SFO777

Definitely not the most convenient way home to LAX, but I'll jump at any opportunity to fly Cathay First especially at 40,000 AsiaMiles. Add in three hours in AA Flagship First Dining and this is a truly wonderful experience.

I arrived at T8 just before 6pm or about 4 hours before my 9:50pm Cathay departure.









Now with only one JFK Admirals Club (at Gate 42), the nearer lounge is now just the Flagship Lounge. Since my Cathay First ticket entitled me to First Dining privileges, I headed directly to this wonderful oasis.













Today's menu, although the Duck Confit Egg Roll and Filet were not available as Sodexo decided not to re-order pending their contract termination.









A glass of Krug and the delicious Gin Basil Lemonade.



The Crab Stuffed Shrimp was excellent.



The Roasted Beet and Burrata salad. Beets were wonderful, the rest... not so much.



The star of the meal was the fabulous Squid Ink Linguine. Wow.





And dessert. Yum.



Thanks to a great staff but especially the wonderful server Karol. What a pleasure to spend time here. At around T-50, I headed out for the trek to the satellite concourse and Gate 47.






New York JFK to Vancouver YVR
Cathay Pacific CX 865
77W
9:50pm-12:50am +1 (sked)
10:00pm-1:20am +1 (actual)
April 4, 2019
First Class Suite 2K

Boarding was delayed a bit but once on board, the 6 seat Cathay First Class cabin is still one of my favorites.

















Not Krug or Dom, at least on the North American leg.





Tonight's menu.







And wine list. Other than the Comtes and Chateau Montrose St-Estephe, mostly pleasant mid to mid/low priced selections.







Meh...





Shortly after take-off, showtime...





Yummy garlic bread.





The smoked salmon carpaccio was good but apple radish vinaigrette pretty bland.



The star of the meal was the Steamed Sea Bass with golden garlic, spring onion, stir-fried kaolin and steamed jasmine rice.





Oh yeah!



For dessert, the tasty Green Tea Tiramisu.





With a little over 4 hours to go, I called it a night and slept for a solid 3+ hours.





What a fun day getting back from New York, although a five hour Vancouver layover before connecting to AA/Compass is definitely not for everyone.

MarkCron

I think I would have asked for the Montrose, and said leave the bottle please

chongl

I've always been tempted to take this "long" way home to LA from NYC. Knowing you've tried both, what are your thoughts of this versus transcon on AA 3-cabin F?

darthlemsip

I’m so very jealous. It’s been 5 years since I last flew CX F. I really need to do this again

apodo77

Now that I no longer fly AS and all my miles have ben exhausted it's been 3 years for me.
I could switch all my lfying to AA I suppose to get a few more cracks at it.

Great report SFO777 and the food in the AA Flagship DIning looks divine.

SFO777

LOL. Thanks MarkCron.

Thank you chongl. All things being equal, that's an easy one. I'd go with the JFK-LAX nonstop. Have dinner in First Dining and then fly to LAX in 5 or 6 hours. As nice as CX is, it's only 6 hours worth of nice and then there is the painful 5 hour layover and equally painful crAApy YVR-LAX Compass flight. But today, all things were not equal as AA wanted $1,700 just for Business, or 115,000 miles for an AAnytime three class First award. My Cathay flight including First Dining was only 40,000 semi-orphan AsiaMiles, and YVR-LAX was 15,000 Avios, which I only use for short-hauls.

Thanks darthlemsip. If you can combine it with a JFK departure and First Dining, that would be awesome.

Thanks so much apodo77. If you've got Amex points, there's always Amex partner AsiaMiles which I used. Also, Synchrony Bank has a Cathay Visa card which offers a sign up/minimal spend bonus and 1.5x on non-US purchases.

antebellum

Wow. Amazing report on the fifth freedom CX JFK-YVR and their always excellent F, not much changed over the years. Last time I've been on CX F was 2017, HKG-ORD, but, too bad it's going to be a long while before I'm back on it (CX does not offer F to Australia)
Their long haul J isn't too bad either. Pics and report from my January trip: China and Japan on TG/JL/QF Y, CX J

UAL250

Do you think you were the only F passenger to stop at YVR and not continue on to HKG? Must have been tempting to just stay on that product and to a great city like Hong Kong. Great report as always, SFO777. Also, forgot to comment on your last one. That one was excellent as well!

I am looking forward to your RTW TR soon.

SFO777

Thanks very much antebellum. It's a shame that they don't offer at least one daily SYD and MEL flight with First. SQ apparently makes it work.

Thank you UAL250 for your kind comments. There were no thru pax tonight in First as all four F of us (including Aquaman star Jason Momoa) were going to YVR. Not surprising I guess since the three JFK-HKG non-stops are going to get the bulk of the F traffic.

garykung

What a waste of the Sea Bass...

worldtraveller73

AA Compass to LAX. Ha Ha. That would have been a shocking turn of events; even if the Compass crews are pretty friendly.

I missed you at the YVR airport: I was through the domestic terminal in the early morning of your LAX flight. Better flyer talk travel karma next time!

milfweed20

Thank you for the report SFO777, CX F looks great as always.

Will also be flying CX F in September LHR-HKG.

number_6

When I lived in NYC I took this flight to YVR every few months in F. About half the F pax would deplane at YVR and it was usually not full. Good way to go skiing at Whistler. The connection to SFO/LAX is not convenient in the slightest and it is not really an alternative to the transcon F flights, AA F on 3-class is competitive and much more convenient As for the champagne, while not Krug the Taitinger Comte is the same cost, so offered as a lighter taste rather than a cost reduction.

757

Looks awesome and Cathay would be great to fly one of these days. Thanks for sharing!

NYC Flyer

Great report and definitely an itinerary i need to book!