Thoughts and Impressions: CX New J (74A) and CX New Y (77A)

[jjpb3]

The part where you said someone from the opposite seat will be staring at your legs and feet for the whole trip gives me the creeps.

Take SQflyergirl's advice and just paint your toenails pretty.

It was a somewhat surreal experience walking down the aisle with feet sticking into the walkway, and the owner appearing as you got close enough to see over the partition.

[jjpb3]

CX New J Experience -- The Meal

This post is dedicated to my dear CGK, who would consider me remiss in my duties without the meal pics.

The starter was smoked salmon with cracked black pepper and rocket, coupled with a seasonal salad with pinenuts (served with a tomato chilli dressing):



On the advice of the crew, I chose the pan-seared venison with crushed new potato, carrot and leeks as my main course (I really don't like the pre-plated presentation -- it looks sub-premium):



Blue cheese, fruit and a glass of port to finish the meal:



There was a fruit salad on offer



but for some reason, it didn't work for me. The sweetness and the textures weren't there.

Fortunately for me, I could follow up with CX's strong suit: dessert (chocolate truffle torte). Can you tell I couldn't resist before taking a picture?



For breakfast, I went with the stir-fried noodles with dim sum served with chilli sauce:



The chilli sauce (Lee Kum Kee chilli sauce) was, to my taste, a lot better and spicier than the new chilli sauce that has replaced my beloved Kris Chilli Sauce . I asked for extra packets , a request that surprised the FAs.

[andySYD]

thanks for the pics, i wonder what their Y look like...

[UMD]

That's one quality report, jjpb3.

Time to find time for my SQ 77W Business experience so I can round out my experiences ...

Are you sure? This could destroy your positive experience with CX new J seats.

Having been on these new seats 5 times the last month only, I am now starting to get used to them. However, due to my prior new SQ C seats experience, I still found the new CX seats much much inferior to those of SQ and I still feel really boxed in when I sleep.

By the way, the new arrangement on the upper deck of 744 does look more spacious than that on the A330.

[jjpb3]

CX New Y -- The Seats

Here you go, andySYD.

On the short HKG-SIN leg, I looked forward to trying out the new Y seats on the 77A:



The cheap-looking leather trim aside, I thought this was a marked improvement over the Y seats I've encountered on CX 744s. There is definitely more legroom. In the picture below, the base of my palm is resting on the front edge of my kneecap and my index finger is just touching the seatback in front of me:



That hand extension would not have been possible with the old Y seats. Before, I would have been able to fit just a palm+thumb-width (and maybe a fraction more) between my kneecap and the seatback in front of me. This is roughly a (short) index finger's improvement in pitch. (I know, a very precise scientific measurement, don't you think? )

One of the ways the additional legroom was achieved was to take the storage pocket from the seatback (here's my SQflyergirl shot once again )



and place that pocket where your calves are. This works OK when you're sitting upright but isn't convenient at all once you've reclined your seat. I wish there was another way to get the additional leg room. Rummaging for my stuff between my calves was a bizarre feeling.

Nonetheless, CX succeeded in giving the cabin a more spacious feel



and the larger screens (complete with AVOD, finally) were a welcome improvement over the old CX Y hardware:



It was a huge relief not to put up with remote controls fixed at the armrests. I also appreciated the little design touches in the seatback (apart from the missing pocket): the nooks on the side of the screen where you could place small items such as glasses; the drinks tray (that dark patch appearing on the underside of the stowed table on the left seat in the picture); the coat hook (silver button on the left side of the screen); the power outlet hidden behind the remote control (available when you take the remote control out of its cradle).

My biggest complaint about the seat is that the head's position becomes painfully vertical once you recline, or more accurately, slide the seat forward. The fixed-shell design causes the seat to slide forward when you press the recline button on the armrest. But there is a joint where the neck meets the upper back, so that the headrest remains relatively vertical relative to the inclined backrest. This creates a very un-ergonomic position. The best remedy I could imagine was to place the pillow behind one's neck, and shore up lumbar support with some cushion for the lower back (e.g., a folded blanket, or a lumbar support pillow from Tempurpedic). You would wake up with a terrible crick in your neck if you didn't make any adjustment to the awkward position.

One last quibble : I found the fat portions of the seatbelt



uncomfortably stiff. I do wonder about the rationale for this change; I hope the leather becomes more supple with continued use.

[jjpb3]

Post script on the CX new J seats

As I was exiting through the 77A's business cabin, I saw that on this aircraft, the windows were far closer to the J seats than on the 74A's upper deck. It seems to me that on the 77A, the CX herringbone pattern can actually give a comfortable window-viewing experience. The contortionist window-gazing position on the 74A's upper deck is probably a specific result of the upper deck's shape, plus the fixed design of the new J seats.

[YK@HKG]

The Y seat looks pretty okay to me....and its definitely better than the current 744 seat.

[jjpb3]

Thanks, y'all, for the encouraging feedback.

[jjpb3]

Are you sure? This could destroy your positive experience with CX new J seats.

I just hope your trip report (as well as those of StarG, CGK, SQflyergirl) hasn't pushed my expectations up to unreasonable levels.

[jjpb3]

One final note: CX service

I have to compliment the crews on my flights. They were great, and the service reinforced the positive feeling I have towards CX (and the impression that service-wise, CX is the only airline that can consistently come close to, match or even exceed the high standards of SQ).

There are only two uniforms that cause positive expectations to well up in me: the sarong kebaya we all know (oh, OK, even the powder-blue blazers I don't like as a fashion statement ; I'll be so glad when the new blazers+tie uniform is in place for SQ Boys), and those snazzy red/purple jackets and skirts on CX. The crew made my flights very enjoyable indeed.

P.S. No greeting for this CX Gold, however. Just because I like interacting with the IFS (or whatever the CX designation is ), I missed this experience, which I had received as a OneWorld Emerald.

[Singapore_Air]

jppb3: How was leg room / leg space for you when you reclined /slid the seat?

[jjpb3]

jppb3: How was leg room / leg space for you when you reclined /slid the seat?

The legroom was fine for me, better than on the CX and SQ 744.

It's the head position that bothered me ... and the fact that my toiletry bag and book, stowed in the pocket beneath the seat, were more inaccessible than if I could store them in a seat pocket in front of me.

I did appreciate not being shaken (as on usual Y seats) because the passenger behind me didn't have enough arm or upper body strength to get up without using my seatback as a crutch.

[kchika]

P.S. No greeting for this CX Gold, however.

Same here.

Great report and thanks for sharing, anyways!

[UMD]

I have to compliment the crews on my flights. They were great, and the service reinforced the positive feeling I have towards CX (and the impression that service-wise, CX is the only airline that can consistently come close to, match or even exceed the high standards of SQ).

There are only two uniforms that cause positive expectations to well up in me: the sarong kebaya we all know (oh, OK, even the powder-blue blazers I don't like as a fashion statement ; I'll be so glad when the new blazers+tie uniform is in place for SQ Boys), and those snazzy red/purple jackets and skirts on CX. The crew made my flights very enjoyable indeed.

P.S. No greeting for this CX Gold, however. Just because I like interacting with the IFS (or whatever the CX designation is ), I missed this experience, which I had received as a OneWorld Emerald.

Yes, I do agree with you about CX crew and its cabin service. I couldn't fault them in all my recent flights with them. The crew even handled my complaint very well (for those who knows me, my complaints usually start with "sorry" and end with "please") during my flight last week from ICN to HKG where I was put on a inop regional business class seat. The leading attendant (purple color - Qipao clad girl) went all her way to make sure I would get another seat that would recline. The fact that the IFE did not work on the newly allocated seat later did not change the fact that she had put a great effort to make sure that my complaint was fully attended to. I actually felt sorry for her later when she apologized deeply to me for the non working IFE. Seriously, this is not her fault but it is just CX is lacking in its interior cabin maintenance.

On food, there is a different story. I believe that aside from the noodles and the dim sum, CX needs to have a major revamp on its food - not just the presentation but also the taste. I found CX food to be tasteless and not to the standard of SQ food. This is in spite of SQ having a few misses with the quality of its food lately as well.

[SQTalker]

Take SQflyergirl's advice and just paint your toenails pretty.

It was a somewhat surreal experience walking down the aisle with feet sticking into the walkway, and the owner appearing as you got close enough to see over the partition.

I really don't mind those business travelers put up their feet, but for my CX401 773ER flight from TPE to HKG,

http://www.sqtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2671

the whole business class was full, & every man put up their feet without the leather shoes, it was so smelly that most of the CX cabin crew have to serve the dinner quickly & get back to their gallery. I spoke to 1 of the cabin crew about that "Can you tell what's that smell?" & she smiley said yes, it's the socks, & I ask her could you turn the air-con a bit cooler so that it will try to circulate the air away & she had done it just 30 minutes before landing, definitely the smells were gone...