CX/AY question
 

I'll be travelling from ICN to HEL via HKG with CX and AY in J class. My itinerary requires an over night stay in Hong Kong (late evening arrival, early morning departure). I was wondering if either company would be willing to provide me a hotel room or have a special promotion for that considering that I am travelling in business class and it is a ICN-HEL fare requiring a stopover.

No, not that I am aware of. Are you flying on a day there is no direct flight?

CX offers stopover packages through CX Holidays. Maybe get one of those, the rates are not unreasonable.

A volontary itenerary schedule with overnight connection, when other flights avaible, without overnight stay, no airline will feel obliged to pay your hotel stay. :rolleyes:

So, I'm planning a DONE4 and have a similar dilemma to the OP, so I'll tack it on to this thread:

Basically, I can put together an itinerary with CX flying the Europe->Asia leg, but as a result I'll end up stuck in one of ICN, NRT or PVG overnight. Alternatively, I could fly on the AY nonstop to ICN and save the overnight.

Having never flown either CX or AY, I'm left to wonder: is CX's business class product sufficiently better that it's worth an extra overnight to choose it versus AY?

Extremely variable opinions, but mine is that the current CX J product is not especially comfortable. I haven't flown in longhaul J on AY (the new seats get fairly good reviews) but in your shoes I would probably take AY and avoid the overnight hassle. Could you save a net segment by doing so?

If you do decide to overnight someplace, I'd pick NRT as the airport hotels there are generally very inexpensive compared to other locations.

If you are substantial around the waist, the CX seat will prevent undue movement in turbulence. If you sleep on your side and are happy to stay on one side all night, then the CX seat will be fine. If you like to look out the window, avoid CX. If you want high partitions between seats that even someone at 188 cm struggles to see over when seated (to converse with their partner), then go for CX.

Sorry, not positive about this product. BUT, if you can get on a CX A340 with old long haul business class, you'll be fine.

Is the CX seat substantially narrower than the NZ/VS seat? I find the NZ seat to be the most comfortable business class seat that I have tried, so I was perhaps optimistically hoping that the superficial similarities between the design of the seats would translate into similar levels of comfort as well...

I thought HKG-ICN will be on a regional J aircraft? In which case, the seat will be average at best (and I'm being generous here).

Is there a HKG-ICN on long-haul J?

I'm comparing doing something like LHR->HEL->ICN to LHR->HKG->ICN, so the useful comparison would be on the HEL->ICN sector versus something like LHR->HKG.

PVG is a suitable overnight option because of the two new hotels between terminals 1 and 2 plus the quick Maglev connection to eastern parts of the city.

Sorry, I wasn't specifically referring to your post. My point was that if HKG-ICN is on regional J, rerouting to experience CX and having to overnight at HKG is not worth it, especially if a direct HEL-ICN is available.

In this circumstance I'd probably opt either for LHR HEL ICN, or more likely LHR BA NRT JL ICN.

Unfortunately, the connections through NRT also end up requiring an overnight in Asia. AY through HEL is the only flight that can make the connections in ICN that I need.

(I think, all things being equal, I'd opt for CX over BA since I haven't tried CX in business, whereas I have/have had considerably more opportunity with BA.)

I do know that AY is making an extra effort to keep biz class passengers happy on the ICN and NRT flights. The experience is rather nice on the 343.

Finnair will cut down frequency between HEL and ICN during the summer season and there are no direct flights the day I need to travel. Furthermore, this J fare requires a overnight stop on a return leg either in Hong Kong, Shanghai or Peking. I chose HKG, because I'll get a few more Finnair Plus points by travelling with CX to HKG instead of KE to PEK or PVG.
The other reason for not choosing a non-stop flight was the prize. I'll save over 1000 euros in ticket prize.
I was doubtful about the free hotel night from the beginning, but wanted to ask the forum anyway.

Wow, a saving of 1000 euros would make many of us stay overnight. Hopefully, you don't have to spend it all on the hotel. Given your three choices to stay overnight, I would also have chosen HKG

Not very updated on ICN travel, but if current trend of XONEX prices prevail, the AY HEL-ICN flight might be a convenient way to get to the starting point.

Happy travel! :)

If you like the NZ seat, then you will like the CX seat

I was faced with a similar choice earlier this month. Although I really like CX and don't mind their new seat, I decided to take AY and was happy with the choice. I've flown them before and while it's not CX, they're better than before and the reduced flight time made it a comfortable and easy trip.