CX 884 F Vs. CX 882 J or F (HKG-LAX)
 

Looking at a future mileage redemption from Hong Kong to Los Angeles.

Options on the days I'm interested in seem to be:

CX 884 13:05-09:40 in First for 105,000 Avios + £52.
CX 882 16:35-13:15 in First (same cost) or Business for 70,000 Avios + £52.

Got a F flight from JFK-HKG in F the previous month and I do like it especially for the 15 hour duration and there's a lot of daylight.

Not sure whether flying eastbound in F over J on either of these flights is advantageous, especially if it would be dark outside so nothing to see and I don't want to be asleep and miss meals in either cabin etc.

So, are there any advantages of one flight over another, time wise, cabin wise, arrival wise etc?

HKG-LAX is my regular route. I also don't sleep much going eastbound, so for minimal jetlag I prefer CX882.

Think of it this way -- if you have a lousy night of sleep (awake for meals, etc) do you want to arrive at 9:40am? Then you have a whole day ahead of you where you will be tired, falling asleep, poor concentration, etc.

If you have a lousy night sleep and arrive in the afternoon, it's easier to stay awake until bedtime. The next morning you wake up feeling mostly refreshed and on schedule.

If I am mixing cabin classes I prefer to have the lesser cabin eastbound and the higher cabin westbound. I sleep on the westbound return flights, and higher cabins are much easier to sleep in. Returning on a redeye (ie 881) also helps.

Just my two cents, obviously travel is a personal thing and we all have our own style.

Have you considered CX898 (the early morning flight)?

While i do sleep well in flights, the early morning arrival in LAX gets me to kick jetlag by making sure i get to do good use of the whole day before sleeping well at that night. The other advantage is LAX is very light before 8am.

I also agree with RevJim, it now depends on how well you can sleep inflight.

Continuing this thread rather than starting a new thread...

I have (via a QF redemption) a CX710 SIN-HKG arriving HKG at 11:55 in J and a CX884 HKG-LAX departing at 12:45 in F, followed by an AA416 LAX-DEN in J departing LAX at 15:45.

A CX882 HKG-LAX in J has opened up which departs HKG at 1635. I'm not fussed about the F since I don't drink so the champagne benefits are wasted on me!

Anyone have any views on whether to take the CX882 J or stay with the CX884 F (other than those mentioned above?)

Also, anyone have any thoughts on which lounge to visit in SIN and LAX (and HKG - although if I stay with CX884 there won't be any time for lounge in HKG).

884 over 882 any day. 882 is operated by LAX base crew and they are just unpleasant to fly with. Besides, since 882 does not turn back to HKG directly, you will be docked at a remote gate then bussed which is quite a painful experience at LAX. 884 F also gets you the legendary tea set if you're interested as only a handful of CX long haul flights remain with it now.

Good comments above.

Personally, despite the poor LAX-based crews, I still have begrudgingly picked CX882 F my last 3 (actually, maybe 4?) times to LAX . I find the sleeping time far more attractive as SilverChris says. Get on board, have a big dinner and some wine, and sleep the rest of the flight. Then land midday/early afternoon, enough time to do something important, have a dinner and get to bed before succumbing to jet lag. I just can't sleep well on CX884 until it's close to landing time, and the flight also lands in the morning at 9am or whatever. I find that day very hard and IIRC if I haven't slept on board.

Since we're comparing CX882 J vs CX884 F, despite my problems with CX884's timing I think I'd go with F on CX884 because the LAX crews are bad (this includes in J class), and you can't sleep straight until the end anyway in J because they're going to wake you up 2 hours before landing for the second service and coming through with the carts. (in F, if someone's asleep they'll generally leave the lights down until 30 minutes before landing, and there are no carts. You really can sleep until it's time to land in F, which is one of the best benefits of F IMO).

It might be moot, because that connection is so tight any marginal delay from SIN will have them push you back to CX882. I don't think it's a crazy scenario where you'll be flying on that in F instead, provided there was a seat. They'll protect you assuming your SIN and LAX legs are part of one itinerary. Which brings up a good question...ARE they the same redemption? 50 minutes is too tight in my book to risk it otherwise.

Point above about CX882 remote gate is also accurate. That flight gets the remote gate at TBIT and so you get to smash on the bus with everyone. Very enjoyable experience. (Not).

I guess summing it all up I'd still chose CX882 in First if that was the choice, but since it's not here I think CX884 in F is the way to go. It's definitely superior to the better timing but J class on CX882. And even if CX882 in First does open up instead of J, I think it's probably not the "once in a lifetime" flight I'd recommend for travelers trying out F. Because the crew is going to be worse than average, the remote gate stinks, and it's well-timed for 7-8 hours of sleep because darkness comes rather quickly outside. I find the sleep the best part but understand that may not be what people are after, especially if it's a special treat.

What's with the tea set...? I mean, there is the tiered stand, but taste wise I prefer the QR J rendition. Haven't tried BA's.

Red Bull. I know it's not the healthy solution, but that's what I do to stay awake until night time.

Having to make this debate myself now for June 2022 and leaning heavily towards 882 over 880 or 884. But I was wondering is 884 even a F flight anymore? I see it as an A359 on the 4 days I was looking at.

In debating 882 Vs. 880 I feel like 882 would be better b/c

a) Dinner not Supper so 4 choices not 2 for entree (maybe only 3 but def one more than on 880)
b) Flight is getting in at 1030pm in summer months with the time difference not being as much as in winter, and that seems very late, wont be home til midnight.
c) If Qantas F were open by then I'd grab a $49 ticket and hop back up to go eat there but likely impossible to pull off that late whereas with 882 very easy

I just really am bothered by hearing about the remote stand lol I didnt realize that. That really would be a Sucky way to end an amazing trip. Being its not their home airport running the show I assume there is no bus just for F ?

The negative comments on the Lax based crew would no longer be an issue as I think all the crews are now Hkg based.

With no 884 in play would most agree 882 is better over 880 ?

Thx

I doubt that CX will operate 3 flights per day in June 2022. You probably will be moved to whatever flight CX operates if it operates on that day. It is far from guaranteed that there will be F in June 2022.

Yikes, that would really suck.. If they were going to downsize to A359, not have F, do less flights, wouldnt they have already made some announcements? I know its been especially rough for CX so I get it. Damn, I guess for a Plan B I'll do 2 tickets to get home and go through Doha on Q Suites

What announcement is warranted? You made booking for June 2022. CX certain has no idea what it will operate by then.

You want to lend your money to CX, CX gladly takes it.