Seating on A340-300
 

For my upcoming trip I have been assigned seats 12H and 12G on the A340-300 HKG-AKL-HKG.

I'm not familiar with the layout of the 2 class aircraft. Are there better seats that I should try for? I'm travelling solo.

The 34D-configuration as I understand it is:

Door 1 and opposite it the galley
Rows 11, 12, 14, 15, 16
Door 2

Since the 34D is pretty much an unknown quantity I don't think there too many people are up to speed with which are the best seats yet. I'd avoid 11G and 11H because of their proximity to the toilet; otherwise I'd say that all the other seats are equally as bad as each other (or good, depending on your perspective).

I changed my AKL-HKG booking to be AKL-MEL-HKG (that gets me 2A as a proper seat on the CX leg, but it does add a day to the travel time (though that can be spent quite productively in MEL). This seems like the best solution to the question of what is the best seat on the 34Ds.

If you guys can wait till the end of the month, I'll be happy to tell you after my flight to AKL around the last week of May.

Guy Betsy,

When are you flying HKG-AKL? I'm flying CX 117 on May 19.

CX117 on 19 May appears to be currently scheduled to be operated by the three-class A340.

I assume service will be 2 class (Biz and Economy), right?

Any tips on how to get seat assignment in F seats? Does the fact that I redeemed a CX F award help?

Yes, any flight operated to AKL in the interim with a three-class aircraft will be sold as two-class.

As an aside, does anyone know how the conversion into 34D config is rolling out? Cathay's fleet information on their website is as usual hopelessly out of date.

I'll be flying on CX107 on 30th May.

From now till the impending changeover from 3 class (sold as 2) A34C to A34D, the First Class section of those flights are 'blocked' by Quality Control. These seats cannot be pre-reserved by anyone, and are released by QC to top tier members of the Marco Polo Club 3 days prior to the departure. Or if you have an asia miles account, you may check-in on line during those 3 days prior to departure and it 'may' open up to you.

Having an AA F award will not make any difference until you're at the airport. If CX allows you through check-in from wherever you are, then maybe that will work. Otherwise you might just have to request a change of seating at HKG only.

configuration of the 2 class 340 (acft regn is from HXA-HXK. XA, XB, XC, and XF has already been converted, i think) is 30J 257Y.

DR1L
galley
row 11 to 16 (zone A)
DR2L (galley area)
row 30-46 (zone B)
DR3L
row 54-70 (zone C)