Dining on demand in F?
 

Hello all,

I'm due to take my first F flight on Cathay soon (NYE "promo" fare).

I read that F has dining on demand, and I wanted to find out what the rules are so I don't unnecessarily annoy the FAs. Should I tell them at the start of the flight if I intend to have meals at a different time of the flight than is usually scheduled? Are there items that cannot be had off-schedule? Are there times to avoid in order to minimise hassle (obviously not while taking off/landing, but should I avoid asking for breakfast during dinner service?)

Cheers

You can do whatever you want; upon settling in, the purser will come and take your order - you can make requests now if you want to ensure what you want later will still be available

Generally, I will substitute breakfast for dinner on flights where CX treats the meal times as if it were still HK time; for example, the CX888 to YVR serves breakfast for the second meal before landing where it's 8pm in YVR - this doesn't make any sense to me as I generally get off this segment but it is breakfast time in HK

Other times, there are instances were I would break the meal up into two; YVR to JFK and vice versa, I would ask to have the apps, main and dessert as the main course and then soup and cheese 60 min before landing. The FAs will come by as requested and see if you still want the second meal. Personally, I split the meals as I generally eat before going to the airport for those two flights and will be starving by the end of the flight - otherwise, I still have an abbreviated meal on board and tell the FA that I'd like to skip the soup and cheese when they come by again.

I see, thanks!

So you don't have to stay within, say, the dinner menu for a certain meal too? For example, I could hold off on the caviar during the main dinner service, and have it as an appetiser before the burger (snack menu) if I wanted to? Interesting...

Absent of insisting on two entrees, there really aren't any rules. You can pick the time when you'd like your main course, and order whatever is on the a la carte menu in between, including drinks. If there's extra, you may even request more than one main course.

As to annoying them, I'm sure they're prepared for whatever requests you may have in F. Now, if you order like 5 meals, though they may accommodate you, you may be the subject of some internal jokes (all in good fun, nothing malicious) amongst the crew during the flight.

You can almost order or dine any time. Some food may not be available 2 hours before landing so you may like to pre-order and ask them to serve by certain time. You can even ask the FA to wake you up at your desired time for meal. You may have multiple entrees occasionally. As far as caviar, once I asked for a second caviar about 8 hours into flight and they still had it.

Just treat the menu as an inventory list of what they have onboard. You can ask for whatever and whenever you want it. If you want 2 entrees, ask for it. If you want to mix the western and the Asian options, ask for it. If you want to have an item from breakfast mixed with an item from dinner, ask for it. Whatever you want is entirely possible.

Most, but not everything you want is possible. Specifically, you are technically entitled to one entree from each meal not two or multiple.

In practice, you can usually get more due to some pax not eating, extra loading, etc. But crew will usually tell you they need to check with everyone before they can confirm your desire for multiple entrees. It is not an entitlement to have multiple mains, unfortunately.

The rest of the things indeed are "entitlements" of F. Dine on demand, eat whatever from anywhere on the menu, etc. But multiple entrees isn't. That can be a separate debate, because CX loads so few meals these days it's a joke. Especially if 5/6 or 6/6 in F. For whatever reason, those seem to be the flights things are really low. For example, normally I like to eat some part of the Chinese set menu, whether the appetizer or soup or main. But I also like to eat a few Western options including an appetizer and main. I don't do it all at the same time. However, almost without fail I am told to wait until the crew collect meal orders from everyone. And on 5/6 or 6/6 flights especially with other Asian pax who tend to eat the Chinese meal, it's not possible.

Not in F, but in J actually I saw a passenger get pissed off because he couldn't eat multiple burgers. But the crew stuck to their guns and said they needed to ensure other pax had a shot. He only ended up getting one .

I wish CX loaded more food but they really have cut down on the quantity of items in the decade+ I've been regularly flying CX F. It's very normal for them to quickly run out of a popular item or two on 5/6 or 6/6 flights. The lack of abundance is a big part of their F&B problem in F IMO.

It's usual for me to ask for the main meal later in the flight so I can immediately sleep at the start of the flight (usually already full from HKG Pier F / JFK First Dining / etc). On the topic of multiple entrees, I have had crew practically force me to take a second entree because they think the first wasn't enough. (I guess I need to hit the gym more). That's most likely due to getting lucky with typically half-full F flights (other benefit is getting a second seat set up for your bed).

LOL...There were a few flights, where no one cared for the champagne or caviar, and the FAs kept asking if I wanted more champagne & caviar. Generally, especially at 30K feet, a glass is enough for me, but the FA just kept pouring it & kept asking, "more Caviar Mr. V?"

I've certainly managed two jars of caviar and two bottles of Krug on occasion! :D

I only had two jars of caviar once. That was the only time I asked for the second one mid-flight. I also noticed that the FAs have a tendency to keep my glass full. I usually go for Blue Label - so I cannot drink too much.