[Rferguson2]

I think a lot of it is down to regional expectations.

When flying within Asia on a legacy airline the general expectation I guess (thinking SQ, TG, CX, JL etc) is that it will likely be a wide body aircraft with a flat bed product with the possibility of a narrow body but definitely with a separate business class cabin and a superior seat to economy.

A full hot meal will be served by gracious crew.

And, that’s why intra asia fares tend to be so high. Especially on non stop flights to and from their home hubs. CX actually features quite regularly on Flyertalk forums for having reasonable J class sales intra asia – but carrying passengers indirect via HKG from A to B via C.

Yes, it absolutely is much cheaper to fly saw LHR to WAW or FRA to BCN or CDG to ATH on a european legacy airline in ‘Business class’. BUT you will be on a narrow body aircraft in an economy seat with the middle seat blocked out ‘for your comfort’ but business class may take up half the plane. You will be served a hot meal (if you are lucky) and the whole experience will leave you thinking that Cathay intra asia is seven star luxury,

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TupeloKid, sparkyflier, cwoodward, AndrewinHK

[AndrewinHK]

With any home airline the opinions run hot. Cathay like BA has its legions of fans, but also detractors. Rferguson makes a good point on fares, one’s opinion will be shaped vastly by what one pays, and CX for those of us living in HK is often the most expensive option, so our expectations are very high, and I’ll defend CX and say they are very often met. It is annoying to expect one product with get another, but the HK market is well aware that regional J exists and you know which routes it mostly crops up on. Price complaints and praise for the competitors, I always wonder why not vote with your feet? I do wonder what they will do with regional J on the wide bodies, I’ve been quite impressed by the latest moves the company has made, so let’s hope they surprise us in a good way.

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cwoodward

[cwoodward]

My information re 2 class 777’s is absolutely correct Christ.
I am of course referring only to the aircraft in service NOT the several long term parked aircraft that are unlikely ever to rejoin the fleet.

[cwoodward]

Not so Tomham42. The annual report that you mention is out of date and no longer the current situation.
My information was current as of last Tuesday.
My original intention was to only respond to Christs seeping ludicrous remark re the CX fleet and frankly I should have ignored his nonsense. Thus I have nothing more to say as this that is I am sure of no real interest to others.

[tomyam42]

CWooward, I was referring to the Interim Report, not the Annual Report.
B-HNE/M/N/O/P are parked
B-HNF WENT TO OSAKA TODAY
B-HNG WENT TO TOKYO YESTERDAY
B-HNH WENT TO KANSAI TODAY
B-HNI WENT TO SAPPORO TODAY
B-HNJ WENT TO TOKYO ON THE 9TH
B-HNK WENT TO TOKYO TODAY
B-HNQ WENT TO SHANGHAI TODAY
B-HNS WENT TO TOKYO TODAY
B-HNU WENT TO TOKYO TODAY
B-HNV WENT TO SEOUL TODAY
B-HNW WENT TO TOKYO TODAY
B-HNX WENT TO SHANHAI TODAY
A total of 17 aircraft.
I agree others are probably not interested but it appears to me that you have, once again, disseminated inaccurate information.

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christ

[cwoodward]

Thank you for the update T42 -errors happen with us all from time to time and as above my point was about Christ referring to these aircraft as ‘ancient relics’ when clearly they are not.

All of the 777 aircraft cabins that you mention have been refitted from 3 to 2 class since 2018 until very recently – with totally new seating,layout and cabins

your post – Just by the way –

BHNQ is 17 YO. BHNS appears to be no longer in the fleet list which is odd. Its ex Emirates delivered to Cathay in 2018 -leased

BHNV and BHNX are 20 yo refitted and hardly ‘ancient relics’

All of these aircraft mentioned serve short haul heavy used routes that have a high Economy class demand. The cabins that you mention have all been refitted from 3 to 2 class since 2018 until very recently.

Airlines with large 777 fleets have a mix of older and much newer aircraft. The Cathay 777 fleet is considerably younger than ether United BA JAL or Air France
The AVERAGE AGE OF the United 777 aircraft fleet is 25.5 years – BA 19.8

Cathays 777 fleet age average at 14.4 years is one of the youngest large 777 feets. The Turkish fleet is younger.

[Inquisitive]

Amazed to see Cathay backers and complainers are going a long way to prove each other wrong!

If the data given by Cathay themselves is incorrect in their website, it actually validates the OP posting that Cathay website could be appalling!

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sparkyflier, Ekond222

[christ]

I probably should never post anything negative re Cathay as i expected to get an essay back from cwoodward with some incorrect facts.

All my initial comment was that it is ridiculous you have to spend hours trying to book a flight and when it is super expensive.

I think it is clear that there are more of these regional variants and which cwoodward is in denial about. If you take Tokyo as an example, it is a disgrace when they are charging HKD 20,000 (JAL only a bit cheaper but all flat beds) – that is like a club world trip from UK to US. Equally Seoul is a fair distance, allbeit cheaper at about HKD 9k.

As said many times, the ground experience is excellent but on board product and service varies widely in my opinion. Would i fly Cathay at these prices if i was not BA Gold – probably far less often, but that is the trap of alliances.

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sparkyflier, AndrewinHK

[AlanOrton1]

There certainly feels like a large uptick in CX posts over the last x period. Fair enough, though surely there can’t be many that interested in which plane of which age is being used for what!?
He who can bear no question being asked of CX, posts under a different handle on FlyerTalk, where by and large he gets called out for shill like inaccuracies far more than here.
We must be a more tolerant bunch!

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CheerUp, sparkyflier, MrDarwin, ASK1945

[christ]

Oh i did not realise there was similar on flyertalk re Cathay – I tend to avoid flyertalk as people seem more aggressive on there than here – though i do find some of the BA club world and europe food descriptions funny.

I am not so fussed about the age of the plane but more the consistency of product. Nonetheless, i loved flying BA 747s before COVID from LHR to Denver but i think the 747 was just something special and so accepted some of the issues. Now my favourite is by far the A380.

Well 3 days before my Cathay flight and it has changed from an A350 to an A330 :(. Luckily it is not an ex Cathay Dragon one as still showing 1 – 2- 1 on the seat map.

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AndrewinHK

[Rferguson2]

I guess different people have different priorities when it comes to airline. Seat, catering, ground experience, operational resilience, aircraft age. Personally, if I was given a choice between a DC10 and a 787 I would pay a premium for the DC10!

I guess for me personally it comes down to how well the cabins are maintained and not how old the aircraft is.

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sparkyflier, DerekVH, cwoodward, christ

[cwoodward]

Most of the older Dragon A330s are gone from the active fleet.
Very few (about 6) of the ex Dragon A330s are now in the Cathay operational fleet and some are almost new the – last being delivered in 2019.

[tomyam42]

cwoodward, please take your pink specs off, it is 9 not about 6. Stop being so sensitive/defensive. People do not like them, fact of life. And Cathay appears to have recognised that and is restricting their use to China most of the time.

[cwoodward]

No specks here tinted or otherwise the aircraft to which you refer and are current active are
B-HLM -B-LHO B-LBH B-HLT B-LAA B-LBE B-LBF B-LBG pretty close to about six and one of those aircraft B- LHO at 22.7 y.o. I am told is returning to the leaser shortly.
Unless you want to split hairs -as I mentioned above “most old Dragon aircraft are gone from the active fleet”.

“Restricted to China” I don’t believe so at least not at this time – some of the above are still young aircraft. B -LBE has been in Japan and Manila in the past 10 days – B-LBF has been to 5 destinations outside of China in the past 2 weeks.

[christ]

Maybe we should just agree that there are 6 to 9 of these Cathay Dragon planes and that not many would choose them over an A350 for example.

I did not mean to spark such debate!

Maybe if i ever have time i will take a careful look as to the fleet and the numbers with old regional seating and otherwise. However i suspect it is hard to determine based on the debate here already.

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AndrewinHK

[Author]

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