Trip Reports - LGA-YUL-YYZ-YVR-HKG AC/CP Live

This is a live report.
Just got off the plane and I'm now in YUL. Weather in Montreal is bad, heavy rain, with occasional Sunshine.

I know this route sounds a bit silly but I have to stay at YVR & YUL on my return leg. However, I can't go direct from YUL to YVR because the flights were sold out. Also, ticket prices from LGA-YUL-LGA were outrageous (close to US$440), so I traveled on a AC award ticket on this short leg.

I called up CP Gold Desk just now and Upgrades were approved all the way from YUL to HKG! This is my first time requesting upgrades from CP and it went smoothly. The operator approved it in seconds.

Flight AC745 May 25 LGA-YUL DC-9
Original Seat 20D, changed to Seat 27D,E&F http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif
Y Class 95% Full, J Class 6 Pax.
Planned Dep: 1100, Actual Dep: 1120
ETA: 1216 Actual Arr: 1235

Check In:
Long Lines because of Memorial Long Weekend in US, lots of people going away from NYC. Lined up at First Exec. line with CP Gold card, no hassles but people in line gave me dirty looks. Agent offered to enter my CP number on an award ticket and it is on my Boarding Pass!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif I didn't stop her of course.

Takeoff was delayed because of line up at the runway, only Rwy 31 was in use at LGA this morning. They sky was clear and sunny.

Inflight service was the regular AC short- haul type, cocktail service. Service was good. The male FA offered me to sit at the back where it's empty, so I got the entire row to myself. A "horizontally challenged" person was offered a free upgrade to J, but even the J seats couldn't fit him!

Lineups at YUL customs was long, there were 2 flights coming in from Germany and several others from the States. Got out of the terminal at around 1pm.

To be continued tomorrow (May 26): YUL-YYZ (AC aircraft), then YYZ-YVR-HKG (all on CP) on upgraded J class.

[This message has been edited by ssw207 (edited 05-25-2000).]

In continuation of the above post.

Woke up at 4:30am to go to the airport, my flight (AC481/CP3481) was deaprting YUL-YYZ at 6am. Arrived at airport at 5am, went to CP counter to print out paper tickets. To my great surprise, there was NO ONE at the cp counters! A CP agent was setting up the barricades for the queue. So I told her I need my tickets to catch my 6am flight. She told me rudely to wait until 5:30am.

When they were done, it was almost 5:40am and I missed the flight. Another agent helped me to print the tickets, however problems arose again, because I had requested a J-class upgrade for the entire journey, and the computer thinks I changed the fare class. So I was stuck at the counter for another 20 minutes. Finally they put me on another flight from YYZ-YV, but J was full so there was no upgrade.

CP881 YUL-YYZ J-Class Upgraded Seat 3C
Aircraft: B737
Departure 0655 Arrival 0814
J 70% full, Y 10% full (More Js than Ys... strange)

Service was great, a hot or cold breakfast was served. I chose the hot one (omlette). However, no drinks were offered and I was dying of thirst. Arrived in Toronto on time.
Went directly to Empress Lounge to quench my thirst.

CP 987 YYZ-YVR Downgraded Y-Class http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif 25E
Aircraft: B767
Departure 0922 Arrival 1102
J Sold Out, Y 97% Full

I was the first one to request a standby upgrade to J, but all too soon, this guy and his wife dragged in 6 kids, all were paying Junior and infant fare and seated in J class. So there was no hope getting upgraded.
However, the agent at YUL stated that it was an involuntary downgrade for me, so despite the Y class was filled up, they blocked out seats 25C-E for me, and the lead FA instructed the crew to give me special attention. Lots of people were eyeing on my empty seats.

First came the cocktail service, then lunch. The menu was pasta and chicken w/ rice. I chose the pasta (Lasanga) and it was very good. There was a coffee crisp chocolate bar and fruit plate for dessert. Warmed roll was served also.

Did not watch the movies because I saw all of them last week on AC 10 HKG-YYZ. CP & AC now airs the same movies.

Arrived at YVR 1102. Now this is where the fun starts. I decided to do some lounge hopping. Went to AC, CP & CX lounges. Popped in AC and left because it was crowded. Then went to CX. The agent challenged me and did not allow me in, but I said hey CP is still in OneWorld alliance (for a few more days only), and I'm travelling on a OW flight. So she gave in and let me in. Wandered around for a while and left for CP Empress Lounge.
Hung out at CP lounge for 10 minutes.

While I was in the lounge, I saw this guy who is CP Gold member entering the lounge with a CX boarding pass. The agent refused entry, but the pax. used the same argument I did at CX "Hey CP is a part of OW and I'm travelling on CX who is also OW partner." CP agent refused again and told them to go to CX lounge. Left the lounge and headed for the gate at 1150.

CP 8 YVR-HKG J-Class Upgrade Seat 57A Upper Deck baby! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
Aircraft: B747-400
Departure 1220 Arrival 1628 (+1)

I dashed upstairs into the upper deck and settled down in my seat/bed (more like a bed to me http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) I haven't been on the CP J-Class seats for one and a half years. These seats are certainly better than CX, the recline was something like 65-70 degrees which felt so good. The upper deck was quiet, no babies onboard and it felt like I was inside a private jet. Preflight drinks (champagne/juice) was served.

The lunch began with a sea scallop/sushi appetizer, then there was a choice of salmon, steak or chicken, with the choice of potatoes, rice, vegetables or Chinese stir-fried bok choy veggies on the side. On CP J-Class, you can have as much as you want. So I picked beef and salmon and all of the side dishes. Then I decided to have some Bordeaux wine (I rarely drink when I'm flying) and it was excellent. Cheese and dessert was served, the dessert was either Italian Ice cream or fruit tart (or both.. for me heheh.)

I went into 'coma' because of the red wine, and slept all the way from Alaska to Japan, which is like 6 hours I think. So I missed out the hot snack.

Before arrival in HKG, a light meal was served, it was either shrimp fried rice or chicken udon noodles. On the side was a fruit salad. After the meal, the aircraft headed direct from TPE to waypoint ELATO. At some point we entered Chinese airspace and it shortened the flying time by 20-30 minutes. At waypoint ELATO we began the STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Procedure) ASTRA1 descent and landed on RWY 25R in HKG.

I got out of the airplane first, and headed direct to immigration. Baggage came out in 3 minutes and cleared customs. I took the Airport Express Train to downtown HKG and one of my fellow passenger told me they had to catch another flight. He told me he will be travelling on the route HHP-MFM.I was puzzled because I never heard of that before. After a little bit of web surfing, I found out the answer.

So here's a little quiz for you FTers. What are the city/airport names for the route HHP-MFM and what airline flys the route?

Also, I kept a copy of the CP J-Class menu. The first person to send me an email will get it.

[This message has been edited by ssw207 (edited 05-27-2000).]

MFM - Macau.
Have no idea what HHP is.

HHP = Hong Kong?

HHP = Hong Kong helicopter port (for Macau?)

[This message has been edited by terenz (edited 05-28-2000).]

Tricky Question eh? Here's the answer:

HHP = Hong Kong Heliport
MFM = Macau Int'l Airport

The route is flown by East Asia Airlines of Macau (ICAO code unknown). The Equipment they use are Sirosky Helicopters. Flying time is 25 minutes from HHP to MFM.

However, the helicopter doesn't land at MFM airport itself, it lands at the Macau Maritime Terminal which is 3 miles away. The landing pad in the Maritime Terminal is considered a part of MFM to facilitate ATC management.

HHP is a 'placeholder' for all helicopter traffic departing HKG to any international destinations, for IATA ticketing/flight planning purposes. Found this answer from a friend who works in Civil Aviation Dept. in HKG.

ssw207: Great report! I'll be travelling HKG - YYZ Monday Did you make sure to ask the agent that you get full miles instead of 0.5 points since you were involuntary downgraded?

Empress: Checked cdnair.ca today, miles for the YYZ-YVR leg was 100%. Thanks for the tip.