Let me answer that question with a real type example. If CX oversold and could not fly me and offerred to put me on BA in J class I would REFUSE. Your premise assumes I have to fly whatever CX wants me to. BA J class narrows in the middle of the seat, which is beyond stupid, since people are FAT in the middle. Yet it is wide at the top and bottom... go figure. Also BA has a wall at the end of the J seat 6 feet down. I am 6'5'. So basically I would refuse to fly BA. Now, if they sweetened the offer... who knows. If they said, we know Quantas is not as good, but fly them in J and we'd give you a voucher for $1000 US. I might do it. They point is It is MY choice, NOT CX I am the paying customer. They can't just choose to substitute.
If you bought a Mercedes E class (mid level) car and when you went to pick it up they said, "Gee we sold too many" here is a Jaguar X type, is that okay? Both are mid range luxury cars, both are transportation. Both might cost the same. But, clearly it isn't...
When you buy a J seat, you are buying more than just "basic" transport. So absolutly you have a right to get what you agreed (contracted) to pay for.
I am stunned that you'd be embarrassed to complain to the ISM because she knew you had be upgraded. Why? You paid ALOT of money to fly in J. The person who SHOULD be embarrassed is the ISM for having a broken seat, Less than normal food selections, no duty free etc. HER employer sold something they couldn't deliver.

Cigar Im gonna print and frame this thread and every time you tell someone to get a life over on the CO thread for the same problems Ill have this thread to revert to.

Seems over at CO you have more or less told others nothing was due, and here you didnt buy the F seat but a J and want compensation as if you purchased an F. Is $4000 the differnce on a 1 way or a round trip? After all all taht they might owe you is the difference on the portion of the tkt to HKG from CDG unless what you purchased was a 1 way CDG-HKG to begin with. What is that $4000 the difference between, they owe you nothin per an F seat since you didnt purchase one. Is the difference between a Full Y and J $4000.

Its not nice not getting what one has paid for No Matter if the Carrier is CX or CO!

what on earth ?? what has an opup pax got to be embarassed about ?

then again, i strip to my underwear (under the duvet) when i fly at the front of the plane :D

Clearly you did not read my original post at all. Please go back and re read it. I didn't say Anything about wanting four grand. Nor did I ask for compensation based on and F seat. That is all Guy Betsy worried that I had been upgraded. I belive they either owe me:
1) An upgrade from coach (one way) to J next time I fly them. That makes me "whole" Or
2) If I get coach recline (actually less) I want to pay the coach fare on ONE leg. Thus the difference between coach (discounted, I bought way in advance) and the J fare I paid.
This is the same advice I would give in the CO forum. I simply am trying to get what I paid for. I am flexible to the solution, whichever suits the airline better. I agree it would be completly unrealistic to ask for the difference in the round trip price. I agree it is unrealistic to use FC as the comparison since I bought Business. But, as I said. I didn't make those points. That was others. I suspect you skimmed the posts and got the wrong impression. :)

Maybe yes, unless no one was sitting there on HKG-CDG.

The moral of the story is to try the seat out while on the ground.

but it did happen once....on a HKG/YVR first class...the pax played on ground and the seat worked perfectly, once in the air.........it's unserviceable :o ....so things do happen!

That's exactly what happened. I always test them on the ground. My 140lb mother was sitting in the seat. I made her recline it and it worked. Put it back in the takeoff position... never moved again! So I gave her my seat and I sat in hers.

So are you saying that the seat started working again after she was sitting in it?

NO, I said it worked one time on the ground prior to takeoff when MOM was sitting in it. Plane takes off... seat never works again. I switch with Mom and give her the working seat.

update

I flew the second and third legs of the paid J trip. Leg two was uneventful. But leg three...

I used up my battery to a large degree on the NRT express (1 1/2hours) before boarding CX from NRT-HKG. Got this inferior J class that I belive is called "Reigonal Business class". The plane was a 777-300. I went to plug in my empower cord and had no juice. The FA told me "The plane was only three weeks old and hadn't been in to refit it for the power yet".
I was dumbstruck.
1) How come they didn't hook up the power when they installed the seats on a BRAND NEW PLANE???
2) How come they don't care about the needs of their business customers. This caused me a HUGE problem as I needed to work on the plane. This is why I bought business class. Not every seat in coach has power. And the web site of CX touts:
"PC power and data
Within easy reach to power your laptop, this is one feature we never take for granted - keeping you connected wherever you are! "
How can they say, they "don't take it for granted?" It was a friggin brand new plane. There is no excuse for not having operating power ports.
3) Then to add insult to injury my next flight (different ticket) connection had NO power ports at all in the old seats in J. Again how is this "not taking it for granted".

I am becoming very sick of all these seeming "fake" apologies. How about stop apologizing and get the product right???
Now I feel CX owes me even more compensation. I would have never have flown a bozo outfit if I was going to do 7 hours flying (NRT-HKG-SIN) without power! Thoughts on the power thing?

Cigarman, you've got my sympathies. Despite what CX apologists would like you to believe is fair compensation for your discomfort (I bet they'd be huffing and puffing [pardon the pun] too if it were them in your shoes), you deserve more than what you're being offered so far. So fight on and let us know how this turns out.

CX has never been a carrier of my choice as far as power ports and onboard Internet connectivity are concerned. Don't fly it when you need them. CX is not reliable.

SQ is a much better choice when it is flying a competing route like SFO -- SQ even offers CBB on this route (and HKG-SIN on SQ1/2).

Actually I haven't asked for anything yet. I want to finish all the legs first in case something else is an issue. I take the last leg tonight.

Rubbish.

Let's say that I decide to order a new notebook from Dell; I spend a lot of money and am expecting the most up-to-date model. Dell issues me a receipt for that computer. When the box arrives at my door and I open it, however, it turns out that they shipped me a similar model, but when I try to flip it open, it gets stuck halfway and won't move. I can see the screen, but I'm not happy.

Now, as a consumer, I should first contact Dell and give them a chance to make things right. Until I do so, my credit card issuer doesn't want to hear from me. If, however, Dell doesn't act, I would have no problem disputing the charge.

I fail to see how cigarman's case differs from this.