Which Carrier from Europe to Tokyo
 

Hi

I’m going to Japan for 1 month (mid October - mid November) and plan on travelling quite a bit, Okinawa, Tokyo etc.
I’m finding it difficult to choose flights, Swiss fly direct but I’m fed up with their tatty old A340 aircraft.
I live in Switzerland and the following options seem to be the best :


Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, 2 day layover then onwards to Okinawa.
Ana via Düsseldorf or Brussels
JAL via London or Helsinki

All 3 airlines seem to use modern aircraft (777 or 787) in a 3-3-3 configuration and are well reviewed, which should I go for?
Am I missing anything?

I’m leaning towards Cathay Pacific as a weekend in HK will be a nice bonus.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to FlyerTalk. I will move this thread to the Information Desk as this is more a question of which carrier to fly with and not specifically about Japan.

Regards,
armagebedar
Japan forum moderator

Sorry about the wrong section, I did a lot more reading and poured the following list :

http://i.imgur.com/pDJdHA8.png

Erring towards either the Qatar flight from Geneva, the Hong Kong flight or the LOT Dreamliner flight but unsure!

To clarify, this is in Y (economy)? If so, you're really going to hate the new LX 77Ws that are 3-4-3.

Two additional days in HK seems like a good enough reason for me and CX is a good airline, in general.

Be wary of the of the 787 in Y on many airlines if you're taller than 177 cm as most airlines have entertainment systems under the seat limiting foot space/leg room. I'm bigger so it has been more of an issue for me. QR on certain seatmaps of their 77W have an aisle that is 2 seats on each side with a galley/lav in the center and I find that to be a preferable situation in Y.

Note 3-3-3 on a 787 is just awful. I would highly recommend avoiding it (and 3-4-3 on a 777). Both planes were initially envisaged to have one less, but now have been stuffed full.

Yes, it's Y, seems like I should continue to avoid Swiss on long-haul then.

I'm 173cm and my gf is 164cm so we're not very tall, it seems like in economy, the most spacious you can get is the A380, is that correct?

How can I avoid it?
The only other options I see are A350 (Qatar and only possible on the outward journey), A380 or the Japan Airlines 787 with 2-4-2, is that correct?

I would fly either JAL with their generous Y 2-4-2 on the 787 or CX with their 3-3-3 on the 777. If you have to choose between 3-3-3 on the 777 and 3-3-3 on the 787 take the 777 every time. The 777 is wider so it's more comfortable in 3-3-3 (which is why some airlines are now at 3-4-3 on the 777)

Thanks everyone, I'm going to go with Cathay Pacific.
Just driving to decide if it's worth paying the extra CHF40 each for Economy Standard (with Seat reservation) over Economy save (no reservation).

If you'll have 4 segments, ZRH-HKG, HKG-Japan, Japan-HKG-ZRH, with CX I think 40 CHF is worth it to select seating options you'd want and probably together vs possibly getting split up though the airlines do try to keep people together.

Agree with Yoshi212, plus CX is a fine airline and has good standards in Y.

Thanks guys, I hadn't even consider booking the other 2 legs through Cathay, it works out cheaper, fantastic!

Win win then! Safe travels.

Since we're award program centric:

https://www.wheretocredit.com/cathay-pacific-airways

ok, all booked.

ZRH - HKG L Seats 71A,71C (777-300ER)
HKG - OKA L Seats 28H, 28K (A330-300)
NRT - HKG V Seats 77H, 77K (777-300)
HKG - ZRH L Seats 71A,71C (777-300ER)

Hope it all works out well, thanks again for all your help.
I'll no doubt ask and get refused a free/cheap upgrade as usual :)