hikouki

At 4:42, the video poster was served a tray of warm food: dimsum + cookies and juice:


It says on the video it was an hour and a half flight. I've never flown KA, but I'm amazed how they can pull off that meal service and CX can't.

Anyway, I wanted to know if KA still serves hot meals on very short flights, like those between HKG and Taiwan or Clark (Philippines).

I've flown between MNL and HKG on CX (Y and PEY) and for the past three years, they have been serving the SAME brownish meat they call "adobo" wrapped in a warm, dry but chewy excuse for a tortilla.

A long time ago when Philippine Airlines originally declared for bankruptcy, catering was not available at MNL. CX outsourced it from The Mandarin Oriental. They served snack boxes with a chicken sandwich, a croissant, an apple and an orange. I think that was much more substantial, satisfying, healthy and presentable than what they serve today.

christep

Do you not wonder why there are restaurants from many cuisines all over the world, but never a Filipino one (except catering to a local expat Filipino community)?

It's because Filipino food is, by everyone else's standards, s h i t. The "adobo" is probably fairly authentic adobo, and that's as good as Filipino cuisine gets!

(I speak as someone who was married to a Filipina for some years, and still has property there)

JohnGreat

On short route on KA, they do serve much better meals than CX. Another note is KA airfare is relatively more expensive except on those competitive route(PEK & PVG). I recall flying from HKG - CSX cost slightly more than HKG - PEK and there's no gates when I flew to CSX, you take a bus and parked next to the aircraft and walked up the stairs to the aircraft. And KA staffs work like dogs. Aircraft is still cursing to runway, they are starting their oven, and until the cockpit announced, "Captain's crew back to your seat" then they sat and fastened their seat belt. With the first 'ping' sounded, they jumped up and back to their galley. They served a full flight(at least 200 passengers) within 50 mins(serving full meal, not sandwiches in a paper bag and retrieving trays and not collecting trash of your sandwiches bag) and executed professionally(with smiles), flight time was less than 70 mins. As compared with CX to TPE, KA scored!!!!!! On both food and services, period.

FlyPointyEnd

I did CRK recently and they gave out a small pack of biscuit from Kee Wah, a small piece of chocolate and Bonaqua in a brown paper bag. There was no J class available on the flight.

Never eat those wraps served on MNL routes, actually never eat any of the wraps CX gives you....just look at the expiry dates on those...last time I heard they can keep for 5 years....what on earth do they put in those things to make them last for 5 years!?!?

I do like to point out that the Youtube video was posted a year ago. So I have to defer to others who fly on KA to verify if they are still serving hot meals after the rebranding.

From what I know most meals on MNL flights are double catered from HKG, except for CX904 and CX912 which stays the night in MNL. Those would be catered by MacroAsia from what I recall. They do serve good Filipino breakfast on business class though, normally two months in a year.

Speaking of Philippine Airlines, I believe they serve hot meals on all international flights unlike CX between MNL/CEB and HKG

hikouki

LOL!

The breakfast in J on CX904 is quite good! The dim sum is very good, and miles better than the one they serve in their MNL lounge! It seems as though the dim sum menu (siu mai + har gau + turnip cake + scrambled egg) does not change. But I'm not complaining, as the quality and taste are quite good.

I've never been on CX912 in J. Do they have the exact same menu?

Last time I was on PR in Y was way back in 2011. CX had already done away with their regular meal trays on the MNL-HKG and MNL-TPE runs. PR followed suit, but instead of sandwiches, PR just kept the warm main meal plus a drink. They just eliminated the dessert and appetizer. I believe they may still be doing this to this day, as you said. So they still hand out "half-trays."

When both CX and PR started cutting back on their meal offerings between MNL and HKG, CX originally offered cold sandwiches on a "half tray." But I would hear a lot of Filipinos, especially the older ones complain that their sandwich was not "heated through." It was very amusing how a grandmother tried to hand back the tuna and shredded lettuce sub to the purser, asking him to heat it up. (I believe this is the reason why PR kept the warm meal.) I remember the quality of the sandwiches and the presentation was quite good for a short time. Later, after the SARS outbreak, they completely did away with the trays. The FAs would hand out spam-like sandwiches with cheese wrapped in foil and warmed in the ovens. I never ate any of those. Just horrible. The wraps today are a bit better. But I don't eat them either. LOL

FlyPointyEnd

Yes they both serve breakfast, most likely would have the same menu. I think they rotate about 4 menus...There would be the siu mai and stir fried noodles, or the one with turnip cake. I think there also have the glutinous rice with dimsum also. For the eggs, they do have the crepes, frittata, quiche or the omelette. They sometimes do Filipino breakfast on board, garlic rice with milkfish...that one is very good.

As for the lounge, never get dimsum at the lounge, I suggest the garlic rice option...that one is always good.

I'm actually surprised with PR's J class offerings, apparently they still offer appetizer first before main course on HKG flights, then ice cream for dessert and a cake on request...if you are still hungry....I haven't flown with PR international since 2010, so I'm just basing on some photos I've seen online.

dave31

On short all economy flight from Hong Kong to Clark (Philippines) on KA, you get a muffin and some juice in a very neat brown paper bag. The bag is probably the best thing! Luckily, I am already full having flown in J from LHR-HKG.

FlyPointyEnd

You're lucky you got a muffin and juice. Only got water on my flight, but the Purser gave me an extra bottle during boarding.

Rami Tamimi

...but it's such a waste.

Rami Tamimi

That's a more up-to date TR from the same route (May 2016)
http://flight-report.com/en/report/1...-Kaohsiung-KHH

mosburger

I doubt you would get much more on a flight from Miami to the Dominican Republic or from Dusseldorf to Palma or Ibiza.

Clear holiday destinations will always play second fiddle to more lucrative business routings.