CX J class
 

Can anyone comment on Cathay Pacific's business class betwwen YYZ-HKG.

Thanks,
Empress

What would you like to know? I have not flown YYZ-HKG before but if it's CX service, it would be similar everywhere.

I fly CX long-haul whenever I can. Flights between YYZ-HKG are flown on an A340-300 aircraft. The Business Class seats are in a 2-2-2 layout, split in between by a galley. (Opt for the seats just behind First Class)

Seat pitch is 50%. Recline is ? Enough to be comfotable anyway. The seats are not automaticaly mechanical so you would have to push the leg rest back to its original position when you need to stow it. I find the CX seats very comfortable due to it's 'angle' when fully reclined. It helps too that the A340 aircraft has extremely quiet engines.

The meal service on Cathay is excellent in my opinion. Food presentation is very good and extremely pleasing to the eye. (Surprisingly since CX uses the same flight kitchens as some of the other airlines in YYZ and YVR and their meals look sloppy). Anyway, there are always at least 3 choices of the main meal to choose from, unless the flight departs late as the YYZ flights do - so the main meal choices might be down to 2. There is at least one Asian dish somewhere. CX does not serve Starbucks coffee but on their Business and First Class cabins, one can opt for either espresso, latte or cappucino...served on special Cathay Pacific cups.

Inflight entertainment consists of over 10 hours of inseat video entertainment - per channel and theer are usually over 14 channels to choose from. One may never see the same movie again as Cathay changes movies according to the routes they fly. ie Westbound flights to HK will have different selections to Eastbound flights to HK. Similarly, flights to Europe, Australia and witin asia have different programming - so it's actually refreshing to be able to watch something new every time you fly on CX.

Flight attendants are attentive and courteous with an asian flair. CX flight attendants are a wonderful mix of asian nationalities that on any one flight, there are flight attendants who speak Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Thai languages to name a few.

I don't want to sound unfilial to Canadian but after a few bad experiences of late, I much prefer to fly with Cathay Pacific. The only area where CP is better than CX is actually the economy class seating. CP's seat pitch is much more generous at 34". CX fails miserably at 32". Those 2" makes a lot of difference when the flight stretches over 7 hours!

I have never flown CX. However, I am very comfortable and happy with CP's J class especially with their 65" pitch. just thought I would try CX since i can earn CP points with CX.

Regards,
Empress

Having just flown CX first Class from YVR to JFK and return, I can say that they are truly wonderful. In fact, next summer during my RTW, I plan to take them instead of SQ, which I frankly think is not as good as CX.

To Sarecca:

I may have to look into that statement!! I have continuously heard great praise for SQ! What is this???? Mockery of the World's best???? Or so I have read...... I have not tried CX nor SQ, but do have SQ on the table in First for November.......should I be changing this to Cathay? People with experience, please tell. We all love luxury!

I've done both CX and SQ long-haul first. SQ had the edge with their sky suites but now CX is putting similar seats in their aircraft. With the new seats, ala carte dining and new enertainment system CX is definitely ahead.

CX and SQ business I think are about the same, but my preference is CX as I find the FA's to be a little more "human" in their approach.

CX J Class between YYZ and HKG is operated by A340s. If you are flying CX, please make sure to book the seats at Row 10 and 11, which is the frontal section of the C class cabin... right between first class and Door 2R/L. The seats are arranged at a 2-2-2 arrangement, with fifty inches legroom. It has the latest Personal TV entertainment system with nine channels.

There will be a technical stop at Anchorage, and you are required to deplane due to FAA regulation. Personally, I think ANC is trying to get you to visit its Duty Free shop, so they make you deplane. It is midnight and ANC airport can be very busy. However, their duty free shops are really cheap. It is worthy for a look , since there is no lounge facility. KE and OZ are the only ones with lounges at ANC. The stop is about an hour... just refuelling and change of staff. (CX F/As hate the layover at ANC because they are not used to the cold weather.)

In terms of meal service, you will served a supper shortly after take off. It consists of a salad appetizer, three choices of entrees, cheese and crackers or fruit platter, and chocolate. You will have three choices of breads... (CX has no dessert service for supper service, but is in the process of adding Haagen-Dazs ice-cream bars to its supper. You may have it or not).

Anyway, there will be sandwich and noodles through the flight from YYZ to HKG.

Orange juice and hot towel will be served before landing at ANC.

From ANC to HKG, you will served a refreshment, which consists of a fruit appetizer, two entree choices, a dessert, and warmed rolls (two choices). Then, sandwiches, noodles, and cookies will be available throughout the flight. Two and half hours before arrival, there will be a breakfast service. It has two choices of fruit juice (not fresh though), a fruit appetizer, choice of breakfast breads (three choices), choice of yogurt or cereal, then two or three choices of entree, followed by tea/coffee. I like CX's breakfast service. The breads are fresh and the entree is usually good. I will try the Chinese entree (Dim Sum is always good).

I hope this info will help.

I flew both CP and CX. Although CP's new seats are really comfortable, I like CX's food service and F/A service slightly better. If I am correct, CX is having the promotion for C class now. You can select a free upgrade to F on the way to HKG or can have a free C class side trip to any Southeast Asian cities. F class will have the a la carte (choose what you want to eat) menu for YYZ to HKG, but CX will not install the suite on its A340s. For A340s, you get a 72 inches seat for F class though.

Have a safe trip and write us a report when you get back!

Carfield

Actually, this trip will not take place until December. The thing that is making my decision hard is the 65 inches of spaces offered by CP. I have done 5 YYZ-HKG-YYZ trip in the last two years and all are on CP. The thing that makes me want to try CX is them being codeshare now and I can earn status points.

However, I must admit I am not very happy with CP's inflight entertainment and know that CX's is far more superior than CX. If I do buy a J class ticket, I probably go with CX since I can be upgraded to F. But If I make Exec. Plat. on CP by then, I'll probably fly CP since EP gets guarantee award seats.

CX's food service sounds very attractive!!

I'll let you guys know what my decision is when I do make it.

Any suggestion on how long the layover in ANC is? How long are the flight times? I think CX arrives aroudn 7am in the morning into HKG, am I right?

Regards,
Empress

CX 829 departs YYZ at 9:35pm and it will arrive in ANC around midnight. The flight is about six to seven hours eastbound. The layover is nothing more than an hour. The flight will take off around 1 am, and scheduled to arrive in HKG at 6:35pm. The flight time will be about eleven hours or so, due to stronger head wind in the winter. Nevertheless, CX 829 has a pretty impressive ontime record. Most of the time, the flight arrives at around 6am.

Clarification about rows... Row 11, 12 and 14 are right behind first class, Row 15-18 are right behind Door 2... CX's first class is 2-2-2, which is slightly narrower than Boeing 747s, but the legroom is increased from 60 to 72 inches...

Let us know what your decision is.

[This message has been edited by Carfield (edited 11-09-1999).]

please do. i'm contemplating a trip from jfk -yvr-hkg-mel (with stopovers, of course). how does the biz class service compare between the 747's and the a340's? any differences between legroom and recline? i think the itinerary is a mix of both aircraft.

[This message has been edited by lonman (edited 11-10-1999).]

CX's J class share the same dimensions and seat pitches. It is fifty inches across the long-haul fleets (744 and 343) and forty-five inches across the regional fleets (777s and 330s). The width may be slightly better in the Airbus due to the 2-2-2 seating, rather than the 2-3-2 seating.

CX 888 and 889 are operated by the Boeing 747-400s with the expanded business class section. It is called the Premium configuration, but no suite yet. It has an extra section of J class between Door 2 and 3. It features both an upper deck and main deck bar. Upper deck bar is slightly smaller and located next to the magazine rack. The main deck bar is more extravagant and located behind the business galley next to door 2. It has a rack of glasses and cups, and a wide range of mineral water, soft drinks and possibly some munchies. Airbus A340s do not have this open bar, but CX F/As are always there to bring you drink. I guess the new bar is to accomodate the slightly shy Asian passengers or passengers who want a stretch or a compromise to the F/As who are negotiating the new contract and expect to work up to Age 55 (CX also wants the nonstop JFK to HKG route. One of the problems is the F/A).

About CX 889, there will be a dinner service from JFK to YVR. J class will feature slightly more extravagant dinner with an appetizer, a salad, three choices of entrees, cheese or fruit, dessert and tea/coffee and pralines. An ice-cream bar (haagen-dazs0 will be served before landing at YVR. I think you are required to deplane in YVR, and you can visit the nice CX lounge. It is pretty great... From YVR to HKG, there will be a refreshment service after take off. Fruit plate, two choices of entrees, dessert, rolls and coffee. There will be snack of sandwiches, ice-cream and noodles available throughout that flight. There will be an extravagant breakfast before landing. I personally think that the refreshment service after takeoff from YVR is pretty light. Consider AC serves a full dinner and CX boards a new group of passengers from YVR. Anyway, CX said that passengers want to sleep.

From Hong Kong to MEL, it is a flight operated by A340s. There will be two days in the week, which the flight is operated by Boeing 747-400s but with a stopover at ADL. (The return is all nonstop flights.) The service will be a supper service (salad, three choices of entrees, cheese, fruit or Haagen Dazs ice-cream bar, coffee/tea)after takeoff, and a continental breakfast before landing (fruit plate, yogurt or cereal, hot entree or choice of pastries, coffee/tea).

The return flight is more extravagant. MEL to HKG features a full lunch service (canape, appetizer, salad, four choices of entrees, cheese or fruit, two choices of desserts -- gatean or ice-cream, pralines...). An afternoon tea service before arrival consists of fruit platter, two choices of entrees (one Chinese and one Western), scones or pastries, tea/coffee).

CX 888 from HKG to YVR has the full lunch service, a refreshment (real noodle, sandwich, or ice-cream bar), and continental breakfast before arrival. YVR to JFK features the full lunch with appetizer, salad, three choices of entrees, cheese or dessert, pralines), and then they serve cookie and ice-cream before arrival.

It is quite an experience...

Happy flying,
Carfield

I'm just back from a BKK-HKG roundtrip "mileage run" on CX in business class, and beg to differ on the food: it was inedible!

On the 10:00 a.m. flight to HKG, the appetizer was a "Salmon Salad Thai Style" that was so hot (spicy) I couldn't eat more than two bites. I went with the "Supreme of Duck Hunters Style," which came with a nondescript (and flavorless) brown sauce; the duck itself had a thick layer of fat under the skin that should have been rendered in the cooking process. All in all, the $.67 duck with rice I had the night before in a Bangkok food court was the much better meal.

On the return (same day - it was just for the OneWorld 100K bonus!) they had a "tea service." This time I went with the Asian dish, E-fu Noodles with Barbecued Pork & Prawns. The noodles came with the same tasteless brown sauce, and the prawns were way overcooked. I ate about ¼ and left the rest; so did my (Asian) seatmate. And the brownie wasn't up to par either.

One other problem: Instead of taking orders in advance (as on AA and UA), they came around with 8 entrees (four of each choice) on a cart. Of course, it took a while for each passenger to make their selection, be served, etc. So by the time you got yours, it had been sitting out so long that the food was lukewarm and the noodles were dried out.

Oh, well, at least J class was only $70 more than coach, and worth it for the comfort.

Sounds like a poor "dimsum" outing! While I don't doubt you, truly I'm shocked. Hopefully just an aberration here on a traditionally fine carrier. Sorry to hear of the CX miscue here johna.

CX has upgraded their long-haul (anything over 4 hours) Business Class service.

My recent flight between HK and London convinced me that CX is offering a better product in Business than their competitors.

Main meals are now offered on display seperately with the accompanying condiments on the side. That way, one F/A dishes your choice of main, and the other F/A dishes out your accompliment....potatoes or rice?

Ex-HK, the ice cream choice is Movenpick instead of Haagen Daaz. Following the supper service, was a full cheese board, fresh fruit, and dessert. Ice cream and chocolates were available througout the flight.

For Empress who has made Exec Plat on CP, you may use the First Class lounge at HK airport. Trust me, that is the absolutely BEST airport lounge I have ever been anywhere!

Upon entrance, your coat, hand baggage will be chekced in by an attendant who will hand your coat check tag in a white envelope (very discrete). From there you can venture into the lounge area where upon seating yourself, you will be approached by staff to take your drink order.

Or if you prefer you may proceed to the dining area and have your preference of a full buffet spread anytime of the day with wines yet.

To freshen up, one can either take a shower with full amenities at one of the shower rooms or in one of the cabanas where one may either bathe, shower (or do both with a loved one), relax, catch a nap, help your self with the bowl of fresh fruit and minibar choices (its free) in the one of 5 Cabanas located in the First Class area.

After all that, one may catch up on some relaxing reading in the Library / Reading Room.

CX's First Class service is beginning to shine through.

Food-wise, I have never had any complaints with Cathay. But mostly with Thai. I guess kitchens can have off-days too.

I'd forgo the 65" pitch on CP if I have to have one of them surly F/As serve me one more time. Besides, rumour has it that CX will improve their Business Class seat pitch by next year.

Hope it works out for you!

Sounds like Celestar340 has identified my problem: the issue seems to be regional vs. long-haul meal service. Since BKK-HKG is only ~2½ hours (1,063 miles) each way, they may well be better on longer flights (trans-Pacific, or to Europe).

And doc, I would have preferred a bad dim-sum meal - at least I could keep trying different dishes in hopes of finding something edible!