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I had the popcorn which tasted great and the Burger which tasted gorgeous on a recent DUB HKG and presented well,they apologised that it would take 10 mins but it was worth the wait! Picture attached
The return flight was at 1245 am so I just had a cheese plate and an Australian Shiraz before going to bed mode
Then a western style breakfast about an hour before reaching Dublin which was a cup shaped omlette that was nice , picture attached

All in all very happy (With the main offering on the outbound aswell I might add)

Thank you for sharing this. 826/828/829 are my main flights that I do multiple times each year. Probably because of this, I always try to accept what's in front of me (I'm not going to start flying AC) and find the positives for any changes. Definitely looking forward to the mattress pad, pillow and slippers!

I was initially luke warm with the "new service" but has since grown on me. On my outbound flight last August (menu and pics here https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31472377-post146.html), I felt the steamed cod, at least taste wise, was one of the best dishes I've ever had in the sky. The timing wasn't any longer than usual and service standards pretty much the same.

At this point I guess it's not any better than the old style service and dining but to me its not any worse than before.

On a side note, I only recently understood the whole supper vs dinner which explained why I would question when the appetizer was only the sticks and dip. I used to hate it at first, and would eat it angrily because it felt like a cop out. However over time, I actually started to like the taste and flavour of the dips, that I actually miss it now!

829/826 are my frequent flights too. I don't quite like the timings of 825/828 since I feel like I waste half a day at both ends, plus I believe 828 has the mid-flight meal service that I dislike. 825/828 just switched to the A350-1000 but unfortunately for the above reasons I had to stick with 829/826.

After 13+ years flying exclusively on Cathay between YYZ and a HKG, I actually flew Air Canada (In J) the first time this year and I had to say I was pleasantly impressed. Hard product is actually better than CX especially before CX finally added the mattress pad and thicker pillow (I could live without the slippers.) I actually grow to like AC's J seat. Food and service are both alright cause it's not like CX is 6 stars anyways.

I did see your posted menus before my flight this time so thanks!

And ya the breadsticks and the dip I actually missed. It was a nice little "appetizer" for the supper service.

I agree, as of late, seems that the crew has become accustomed to the new service and it seems to take nearly the same amount of time as the old service.

Sometimes the burger really hits the spot and is well prepared, sometimes it's a dry mess and the bun is stale.

On a previous trip back to EWR, I was having trouble deciding what to have for breakfast. FA offered up the idea of having the burger for breakfast. I took her up on the offer and it was a great idea since the flight arrives in the evening. My last flight to EWR I asked for it and FA took the order with no problem. Both times the burger was prepared well and they added some of the breads and fruit from continental option.

I have mixed feeling also, not really sure it's better or worse, just different. Certainly, the service is not more personalized.

I experienced the full updated hard product on my flight last week, I didn't find the new mattress pad added any additional comfort. The seat I was in, 19K on A359, happened to have a few extra pad/blanket packs in the overhead so I tried putting 2 mattress pads on. Still didn't feel much difference. I appreciate the slippers but since my feet are gigantic compared to Asian standards, I have to really jam them in to get them on.

Did some chat with cabin crew at my previous long flight discussed some issue on new business class services flow/catering.

- Chinese rice now heated in aluminum foil and then placed to bowl, previously they heated rice with bowl. So that's why now the rice will not overheated at the top layer.
- Cabin crew using iPad to take order from pax, another cabin crew at gallery using the qty from another iPad to prepare meal. But they complaining it is a mess because the data not syncing in each other iPad.
- A350 galley design made the new business class services flow even worse due to not enough working place to prepare the meal.
- Some ex-HKG J meal now also prepared from China.
- The tray served to pax requires cleaning by crew every time, they prefer previously a table cloth as cover is more easily and presentable.

I flew CX J for the first time ever in August, from HKG to FRA. The meal service was personalised, which was quite good, but my aisle was quite slow, and I needed to wait for 30 mins for my meal, as my seat was 25G, 2nd last row.

This, my wife and I found the service very slow, and the portion sizes extremely small, we were in 21K and 22K JFK>HKG Originally had 11K and 12K, but right before boarding, they called my wife to the counter, told her there was an issue with the seat, the foot rest would not work, so they moved her to 21K. When I boarded, i went to my seat, 11K, only to already see someone settled into 12K my wife's seat. I asked the FA, person in the seat mumbled something to her I could not hear, and she tells me the seat is inoperable. Later, after take off they were able to switch me with the person in 22K. Not sure if your seat/cabin location has anything to do with how long the service takes.

I doubt it's a conspiracy to steal your wife's seat. Almost certainly the pax in the seat was ID (staff on personal travel) or an upgrade, and they would've advised them of the problem beforehand. It is definitely better to move back to where you did if your seat is broken.

Service goes front to back, so yes the farther back in the J cabin the longer service takes. Unfortunately with the new service, it can take a really long time, especially with some crews who aren't as experienced with it.

The new service is now on all long haul routes and has been for many months so I don’t think inexperience can explain all the slowness anymore.

Um...Still a lot junior cabin crew working in J may experienced their first time for new services flow.

I understand your sentiment sounds practical, but in reality I think it's just wrong! I think enough crew are still on their "first few times" doing it, and it is indeed disruptive.

(Or course, I also agree with your implied sentiment I think....that it's just slower, period. That's a shame and I don't think there's anything can be done...)

I am a reasonable yardstick. Ironically, because of how little I've tried the new service in J (I am hardly an expert.) Yet I fly Cathay extensively, and entirely in premium classes. I think I've done about 7 or 8 CX longhauls this year. Yet I only had my first and only experience as a passenger with new service J in October on CX879 coming back from SFO. I highlight this example to say how it's very very possible to fly a ton and still not really be familiar with it.

Plenty of FPs and SPs are regularly rostered in F and Y class, not J. Plenty more took leave, had maternity, called sick, whatever. Others swapped out long haul for short haul flights. This is all very normal behavior, they have 10k+ flight attendants! They don't all just do the same predictable patterns. I can assure you many still haven't done this new J much, if ever. And it slows things down further when they're on board. With 13 or so cabin crew per flight and 6 or whatever it is in J class, you're almost certainly still have multiple crew members who haven't done it more than a couple times before. Over time, yes familiarity will be there. But if you just normally distribute flight patterns, it is going to take a lot longer than the peanut gallery assumes. It's a huge company, tons of staff, and they didn't make the change overnight or even for all the flights. Will take time.

actually, on my sole "new J" flight back from SFO in October I even had one in J for her first time. I have no reason to think she was lying! This corroborates just what I know from crew and other staff I'm familiar with, that it's still relatively unfamiliar territory for many of them.

I'm not really an expert at it, but in my sole experience I say I prefer the old way for the meal service. Plus the options now are still just as limited, but snacks are basically just chucked into this silly newspaper thing to make it look like there are more options. Overall hard to fool folks who fly on the competition I think. But the new bedding and pillow is a definite upgrade and they deserve kudos for a job well done there, although that's somewhat unrelated to the food.