cshel

Having somewhat of an internal debate.

Trying to book JFK-ICN-SYD, both segments appear to be on the a380. Reading about the F product(hard and soft), it seems very nice but not "aspirational" and while the seat is better than the seat is J, is it really that much better? As business has access to the lounge on the airplane, any thoughts on if F is worth the extra miles?

HMPS

I have the same questions, but settling on J as F&B are not primary for me.

cshel

Yea to me it seems like the main difference is the f&b, slightly better seat, and what i presume would be better service, but not sure if it's worth the difference in miles.

mtkeller

I've only flown the A380 in F, but have done several long-haul sectors in KE J on 777 and A330 flights. I did walk through the A380 J on my way to the lounge. The seat is good, and if you don't mind not having a window, you can ensure no climbing over on the A380 by taking one of the pair of seats in the middle. However, it is a very large J cabin that has a bit of a dorm feeling to it. The F cabin has only 12 seats and goes out less than half full most of the time from what I can tell, so it's a much more personal experience. I opted for F on the trip to TYO I'm taking my mom on this fall, but if I were going by myself, I'd probably go with J since it's a good seat, the bibimbap in J is tasty, the F vs. J lounge difference at ICN is negligible, and the points premium is leans toward saving for another trip.

skyvanman

I'll be flying the KE F product for the first time in November but my opinions of their J seat are quite poor. If you're taller than 6' you'll hate the seat because of the way the headrest area hurts the shoulders. I imagine the F seat will be markedly better based on the pictures I've seen of it.

stargold

Unless the difference in miles is crucial for another planned trip, I would do F.

The difference in miles are ultimately pretty small bearing in mind the flight times involved, and I find that it's one of the more meaningful differences around between F and J (as long as you're on 77W, 74H or A380 with the Kosmo Suites).

mtkeller

I'm really curious about your take on why this is one of the more meaningful differences between F and J. AF would certainly be a bigger difference on anything with old J (albeit F is essentially unobtainable). Given the FCT, LH should be higher, too, even with the retirement of the angled J seats. My first CX J experience is this week, but having flown that J seat on DL and BR and F with CX before, I personally think there's a bigger difference up to F with CX than with KE. My impressions of EK, QR, and EY are that the J->F difference can also be pretty substantial there.

Differing opinions are good, and so I'm really curious to hear what you feel are the worthwhile differences from J to F with KE.

stargold

- J is 2-2-2 or 2-3-2 which is bad if you're travelling alone. In this regard I'd be much happier taking CX J than KE J.
- J food is very, very mediocre. F is not that great either, but not as bad as J.
- A380 J is a dormitory.
- The points difference is really not that much. Other airlines often charge 50% more for F compared to J. On KE it's a difference of more like 25%.

I know there's nothing "wow" about KE F compared to its peers, but I find that there is even less "wow" about KE J compared to its competitors. The only time I would choose KE J without regret is on a short overnight flight where I plan to do nothing but sleep. Otherwise, I would gladly pay up the difference in miles for Kosmo Suite.

Zembla

I suggest you take Y instead. It's a lot cheaper too.

stargold

I'll just take F actually, but thanks for your concern

Aventine

I'm with stargold in paying more for F!