Thinking about bringing my parents from the US to HKG on Aria J in 4Q 2024, and would prefer to book and pay sooner than later so that I can lock down the rest of their trip. I know there isn't much public information yet, but is there any speculation on which routes would feature Aria first? I know SFO-HKG uses the A350, so unless there is a swap to the 777, it probably won't be that route.

Probably LAX - HKG as this is only operated by the 777. This is very likely to be served first in the US.
JFK - HKG is potentially the second route as it has a premium configured 777 beginning April. MAybe YVR as well as CX has served this destination for decades.

Until the 77W fleet is 100% converted, it might be best for folks looking forward to the new J to tone their expectations to ending up with the old J. CX is notorious for last minute equipment substitutions as in previous new configuration rollouts. But at least the Cirrus J is still a darn good seat.

true. I seriously don't know how Skytrax ranks JAL or ANA above CX when JAL and ANA's standard seats are that terrible. ANA apart from 'The Room' J product and JAL a350 all the other seats are terrible. At least CX has a consistent J product relatively.

In another thread, you claim to be a 16 years old high-school student and a newbie.
Yet, you make wide-ranging claims based on no personal experience.

nah I am. but I have flown multiple airlines as well. Never tried JAL ANA's premier products but have flown in ANA flights from PEK to HND then on to Honolulu once or twice on the average J product for ANA don't know the name.

I don't think being a high school student conflicts with what I have said. Not to mention it doesn't take a professional avgeek to fly frequently.

Skytrax is well known to be a 'pay to play' organisation hence the odd rankings.

Looking through the fleet list and flight data, only 3 777-300ER are out of action as of today

B-KPF. Stored at ASP
B-KQV. Stored at HKG? Last flight is Aug 2023
B-KQW. Maintainance? Last flight is 23 Jan 2024.

so KQW will be the first one to get refit for Aria suite? One guy can say that refit took 1 week only ? And by July, will have 12-20 planes refitted?

By July 2026, there will be 21 planes with Aria Suites installed. Retrofits will finish by 2028.

(engineering nerd node on) I would say the Aria seats almost certainly will be 3 point seatbelts, if the seatmap is correct with that angle. 16G certification is tough, and if you think of the physics of a 16G test, with just a lap belt the upper body is going to be thrown forward (so at an angle to the seat), and likely interact with the sides. "Brace" position doesn't work either (nothing to brace against) so the upper body has to be held firmly to the seat. Which then needs a padded chest belt, or at 16G it is going to hurt...

I remember it took roughly 1.5 years for the current generation of J class seats to be retrofitted across the entire 77W fleet (circa mid-2011 to summer 2012), and that was when only a smaller number of frames had to be converted (B-KPA to KPR if I remember correctly, B-KPS was the first frame to enter service with factory fresh Cirrus J seats). As we are almost in Q2 2024, I wouldn't be surprised if it took longer than Q1 2025 to see the entire current 77W fleet get converted as it's obviously grown a lot bigger than back in the day. Also I've heard from industry folks that engineering support and hangar manpower post-pandemic is considerably tighter than before which I presume will have an imminent impact on CX's conversion progress.

But like I said, last minute equipment swaps from Aria suite to Cirrus J these days is not going to sting as much as anticipating the Cirrus J and ending up with the coffin J (old old seat two generations ago). Maybe it's just me but I find the Cirrus J to still be a darn good seat which I'll miss when it goes bye bye for good.

Cathay Pacific will be installing Aria Suites on 30 777-300ER aircraft from Q3 2024 and to be fully retrofitted by 2028 at the earliest.

Looks like new details has dropped https://flights.cathaypacific.com/en...ess-class.html

Seems to be a 777K instead of 77A.

The Aria suite looks wonderful! From the video though I think the IFE screen is now mounted instead of a foldable screen one can fold away to maximise cubby space during sleep, not sure how the leg space would be impacted when the seat turns into a fully flat bed.
Seems like they've chosen a product from HAECO for the PEY seat, not too surprised about that though
Cool that we'll finally get Bluetooth compatibility on the plane!
BTW am I the only one that noticed the mock-up IFE screens saying Los Angeles instead of London...?