Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - HKG-BKK-HKG turnaround

Can anyone let me know how the turnaround is in BKK, I've a spare day in HKG and would like to try CX J before going on to LHR with BA-CW. Figured the 3hr flight would make a nice day trip. It looks like there's about 3hrs in BKK which I thought would be plenty, plus no bags to check. Also what's the best lounge option in BKK for J pax?

Thanks and cheers to the folk of the CX board.

A 3 hour visit to the BKK airport is hardly a visit to BKK.
But if it is the 3 hour flight, then you are all set for about an hour and half in any lounge, which won't be that memorial!

The worst part of this trip will be nissing out on one of the greatest cities in the world due to the wonderful people, who live there.

The problem is that you cannot compare CX regional flights to CX intercontinal flights. Though the service is somewhat similar, the seats are the major difference.

BKK airport, you have the CX Business Class lounge or the Qantas Club lounge if you're travelling on a Business Class ticket.

I agree with R&R, your '3 hours in BKK is plenty' is such a waste. BKK airport is not the place to have a first hand impression of Thailand. It's like someone coming from Asia and spending time at LAX just to 'see' America.

couldn't agree more that my "trip" to BKK doesn't qualify as a visit - to call it so would be criminal! Purpose of the trip was to try CX and it seems I'd get a better taste on a long-haul international run, rather than regional. I'm aware that BKK is a fantastic place.

If you are just doing this to experience the CX regional J, you maybe wasting your money/miles. I did HKG-SIN-HKG in J and the outbound service sucked. The return was all that CX is suppose to be. My point is, why waste your money on unnecesary trip. The service is all that and more when it works, but it could be as bad as any other airline when it doesn't.

The best lounge is probably Qantas Club. CX's business class lounge is not that bad, too. They have added dim sum.

I agree with all others. I really don't think it's worth trying out CX's regional J class, unless you are in dire need of miles.

Within the terminal itself, there are plenty of places to shop, eat, etc. Also, you could take the skybridge over to the Amari hotel and hit the bars/restaurants over there (and/or get a quick massage)... thereby formally entering and exiting the Kingdom.

Certain flights HKG - BKK are in fact long haul configuration, just check which ones go one to/from Karachi for example. This is not great timing for you though in a day trip, as the karachi return sector leaves BKK at 7am.

I just did HKG-MNL return, outbound sector on 747 and return on A340, both in long haul configuration, so if you want a side trip, there is your option, as morning flight I took left at 9am. Both my flights had First Class, so perhaps that is worth the effort for an 1hr50 flight each way.

The only downside is that Manila airport is worse than BKK.

[This message has been edited by GK (edited Mar 25, 2004).]

Certain flights HKG - BKK are in fact long haul configuration, just check which ones go one to/from Karachi for example.Eh? Nearly all Karachi flights are on 330s in regional configuration. The long-haul config 747s and A340s do various flights to MNL, TPE, SIN, BKK, but not, in general, the Indian sub-continent ones.

get a quick massageEither with or without "happy ending" as you wish ;)

That said again. Aircrafts with or without New long haul Business Class seats serve HKG-BKK on some days, I know that CX713 at 855am does, however, the service differs on regional routes to that of long haul international routes.

If you like BA CW, you might prefer CX after you try their long haul product. Maybe you'd like to switch your BA flight with CX instead?

The trick is to look out for aircraft codes such as 744, 343 and 333 on the regional sectors as these aircrafts are configured with long-haul J class configuration featuring the lie-flat sleeper seats.

However, on a recent trip from HKG-BKK in CX J class on long-haul A330-300 (333) aircraft, the AVOD system only featured TV on Demand component. From my understanding, this was done because of flight time of under 2 hours and 45 minutes where short features are shown.

Therefore, if you do get the long-haul J class product, don't expect a full feature of the AVOD version of Studion CX as the crew will configure the IFE system to regional settings and thereby, you will only get to view TV on Demand.

In conclusion, I love the long-haul J class product of Cathay Pacific and I think it is worth going out of your way in trying this product. The second choice would be SkyBeds from Singapore Airlines and then BA's CW as their service standards can be somewhat inconsistent with bad IFE offering compared to CX and SQ's AVOD offering.