moondog

I have a soft spot for temperpedic(sp?) mattresses.

747867

If I remember correctly, ISM is to greet Diamond members, section leaders will greet Gold/Silver members. So if you are a Gold/Silver card holder, and ISM comes to you to greet you, better take that as a bonus.

correctioncx

Ah yes! However do u find it too hot - which is a major issue of tempur - given up my tempur bed and bought as hastens

Have u tried the new F class bedding? Whilst it is not tempur I find the extra padding more than enough and it is thicker

moondog

I think the heart of the problem is that JL's cabins are often far too hot, which is exacerbated by the mattress. This used to drive me crazy, but I've become more tolerant over time (in part because my Chinese colleagues freak out whenever I try to set the office thermostat below 23 degrees). Yes, I tried the new CX bedding, and it was nice, but the J duvets honestly are good enough for me (I used several to make a mattress of sorts on the transpac).

QRC3288

Basically correct, with a minor caveat.

The greetings were explicitly changed internally at CX either earlier this year or late last year. I can't remember when but I remember writing a post about it when it happened.

Long story short, if I recall DMs in Y class are not even necessarily going to get ISM greetings. The DMs are absolutely supposed to get greeted but it's supposed to be from an SP or section leader (which, frankly is probably more useful in my view....I fly regionally in Y class very frequently, and I could care less if the ISM knows me - seems far more important for the section leader to). As for GOs, if they're traveling in J or F they are supposed to be greeted (can't remember if it's supposed to be ISM or section leader, I think it may be section leader for J), but staff do not explicitly need to greet GO members in EY class. They may, but they'd be doing it on their own and not part of policy.

Regarding those cards handed out to DMs, it seems random. But I will add I've flown 6 Transpacific sectors in the last 3 months (3 sitting in J 3 in F), and I've gotten the card I think 4 or 5 times. Always in F and sometimes in J.

As for the abbreviated meal service, I think are some misconceptions here about what is normal versus what is truly bad service / crew taking matters into their own hands. Late night departures have significantly altered meal services (and usually don't have nuts/drink trolley first) which might be confusing some folks. CX873 ex-SFO is good example of this. There's also fewer main course options (usually just 2, instead of 3 or 4 in J class, and F also has fewer), and there's a "light meal" option in J which is a pre-plated main salad type thing with maybe some berries, and often with a soup. The soup is heated separately in the galley and may or may not come at the same time as the pre-plated light meal.

Versus a full meal service, which would be like a CX846 early evening departure ex-HKG for JFK. There in J class you should get drink/nuts, followed by appetizer tray + bread (which often is accompanied by drinks, but admittedly not always), followed by a main course (ditto on drinks), followed by cheese / fruit / dessert (often with dessert drinks offered like port, although you can ask for whatever you want), followed by chocolates.

Finally, I've seen some folks on here mention champagne / water / juice etc pre-takeoff in J class is absent. That should happen regardless of the time of departure even if there's an abbreviated meal service later.

sxc

QRC3288's understanding of the meal services is the same as mine.

mayodave

I agree also

ijgordon

It's been 5+ years since I've flown CX J transpac, but the meal service was always my pet peeve about CX, and one reason I would often prefer Continental from EWR, when I was doing the route a couple of times per year. (It was also mostly back when there was only one daily nonstop on CX, so flight timing wasn't a consideration).

CO would have a big (huge) lunch/dinner meal service after departure. A mid-flight snack, that was pretty substantial. They would usually serve the snack to the cabin at once, but you could ask for it on demand if you were sleeping and missed the service. And then a big breakfast before arrival (irrespective of the arrival time at the destination, I think they just figured people would want breakfast after sleeping for X number of hours).

On CX, the only thing you could get for the last 8 hours of the flight was a noodle soup and maybe 2 soup dumplings, and they would often run out.

And frankly, I think the catering itself on CO was better. But I hear things have gone way downhill since the UA merger.

SeeBuyFly

I'm confused about the timing of the 2nd meal. I've only done ORD-HKG, once in J and once in Y. In J the first meal was a full service (dinner, not supper) and there was a second meal before landing. In Y the 2nd meal was served halfway through the flight, with no food after that (awful).

Now the posts quoted above suggest that 'midflight last meal' happens in J too. Under what circumstances does it happen?

QRC3288

First, just to clarify there are 6 routes that could be considered Transpac....JFK, YYZ, ORD, YVR, SFO and LAX. Generalizations on here can be confusing (ie, even the title of this thread...kinda implies all Transpac service is similar, which is far from the truth). The flights all leave at different hours, and to make matters even more confusing CX has changed meal timings on some of the flights in the last 5 years. What used to be on some of the routes is not necessarily how it is now..CX841/CX840 are two flights that come to mind where meal timings were changed in recent years (those are JFK flights).

I'll just lay out two recent flights I've taken recently in J....CX846 and CX873. CX846 is HKG-JFK and CX873 is SFO-HKG. CX846 serves a full dinner service in J soon after takeoff (starts about 45 minutes in) in the manner I describe a few posts above. There are at least 2 snacks on board (I recall beef noodles and a hamburger) for selection mid-flight between meals. The second full meal - "brunch" - is served about 2-3 hours before landing. It's basically breakfast but not as extensive as CX873 below. So you've got a long break between main meals but you do have the full dinner service (which can run 3 hours into the flight if the crew is taking a long time), and two hot snacks in between, plus the usual selection of all the stuff sitting in the galley (fruits, bags of chips, nuts, etc.). If you really crave it they will give you the instant noodles from EY class, although they're not out on display.

CX873 is a late-night departure ex-SFO, has a limited dinner service and a "light meal" pre-trayed option. I think a lot of the concerns I've been reading are based on a misunderstanding what the "light meal" option is. Often times the crew will pitch it to you and if you're not paying attention that's when you end up with, especially if their accent isn't perfectly clear. If you choose the limited dinner (I think called "supper") instead of the light meal, that's served shortly after takeoff. It is less extensive than the CX846 full dinner service. There is one hearty snack available for your choosing any time (wonton noodles) between meals, not two (there is also the "light meal" available for you to order whenever you want it..menu specifically says this). Also, like CX846 (and every other long-haul flight I'm familiar with) the galley has the cold selection of food laid out for you to get as you like. Finally, about 3-3.5 hours pre-landing a full breakfast service starts. This service is more extensive than the "brunch" option offered on CX846 I describe in the paragraph above. It usually ends about 75-90 minutes before landing.

IIRC, the timing for CX873 meals in J is also similar to CX881, CX883 (ex LAX) and CX845 (ex JFK). Some type of "supper" + light meal option at take-off and full breakfast pre-landing.

SeeBuyFly

Have I summarized correctly?

late departure = supper after takeoff / light meal and one snack available on demand / full breakfast starting 3-3.5 hours before landing

non-late departure = full dinner after takeoff / two snacks available on demand / brunch 2-3 hours before landing

long last section of flight without food (as claimed by zhaobao and ijgordon): never happens in J

QRC3288

I'm not sure, because I can't speak for all the Transpac flights! I can speak confidently about the ones I've recently flown on, but can't remember others...I think I have actually flown on every single Transpac flight # (!), but forgot to track meal times. Sorry.

If you have a flight coming up, I recommend either doing a search (you'll want to find a recent thread, because meal times have changed on some flights) or just posting the question as a new thread. No doubt someone will have taken the flight recently and can speak authoritatively. But lumping all "Transpac" flights together obviously doesn't make sense due to many differences

correctioncx

Actually can you explain what is the difference between brunch and breakfast as I forgot on top of my head?

moondog

Looking a brunch menu now: 5 starters, 3 main course choices (omelette, dim sum, congee), bread basket, tea and coffee. IIRC, breakfast has a bit less to choose from.

dkc192

FWIW, I've done CX806 HKG-ORD in J a couple times, one year apart. The flight departs just before noon and arrives just after noon, all times local. Here is what I recall:

First time (Jan 2012): full lunch service immediately after takeoff, brunch service two hours before landing, snacks in between. Y was on the same schedule.

Second time (Jan 2013): full lunch service immediately after takeoff, second meal (cannot remember if it was dinner or breakfast) 6-7 hours into the flight, snacks available the rest of the way. Y and Y+ were on the same schedule.