HKG-BNE - Votes for QF or CX please!
 

Hi all,
Just finishing off a DONE4 itinerary for June, and left with a HKG-BNE sector to fill.
The choice is between QF98 or CX103.
Both are evening departures (allowing plenty of time in The Wing!)
Both are two-class A330's.

Experiences or suggestions will be most welcomed!

My vote would be QF, at that time i'd want to sleep and prefer the Skybed for that. Also love the QF breakfast and the way you can pre-order it on the card they give you. YMMV.

Also, IIRC CX uses regional business class on their 330 to likes of BNE / PER etc... I dont think they ever had any 2 class A330 aircraft with l/h config. Definitely some 3 class though.

My vote would also be for QF. Apart from the superior config on that route and the better catering, I've always preferred the more casual style of service on QF. I find the QF crews very charming, and CX crews rather cold in comparison.

Plus champagne-wise, Lanson and Charles Heidsieck MEC are both far superior to Deutz. Unless CX serves Billecart-Salmon on that flight?

And another vote for QF. The A330 is a great product for QF. Even if you get the new CX seats I would still go for QF because of the different service. Oh, and they choice of Australian movies.

I Prefer CX
 

I think CX is the best OW carrier. I find QF service hit-or-miss. The new CX lie flat B/C seat is superior to all others I have used (BA, SQ, AA, QF) -- not sure if this is the configuration on this route, though. (I had this new CX seat on 747-400 from JFK-HKG last month). QF service more "casual"??? Is that what you call it??? My last international QF flight took > an hour for drinks to be served, and after dinner the crew disappeared. They were as casual as a leisure passenger on that flight!!!

Downside to CX: They put mushrooms on many dishes -- yuck, I hate that fungus!

As mentioned by the others, QF is an easy choice over CX on this route, as CX flies with the Regional Business Class seating to BNE, rather than the Skybed on QF.

Mmm... I do like mushrooms though. :p Especially sauteed ones for brekkies. None of that fungus for the QF brekkies I had this past holiday. :(

I am aware of QF's reputation for inconsistency. However I can only speak from experience and have never had a sub par experience on QF. When I said "casual" i meant that the service on QF is usually more light-hearted and informal. Whilst so far I am failing to see what is it about CX that everyone raves about. The CX FAs are far less engaging and usually a lot more business-like, and the obligatory interactions with the senior crew usually feel very 'forced.' "Robotic" if you will but I loath to use that cliche. The same accusation is usually levelled at SQ but at least their crews "open up" when you chat them up. There have been one or two CX flights that I liked (great SPs and ISMs) but these have been short regional ones (BKK-SIN-BKK). On the whole I find CX flights competent, but nothing really memorable about them. Unless the hard product on the competing oneworld carrier is significantly superior (eg flat beds vs cradle seats), I have made it a point to go for QF whenever possible on my trips (even overnighting in July on DPS-xHKG-MEL to catch QF30 the next morning; there's also the benefit of Sat night in Lan Kwai Fong but that's besides the point :p).

YMMV, par the course. :)

Whatever thoughts one might have had on the service styles of both carriers, the clincher for the OP would be the hard product on that particular route - QF offers the Skybeds whereas CX has their regional config.