CX A340 Business Class to Hong Kong

[asheby]

I'm guessing you mean B-HXJ

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

Why aren't you a fan? It provides a glimpse into yours' and my future

[yflyer]

"Swiss 123 can you confrim you're an A340?"
"Affirm Zurich, we are a 340"
"Well, could you start the other 2 engines please?"

Miss SQ's 345s. Here's another old 340 joke.
"Apparently A340s are so slow they are the only aircraft that get birdstrikes from behind!"

We could spend all day on A340 jokes!

Another aircraft, which I am actually a big fan of, which is the butt of all kind of jokes is the A-10 Thunderbolt II...

I've always been trying to find a GIF or JPG of a poster I saw once, of a Soviet tank speeding along, with an A-10 in hot pursuit...with the Russian tankie saying "Hurry up, Ivan! He's gaining on us!"

[yflyer]

Nice written report. Thanks for sharing. Being midly claustrophobic, I passionately hate the CX coffin class seats. Its a big reason why I dont fly CX often. I thought they have phased out these seats and replace them with the new J seats which are far more comfortable. Apparently not so.

Thanks, benlee!

I seldom see this config these days...apart from this A340, the last time was on a CX 744. The CX 777's and A330's I have been on have either been the wonderful new Cirrus J seats, or the underwhelming regional J seats (They don't recline much, but at least the cabin feels open...)

[yflyer]

Hi yflyer!

Great to read - lovely photos and attention to detail as always!

I haven't sat in these seats before but they look slightly narrower than the herringbone products used by DL and 9W. Looking at the side panel - the seat controls don't look as brightly lit as those on the above carriers which is a nice touch as the glare can be irritating in the dark cabin. First world problem, I know.

The noodles look nice as well!

For the SIN-HKG route how do you find the overall experience compared to SQ's regional offering?

For reference:
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Jet-A...ee772894fad80e

Cheers!

Thanks, viraj735!

They look very similar to the DL and 9W J seats. I've never sat in the 9W J seats, but I've passed through the cabin of a 9W A330 on the way to Y, and they look quite similar, although the light colour of the panelling may give them impression of more spaciousness.

Compared to SQ, I have never flown J from SIN-HKG, but using other sectors as a reference:

- CX J on the new Cirrus J seats is comparable in terms of hard product to SQ J.

- CX New Regional J is not very good (limited recline) and I find SQ Regional J to be far superior.

- CX new Y is comparable to SQ new Y. But CX fixed shell Y is horrible, even for a SIN-HKG 3.5 hour sector. I really dislike it.

- CX J catering looks similar in quality to SQ J catering (From my very limited experience. Maybe other SQTalkers who fly J more regularly can comment.)

- CX Y catering is not as good as SQ Y catering on SIN-HKG. CX meals on this sector are very basic, with no starter (just fruits in place of a starter) and the mains are quite simple as well e.g. vegetarian pasta, or an Asian selection with a small amount of meat/fish and rice.

[yflyer]

My last CX flights from HKG-ICN-HKG were scheduled to be operated by a B77W and an A333 but were swapped to the A343 on both sectors. No complaints to get a long-haul flat-bed seat on such short flights but they really fall far behind compared to the newer reverse herringbone product.

I have always been happy that SQ doesn't swap equipment as frequently as CX (or TG!).

I was really glad though I was able to cross flying the A343 off my list.

At least you noticed that it was a different plane! I suspect many pax have no idea whether they are onboard a 777 or an A330. I know at least one pax on Emirates who boarded the A380 main deck, walked to the rear and stood there open-mouthed when she saw that there was a staircase in the rear leading upstairs...

[dfs24]

Hi dfs24!

Hope you get the opportunity to fly the A340 soon! LX or AY look to be your best bets out of SIN.

Haha. They are indeed. Should wait for one of those dirt cheap sub 900 fares to EU. Or maybe a KUL-CGK on KU to try out a new airline.

[ycp81]

- CX Y catering is not as good as SQ Y catering on SIN-HKG. CX meals on this sector are very basic, with no starter (just fruits in place of a starter) and the mains are quite simple as well e.g. vegetarian pasta, or an Asian selection with a small amount of meat/fish and rice.

From my experiences flying CX Y on SIN-HKG, CX's catering ex-SIN is usually vastly superior than ex-HKG. Ex-SIN, both main choices will be meat/seafood with substantial portion of proteins, but ex-HKG, one choice will be a vegetarian pasta and the other usually a minuscule portion of chicken with rice dish. The only consolation is that CX stills offers Haagen Daz ice-cream on all their SIN-HKG flights, with the exception of breakfast/red-eye services.

But then, CX is usually the cheaper option compared to SQ.