I'm trying to get from JFK to Singapore and my 2 options are JFK-HKG-SIN on Cathay or JFK to HND on AA and then HND-SIN on Japan Airlines. Which of these should I choose based on the service in First Class, the seat and the food. I took Cathay in business last year in the new configuration and was not overly impressed with their seat. The service was certainly above and beyond but I did get off the plane hungry because they only had Pork, Steak + One vegetarian and I would not eat any of that. I am willing to look at Cathay again due to the service. I have never flown AA in First so I am open to opinions. I should mention that the AA option will get me to SIN about 12 hours sooner than Cathay but that does not matter too much since I only need a few hours in SIN.

TIA

CX TPAC F beats AA F hands down.

To be clear, your options were: Pork, steak, or vegetarian? (Or alternatively somehow a vegetarian steak?) What exactly were you looking for? Could you not request it in advance?

I usually prefer chicken or fish. It was my first time on a flight where either was not an option but the service was great so I did not care.

Is this a trick question? CX in a heartbeat.

CX wins hands down. But then again, i have never tried JAL's F product before. But I did fly JFK-HKG-SIN in CX F just last week and was blown away by both the hard and soft products. Just keep in mind that for HKG-SIN ,CX usually uses those older regional aircraft so do not expect a great F product in many of these for the near 4 hour trip , unless you can get the 747. if that is not possible, try to get a plane fitted with the (now old) biz herringbone layout (not sure if new J is offered on this route).

Besides, CX F offers Shanghai Tang PJ's. Amenity-kit wise, the CX Zegna kit for men is not really industry leading and i think JAL's with shiseido products is better, from what I read.

Lastly, if you don't like CX's food options, CX has quite an impressive snack menu in both J and F (of course F trumps J, i had the hot pot rice which was amazing and finished off with egg tarts on the F class trip).

And if you really want your chicken and fish combo without eating anything else, you could always request an Economy or Business class meal where they may have that

SFO-HKG 3 meal F menu from last year.
Everything I tried was excellent, even better with non-stop Krug.

CX no contest

Not true at all. JAL's PJ is yours to keep. OP's option is flying AA F not JAL F. HND-SIN only has C service

What a question....
CX of course.
AA F is more like a business class product with a somewhat better seat.

AA has 16 seats in the 777 in a herringbone layout, CX has 6 seats in about 2/3 of the space. The CX seat has almost twice the floorspace of the AA seat.

I'm not understanding this part.

Taking AA 135/JL 35 gets you to Singapore at 0600 (the last 7 or so hours in J). Are you saying that your only CX alternative gets you to SIN after 1800? But doesn't that mean that you leave JFK the next day?

Flying via HKG does not take any longer than flying via HND, and HKG is much, much more reliable in case of irreg ops (only 1 daily AA flight to HND and only 1 daily JAL flight from HND to SIN ---- vs 4 daily CX flights from JFK to HKG, and 5 or so daily connecting flights from HKG - SIN).

If you're still uncertain about your itinerary, it might be worth providing dates and times, so that those of us who have taken both routes can offer more detailed advise.

CX F so far superior to AA F that I'm lead to believe that the OP was posting with rhetorical intentions.

That having been said, I actually prefer JL F to CX F, especially on flights ex-NRT (superb catering). So, if he could score SIN-NRT-JFK (JL all the way) on the return, it would be worth trying.

CX does not have a regional F product. It has one standard F product on its 744s and B777-300ERs which is the long haul seat.

What you do have to be careful of is a substitution on the HKG-SIN leg to a regional two-class aircraft in which case you will be downgraded to a recliner cradle style Business Class seat. Fine for a 3 hour dayflight but still a bit of a nasty shock coming off the beauty that is the CX F seat.

Yea that's exactly what happened to my CGK flight Even nastier when I will be coming off from the JAL Suite