JEStarr

I'm currently booked in J Class on CX 889 this month for my Honeymoon. I'm booked on award tickets.

There's obviously the layover in YVR on 889. Does the board have any preferences for which flight they like better?

Obviously 889 leaves earlier. If we stay on that flight, we'd likely stay up until YVR then go to sleep. Not sure how we'd manage our sleep on 845. Would you recommend going to sleep right away, or staying up and then trying to go to sleep?

Too much travel

CX845 allows for a more leisurely dinner in Manhattan before heading to JFK, and then going straight to sleep (and you have plenty of time to sleep in the next morning while on a 15-hour flight).

CX889 doesn't have the above benefits and is a longer flight, but on the other hand it's not a polar route and therefore has much lower radiation if you care about that sort of thing.

So basically it's: Dinner + Sleep vs. Risk of Cancer!

mediator

CX845 is better as you have more time to sleep. For the CX889, although you stay on board at YVR, there will be some cleaning followed by more PAX boarding. This will be a little noisy.

maortega15

I have tried both the 889 and 845 flights.

I prefer the 889. Jet lag is not as bad compared to the 845 flight. After take off, a meal will be served, then I usually sleep for about 3 hours then wake up for landing. After take off from Vancouver, have another meal, sleep for about 8 hours or so, wake up about 3-4 hours before landing, have a snack, have breakfast then land. For the 845, have a meal about 0200-0300 local time, sleep for about 8-9 hours then wake up about 5-6 hours before landing. Basically I get more sleep on the 889.

Aside from that, you get 2 sets of crew and 3 meal services instead of 2 if eating is your thing.

Rivarix

Does CX give 2 sets of amenity kit on CX888/889? I've not flown this route in ages but if I recall correctly they used to give one for JFK-YVR and then another one on YVR-HKG? Not that I care much for the mini rice bags CX gives out these days (thank god they listen and changing it) but extra amenity kit is always nice.

OP is doing this for honeymoon. It's not like OP is flying this route weekly.

Too much travel

Yeah, you're right - I'm just mildly paranoid about this because in some years I end up flying this route more than the CX crew are allowed to fly it!

JEStarr

Mixed opinions. I guess I'll have to see if one has F class award space available.

For the 845, would the jet lag be worse since you'd be up for such a long day?

maortega15

For me, the 845 is much worse. With the 889, even though sleep is broken up since you have to wake up for landing in Vancouver, you get more sleep overall.

When I'm in NY, I tend to go to sleep around 2330 or so. With the 889 flight, take off about 9-10, spend about an hour up for the meal service and go to sleep about 12 which is not bad.

For the 845, you'll be having a late dinner about 200. Then sleep about 300. If you get a full 8 hours, you'll be up over Siberia and you'll have 5 hours to kill! The 889 tends to be less boring imo.

Rivarix

It's different for everyone but I've been on 845 many times and jet lag was never an issue for me when I landed in HKG. My usual J habit was eat supper, sleep, watch a movie or two, sleep again, eat breakfast and wallah, I'm in HKG. Eating and watching movies take about 6-7 hours. I get total 8-9 hours sleep (much more than usual) and land in HKG in the morning just like a normal day.

I prefer 845 precisely because it's a 15hr non-stop flight so there's no 'force' break like on CX889 which landed in YVR around 4am NY time. I 'break' (i.e. wake up and watch movie) when I feel like it. The 'better' flight is different for different people.

Since it is a honeymoon (congrats btw), may I suggest you go with the day flight if available (831/841)? My thinking is as follow:

• it's a honeymoon so presumably you're not rushing to go somewhere. 845 is 'efficient' so to speak.
• you spend more time awake than asleep on 831/841 so you get to experience it more. I presume you don't fly this route often (otherwise you won't be asking this question) so might as well enjoy it especially if you manage to get F.
• with 831/841 you arrive in HKG in afternoon (I presume HKG is a stopover and not a transit) so your room should be ready by the time you arrive, go to dinner, go to bed early and start sightseeing/shopping the next day.

Rivarix

Hmm, I wonder if the next time someone asks whether 889 or 845 is better we can use this as an indicator? So you go to sleep before midnight and prefer 889. I usually go to bed around 2 am and prefer 845 ...

Andie007

Just one as you are not leaving the plane at YVR.

JEStarr

That's actually a good idea. Only issue is that we were using HKG a in transit before going directly to BKK.

Swapping to a day flight would require: 1. a hotel in HKG, or seeing if our hotel has our room 1 day early, 2. a change in flights if we decided to stopver in HKG, and then buy a HKG flight to BKK the next morning.

mediator

My observation is CX 845 usually has the least amount of F award space available. The earlier fights usually have more.

JEStarr

Taking flight 889 tonight.

Does CX give you pajamas in J Class, or do you need to bring your own?

maortega15

Nope. Just an amenity kit which is not that great in my opinion as well as others opinions on here.