craz

Thats the dilemma. the stop leaves @ 1am which would give me a 5 hour layover (arriving 7pm off a 3 hr flight) or overnight and take the 6PM something flight non-stop in PE, Hotel will be a free night cert that exps in early Jan. Presently booked on the next days 6pm flight in PE only PE that was available when I booked and waitlisted for Biz for same flight but no status with CX

Im wondering how much of a hassle is having to stop @ YVR, Im sure they wake everyone up , but its 11 hrs HKG-YVR so could be all the sleeping will be finished by YVR.. . If anyone has taken CX888 in Biz can you please let me know what it was like and did it kill your sleep time and how were you after getting into JFK @ 7am. Must you get off the plane @ YVR and take your belongings?

guv1976

I can't answer your questions, but I note that HKG-YVR is listed as 11.5 hours on the CX website.

On any trip of the length of HKG-NYC, I personally would always try to get a flatbed seat -- even if it meant making an en-route stop.

craz

My bad, I mixed up the flight hours of both flights the non-stops are 15 1/2 hrs, you are correct its 11 for the HKG-YVR, which still may workout sleep wise, but by the time one finishes eating yes even on the 1am flight , so far Im 0 for 4 with getting my special meal on the inbounding KA/CX flight into HKG on my way back to The US, so having any food no matter the hour is important

LoveHateRelationship

Yes you need to get off and they put in in a holding pen at YVR.

garykung

It is an award ticket, not MR.

So it is not a good idea to have stops unless the stops mean something to you.

craz

Understood but remember its PE non-stop vs Biz stopping @ YVR. there are pros and cons to both. Of cause Biz non-stop is the goal

then again if the choice was an award tkt via YVR or paying $$ for the non-stop, Id grab the YVR flight in a sec even in PE

synthkeys

The 1 hour stop in the holding pen is a pain. But it's still J class on a LH flight. PE can be very comfortable, but depending on your travel day, JFK flights are typically packed in PE. I like the privacy that LH J on CX affords, but if the PE cabin is somewhere less that 60% full and the seat next to me is open, I can live with it. But the operative phrase is "live with it" vs. something that can be an enjoyable experience. CX865 JFK-YVR-HKG is a little better that you can stay on the plane. For direct flight, you arrive JFK in the evening. The YVR flight is different in that your arrival is in the morning. While I will typically choose the direct flights out of convenience, the evening arrival in NYC after a 14+ hour flight, where I typically wake up about 2-3 hours before arrival, really puts me in a terrible position with jet lag. Coming back from HKG takes me about 4-5 days before I start feeling right. I'm not convinced that the morning arrival makes it better, but waking up just before arrival and forcing yourself to stay awake as late as possible that day, could reset the body clock a bit faster.

I'd say take the J flight. It will add around 4+ more hours to your travel time with an annoying deplane in YVR, but its definitely a more comfortable experience.

garykung

Nevertheless, It is not an instance that you should extend your travel unless needed.

While I have no historical load data, I would still say that the natural chance of clearing a nonstop upgrade is higher than going through YVR. CX has 3 nonstop (2 JFK, 1 EWR) leaves from NYC, but only 2 from YVR (including the one from JFK). So it is obvious that you have more J seats from the NYC market than YVR.

cyster2007

garykung

I could not remember the JFK-YVR-HKG is the 3rd or 4th daily flight. But if you are correct, it actually strengthens my point that the natural chance is higher with NYC vs YVR.

sxc

I have done the HKG-YVR-JFK in J. Yes the stop is a pain. Yes I would have preferred non-stop. And the HKG-YVR is frequently only 10 and a bit hours in the winter.

But I think I would still prefer to do this routing in J than non-stop in Y+.

craz

1- Im talking about HKG-JFK and not JFK-HKG, although its the same # of flights 3 NS and 1 via YVR

2- again I have no status with CX and Im not a MP member at all = probably last person to clear

3- The other night the YVR was available and confirmable, I unfortunately passed on it not knowing the details about the stop

4- for me if I stay overnight it will be in Kowloon Im not interested in the 9am flight so its down to 2 NSs and the YVR(wont stay overnight for this flight just a long 5 hr layover)

craz

Thx exactly the kind of info I was hoping to read. Too bad I didnt ask before it was available and taken by someone else, but if it opens up again I will jump on it and yes the NS in biz is perfered as long as its not the 9am flight

garykung

Not relevant. My focus is on the total of J inventory. Still NYC has more J seats available than YVR.

Again - not relevant, as soon as you are not taking that flight.

craz

1- it is relevant , if theres not much demand for seats to YVR or anywhere and theres tremendous demand to NYC or XYZ then Id say its a better chance scoring the seat with YVR. I know many folks who pay a premium to fly UA I save $100s by making a stop in Europe, so hello Europe eg most folks want to fly into MCO(Orlando) yet I found TPA at times to be cheaper or seats available, and TPA doesnt have the # of seats that MCO gets

2- well if they opened up more seats on the YVR and didnt on the non-stops could be they will open up some more while the non-stops wont open up at all, and now I know what the story will be, so again its relevant, since I havent KOed taking it