AA first vs CX business
 

I'm flying from NZ to the US, via Asia due to a lack of award availability. Currently I have AKL-MEL-BKK-PVG on TG (J) and PVG-DFW-AUS on AA (F). Some CX J availability has just opened on my date (and only on my date) BKK-HKG-LAX. Here are the pros and cons as I see them:

Change:
Change fees to both AA and UA (although I guess I could avoid the UA change fee by just not boarding the BKK-PVG leg).
Four hours in BKK at night when the only lounge available is the not very nice CX one.
Have to clear immigration/customs at LAX (I'm assuming DFW is less stressful).

Stick with what I have:
Nine hours to kill in Shanghai in the middle of a long journey.
More segments--> more possibilities of missed connections etc.
Miles cost is more for F than J.
4-8 hours longer travel time.

I've flown the BKK-HKG-LAX route on CX J before and was pretty happy with it. There are a lot of negative reviews out there about AA F, but I've never flown F before so I might not even notice that it isn't a great F product.

What would you do?

AA first vs CX business
 

I'd route through HKG. CX should by flying a 777-300 on that route. AA uses a 777-200 on the PVG/PEK routes. I'd say both the hard and soft product on CX would be better. Just my two cents...

Change to CX business

AA first vs CX business
 

Always nice to fly F. But in your case the time saved in transit trumps all other factors. AA F, that too the old one, certainly isn't anything you should base your routing on especially when the other choice is CX J.

Get home faster.

Even when flying times / connecting airports are the same I personally would prefer CX J over AA F.
CX J is one of the best J products.
AA F is one of the worst F products around.

Don't bet on it. DFW has tons of arriving international flights and the lines can be verrry long. Do you have Global Entry?


Yes, it will be the 77W.

While I agree that OP should pick CX J for timing and transit reasons, compared to not-too-dramatic of a step down, this is pretty :rolleyes:

IMO, of course.

AA first vs CX business
 

I took AA F from China to LA last week. Usually I take CX in C. The seat is wider and more private on AA but everything else is better on CX. The service on AA was hilariously poor. CX has a much better selection of on demand entertainment. CX has cleaner planes with nicer bathrooms. CX has much better lounges in HKG than AA has in any of their hubs. I won't be taking AA F over CX again. That said, both are much better than coach :-)

I'd pretty much always choose CX J over AA F, given a similar route / travel duration.

Somewhat OT, but I had no trouble recently booking award seats in J on the nonstop AKL - PVG Air New Zealand 789 service. Whether you fly AA or CX (or JL) from there, the nonstop to PVG saves us many, many hours of travel.....

I like it when the recommendations are unanimous. Tickets are now changed and I'm very happy to have shaved some time off the journey.

Initially had NZ AKL-PVG, but realised on my travel day the J wasn't business premier but the version with the recliner seat. So I rerouted on TG through MEL and BKK. Then jumped on a direct AKL-BKK flight...until I realised that route TG uses the angled lie flat seats. Then I had to wait again until NZ rereleased TT award space.

Which is a long and not particularly interesting way of saying that I have changed this trip a lot. Now I've turned off my alerts so that in the unlikely event NZ or QF releases direct J award space I'll be blissfully unaware!

Just to add, some airlines market CX's J class seat as a First Class seat e.g. BA. :)

BA's F seat is not the same as CX's J seat. So far as I know, the only airlines that use the CX J seat as an F seat are AA on transcons, and KA

Yea, just get Global Entry. Then you won't have to worry about the crowdedness of the airport.

what route does KA have 3 cabin?