Carfield

Hi Folks,

Here is another mega trip report. January is definitely my Cathay Pacific month and I will begin a series of CX regional and medium haul reports, and two QF Trans-Tasman reports. My routing is HKG-ICN-TPE-NRT-HKG-SYD-AKL-MEL-HKG. I am currently sitting in my hotel room at Seoul Hilton. Seoul is my first stop and the trip is so far so good. The snow has slowed me down greatly and a powerful snowstorm made me retreat to my hotel from Myeong-dong. The snow is clearing out now. So I will head back out soon. Judging from my experiences now, I will come back in March, when the weather will be warmer and traveling will be easier. Walking through snows along a slope is not necessarily a good idea, and I had slipped once this evening. It was also frustrating in looking for places in a map. I will recommend joining a local tour, if you are not familiar with the language or in Seoul for the first time. In the other hand, subways are very easy to use and I have no problem in transiting. Exits are pretty clearly marked with maps in various locations.

CX is good as usual. The ground service agents were able to check my bag and to hand out my boarding pass within three minutes… pretty efficient. Once I checked in, they immediately notified about the hour delays. The agent even wrote down the new schedule without me asking for another information. It is so different from any of my USA check in experiences. The agent wished me goodbye and I took the Airport Express train to the airport.

Spotting was pretty good, as I saw two CX’s Airbus A340-600s parking side by side on the tarmac outside of CX’s preferred gates. Then I saw VS’s A340-600 (G-VFOX) arriving from LHR, and parking at one of the gates closest to the immigration area. The airplane was long and HK was able to accommodate the aircraft with a dual gate boarding system. A few observations – CX 888 was operated by B-HUA (74B with old J) on Jan 2. CX 882 was delayed for an hour, but a new 747-400 with new F and J was operating this flight (B-HOW). B-HXM with new F and J, an Airbus A340-300, was operating CX 838 to Vancouver. The Wing was pretty busy in the F section around 3pm, but after the transpacific flights departed, it became quieter. The internet was not available today. I did not check out the food, but went to the J lounge to grab two bottles of water before heading to gate 26.

January 2, 2003
CX 416 HKG-ICN Lv1630 Arr2050
Boeing 777-300 B-HNE
The inbound aircraft came in an hour late from Dubai, Mumbai, and Bangkok, which caused the delay. Things were running a bit late, but everyone was calm. Several Korean announcements were made, which reflected on the mainly Korean passenger loads this evening. Y was pretty full, but J was pretty empty with no one occupying either the center seats or the aft section. Each of us had a pair of seats to us. I had 16A and C. Boarding began at 5:06pm with Y boarding began five minutes later. Miraculously, doors were closed at 5:30pm, and we pushed back a few minutes later. During that time, pre-takeoff beverage choices of orange juice, champagne, and Cathay Delight were passed out, followed by hot towels and menus. Newspapers and headsets were passed out as we seated. Taxing to Runway 7R was pretty slow today, and we took off at 5:56pm after a FedEx MD-11 touched down. Freighter flights used mostly Runway 7R for landing, as opposite from most passenger planes using R/W7L for landing, and 7R for takeoff.

Flying time was two hours and forty-five minutes. We climbed to 37,000ft and our flight route took us to Taichung, Taipei, Cheju, and descent began near Gwang-ju. Once seat belt sign was off. Beverage was served with warmed dish of almonds, followed by a full regional dinner service. Here is the transcript! Yung Kee food was once again featured on all flights outbound from Hong Kong and inbound from selected destinations.

Dinner
Seasonal Salad served with Balsamic Vinegar dressing
A Mesclun Greens salad with yellow pepper strips, cherry tomato, and radish slices

Marinated Prawn Salad with Yellow Capsicum and Semi Sun-dried tomato
Five prawns with grilled green and yellow zucchini and above vegetables… pretty fresh and tasty!

Pan-fried Beef Fillet with Tomato and Onion sauce
Egg Fried Rice
Stir-Fried Shanghai Pak Choy
Special menu created by Yung Kee restaurant… my selection… there were several slices of beef with a tasty tomato sauce. It was fine.
Or
Roast Sea Bass Fillet with Bulgogi sauce
Steamed Rice
Chinese Cabbage with Hot Bean Sauce
Or
Garganelli with Olive, Caper and Tomato Sauce

Cheese Selection with Crackers
Brie and two other kinds of white cheese
Or
Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Watermelon, orange, grapefruit, pineapple and grapes

Movenpick Ice Cream
Truffle-Chocolate, Vanilla or Strawberry Ice cream
For some reasons, I liked cake better. When you know that ice-cream was also served in Y, you sort of hope that J class will get something special.

Selected Bread and Rolls served with Butter
Garlic Bread, Focaccia rolls, and other breads

Tea and Coffee
Pralines

The meal service was fine, but I sort of like the meal served on my Asiana flight on the same route, but on June. It seems a bit nicer and the portion was a bit larger. I also like having the whole cake sliced in front of you. Maybe the smaller J cabin of the Boeing 767 made the service more personal. The flight attendants did not do much beverage runs for the rest of the evening, as most passengers chose to sleep or to watch television. We had the first generation of Studio CX system installed with no AVOD functions. I watched the HK TV and comedy channels. The audio system was not yet updated with January programs yet, but the TV programs were updated. The flight went by quickly and soon the plane began its descent. We landed on R/W33R and saw another Fedex’s MD-11 taking off this time from R/W33L. The airport was pretty quiet, as we were among the last couple flights into Incheon. There was a flight coming in from Tokyo Haenda at 2am (special charter flights from Haenda, the airport closer to downtown, instead of the normal Narita), and the next flight would come in from Toronto at 3:55am (KE). The bags came out rather quickly and my F class tagged bag came out among the first ten bags.

I hope you enjoyed this short report… more will be posted, once I got the chance!

Carfield

RTW4

Fabulous report. I thank you for a wonderful trip report.

inkoherent

thanks for the first instalment of what i am sure will turn out to be a great trip report (as always). also thanks for your help with my question re: CX J.

Spider

Great report! Thanks.

neuro0

always enjoy reading trip report!

Bretteee

Mmmm Movenpick ice cream in Business Class? Not very impressive.

LH738

I'm looking forward to read the next parts. As always: very detailled. Great!

Seat 2A

What a tease!
So far, so good - looking forward to more

Carfield

Thanks for all the kind comments.

I have actually written most of the trip reports, but unfortunately, it was saved in my laptop. Due to the lack of a disk drive for my Powerbook, I can't transfer the word document to my dad's computer. Also, I can't find out a way to work a connection from my dad's in house internet server to my computer... (I don't think I am making sense here) But in a sentence -- it is due to technical difficulty. I will post the report later this month.

Highlights -- finally my first comp upgrade to CX first has happened on my HKG-SYD flight. It was my first CX First Suite long haul flight experience. It was wonderful. Also the service on CX's Aussie service is definitely better than my transpacific experience and SQ's Aussie service. I flew the early morning MEL-HKG flight, and was served two full meals -- a full breakfast after takeoff and a full lunch two and a half hour prior to arrival.

However, ICN-TPE and TPE-NRT are pretty disappointing...

I love Seoul more than Tokyo. For a surprise, I found the Koreans a bit better to deal with... But I like the Japanese noodle soups more than Korean noodle soups.

More later!

Carfield

number_6

This is not accidental, CX has a separate container for F tagged bags -- every F bag is unloaded before the first bag from the regular containers. I can't remember every having a CX flight where my bag was not waiting for me on the carousel by the time I get there -- wish all airlines provided this service. It makes a big difference.

Carfield

January 4, 2003
CX 421 ICN-TPE Lv0930 Arr1110
Boeing 777-300 B-HNG
Now I am sitting in Tokyo Century Southern Tower hotel at Shinjuku. Just flew in from Seoul Incheon via Taipei… The check in agent did not find the routing to be funny. I guess if you use the OW Explorer ticket, that is the only way for you to get from Seoul to Tokyo. I took the 6am KAL Limo bus from Seoul Hilton directly into Incheon. The bus ride was about an hour long with nothing much to see. It was snowing lightly this morning. The sky remained dark until 8am. The check in counters were not opened till 7am. All stations were operated by Asiana agents. They opened the desks all at the same time with very organized system. One line for J class (no F line) and one queue for Y class! Very efficient! The agent took a little bit to check me in, since she was trying to find out if I paid the Korean airport taxes yet. She was very cheerful and checked me all the way to NRT. The lounge was pretty deserted this early and the food selections were fairly limited to pastries, fruit, cereals, yogurts, and some instant noodles. I wish I would eat more at the lounge, if I knew the meal to be served was skimpy.

Boarding gate was 39 and I watched some Korean music videos at one of the empty Samsung stations. Shin Seung Hun’s “Christmas Miracles” is a good song to listen for the morning. Seoul airport was pretty busy in the morning with a number of flights heading to Asia. I saw an Orient Thai’s Boeing 747 classics landed and parked at a nearby gate. It was pretty funny to see these Classic 747s these days. To no surprise, Asiana and Korean’s jumbo jets dominated most of the apron spaces, with all the other airlines parked at the far end of the terminal, such as MH’s Boeing 747, SQ’s B747-400, a number of Mainland Chinese airlines (Air China’s B737-800 & MU’s A300-600R), Asiana’s Boeing 737-400, Vietnam Airlines’ Boeing 767-300ER, Northwest’s Boeing 747, and United’s Boeing 747-400s. B-HNG was our aircraft this morning, and B-HNE, the aircraft I flew with two days ago, was here to fly the 10am flight back to Hong Kong. Boarding began at 9:04am and Y class was pretty full, with an half empty J class. Pre-takeoff beverage of orange juice and water were passed out, followed by the usual newspapers and headsets. Door was closed at 9:37am, as we were waiting for some late passengers. It was not common to see these gate agents running around chasing passengers. We pushed back a few minutes later and took off from Runway 33L at 9:52am. We climbed to 35,000ft and the routing was similar to the inbound flight. We flew south towards Gwangju and Cheju, and then on to Taipei.

Meal service was minimal. A tray of juices, include orange and guava, and champagne, was first passed out. And then there was the tray with the fruit appetizer, with a bread basket and then the entrée choices. The crews did not even bother to do a final tea and coffee service. The meal was similar to those served on the hour-long Hong Kong to Taipei. For a two hours and twenty-two minutes flight, I was a little bit disappointed. The meal can use a separate dessert service like the HKG-BKK route, and both the quantity and quality of the entrée can be improved. Here is the transcript!

Brunch
Orange Juice or Guava Juice

Assorted Seasonal Fruits
Pineapple, orange segments and grapes – very fresh, ripe and sweet

Braised Noodles with Seafood
Awful dish… so-called seafood consisted of some overcooked calamari and unidentifiable of fried fish slices… The noodles were over-cooked too.
Or
Omelette with Ham and Fine Herbs
Grilled Emmental sausage
Hash Brown Potatoes and Grilled Tomato

Croissant or Wholemeal Roll served with Preserves and Butter
Tea and Coffee

It was definitely not CX’s best efforts. The food was best described as coach class quality. I am planning a brief email to CX. I wish I had eaten a noodle bowl in the lounge. The personal television system was the basic studio CX and I did not watch much of it. No movies were shown on this short sector. I read a bit and took a nap. The crews did not offer much beverage, except gathering in the galleys talking and showing each other picture. Most folks slept on this flight. Descent began at 11:46am and we touched down at TPE’s Runway 06 at 11:13pm, Taipei local time (an hour behind of Seoul). We parked at gate B3 and I headed off to the CX lounge.

January 4, 2003
CX 450 TPE-NRT Lv1245 Arr1645
Boeing 747-400 B-HUA (74B with old J)
Taipei lounge is one of CX’s recent renovations and it uses the same “the Wing” design of Hong Kong. The first class section was located in the furthest end of the lounge, which had more comfortable sofas and four separate Internet stations. There used to be two waiters/waitresses in the F class lounge to wait on you like Hong Kong, but this practice has reverted to self-serving style. The F class attendant always has to help out with the much busier J section. You have to get your own noodles from the noodle bar located in the J section from now on. I don’t mind at all. The selections for noodles include Taiwanese beef noodles, shredded pork and preserved (snow) cabbage noodles, or vegetarian noodles. I had the beef noodles, which were fine. Dim sum selection was a bit disappointing, only baos (Chinese pork buns), and there are number of sandwiches, cakes, pastries, and fruits. There are also bottled Evian waters, which are nice. I grabbed two bottles for the road. I used the computer a bit and then headed off to B4. The aircraft, B-HUA, was the one I saw two days ago in HKG heading to JFK via YVR. Wow, CX uses its aircraft in a pretty busy schedule. It was a disappointed Boeing 747-400 with the old J class, but new Y class. Every class was full and upper deck only spotted 3 empty seats. Boarding started at 12:24am, as the inbound flight was slightly late departing from Hong Kong. However, doors were closed two minutes early with an on time push back. A pretty quiet afternoon at TPE…after an SQ’s Boeing 777 landed on Runway 06, we headed to the same runway and took off at 12:59pm. Flying time was two hours and fifteen minutes, but due to the normal ATC holdings at NRT, flying time was prolonged to two hours and forty minutes. NRT was pretty nasty after 3pm, especially heavy aircrafts like Boeing 747s, which had to use R/W16R/34L for landing. If you fly Boeing 777s or smaller aircrafts, you can use the much shorter R/W16L/34R for landing, which may lessen the ATC hold times. Our cruising attitude this afternoon was 33,000ft..

The lunch service was a bit better than the last sector. A slightly much drawn out lunch (well still in two courses) was served, and I don’t know why a separate dessert course can’t be served, especially they can do it on the Taipei to Hong Kong sector, which was shorter. Well, the lunch service began with a beverage service, served with Japanese snacks and almonds can be requested. Then linen was placed on your table, with the appetizer and dessert pre-set on the tray, which is followed by the entrée casseroles and a coffee/tea service. Here is the transcript:

Lunch
Jellied Shrimp Timbale with Honeydew Melon
A nice appetizer, but strange tasting jelly… the melon was very sweet… very fresh!

Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Curry Fumi Sauce
Japanese Rice Tawara with Yukari
Seasonal Japanese Vegetables
A nice entrée with nicely cooked beef… it was medium rare. You might want to let the F/As know if you want the steak to be more cooked. I sincerely think that there should be a third entrée choice.
Or
Pan-Fried Seabass Fillet with Olive, Zucchini, Red Pepper sauce and Lime herb butter
Boiled Potatoes, Carrots and Snap Peas

Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Placed on the tray already – apple, two slices of cantaloupes, and a slice of melon!

Selected Bread and Rolls served with Butter
Garlic bread, ciabatta breads, and sesame seed rolls!

Tea and Coffee

I will appreciate a separate dessert course even ice cream will be fine. Well, the entertainment was the classic one with not even any Studio CX functions. Unfortunately, I will have to fly another 74B to JFK this time. A little bit disappointed but what can you do? I read the Business Traveler magazine, which is not particularly interested and read a local Chinese magazine. Descent soon began at 2:55pm, but we did not land on R/W16R until 4:39pm Tokyo local time (an hour ahead of Taipei). After we landed, a much delayed Austrian’s A340 made its takeoff run for its flight to Vienna. Then an AA’s Boeing 777 landed, followed by a JAL’s Boeing 747-400. The aircraft activities in NRT are busier and more interested. We were then parked at gate 14 , with a CX’s A340-300 (B-HXD) waiting for push back. Air Tahiti Nui’s A340-300, AA’s Boeing 777s, and the usual range of JAL, ANA, Northwest, and United’s Boeing 747s and 777s were spotted throughout the apron. Fortunately, we beat the AA flight to the gate, but since there were only four counters opened at the foreigner line, it took a while to get my passport checked (but seeing the expansion of the lines, the folks behind me will definitely have to wait longer.) The Japanese citizen line was even worst, and Narita airport is simply over capacity. When I got to the claim, my bag was already out and then I went through the custom check. I was told to show a return ticket. No big deal! Then buying a ticket to the bus on the crowded arrival hall was a hassle. My experience with NRT was very negative, even worst than JFK in some senses. The airport was just too small to handle this crowd. I recommend you taking an earlier flight to NRT, or later flight to NRT in the future. Avoid the peak time of 4pm to 7pm!

After two evenings at Tokyo and two evenings at Hakone, it is time to return home. Of course, nothing is simple in Carfield’s first mileage run of the year. I am heading down to New Zealand to finish my previous OW RTW and start another one. I am staying overnight at the AKL airport hotel for an evening. I am a little worried about the NZ immigration situation. Hopefully, I won’t get the full body search treatment again. Anyway, all my bags went with my parents this time and I only have a laptop bag and a roller bag. That’s all!

January 8, 2003
CX 505 NRT-HKG Lv1820 Arr2225
Boeing 747-400 (74B) B-HUE (74B with old J class)
I have yet to fly on a Boeing 747-400 with the new J class cabin and am not disappointed to find out that I am flying on one again. Going from Hakone to NRT requires a half-day of traveling. Trains and trains… It is so sweet when the Narita Express finally arrived at terminal one. Just a warming, there is an inspection station after you leave the train and before entering the airport building. You are expected to show a passport to the inspector. The Cathay Pacific check-in counters were surprisingly deserted in both premium and economy lines. I was the first one in line. The whole procedures took a while since all my tickets were opened, and the agent had to take a little time in checking me in. Then we went to the restaurants’ area for some lunch/dinner. Since my parents and my sister were flying coach today, they had to grab something to eat. After going through security checkpoints and immigration stations, we headed to Gate 14 for our flight. The flight came in early from Taipei this evening and due to the rather light load (only less than 10 J passengers in the main deck, but Y was about 2/3 full), the boarding went by quickly. Once aboard, the usual pre-takeoff beverage, including CX Delight, was served and the usual headset and newspapers were passed out individually. And then after the door was closed at 6;13pm (seven minutes early), hot towels were passed out and the wonderful flight attendant, Joseph, informed me that the plane was very empty and I was freed to move to any open seats. I got both 14H and J to myself this evening. We pushed back five minutes later, and headed towards R/W16R, which had a number of JAL, ANA, and NWA’s jumbo jets lining up for takeoff for their late night runs into various parts of Asia and North America. We finally lifted off at 6:44pm. Flying time was about four hours and twenty-seven minutes. I don’t have other information because the sky map was only showing times and distance information. We definitely flew by Tokyo, as I spotted the Tokyo Tower. It was a beautiful night at Japan with a great night view of Tokyo and various Japanese cities, as we headed towards Hong Kong.

Seat belt sign was turned off at 6:55pm and beverage was served with your choice of almonds or Japanese snacks. I had the warmed almonds, which were wonderful. Then dinner was served in the typical manner. I chose the Japanese menu tonight, which was not disappointing. It was comparable with the Japanese airlines. Here is the transcript of the Western menu, followed by the Japanese menu.

Dinner
Seasonal Salad served with Balsamic Vinegar dressing

Marinated Seafood Pasta Salad

Prawn Butterfly
Egg Fried Rice
Stir-Fried Pak choy and Shiitake Mushroom
*Special creation by Mr. Kinsen Kim of “Yung Kee” restaurant
Or
Pan-fried Fillet of Beef with Oven Roasted Pepper sauce
Linguine with Shiitake Mushrooms
Buttered carrots and broccoli

Japanese menu
Delicacy
Sesame Bean Curd Crabmeat Okra

Appetizer
Clam and Vegetable Gratin Grilled Squid rolled with Mullet Roe
Bean Curd rolled with Eel and Burdock Simmered Prawn
Boiled Black Soy Bean with Gold Leaf Matsuba Stick Skewer

Entrée
Braised Pork in Red Wine Sauce Baby Eggplant Sweet Potato
Green beans Carrots Wheat Gluten Bread
Steamed rice wrapped with Bamboo Leaf

Noodles
Moroheiya Udon Shiitake Mushroom
Enoki Mushroom Shimeji Mushroom

Soup
Miso Soup Corn and Fish Dumpling Pickles

Cheese Selection with Crackers
Blue, Constello and Swiss
Or
Fresh Seaonal Fruit
2 grapefruit segments, kiwi, melon, papaya, and grapes

Black Glutinous Rice and Tapioca Pudding
Tea and Coffee
Pralines
Ice-cream
Pudding was pretty nice.

The Japanese meal was served in two course, with appetizers first and the entrée. The meal was pretty nicely designed and I am only a bit disappointed with pork served with the entrée. Joseph was very cheerful throughout the flight, which was remarkably different from other three CX flights this month. There were a few rough spots, as it was fairly typical at this time of the year on the North Asian flight routes. Entertainment… same old CX selection with no fancy stuffs… I just hope that there will be a last minute aircraft change on my CX 888, so I can fly on the new J class. Anyway, my next segment will be on an Airbus A330-300, which will feature the new J class.

Soon the descent began at 10:45pm. Another round of beverage and hot towels marked the end of the inflight service, which was excellent! Due to some moderate chops, seat belt signs were turned on since 9:29pm. At 10:54pm, the pilot apologized for the chops (really… it has nothing to do with them!) and asked the flight attendants began preparing the cabin for landing. It was a wonderful night in Hong Kong with clear views for the Victoria Harbor, my home – the Happy valley Race Course, all these high rise buildings, and then all the way past the Cheung Chau Islands, before making a big turnaround towards Runway 7L at CLK airport. Gear went down at 11:10pm, and touched down at 10:13pm, Hong Kong local time (Hong Kong is an hour behind Japan). We made our taxis towards gate 2. After saying goodbyes to my family, I headed to the transit lounge for my connection flight to Sydney and more surprises…

Carfield

CX 101 HKG-SYD Lv2345 Arr1155
Airbus A330-300 B-HLR with new F and J (333)
I headed to the Wing and was not prepared to handle the crowds at the F class lounge. Internet connections were offline again. After making a few phone calls, I decided to head out and to get some magazines to read. Boarding began in 11:10pm at gate 62, but I did not board till final boarding was called because I can’t talk on the mobile once boarded. For some reasons, most Australian flights used the gates at the sixties. I guess it could release the congestion at the Wing, so most Aussie passengers will use the Pier. When I finally boarded, my dream has come true – a complimentary upgrade. My boarding pass gave out the ‘reject” sign and I was given a free upgrade towards first class. After all these years and since the suites have been installed, I have yet to fly a long haul first class flight on Cathay Pacific. I was a happy man for the evening. The whole aircraft was filled except F class with two open seats. I was assigned 2D but since row 1 was empty, I moved to 1D so my seatmate could go to bed immediately. Samantha and Audrey were our flight attendants for this evening flight and were excellent. No wonder why CX has gained such high marks for its first class service! AA, BA, and UA can’t even come close to CX’s service levels. Once seated, Samantha immediately asked for my beverage choice and served me a warm mushroom puff as pre-takeoff savory. Then pajamas, slippers, and La Prarie amenity kits were passed out. Of course, the normal rounds of newspapers and magazines were made, followed by the obligatory hot towels.

Our flight was very overbooked and the door could be closed at 11:42pm after a few late passengers boarded. We pushed back within the minute and headed to Runway 7R at 11:48pm. There were a few CX flights leaving towards Europe, the United States, and South Africa during that time, and we took off following the Virgin’s A340-600. Then when we roared down the runway at 11:56pm, a few more CX’s Boeing 747-400s, an Air France’s Boeing 777-200ER, and a South African’s Boeing 747-200 were headed down to the runway.

Flying time was eight hours and forty-two minutes. The flight route first took us towards the Philippines and 33,000ft. After passing Zamboanga, the Philippines, we climbed further into 37,000ft, and then headed towards Manado, Ambon, and entered the Aussie airspace near Darwin. As we lost some weights, we climbed further to 39,000ft, our final attitude. A beverage service was started immediately. Table was set up, followed by a cart with smoked salmon and caviar. Most passengers took part at these rare culinary fares these days, even in first class. Even Singapore Airlines only serves caviar at dinner flights. I did not eat caviar but took part with the wonderful smoked salmon course. Then the supper service was served according to our wishes. I hope I could be hungrier, but after a pretty plentiful dinner on the previous flight, I only had the soup and the Roast Goose Poon Choi, which was pretty nice. Poon Choi was a very local Chinese cuisine served mainly at villages in the New Territories and outlying Islands. Everything was piled up in a big “poon” – a large wooden bowl, and everyone just digs in and finds the things that they want. Most Westerners will find it “unsanitary” but that’s the way Chinese eat. Of course, CX has modified the meal. A bowl of steamed rice was served with it and you get your own individual “poon.” It has a sweet and sour jumbo prawn, chicken pieces, roast pork, goose pieces (no bones), dried squids, bean curd skins, broccoli, pork skin, and chopped fish meatballs. Here is the full menu transcript:

Supper
Caviar and Balik Delight
Oscietra Caviar
And
Balik salmon “Tsar Nicolaj” served with Warm New Potatoes and Crème Fraiche

“A La carte menu”
Light Options
Fresh Mushroom Soup served with Mini Garlic Baguette
The soup was okay, but honestly it tasted like Campbell soup with fresh mushrooms added.
Tossed Salad with Feta Cheese served with Cider Vinegar and Honey dressing

Main Courses
Grilled Prawns and Scallops Brochette with Lemon Basil Butter
Served with Dill Potatoes and Vegetables
Or
Garganelli with Olive, caper and tomato sauce

Snack Selection
Asparagus and Artichoke Quiche with Salad served with Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

Ciabatta filled with Smoked Turkey, Cheese and Tomato

Cheese Selection
Movenpick Ice cream

Chinese Favorites
Big Bowl Feast (Poon Choi) with Roast Goose served with Steamed Rice and Stir-Fried Broccoli
Rice Vermicelli with Roast Duck and Barbecued Pork in Soup
Noodles with Pork Dumpling in Soup Shanghainess Style
Seafood Congee accompanied by Spring Onion Pancake
Imperial Fried Lotus Root, Snap Peas, Asparagus and Ginkgo Nuts
Served with Stir-fried E-fu Noodles with Vegetables

Dessert
Black Glutinous Rice Soup

Tea and Coffee
Praline and Cookies

After supper, I watched an episode of “Daria” and “the Simpsons” and then went to bed. Samantha gave me a very warm duvet blanket, which was appreciated. I turned my seat into an almost flat bed. Honestly, I did not like a full flat bed on a plane. It makes me very uncomfortable – a slight recline is appreciated. I slept on and off for the rest of the evening. Then I woke up an hour and half prior to arrival. Audrey immediately took my order for breakfast. I had the fruit plate, which had 2 pineapples slice, 2 peach slices, orange & grapefruit segments, kiwi, and grapes. Then I had a strawberry yogurt, and freshly made scrambled eggs.

Continental Breakfast
Juice Selection

Appetizer
Fresh Seasonal Fruits

Yogurt Selection
Natural, Fruit or Low Fat Fruit Yogurt

Cereals
Muesli, Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies

Main Course
Eggs – Freshly Scrambled, Boiled or Fried
Grilled Lamb Noisette, Back Bacon and Pork Sausage, Fried Potatoes, Broiled Tomato with Parsley and Fresh Mushrooms

From the Bakery
Croissant, Blueberry Muffin, Swiss Cinnamon Roll, Japanese Soft Roll, English muffin, and Wasa Crackers served with Preserves, Honey and Butter

Tea and Coffee

A note on the meal services -- as you possible all know, CX operates two flights from Hong Kong to Sydney and Melbourne – usually an earlier departure at 7pm and then a later departure near midnight. There are two meal services on both flights, but for the earlier flight, there will be a full dinner service and a continental breakfast (just fruit, cereal, yogurt, and breads, and no breakfast entrée), and for the later flight, there will be a supper, not a full meal, service with the typical a la carte menu, and then a continental breakfast was also served, but with a hot entrée available. This also applies to business class. For Y, the service will be identical and no second hot meal service… only continental breakfast. For those who wants to know about CX’s meal services, I hope you find this information helpful.

Descent began at 8:03pm and we touched down on Runway 16R at 11:33am. The flight was perfect and CX had started my year very well, after a few disappointed intra-Asian runs. Then I headed to the transit area and towards the Qantas first class lounge. I took a nice shower and changed into some clean clothes. I like the QF lounge because it had a wonderful view of runway 16R, and watched many QF and Virgin Blue planes taking off. International activities were the usual array of Qantas’ Boeing 747-400s, 767-300s, Air Pacific’s Boeing 737-800 with winglet, Boeing 747-200, SQ’s Boeing 777-300, JAL’s Super Resocha Express Boeing 747, and a United Airlines’ Boeing 747-400. It was a pretty long four hours of transit times. I surfed the Internet for a bit, but connection went down an hour after I started. I had some fried cod fish and meatballs as snacks. I had some lemonade, and patiently waited a bit. I left the lounge at 3pm and looked for the Australian Aviation magazine and then headed towards gate 25.

January 9, 2003
QF 189 SYD-AKL Lv1600 Arr2105
Boeing 737-300 VH-TAX “Success”
An interesting name for a tiny aircraft! The flight was pretty full this evening with only a few empty seats in Y and one single empty J seat. I had the bulkhead aisle seat, 1D, which was a wonderful selection. I actually recommended the bulkhead seats on QF and NZ’s single aisle aircraft. There is much legroom and they carved out a nicely sized box underneath the forward closets for you to store your bag. The wonderful gate agent and flight attendant welcomed me aboard and lead me to the seat. A tray of orange juice and water was passed out after everyone was seated, followed by newspapers and magazines. Headsets were already placed at the seat pocket. We began boarding at 3:46pm, a bit later than estimated due to the late arrival of the inbound flight. Door was closed at 4:04pm, and we pushed back at 4:06pm. A relatively quiet time – we headed towards Runway 16R at 4:10pm, and took off five minutes later. Flying time was two hours and fifty-five minutes.

Seat belt sign was turned off at 4:20pm, and than a beverage service was served with two packs of roasted peanuts. Then dinner was served – the typical one tray service with appetizer, entrée, roll, cheese, dried fruits, and chocolate, followed by a separate dessert service. Here is the transcript:
Entrée
Antipasto
A bowl of greens with two Proscuitto rolls, sundried tomatoes, and roasted yellow pepper

Main Course
Lamb Navabi with Chickpea Salad and Rice
A popular choice… chunky lamb slices in a spicy curry-based sauce with white rice and chickpeas. Pretty good!

Roasted Salmon Fillet with Pink Eye Potatoes and Tomato Sauce

Roast Chicken with Garden Salad, Asparagus and Mustard Dressing

Cheese
Seasonal Cheese, Dried Fruit and Water Crackers
A roll of white cheese, with dried apricots

Dessert
Ice cream
“Nice” ice cream cup – Praline flavored

Petit Four
Chocolate
Macadamia Royal

In terms of entertainment, there are VCR players handing down after takeoff. There are ten choices of movies, not necessarily the latest, but a way to compensate the lack of personal television screens. For the main screen, Qantas’ news and Channel Nine International News were first shown, including introducing the Airbus A33-200s and the future A380s… interesting videos! Then “Sweet Home Alabama” was shown till descent at 6:48pm. Quite a bit of chops, when we began to land at AKL! We touched down on Runway 05 at 9:08pm. We quickly parked at gate 5. Passing through the immigration was not a problem. I stayed overnight at the Central Auckland Airport, which was pretty disappointing. The hotel was pretty busy because NZ 6 was severely delayed and NZ put all the passengers overnight there. Morning call was 00:30am… yuck! Well, they at least have a place to stay. The hotel room’s décor reminded me of the eighties and the carpet was not definitely in its perfect shape.

January 10, 2003
QF 34 AKL-MEL Lv0600 Arr0755
Boeing 767-300ER VH-OGE “City of Orange”
I checked in at 4:45am. The check-in counters were deserted with all the stations staffed. I was quickly processed and the agent checked me through to Hong Kong. Of course, the bag Nazi well trained by QF will not let me carry on roller back. Well, they are at least polite about it. I have already forseen this happening, so I just place my bag on the belt. The agent placed an orange priority tag and checked it all the way to Hong Kong. I went to QF lounge and was shown to the F class section. The continental breakfast buffet was nothing much to report and I just had a glass of juice. There was one single computer in the lounge and I used it to check some emails. Auckland was quite busy this morning with a number of flights heading to Australia and the early Lan Chile (A340, CC-CQC) flight arriving from Santiago and Air Pacific’s Boeing 737-800 with winglet from Nadi. In terms of plane spotting, the NZ’s Boeing 747-400 with the Lord of the Ring livery was seen. Very interesting livery!

Gate this morning was seven. Boarding began at 5:30am and when I reached the gate, most passengers had already boarded. The international Dreamtime seats are definitely nicer than the Boeing 737. The seat controls were all electronically set, and a tray of orange juice and water was passed out. Headphones were placed in the seat pockets and newspapers were passed out after takeoff. We pushed back at 6:02am and headed to Runway 05R shortly after. We took off at 6:13am. Flying time was three hours and twenty-three minutes. We climbed to 36,000ft.

Well, breakfast service at Qantas was even simpler than lunch and dinner. No printed menu and separate beverage service. The flight attendants were very nice and continued to make multiple water runs throughout the flight. Well, at 6:45am, the breakfast cart was rolled out. There are two choice of breakfasts – one hot and one cold.

Hot breakfast contains an entrée of two poached eggs with sausage, bacon, mushroom, and tomato in an onion gravy, accompanied by a fruit salad (melon, cantaloupe, watermelon, and pineapple chunks in orange juice). It was not bad and the fruit salad was very nice.

Cold breakfast was basically a fruit platter with orange, strawberry, sliced pineapples and cantaloupes, and grapes with a tub of yogurt and a bowl of cereal.

Bread choices were white or rye toasts, and the flight attendants served breads one more time after serving everyone. The breakfast was basically a shame as a business class meal. It was sufficient, but I think there should be more breakfast pastries choices and one more entrée choice. There is no doubt that Air New Zealand’s meal services are a notch better than Qantas. But with QF’s potential stake at NZ, I think NZ will possibly follow QF standard.

In terms of entertainment, there was a personal television system for J class. The screens are the tiny ones, and all channels were running, except the comedies. Very disappointed, but the Sky Map is at least functioning. Descent began at 9:18am, and we landed on Runway 16 at 7:36am Melbourne time (two hours behind New Zealand). We parked at Gate 1 and I proceeded to the nearby transit checkpoints. Very easy!
CX 114 MEL-HKG Lv0845 Arr1450
Airbus A330-300 B-HLP (333)
I went to the lounge and the agent was very friendly and helpful. The breakfast buffet was extremely lame though with only mini muffins, cereals, fruits, and some so-called chicken congee, which was definitely instant. I had a bowl of the congee and read some gossip magazines. Since my connection time was relatively short, I left the lounge at 8:15am, the official boarding time. Due to the late arrival of the incoming plane, boarding was postponed to 8:36am. However, the load was extremely light this morning… very unusual because it is the summer holiday for Australians. Even the agent was a bit shocked to see the light load. F has one or two passengers. J class was one third full, and I was able to move from 12C to a pair of open seats at 11HK. Anyway, 14HK and only one out of four middle seats were filled in the first section of J class. The flight attendants were very generous with the portion of food served. Once seated, there was an array of pre-takeoff beverage served with a choice of orange juice, apple juice, mango energizer drink, champagne and water. Newspapers and hot towels were passed out after the door was closed at 8:49am. Our aircraft was pushed back a minute later. We headed to Runway 16 for takeoff and took off at 9:06am. I spotted a QF’s A330-200, which seemed to be well utilized on the East coast corridors.

Flying time was eight hours and fifty-four minutes. We first climbed to 36,000ft, as we crossed Broken Hill, Alice Spring before climbing further to 38,000ft. We then passed Katherine and Darwin before entering a turbulent area in the Indonesian airspace. Ambon and Manado were flown by, and we climbed to 39,000ft before entering the Filipino airspace and passing Zamboanga. The view of the “Country of Thousand Islands” is amazing with the blue sky, white cloud, and clear water. Then we flew directly towards Hong Kong.

Seat belt sign was off at 9:18am and the flight attendants wasted no time in starting the breakfast service. It was pretty amazing that CX served two hot meals on these nine hours flight – a full breakfast and a full lunch prior to arrival. F class got a slight modified lunch service though. But the food served at J was just like the HKG to Toronto via Anchorage flight, except the availability of sandwiches, instant noodles and other snacks. I can tell that CX spent more in caterings on these Aussie flights.

Breakfast
Juices
Fresh Orange Juice, Apple Juice, or Mango Energizer Drink

Appetizer
Fresh Seasonal Fruits
4 strawberries, cantaloupe, melon, watermelon, and grapes

Yogurt and Cereal
Fruit Yogurt, Corn Flakes or Muesli
Ski’s low fat mango passion yogurt for me… Raisin Bran was also available as a cereal choice!

Main Courses
Scrambled Eggs in Pancake filled with Ham and Cheese
Apple Pancake served with Maple Syrup and Butter
Braised Rice Vermicelli with Roast duck served with Chili Sauce
Got a plate of vermicelli (rice noodles)… not too bad, but not impressive. Chinese food is not as well prepared as other American stations like Vancouver, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto.

Accompaniments
Grilled Bacon and Chicken Chipolate, Roasted Potatoes with Onions, Sauteed Mushrooms with herbs and Grilled Tomato

Bread
Croissant, Muffin, White Baguette Roll or Brioche served with Preserves and Butter
The F/A made a couple passes and I like the croissant.

After breakfast, I watched a couple sitcoms. The new Studio CX was available of course, and there was a minor mix up in the audio channels. The inflight manager came to the front J section with some duvets. Since there was only a few passengers at F, so she offered a couple of us with duvets tied in a grey ribbons. I took advantage of the nice duvet. CX was definitely spoiling me. I had a nice nap until noon. BTW, Evian water bottles were passed out after breakfast. I watched more TV and about two and a half hour prior to arrival, the F/A was taking order for beverage. I am more than happy to see the return of the savories plate (three canapés). I guess either CX is only cutting back on the transpacific routes or is returning the old services after too much complaining.

Lunch
Savouries
Fois Gras on white toast
Smoked Salmon on white bread
Mozarrella Cheese on Rye Bread

Salad
Seasonal Salad served with Tomato vinaigrette
Another Mesclun Green salad with yellow pepper strips and radish slices

Appetizer
Rock Melon with Parma Ham, Grilled Zucchini, Olive, Artichoke, Semi Sun-dried tomato, Marinated Mushrooms and Sprig of Thyme
Excellent appetizer

Main Courses
Stir-fried chicken with Black Mushrooms
Braised Short Rib of Beef
Seared Ocean Trout with Avocado and Fennel Salsa

Accompaniments
Boiled Potatoes with Parsley, Steamed Rice, Stir-fried Chinese Broccoli, Roasted Seasonal vegetables
I had the chicken slices as entrée and it was edible. Not too bad!

Cheese and Fruits
Cheese Selection with Crackers
Or
Fresh Seasonal Fruits
The F/A served me two plate of fruits – melon, cantaloupe, pineapple, watermelon, kiwi, strawberries, white and regular grapes… very good.

Dessert
Mascarpone Torte
A nice Tiramisu-type dessert pastry!

Bread
Selected Bread and Rolls served with Butter
Garlic bread and wheat rolls

Tea and Coffee
Pralines

A round of hot towels ended the wonderful lunch service. At 5:27, we began our descent. We landed on Runway 7L at 2:54pm Hong Kong local time (Hong Kong is three hours behind Melbourne). I saw a JAL’s DC-10 with the new color taking off at R/W7R. A pretty busy evening at Hong Kong! We taxied into Gate 67 a few minutes later. It was a busy afternoon in Hong Kong with the Sydney flight and a number of Asian flights arriving. When I walked out the plane, it was a shock to see so many people coming from all directions. No wonder CX is making a good profit these days. The connecting areas are filled with people transiting from Taiwan to the Mainland China. The Chinese New Year is coming soon and the scene will be crazier. Be ware of it! This trip concluded my trip report. Guess what! My next report will be CX again, but to the more familiar HKG-NRT-TPE and CX 888 HKG-YVR-JFK route, but I purposefully added a Airbus A340-600 TPE-HKG segment. Let hope that there is no last minute equipment change! But equipment change is not always a bad thing. CX 888 is still going to be a 74B with old J for now and Row 86 is occupied for now. I hope this will change as the plane is pretty overbooked for now.

Carfield

Seat 2A

Drool...

mad_atta

Great report as usual, Carfield - thanks! What were your impressions of the new-style CX business class seats? Good news about the updgrade to F and the absence of full-body search at NZ immigration - when did that happen to you previously?

QF has simplified its trans-Tasman services lately - Y class get no meal choice at all, and J class has been 'dumbed down'. You also can often end up on the domestic style 737s with very disappointing business class seating, though as you discovered the 'Dreamtime' seats on the 767s are pretty nice. NZ's 737s are configured with proper international style business class seats with 46" pitch; however the bulkhead row is best avoided as the toe-room is uncomfortably limited, I find. Row 2 is best, followed by row 3.

I'll be flying NZ AKL-SYD on a breakfast flight in business in a few weeks - will post a trip report to compare the breakfast service.

RTW4

Not only is this yet another GREAT report, but a few observations...

The late CX flight from HKG-SYD has the EXACT same supper service as the late night HKG-LAX. The earlier HKG-SYD flight has the same FULL DINNER service as the HKG-LAX earlier flight.
I must say that the first class menu is substantially more impressive on the TPE-NRT segment.
I love the HKG-SYD flights as most if not all have the new Studio CX entertainment systems. Once again thanks..I will reporting on my next segment on CX first early next month