OZ F (old product) vs. NH F (Cube)
 

Long time lurker, first time poster. I know I may get biased responses since I am posting this in the OZ rather than NH forum, but this one seems to get more traffic and I am well aware of how the moderators hate cross posting.

I've searched and read numerous trip reports for both the old OZ F product as well as the NH Cube. I am currently booked on an award with OZ but see availability on NH for around the same time. I've flown NH F in the past in the older suite and enjoyed it. However, I've never flown OZ and reviews on the service are good but the food seems to be hit or miss.

On the one hand, it would be nice to experience a new carrier, especially since I've moved all my travel away from *A to OW and will likely never have the chance to fly with OZ in a premium long-haul cabin. On the other, NHs consistency in the air and the lure of a new hard product is making it a much tougher decision than I originally anticipated.

I would discuss this with my collegues or friends, but they think I'm crazy (I'm sure many of you are in the same boat) when I mention these matters during casual conversation. I was hoping that someone on the forums could give an objective assessment to help me make a decison. Either way, I know the flight should be quite enjoyable.

Thanks!

For those that have flown both how does the IFE compare between OZ and NH? I was quite impressed with NH (old first seating) on a recent flight with the exception of the IFE.

I can only speak for Y, as that's all I've flown on NH, but assuming the selection is essentially the same between classes, it should be quite similar (I didn't notice a difference with OZ between Y and C, don't know about NH). On both OZ and NH I had a reasonable selection of recent movies, a few international ones (read: not Hollywood) and then some special Korean programing. There wasn't much by way of TV shows or shorter shows though. As I recall, NH had quite a similar selection, though obviously switch the Korean programing for Japanese.

For a single flight, I personally don't find either half bad, though of course IFE is one of the few things US airlines are really good at, and SQ also has more on offer. While improving the selection would be appreciated, my main gripe with OZ' IFE (no idea whether this also applies to NH) is that they don't change the content often enough. So if you travel at all frequently with OZ, chances are you will have several flights on which you've already seen everything of interest to you.

I like NH IFE better just for the anime.

When I flew on NH in 2011, I found the IFE to be pretty good both in technical quality and content. Certainly it was not Hollywood orientated and to me that was a further plus.

When the flight is leaving from the US, the food can be hit or miss. But that's with every airline because the catering in the US is not so good (as with everything else related to air travel). If you're flying from NRT on ANA, I'd go with ANA. The Japanese food is excellent, and the first square (don't think it's called cube) is great.

TK, possibly one of the more praised airlines if just based on catering, uses the same Do & Co. caterer they use at IST.

You may believe that it is fair to say that, but citing various magazine’s surveys of airline quality is akin to looking to Robert Parker or Wine Spectator to judge a wine. Very much an opinion, and you know what they say about those I assume? ;) Worldwide opinion? I certainly would not claim to how every person around the world feels about OZ vs. NH. I suspect discussing that would cause the conversation to devolve into something in which I would not want to take part.

Sophistication is not related to time earned experience and knowledge? A curious although completely incorrect statement. I do not believe I suggested that sophistication in one area indicates sophistication across the board, although in general accepted English, sophistication is less about a certain field or topic but rather about a combined set of factors. It is this more generally accepted meaning to which I refer.

And finally, the collection of any item is in and of itself hardly an indicator of one’s sophistication. Your comment on mug collecting as an only barely hidden attempt to suggest I am unsophisticated is lacking in reason, and quite frankly is not germane to the topic. Or should I perhaps say, “anyways”? :D

I have flown both NH and OZ multiple times in F. They are more alike than different. They both do an excellent job in F and the major differences, to me, are the NH is more Japanese oriented and OZ in more Korean oriented. Not really a surprise.

I have seen the amorphous term "sophisticated" thrown around this thread repeatedly and can only say from the tone in which is it used that the word "arrogant" would seem more apt, which of course no one would accuse the Japanese of in regards to their Asian neighbors . . .

Attention moderators, cleanup on aisle OZ, we have a mess of half-cooked ramen. Just kidding, I don't mind the discussion even if it is going quite off-topic.

While I've had some strong disagreements with Ducati's point-of-view in other threads, I think he/she is pretty much spot on here, especially with regard to that point. If anyone thinks that OZ's main target market isn't Koreans, I think they're in la-la land. Well, there's been quite an increase in Chinese customers recently, but certainly not a lot of Westerners. Just fly them a few times and that becomes quite clear. Unlike places like Thailand, where a huge percent of the economy is derived from tourism, Korea isn't like that. Of course there's some tourists, and some business people, and quite a few transit passengers traveling to other countries, but the vast majority of OZ's customers are Koreans. And many (if not most) Koreans are quite finicky about wanting to eat Korean food, which includes Kimchi with about every meal. If OZ didn't offer Korean cuisine and no Kimchi, they'd end up alienating a large number of their customers - many more that they'd ever hope to gain from foreigners whose noses might find the smell of Korean food to be unattractive.

Anyways, unless I'm mistaken there was some deal at some point where some Japanese were trying to claim that Kimchi was invented in Japan...perhaps I'm mistaken, but that's what some people told me. Lots of Japanese like Kimchi and Korean food. A fair number of Chinese as well. If you take the Korean, Japanese, and Chinese customers, then you have even a much larger majority of passengers who either like, or probably tolerate the taste and/or smell of Korean food.

Not just OZ and KE, but there's even foreign airlines that serve Kimchi on routes to/from Korea. TG is one example. They frequently have bibimbap as a meal option and include Kimchi, red pepper paste, kim (dried seaweed), etc. I know I heard there was at least one other airline that does similar...perhaps CX, but I'm not certain. Now why would FOREIGN airlines be serving Kimchi and Korean food if foreigners found it so offensive? Because obviously they value the Korean customers on those routes, and it's not offensive to nearly the numbers as mjm seems to think. Afterall, if people are going to Korea or transiting in Korea, if they're offended so much by the smell of Korean food, they'll likely avoid Korea the next time, so no need to even be traveling OZ again.

So in my mind for OZ to even remotely consider the possibility of not serving Kimchi and other Korean food is absolutely asinine. And to suggest otherwise indicates to me that one has zero knowledge of Korea and OZ. Of course that's just my opinion. The same with mjm's opinion that OZ isn't as 'sophisticated'. That's just an opinion, and quite obviously many of us disagree, myself included. I think ANA is a fine airline, with great service. And being I fly OZ so frequently, if given the choice between the two, I'd probably choose ANA just for a bit of variety. But without that factor, given the choice between the two, I'd choose OZ. I really enjoy the personalities of the OZ FA's and they way service is carried out. I cannot think of any other airline that more closely matches what I expect service to be like. And if someone thinks that I or OZ FA's aren't quite sophisticated enough for their liking, then let them fly ANA. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but they should realize that opinions are very personal and don't expect others to necessarily agree.

Anyways, back to the ramen issue. I believe that INSTANT ramen was invented in Japan by a Japanese, and when someone uses the term 'ramen', that's typically what is meant. Not cooked noodles like you'd get in a typical noodle restaurant, but rather instant noodles. Anyways, I'm no expert on ramen...I enjoy the smell but don't care for the taste, so I'll try to stay out of further discussion of ramen.

I was just in HKG on CX, and they served bibimbap. So yep, CX is one of the non-Korean airlines serving it

Wow, this is an intense discussion. Will fly both later this year so I guess I'll see. :)

A number of posts, mostly of the "I know better than you", "I am more sophisticated than you" and similar personal exchanges dealing with posters rather than ideas, as well as posts that are off topic and dilatory to the actual discussion here (AZ vs NG First), have been deleted. Some of the reasons are:


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JDiver
senior moderator

Kimchi wasn't "invented" in Japan, but Japanese invaders brought red chili pepper to Korea for the first time in the late 1500s and that led to the popularization of the current form of kimchi. Before then, kimchi was more like any other pickle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ko...-Museum-01.jpg

Basic FT hypocrisy.