QRC3288

I used to pay those rates on CX but stopped. My last CX few round trips to Singapore have been Asia Miles J redemptions. The reason I stopped paying cash to SIN on CX is 100pct because of this thread (regional equipment unpredictability).

Instead, I moved my cash business to SQ. Pay similar amounts, but get guaranteed product. You can also guarantee F on SQ on 3 flights a day.

Another poster above has a fair point. CX apparently is far better than SQ about ensuring a long haul product on flights over a certain length. I remember years ago when CX was still sometimes flying regional frames to the ME and even Australia once in a while (!!), but those days are long gone. On CX you fly to the ME, India, CMB, MLE, and Australia and you are guaranteed longhaul. And apparently SQ doesnt. So at least I should give credit where due. But just saying with SIN flights, a) yes people pay those rates, and b) CX has definitely lost some cash from me because of the lack of equipment predictability.

Frankly, if I didn't have the SQ options maybe I'd stay with CX. But CX's major competitor offers better bang for buck IMO since they guarantee the product so I give my business to them. That's called competition!

TravelwhileyouEat

I stand corrected, the regional J was always regional and I must have confused it with the Spacebed due to similarities (to be fair, I was still in secondary school back then and had yet to have the joy of frequent flying).

sportsguymichael

I'm on CX 602 in July from MLE-HKG (my first flight on CX). How likely am I to have a lie flat seat on this flight. It seems by this thread that since it is long haul, I am pretty likely to have it but I wondered how often they might swap out aircraft on this route to an angled seat.? It is currently scheduled as an A333. Thanks in advance for any replies

dkc192

Virtually guaranteed you will get a lie flat seat, unless unforeseen circumstances (maintenance issues or weather) force a last-minute equipment sub.

QRC3288

MLE is not a route we're complaining about; it's not considered a short haul flight by CX. It is guaranteed flat bed.

Since the route launched, I can only think of one or two times a swap happened. It was on a very specific, highly unlikely situation where the plane broke down, pax were stranded in Male for a day, and CX needed to ship two flight's worth of passengers at once. They sent a regional 777 for the trip because it holds nearly 400 passengers. Aka, this is essentially a "no swap" route.

Refer to our fleet guide for details. You'll notice MLE is in the medium/lonfhaul (no swap) matrix.

Cathay Pacific / Cathay Dragon Fleet, Route and Configuration Guide

sportsguymichael

Thanks all for the quick replies. Looking forward to my first flights on CX. ORD-HKG then HKG-MLE and finally MLE-ORD

Kachjc

unlike SQ
flights over 5 hours get Long Haul seats on CX

sxc

SQ regional seats are much better than CX regional seats though.

QRC3288

This is true.

But as sxc mentions, and I point out above, SQ's regional product is much better than CX's. Both hard and soft. And on short-haul regional flights, I can predict what I'm going to fly on SQ. With CX I can't. (You can book SQ long-haul products to HKG, PVG and PEK, the three regional routes I use SQ for the most, like clockwork).

So there's arguing and then there's reality. The reality is I spend my money based on the way I call it on here, and many others do too: CX loses a good amount of my short-haul / regional business as a result of what I describe, and I'm not the only one. CX's crap yields in recent years aren't an accident. CX doesn't have quite the corporate captive expat market they used to, where all these former British-run companies would sign-up with Swire just because. Times have changed. This dynamic definitely affects their yield, and likewise their bottom line.

It's a frequent "break the ice" meeting conversation piece to start a meeting maybe chatting about the airline you flew over, and plenty of my peers and folks I interact with have the same feelings I do about CX lately. Soft product is terrible and regional business class is very uncomfortable. This isn't groundbreaking! And most of these people dictate where they spend theirs or their company's cash. SQ is my preferred carrier to SIN for these very reasons I mention, despite my overall loyalty to CX. Their J class rack rates are similar to CX fwiw. Plus, you can guarantee F / Suites when you want it. Predictability in product matters, and CX's regional biz is behind both SQ's long-haul and regional product. Aka, if I choose CX I can end up on the worst product between the two. The only area where SQ is worse relates to WiFi; the rates are generally extortionary and speeds slow. CX A350 is far better.

It's definitely kudos to CX for straightening out their medium haul++ flights. In years past CX also did the swap-a-regional-aircraft game to the Middle East and even Australia, and my that was bad. But they fixed that 5+ years ago and they deserve credit for sorting it out.

Yup.

ermen

i miss the day when this could be had for us$1700

ermen

sq is an opton for sin / sea routes.
but if you want to go north asia (esp mainland china) - who do you use?

QRC3288

HK to mainland China, almost exclusively CX/KA. Back from Shanghai mostly CX/KA, once in a while MU. Where CX is losing my business is in the past I'd always choose CX. (My business brings me to SIN frequently). So a SIN-PEK itinerary would have a HKG transit or I'd visit the HK office before going north. Now, not a chance.

but if your point is CX still has me mostly stuck HK to China on CX or KA, you're definitely right. Not much I can do except for the odd MU flight ex-Shanghai, which I do for scheduling or inbound flight delay reasons.

But I've made meaningful dents in their share of my wallet by transferring most of my Singapore and about half my Japan business to the competition. (And not to mention I've moved a lot of my longhaul travel to competitors too, although that's not part of this thread). And when trips to China are back to back with other trips, I no longer have any reason to transit or visit HK. I just go straight. To put in perspective this year, that has happened 3 times so far. So its not peanuts - 3 less segments for me flying CX/KA to China than otherwise.
Essentially I'm less loyal than before and they have themselves to blame.

sportsguymichael

My flights in business were appx $2750 (ORD-HKG, HKG-MLE and MLE-ORD

QRC3288

That's a great deal.

Just to reiterate, you don't have to worry about a swap. The only reason a swap would happen would be something crazy I outlined above. CX "protects" that route.

YVR_Traveller

Does anyone know if HKG -> TPE has frequent equipment swaps? I specifically avoided the recliners and booked a nice afternoon flight on a 33K with LH config but reading this thread, I'm a bit scared on an equipment swap. Any info regarding this route would be helpful, thanks.