route and Configuration Guide

I will add, of my four primary longhaul carriers (CX, EK, SQ, JL) CX 777s are hands down the fastest. While CX A350s are good, CX 777 wifi is blazing. CX deserves criticism elsewhere but definitely not in the wifi department. They were late to the game but have more than made up for it in a superior service to virtually all their competitors. Pricing plan is also very good.

Well..as others said the differences in Y or even PEY are very minor between major TPAC carriers, so maybe it's over complicated. Also, AA discounted Y credits are not going to be significant (~4,000 AA miles aren't really worth more than $60). So it all comes down to what you prioritize, wifi? routing? timing? or the I-took-CX experience?

Having recently lost my CX Y virginity (on a code share where I did earn miles), I would never consider them with the objective of sacrificing miles for potential in-flight experience. The one airline where I'd consider that is SQ, where I've been served Y meals superior to AA's C meals. I found CX to be very middle or the road and somewhat frumpy — practically designed seats, friendly and efficient crew who made a point of recognizing OW status, but mediocre food and drink (and no hard liquor options at all, if that is of interest).

I fly DL tpac these days when Y is required because the food is good (I mentioned food upthread; if CX is a 4, and AA is a 5, DL is an 8), and I like their 777s on ATL-PVG. Unfortunately, they don't currently fly to HKG, and I can't recommend their ICN or PVG connections.

The 77W flights I took, yes, except the provider is different. I think one provider is Gogo and the other is Panasonic?