JAL or CX?
 

Can anyone tell me which airline's business class is better?

I will be redeeming a business class award ticket from TPE to SIN, and I can either take JAL and transfer in NRT, or take CX and transfer in HKG. I have never flown business on either of these airlines, are they comparable, or is one markedly better than the other?

If JAL is better, is it enough to justify the extra flight time that I will have to incur for the backtracking?

It depends on the specific aircraft type. If you can get the TPE-HKG and HKG-SIN segments on aircraft that have long-haul business class (i.e. 744, 74J, 34C, 34D, 346, 333) then I would say definitely go with CX - you get AVOD and the long haul seats.

If you can't get on those flights then it might be a closer call, but even so it's quite a long detour, so unless you need the miles I think I'd still go with CX. The lounge at HKG is better than the one at NRT as well, particularly if you have OW Emerald status and can get into the F lounge.

Miles aren't an issue in this case.

I agree with christep. Also, have you looked at schedules of the flights? Unless I am reading incorrectly, it appears that there is only one flight that would allow you to connect on JL to Singapore. And it has a brutal connection and doesn't get you into SIN until the middle of the night. Just looking at a random day, CX had five valid connections, ranging from morning to night flights, and all had tolerable connection times. This alone would lead me towards CX. I have taken both these flights and they are fine. I can't recall if I have been in the NBC (I think so) but for such short flights all the CX seats I have been on have been fine. Just try to get the 747 or 333 for the nicer biz seats.

Sorry - missed the fact that it is an award.

So yes - definitely go with CX and try to make sure that you get planes with long-haul business, which means better seats and AVOD.

Just in case you're looking at redeeming AA miles for this trip, AA considers TPE, SIN and HKG "Asia Zone 2" while NRT is in "Asia Zone 1" so I don't think you would be allowed to connect between two airports in zone 1 using an airport in zone 2. So if you're using AA miles it would have to be CX (which sounds like it's the way to go anyway).

Nope, I am using Asiamiles for this trip.

I am not sure of the schedule yet, so I am assuming the time to be comparable on both (probably not true). JAL is going to add about 7 hours of total flight time to my trip, but it saves me about 4 hours of travel on the ground as I don't have to drive from Kaohsiung to Taipei.

If you are using AsiaMiles, have you considered using Dragonair to fly from KHH to HKG then CX on to SIN. That would, prima facie, be the fastest way to do it, and AsiaMiles awards allow CX + one other carrier for the same price as one carrier alone.

HAving said that - you get left with quite a long connection at HKG unless you are flying Tu,We,Th,Sa and could get the 08:20 departure from KHH, arriving 09:55, then 11:30 to SIN arriving 15:25. But that normally leaves you on regional business class, without the AVOD.

Having said that, despite my earlier advice, looking at the schedules I am reminded that there aren't many flights HKG-SIN with long-haul business class, so that might well be the best you could do. KHH-SIN in 7 hrs 5 mins. (Except, of course, taking the direct KHH-SIN flight on CI, which is 4hrs 5 mins, but that's not available in AsiaMiles.)