FlyPointyEnd

percysmith

kaka

Arbeysix

I well appreciate the comments about the inconsistency of the soft product often voiced in these threads however periodically I experience service from CX cabin crew that is at least the equal of the best out there. I had such a flight yesterday in PEY Aus to HKG during which the Y cabin crew, and in particular the SP in charge did an outstanding job of keeping an unusually demanding PEY cabin happy. This included the generous supply of beverages from J to a group of particularly thirsty pax; addressing the needs of others whose special meal orders had gone awry; professional and sensitive handling of concerns about missing connecting flights in HKG etc. For those concerned that CX does not treat its own DMs well enough relative to other OWE, there was no evidence of this at all on this flight. I was surrounded by OWEs (mostly QF) but was clearly and very subtly given "special" attention throughout the flight. While unfortunately this level of service can be inconsistent, when received it is hugely appreciated and a strong incentive I think to stay loyal.

5DMarkIIguy

Looks like you need to take AA from LAX to HKG and compare. AA is now a lot better than CX by a good margin. Better wine selection, better food, heck, better service.
CX F to QR J, yes, shoulder to shoulder. CX J? It´s premium econ at best.
I just took EK F, and CX F is shoulder to foot with EK in every single measurable aspect.

suziemay

Most of my international flights are to KUL/SIN (and previously MEL) originating from NYC. Cathay has been the best option for me in terms of hard product, in-flight service, route, ease of transit and lounge access for the connection. I typically fly business, or purchase PE and upgrade to business.

• Hard product: I like the 1-2-1 configuration
• In-flight service: Flight attendants are always polite and helpful, and they make me feel special in business (welcome Ms suziemay)
• Route: I like having one long leg so that I can get a decent amount of sleep, then a shorter leg post connection (and vice versa)
• East of transit: Super easy getting from arrivals to departure for connection, I've never had to wait more than 10/15 minutes
• Lounge access: I love The Pier in HKG!!!

I've tried Qatar and Qantas. Qatar's in-flight service is great and probably beats Cathay, but I didn't like Hamad International Airport. Security screening back into the departure area was unpleasant, and I also didn't understand the lounge, and didn't appreciate the showers being by the smoking section. Qantas does 2-2-2 in Business Class. Why. And transiting in LAX and having to retrieve/recheck luggage on the way back was kinda stressful.

I've been a One World loyalist mainly to maintain my OWS status so I haven't tried Singapore Air but that may be my next move now that the EWR-SIN flight is back! It would mean sacrificing my OWS status though, which has been handy in accessing the AA Flagship lounges for domestic flights. Perhaps I need to start accumulating points to another OW carrier as from reading on here, it sounds like there are easier paths to OWS than accumulating points to CX!

FlyPointyEnd

I've never done AA, maybe I'll give it a try when I can finally convince myself to go to LA....but my friends did say the meals and wine are much better than on CX.

I've done QR J and honestly I don't understand the hype...I'm not a wine drinker so I'm fine with ginger ale or water most of the time. Champagne clearly the recent downgrade of CX to Piper then to Basserat leaves a lot to be desired, but meal options are limited to western or middle eastern palette. I do like my wanton soup mid flight or a nice bowl of steamed rice to with my meal. Dine on Demand has it's perks and I do like it, but what CX needs to work on is improving the quality of it's meals. I would seriously disagree that CX long haul J is premium economy compared to QR. For me a lot of the flight experience hinges on the crew, and I can only recall one QR flight this year that had exceptional crew...CX deserves a lot of flack but I think their crew is still one of the best.

As for EK...I dont like the Nouveau riche aesthetics of adding gold to everything...I really don't find it fancy the understated elegance of the "suites" on CX is still one of the best for me. The seats turn into a very wide bed and the mattress top ensures a comfortable sleep throughout the flight. Like in J they seriously need to work on their meals lately I've noticed that CX F is just J food with small upgrade in portion size and better looking but dated plates

FlyPointyEnd

I normally hit 1200-1300 club points every year, I plotted my travel on both BA and QF and found out I can hit BA Gold AND QF Platinum for the same year it takes me to hit DM. Of course BA has some requirements of flying BA operated flights but points wise, you can easily get OWE on other carriers.

kaka

comment re AA is correct, and i would take JL any day.

QR, food sucks. if you get the suites then good but the service is only as good as if you want a nanny. otherwise they suck as well. not to mention the lack of choice in IFE (but that gets solved by an ipad and a netflix subscription these days) AND i agree with ur EK comment. so europebound, yes - CX may fare rather high up.

QRC3288

(this has turned into a longer post than I anticipated.)

I never understood the "nouveau riche" argument against EK F. (ironically, I most read it written as the accepted fact / echo chamber of travel bloggers, who ironically themselves are the very definition of nouveau riche (or perhaps "aspiring" nouveau riche is a better term....) I don't decorate my home with gold or faux wood either, but honestly I can say that same for pretty much every airplane interior too! And how they finish the product doesn't really have any impact on my experience. I just find this whole argument weird. Who cares!

What I love about EK F:
*Food options are abundant...I'd say at least triple, maybe 4x more. CX is so good at writing up every little stupid thing on the menu ("Movenpik ice cream" lol listed as a snack item). If EK followed the CX standard writing up every little thing, the menu would be an extra page or two...
*Food options don't seem to run out like they constantly do on CX (granted, this might just be a function of the "abundance" above)
*I haven't flown in EK J before, but I do understand from FT that many F options are same as J. But to this extent I don't care. Because the options are incredibly, incredibly abundant. (Unlike on CX where there might just be 2-3 western mains plus the Chinese set. And the Chinese set runs out frequently.)
*The bed is both comfortable and wide all the way to my feet.
*Closed-door suite. I used to not think this was that important, but the more I fly in suites the more I appreciate the privacy / light integrity / even sounds bother me less somehow with the door closed
*Truly incredible wine list, if you care about it. I think the hard liquor is also good, although I don't really drink spirits often.
*Amazing "small things".Carafes if you want for wine, which also help decant. Multiple types of coffee, including French press, regular brewed coffee (I think that comes from J), plus an Espresso machine. Dates. Greater small snack selection (candy, chips, etc.) than CX. Just a lot of extra small things.
*Another "small thing" frequently made fun of is the mini-bar. Okay, let's not call it a mini-bar then since that seems to be something that is popularly made fun of, another of those silly travel blog echo chambers. Let's call it "a place to store a few drinks". It's actually convenient. I frequently take out the juice and Pepsi and add more water.
*I actually have used the pen and notebook a few times. Are they necessary? No. But these small things are appreciated!

What I love about CX F (or don't like as much about EK F):
*The bedding is very, very comfortable. Kudos to CX for it. Especially love the F duvet.
*Bed is extremely wide, especially at the shoulder. I don't mind that it narrows at the feet (although I prefer it wouldn't, it doesn't really bother me).
*Essentially, sleeping. I get great sleep in the CX bed.
*Despite the hoopla about the EK shower, I find myself only using it half the time at best. And even then some of those times are "forced', like hey I've got a shower I may as well use it. To be fair I am flying on EK primarily to/from Europe, ME and Africa so my flights are <8 hours. So I can't penalize CX here.
*I don't care about my plane having a bar. So CX doesn't get penalized in my book either.
*I find the CX seat design to be very clever. Although it's now old...the bones are 11 years!...I think it has held up very well and I give a lot of props to whoever designed it.
*I have very little good to say about CX F&B. Sorry. It is pretty bad.

Even though CX doesn't have as many positive points, it is still a very nice F experience. They hit a home run with the hard product design a decade ago, and the bedding is wonderful.

Two obvious things to me which would significant enhance the CX experience is a major upgrade to F&B, and laying down the law with ISMs and flight attendants about protecting the F cabin. I a.) wish the damn flight attendants would not chat loudly in the galley (worst offenders: USA based crew), b.) I wish CX would install thicker curtains, similar to what SQ has up in F. (SQ also has the F cabin slightly recessed from the galley in a way CX isn't.) and c.) I wish CX would lay down the law with ISMs and tell them to stop having crew march up and down the aisles to report to the ISM at the front. Some flights are worse than others, but the FAs blowing through the cabin is a disgrace and it happens on at least 1/3 of CX flights I'm on. They are razzled by the ISM and dont' respect the passengers at all. And make way too many visits to the front.

On both CX and EK now I have been woken up by flight attendants chatting in the galley so I guess this is an industry-wide scourge. But I will add that CX has gotten significantly worse with F galley chat in the last 5 years. The 777 doesn't help because the 747 had the private nose whereas CX doesn't. Neither airline also provides much in the way of ground service if you're transiting so I guess that's a wash. Anyway, despite the way the seat design may get made fun of on EK F with this (in my opinion) overplayed/mark-missing "nouveau riche" refrain, I think the "making fun" aspects are more superficial and don't really address the quality of the underlying product. Overall I think EK F really is a fantastic product and well worth the money. Connecting sucks, but it also can break up travel, especially if you can make a few meetings in DXB or AUH, which I almost certainly can do each trip.

And this is a great thread anyway.

Jane's Addiction

Why stay.
While CX has declined as a share of my overall flying (now to about 50%), unfortunately my travel has grown each year so that my total pend on CX has been flat or perhaps modestly increasing. @1800 CPs now, with 2.5 months to run. I will do >2000 CPs this year while trying to fly CX less.
We all know the failings, but there there are some things CX is good for, which is why i still fly them so much even though I'd like to fly SQ and others more

• F class redemption, upgrades or bookable upgrades
• Ability to earn miles on my coroproate amex and to use those miles - I have redeemed over 4 million in last 10 years
• Decent J class fares from outports (relative to direct flights, and relative to ex HKG prices)
• Lounges
• Ground service generally is food, and stellar in some cases
• Safety
• The A350 J class generally, is my fave J class seat right now
• The 77W and 350 on regional flights (though the time involved to figure out if you get the, is tiresome)

Jane's Addiction

YES!! A thousand up-votes.

I shouldn't get woken up by the crew gabbing in the galley in longhaul F. My 2 year old toddler is much less of nuisance in F than the crew foot traffic (but to be fair, she's a pretty good flyer at this point )

Very much miss the 747 for this aspect.

andersonCooper

I have to lol on this.

Have fun cutting the steak above, which for me turned out to be some sort of work out. (TATL)

With that, I do agree MPC is a meh FFP.

muffin5664

kaka