Another vote for the CX seat over BA's. I just find the 2-4-2 cabin far too cramped - flat bed or no flat bed. Since CX modified the tilt of their seat, most people (myself included) no longer get the "wedgie" effect!

Re the plastic cutlery in the lounges in HKG: Australia still hasn't rescinded the ridiculous no metal knife rule and so, as the HK lounges are past security, CX (and the rest) aren't allowed metal knives "airside" in case there's a chance a pax is Oz-bound.

i also sleep better on cx seat, its more soft and wide
also please note that with CX ticket you can choose BA one way.
if you think you sleep better on flat bed, take BA on night flight and CX on day. I sometimes take BA HKG-LHR if I need connect at LHR, depend on terminal.

I also in the same situation where I have choice between BA/CX/VS. I have flown CW in BA 10 times last year and the novelty has worn off. Can anybody post a sample menu and wine list for a typical CX LHR-HKG flight for comparison?

If you are over 6' tall, BA is no good. I was pretty excited about it until I tried it, and coudn't fit. Plus, the food, entertainment, and service are better on CX.

CX 254 LHR-HKG DEC/JAN

DINNER

Salad
Seasonal Salad with Pinenuts served with Creamy Parmesan Dressing

Appetizer
Duck Foie Gras with Fig Conift

Main Courses
Stir-fried Seafood with Black Bean Sauce, Steamed Rice and Pak Choy

Seared Beef Fillet with Port Wine Sauce and Roasted Root Vegetables

North African Chicken Berbere with Chermoula Sauce, Cous Cous and Wilted Spinach

Ravioli with Warm Salad and Champagne Cream Sauce

Cheese
and
Selection of Fresh Fruit

Dessert
Caramalized Apple Tart

Assorted Bread and Rolls

Tea and Coffee

Pralines

SNACK

Chicken Caesar Ciabatta
Focaccia with Egg Mayonnaise
Chicken, Black Mushrooms and Pak Choy in Noodle Soup
Ice Cream

REFRESHMENT

Appetizer
Fresh Seasonal Fruit

Fruit Yoghurt, Corn Flakes or Muesli

Main Courses
Scrambled Egg with Smoked Salmon, Lincolnshire Sausage, Grilled Tomato and Sliced Mushrooms

Congee with Minced Beef

Bubble and Squeak, Black Pudding, Smoked Pork Loin and Tomato

Assorted Bread and Rolls served with Preserve and Butter

Tea and Coffee

Champane
Billecart-Salmon Brut Champagne

White Wines
Jaboulet-Vercherre Pouilly Fuisse 2002

Thornbury Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2004

Red Wines
Vieux Chateau London, Cru Bourgeois Medoc 2001

Sally's Paddock 2002

Port
Dow's Late Bottled Vintage Port 1999

And CX is currently offering an Amarone in F and J (not on the main wine list)! Absolutely gorgeous...

The Amarone is indeed good, certainly by J standards.

I am somewhat surprised, and really quite disappointed, to see that the J menu published above is EXTREMELY similar to the F menu that I had in CX250 on 29/12.

The only significant differences (from memory) are the additional salmon/caviar, a soup instead of the duck foie gras, and smoked haddock instead of bubble&squeak; the dessert may also have been different. Plus the F winelist of course (although pre takeoff the champagne in F is the J class one).

This worries me somewhat - the differentiation between J and F seems to be disappearing rapidly and I do fear that CX plans to get rid of F completely at the next revamp

There were also a distressingly large number of op-ups on 3 of the 4 CX (paid) F segments I took over the holiday period, including some guy on MNL-HKG on 2 Jan who was unshaven and dressed in beach attire (flip-flops, shorts and scruffy hawaiian shirt) which I felt was just completely wrong. There used to be a SFU (suitable for upgrade) validation at check-in - doesn't that happen any more?

if price is the same i would fly BA unless you are very tall
do you have any method of buying J and upgrading to F via miles on either airline? this would make it a no brainer if you had spare asia miles or could upgrade on BA via their upgrade program

Do bear in mind that the upper deck is 2-2. This is easily obtainable by pre-selection if you purchase online, or through manage you booking, or at on line check in.

And the BA seat has been improved in the past six months:

www.deepersleep.co.uk

The width and IFE issues should be worked out in the soon to be announced 2006 re-vamp of the J seats and cabin.

Very good point, at 6'4" BA in J is pretty much a no go for me. Also, despite the "enhancement" of adding some foam to the seats it's disappointing that BA is still too cheap to provide noise cancelling headphones in business class. Still, if that bothers you you can drown your sorrows in a $20 bottle (at UK retail prices) of champagne in J.

Not surprisingly these salient points aren't mentioned in the commercial web links certain FTers insist on listing in their posts and signatures contrary to FT guidelines. Still, I guess every bit of commission helps in the struggle to be able to afford another flight.

Soory to get off topic of the thread, but I am curious. How can one tell who are op-opped vs paid pax? Forgive me if this has been discussed before. I don't even know how to begin a search on this topic.

I can't always tell who the op-ups are, but I often have discussions with check-in or lounge staff about load levels, so if, say, at check-in I am told that F has "4 reservations, 3 checked-in" and when I get on board I find that all 12 seats are occupied then I know that 8 or 9 are op-ups.

Most recently at Manila I went to the F check-in and the girl just automatically dropped into a "Mr Christep, because the flight is over-booked today we've upgraded you to First" routine without even noticing that my ticket was actually paid-F (part of an AONE3). The cabin was full and I suspect that there were very few others who were paying F fares to be there. The check-in girl expressed surprise that anyone would actually pay for F out of Manila - she implied that with my Diamond status I would almost always get a Y-J or J-F upgrade, and I have to say that does tie in well with my experience: I can't remember the last time I didn't get upgraded on a Y ticket ex-MNL.

Don't forget that some of those may be sub-load crew or others on ID90s.

True, but as far as I am aware only Captains get to deadhead in F on CX, and CX doesn't seem to do much deadhead repositioning anyway. ID90s perhaps, but not 8 in a cabin very often I would have thought.

I haven't heard the term "sub-load" in ages - since the original Pan Am ceased operations.

I have to agree with Christep here; I rarely see CX employees outside of deadheading pilots in either J or F. I have seen multiple flights were F was very lightly booked and ended up going out full. And a couple of times I was even one of those pax that ended up in F on a J ticket. ^