CX A340 Business Class to Hong Kong

[yflyer]

I recently flew to Nanjing via Hong Kong on CX and KA (Dragonair).

My outbound was on a 3-class CX A340, equipped with the refreshed herringbone J, premium Y, and fixed shell Y.

I was quite happy to be flying on an A340-300. These days, any flight on a 4-holer is something of an event. Except for the A380. For SIN or DXB based pax on SQ and EK, I get the feeling that hopping onto an A380 is a somewhat routine occurrence.

My CX sectors were originally booked in PEY, and this was supposed to be a CX PEY review. But my plans were thwarted both ways…pleasant in one direction, and less so the other…

[yflyer]

CX operates out of T1. No queues to speak of in the premium check-in lanes that morning.



Lots of shopping and eating options in the T1 airside area…



With Star Wars coming to town, Changi T3 has a full size X-Wing on display, and T2 has an Imperial Tie Fighter. No such luck in T1, where you have a different kind of imperial transport on display…



Before boarding, I headed to the new Dnata Lounge in T1 (More on the lounge here.)

There was a large group from a Singapore school band on the flight to Hong Kong this morning, which may have been why the boarding pass reader at the gate emitted the beep of joy and my PEY seat was upgraded to one in the business class cabin. Oh well, the PEY TR would have to wait. Instead, I would check out the CX herringbone J seat on the A340.

[yflyer]

Today’s 3.5 hour flight was operated by B-HXJ, a 17+ year old A340-313



While not a new aircraft, this plane had a fairly modern interior, which had recently been refreshed, with the previous generation “Olympus” Herringbone J seat (Not the latest Cirrus J seats) updated with darker fabric, the new premium economy product, and the fixed shell Y seat.

The J cabin is laid out 1-1-1.



The seat, which reclines fully flat, is narrow by J standards, though wide enough for most people to sit comfortably, with high partitions on both sides.



Given the seat position, the windows are fairly useless as practically all pax are facing away from the window, and you do have to crane your neck to one side to look out.



View looking forward…



Last seat in the J cabin has no window, but you could use the window of the seat in front of you to look outside.

[yflyer]

Examining the seat in more detail, here is the side panel, with AVOD remote, seat controls and A/C power.





Noise cancelling headphones.



Large, fold-out widescreen display.



Downlights mounted on the partition…



Footrest.



My suggestion if you are flying on this product: wear presentable socks or use the blanket to cover your feet. The layout on this aircraft is that feet are on display throughout the J cabin.



Fold down armrests…they are flush with the seat when raised…



…but can be used as armrests when folded down.



Adjustable reading light…



Large and stable foldout table.

[yflyer]

The seat goes down fully flat…





Overall, I found this to be a fairly comfortable seat, especially when fully reclined into flat bed mode.

I did find the ambience, when seated, a little “closed-in” on account of the high partitions, and the sense of spaciousness in the new generation CX Cirrus J seats, and the SQ J seats, is far superior to this one. I can understand why CX switched so quickly to the new Cirrus J seats, based on less than positive feedback on these Olympus seats.



That said, it wasn’t as bad as some of the reviews said it was. So while it did feel slight enclosed, and a little too narrow, I thought the seats were acceptable.

Magazine rack in the last row…



This is the view of the PEY cabin, with 4 rows of 2-3-2 seats.

[yflyer]

Pre-take off juice…



…which I placed on a ledge conveniently mounted on the partition…



Hot towel…



Breakfast was served on this 3+ hour flight…



Choice of 3 courses, offered from a trolley which you could look at and choose from…





Table set for breakfast. I started with coffee and pink guava juice…



Bread/Croissant basket…



Fruit to start…



Cereal, muesli or yogurt next…



This was the porridge barbequed bun option…

[yflyer]

I opted for the beef noodles…



High quality wooden chopsticks…



Guilin-style chilli sauce: dark and pungent…



A very tasty noodle dish…

[yflyer]

Full AVOD IFE on the touchscreen-based Studio CX system. A user-friendly system. Quite easy to use, although the movie selection did not seem as large, or as current, as SQ’s selection.





Picture quality was good, although the large screen size meant some pixellisation and compression artifacts. Contrast and resolution were not as good as the latest state-of-the-art screens, but perfectly acceptable for a decent viewing experience.



Old style Airshow Display…



More cabin ambience shots…

J cabin…






The J restrooms were right in front of the cabin, just behind the cockpit. Conventional restrooms, done up in a light blue colour scheme reminiscent of the light blue they use to paint Russian fighter jet cockpits. I thought the mosaic tiling design accent in the bathroom was quite attractive.



PEY cabin…



Y cabin, laid out 2-4-2…

[yflyer]

Back in the front cabin, apart from the high J partitions, the view that probably sticks in your mind most with this layout is this…





While I am as much a fan of the SQflyergirl signature leg shot as anyone, this CX herringbone layout is, for your typical passenger, probably an overdose of feet, not to mention the high narrow partitions, and I am very glad that CX decided to move quickly onto the next generation CX Cirrus J seat, which provides greatly superior cabin ambience and seat comfort.

A view out the window of those uniquely beautiful CFM56 engines…



A smooth on-time landing in HKG…





…and from there it was a very pleasant transit stop in one of my favourite airports, before my flight to Nanjing.

[yflyer]

Overall, I had a very good flight.

I’ve discussed the pro’s and con’s of the CX “Olympus” Herringbone Seat in this report. While not perfect, I would be very happy to fly on this equipment again, either on a sector of this length, or even long haul to Europe or North America. Not that there are many opportunities to do so, as many of these routes are now operated on equipment that has the latest CX Cirrus J seats – a superb hard product.

Cabin service was warm and friendly, with CX and Oneworld FF’s welcomed personally by the lead cabin crew. Catering was very good as well.

And as mentioned, not too many opportunities to fly an A340 these days either!

Thanks for reading!

[SQflyergirl]

Today’s 3.5 hour flight was operated by H-BXJ, a 17+ year old A340-313

I'm guessing you mean B-HXJ

But yes, lovely report as usual Not a fan of olympus. Found it strangely disconcerting to me.....

[FN-GM]

Good job, nice report.

Out of curiosity, how long are CX planning on keeping the A340's?

[leops1984]

Up until 2017, but they already started reducing their A340 fleet earlier this year.

[Tonitan]

Great trip report as usual! Having flown in this "coffin" layout both on the B744 and A343,the A343 cabin certainly feels very tight and narrow. Despite the various short comings like feet (quite unsightly) and the bodies all lined up feel,this configuration is truly one of the most private. I can't see any of my opposite neighbors at all.

You are certainly lucky not to land an upgrade on their new regional J seats,which offers limited recline and privacy. Appreciate your efforts for another informative TR! ��

[yflyer]

I'm guessing you mean B-HXJ

But yes, lovely report as usual Not a fan of olympus. Found it strangely disconcerting to me.....

Thanks, SQflyergirl!

Yes, B-HXJ is the right rego...not very used to CX rego's...