JAL Apex 787-9 vs Cathay A350 J?

[FF98]

Hi All,

Heading to Osaka from Melbourne.
Options are :
1. JAL 787-9 MEL-NRT, NRT-ITM arriving 7:50pm. 90k QFF points + ~$425 tax
2. one day later, CX A350 MEL-HKG, HKG-KIX Arriving 9pm. 104.5k QFF points +$320 tax

Alternatively, there is a CX flight same day as JAL, but the timing is probably not ideal. Arriving HKG 9:50pm, with a flight to KIX at 1:50am and arriving 6:20am. Would probably be too tired to start the holidays and too early for hotel checkin.
Which would you pick?

 

[aaa99]

I would probably pick the JAL apex suites over Cathay for the seat.

If you said HKG-NRT, I would be tempted to go Cathay as they are operating their Aria suite aircraft to there on some flights.

The main issue would b taking out the bags upon arrival at Tokyo. The lounges in Hong Kong are of course very nice, so that's a consideration too.

 

[FF98]

I would probably pick the JAL apex suites over Cathay for the seat.

If you said HKG-NRT, I would be tempted to go Cathay as they are operating their Aria suite aircraft to there on some flights.

The main issue would b taking out the bags upon arrival at Tokyo. The lounges in Hong Kong are of course very nice, so that's a consideration too.

MEL-NRT arrives at 3:15pm, and NRT-ITM departs at 6:25pm, from what I read there should be plenty of time to make the flight.

Yes I considered the lounges in HKIA too. But the MEL-HKG flight arrives at 2:55pm, and HKG-KIX departs at 4:40pm. Not sure if enough time to fully enjoy the lounges!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Apex suite is one of the best business class seats out there. So spacious in fact that it never became popular with the airlines! It would not be out of place as a first class seat TBH.

That being said, via HKG would still give you plenty of lounge time. 255 arrival would have you in a lounge by 310 at the latest. Giving you an hour for the lounge. That’s more than enough time. If you have access to the first class lounge you might need a little longer, but you’d still get a good look-in in that time.

 

[rbjhan]

In terms of seats I prefer CX.
But landing in ITM domestic would be a much better experience than KIX international....

 

[SteveLL]

jal used to release award seats at 12pm Japan time 360 days in advance. Has this now changed to 12am midnight instead?

 

[MELso]

jal used to release award seats at 12pm Japan time 360 days in advance. Has this now changed to 12am midnight instead?

It's midnight IME. I booked MEL-NRT-SEA a couple of months ago for October 2025 at 10PM SGN-time (midnight Tokyo-time).

 

[MelbFlyer]

If given the option of these two seats, 100% I'd go with CX.

The JL Apex suite on the 787s is subpar IMO. A complete lack of space apart from unlimited legroom, little to no storage and it has aged horribly. Even the soft service which I thought would make up for the hard product, sadly didn't either.

The CX A350 (likewise long haul A330 and 777-300ER) business seat is light years ahead of the JL 787 Apex suite.

Even the oldest and most tired looking CX A330 long haul business seat would be better than JLs option IMO.

I did a shortish review of the JL seat and experience at the below:

CI A350 + Cathay A330 vs JAL 787-8 J

I'd put JL firmly at the bottom of my list moving forward.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If given the option of these two seats, 100% I'd go with CX.

The JL Apex suite on the 787s is subpar IMO. A complete lack of space apart from unlimited legroom, little to no storage and it has aged horribly. Even the soft service which I thought would make up for the hard product, sadly didn't either.

The CX A350 (likewise long haul A330 and 777-300ER) business seat is light years ahead of the JL 787 Apex suite.

Even the oldest and most tired looking CX A330 long haul business seat would be better than JLs option IMO.

I did a shortish review of the JL seat and experience at the below:

CI A350 + Cathay A330 vs JAL 787-8 J

I'd put JL firmly at the bottom of my list moving forward.

The unlimited legroom, no leg wells, and privacy of an enclosed suite at the window are the reason I like the Apex seats!!

 

[MelbFlyer]

The unlimited legroom, no leg wells, and privacy of an enclosed suite at the window are the reason I like the Apex seats!!

I mean, it's subjective - some will like it and some won't.

I didn't like the Apex suite and would rank QFs old / tired A330 business class product better!

Yes, there's less privacy but significantly more / usable storage space and the overall feeling isn't as claustrophobic.

From my experience, I'd still rank CXs A350-900/1000 business class seats at #1 on my list of the ones I've been on.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Isn’t the CX seat the same one that’s been around since like 2013? I mean it’s a good seat, not the worst! But I actually like QF’s seat… the 330/380/787 all seem the same to me. But now having moved away from the bulkheads I find them very generous in terms of size, and the bed length is hard to beat.

 

[elanshin]

Isn’t the CX seat the same one that’s been around since like 2013? I mean it’s a good seat, not the worst! But I actually like QF’s seat… the 330/380/787 all seem the same to me. But now having moved away from the bulkheads I find them very generous in terms of size, and the bed length is hard to beat.

Yes more or less the same seat. there are some subtle differences between the planes.
In fact even the Aria suite look is roughly using a similar design as the existing Cathay J seat. It's just gotten a great looking facelift with modern tech, arguable colour pallette change and a door.

The QF Thomson Vantage XL is indeed a great seat, QF just needs to do some tech upgrades to the IFE and they're good with them for a while still.