TheFlyingDoctor

CX0889
Dep JFK John F Kennedy (New York) Terminal 7 21:55 23rd June 2015 (local time)
Arr YVR Vancouver Terminal M 00:45 24th June 2015 (local time)
Seat: 11K Cabin: Business
Operated by Cathay Pacific Airways (Boeing 777)
25,000 avios + £25.40

The storm finally broke – with little improvement to the temperature! - as I made my way by E-train from 42nd street to Sutphin Blvd, a run of about 45 minutes. From there it was a straightforward connection onto the Airtrain at Jamaica, leaving me with a pleasingly small metrocard balance of 12 cents.

Another 20 minutes saw me at Terminal 7; although operated by British Airways (the only foreign airline to operate a terminal on US soil), T7 hosts an oddball assortment of carriers both Oneworld and beyond (Ukraine International Airlines, anyone?). That includes my airline for tonight, Cathay Pacific, whose presence was not substantial enough to warrant a dedicated business class check-in desk. Fortunately there was no-one else queuing, and I was speedily issued with boarding pass, priority tags for my hold luggage, and directions to the lounge. Security was likewise swift – the line was well managed with regular announcements to clarify rules: de-bag laptops but not iPads; take your shoes off if aged 12-75; try bagging up your pocket contents for swift collection; but don’t worry about jewellery as it’s a body scanner, not a metal detector. All very efficient, and thus from approaching check-in to foraging for biscuits in the lounge took just 15 minutes.

That lounge is the British Airways one, and because they offer a pre-dining service for genuine Club World passengers headed to sleeper services, there’s not a whole amount of food to be found for those who gained access through status or travel on a Oneworld partner. I could of course have returned to the terminal proper, but I imagined that despite the late hour we’d get at least something on the flight, and besides, I am entirely comfortable with a diet based on oatmeal and raisin cookies (plus a banana for respectability).

I neglected to make a photographic sweep, but hopefully there’s plenty of coverage elsewhere on the forums. This is one of the more spacious I’ve encountered, so I was able to claim a seat with no immediate neighbours; and there’s a good variety of furnishing styles to make yourself comfortable. So perhaps I’ve just become uncharitably jaded through familiarity with the galleries concept, and thus felt no personal need to capture it on film (well, memory card). The only real criticism I had was a general lack of power sockets, and faint confusion, given the décor, that they weren’t British 3-pin!

The boarding call went out at 21:30, and with Terminal 7 not having many gates, it was a short walk from the lounge which saw me arriving just in time to join the back of the priority queue. I mingled briefly with a few families with small children before making a rare turn left to take my seat in business; ten minutes from the lounge, I’m settled in, with a pre-departure drink and having taken a few snaps before stowing my camera.



This service is one of the most comfortable ways to switch one coast of North America for the other. No ‘domestic first’ seating here – from Vancouver it’ll continue to Hong Kong, so it’s a fully fledged international four class 777-300. But not just that – it’s a Cathay Pacific 777. That means business is split into two portions, 12 rows in the main one, and an odd 2-row minicabin nestling behind first class:



Better still, whereas 2 rows of BA would mean 16 seats in yin-yang config (such as the three class 777-200), Cathay uses a 1-2-1 arrangement, and I'm immediately impressed - for a solo traveller, the individual window seat is ideal. You still have aisle access, but the angling outwards plus the wing to the seatback/headrest gives even more privacy, and better line of sight down the pair of windows you get. It's not as wide as the BA1 seat - partly because of the console – but still plenty comfortable.



Having clearly not done the research, I was pleasantly surprised to be issued with a menu pre-departure, detailing a full three course dinner. I’d imagined options would be light to enable folks to get to sleep – glad I didn’t grab much in the terminal!


Everyone is aboard by 21:47, with just six of us in the mini-cabin, occupying the two central pairs and 12A - but we’re advised it may be 20 or so minutes before we'll get all the cargo loaded and make our way to the front of the runway queue. Sure enough, it takes us 10 minutes to leave the stand, then we get a view of a various other big birds (including G-STBG, one of BA's triple 7s, and an unusually liveried Qatari plane - soccer related?) before we lumber down the runway at half 10. Naturally we're a lot less sprightly than the babybus, and despite our bulk do experience quite some turbulence on the way up - maybe that storm system has chewed up the air.

That choppiness continued and so with seatbelt signs on the dinner service couldn’t commence until 11. I’m glad I opted to dine rather than immediately try to sleep, though: the main was decent, but the raspberry sauce in the dessert was the star of the show.




I was impressed by the level of presentation throughout - the menu itself is beautiful; a tablecloth was set out on the table and followed by a second one on the tray (which is all BA opted for); the meals are brought out by hand and although served as a single tray, the roll selection is carefully transferred with tongs from a basket; and there are hot towels before and after. Staff were also impeccably polite, always greeting by title and surname. This is perhaps not so hard if you can check just before delivering a drink or food item, but also occurred whenever I moved around the cabin: I've no idea how they pick names up so fast. No digits in the offing this time, though, so I made less of an impression!

About my only interaction with the (promising looking) IFE system was checking the moving map to identify what I could (suprisingly, given we were at 36,000 ft) see out the window. This led to the discovery that Cathay has a camera feed from the underbelly of the plane too, although in the dark this was just a mess of static noise. I'd been sleepy since boarding - feeling rather like I did as a child in the back seat of a long car ride home - but had decided to struggle on bravely with the full meal service for the sake of this report. Gluttony over, my complete bafflement at YYMMDD format on the customs form confirmed that I should call it a night, despite the extra hours I was winning by flying west. Dimming of the cabin lights suggested that the crew had similiar feelings, and so I unbundled the very cosy blanket/duvet, set the chair to full bed mode (tip: take care the seatbelt doesn't get trapped, as a side section lifts up to create extra width), donned socks and earplugs from the amenity kit, and buckled in to avoid being disturbed should the turbulence return.





and that's all I can report for the next 3 hours and 40 minutes - I was out like a light, and didn't stir until, apparently, 40 minutes shy of arrival at (to my mind) 3:35am. That meant we hadn't regained that half hour lost on the ground at JFK, but in an environment like this, who's going to complain?

I manage to beat the crowds for the impressively sized bathroom, try the “refreshing mist”, then claim a glass of water from a ready prepared tray of various beverages in the galley (later, as the cabin was being prepped for landing, these were again offered). Ten minutes after my return the seatbelt sign is engaged, and the procedure explained for those passengers continuing to Hong Kong - they stay on the plane and a security check comes to them.

As explained, wheels were down at 1:15am, a process I get to watch from the belly cam, albeit at a jaunty angle with the IFE screen stowed safely for landing. Vancouver airport is spacious and attractive, which is good as we seem to traipse through the bulk of it (via an elevated walkway) en route to landside. Nonetheless, despite that and a fairly thorough grilling from immigration officials (where am I going, where am I staying, which hotel, do I have any friends here...) by half past I am at the carousel. Priority tags seem to do their thing as mine is the third case out, in under ten minutes, and so – thoroughly confused about what time zone I should be in, but otherwise very happy – I made my way landside.