Carfield

June 7, 2003
BA 823 CPH-LHR Lv1930 Arr2030
Airbus A319-100 G-EUPE “Union Flag”
Copenhagen is an extremely pleasant city. After another day at the city and another canal tour, I went back to the airport. The 15 minutes train ride was stress-free, and BA’s check in counters were located at terminal two. The agent was very kind and checked me all the way to Auckland via LHR and HKG. All the boarding passes were printed out at CPH, which were nice, but no priority tag (but when I picked up my bag, there were three additional tags – heavy (22kg), rapid transfer at LHR, and CX F-class priority [CX is good at these minor details]). The BA lounge at CPH was spacious and shared the typical décor as other terraces. Drinks were abundant, but there was a lack of snacks because stale crisps and Danish cookies were all that available – I did not know why BA needs a kitchen. The load was pretty poor this evening with only 3 passengers up front and half full in Y. But the service was extremely good and personal. Based on this BA experience, BA got a higher score. The seats though – I definitely think AY has a bit more room, but comparing bulkhead seats, AY bulkhead seats are bad, but BA is good.

Boarding began early at 7pm and I immediately noticed an interesting aircraft parked next to us – a Russian TU-154 (or 134) operated by Balkan Holidays (LZ-HWN), and on the other side, a BA’s A320 overnight here at CPH for the Sunday am flight, was parked next to us. Newspapers were offered after door was closed at 7:22pm. We pushed back a few minutes later and headed immediately to Runway 22R for our takeoff at 7:32pm. Our routing took us from Copenhagen to Svendborg, and then to North of Amsterdam before heading to London. We climbed to 38,000ft. Skymap was the only form of entertainment, which I like.

Seat belt sign was turned off at 7:35pm, and an initial beverage service was served with a pack of Sea Salt and vinegar favored pretzel nuggets. No trolley was used with C class, due to our light load. Dinner was served in a leisurely pace, after more refills of beverage. Here is the dinner, which was excellent in every sense –
Entrée choices of
Warmed Grilled chicken breast
Or
Warmed Salmon and shrimp brochette

On top of mixed greens, sliced grilled zucchinis, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese, and an Olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette dressing
I love the salmon and shrimp brochette. The sliced zucchinis were excellent – thick and fresh. The greens were fresh, especially compared to the wilted greens served on the supper of my CX flight.

Appetizer
Salmon mousse with crackers
Excellent salmon mousse – tasty and went well with bread basket, which featured assorted rolls.

Dessert
Raspberry Trifle
An excellent way to end the dinner

I definitely enjoyed tonight’s dinner, especially compared to Finnair’s cold meals served on the shorter Helsinki to Copenhagen segment. Tea and coffee were offered then. Descent began at 8:40pm, and seat belt sign came back on at 8:56pm. As we approached Runway 27L, we passed by the city of London, with a good view of the London Eyes and Big Ben and River Thames. We landed at 8:07pm (LHR was an hour behind CPH), and taxied towards gate 28 and next to a South African’s Boeing 747-400 (ZS-SAY).

CX 254 LHR-HKG Lv2235 Arr1755+1
Boeing 747-400 B-HOZ with 744 and new J class
The transfer at LHR was not that awful, due to the low traffic flow. I went to CX counter to get the invitation of the AA Flagship lounge and checked on the gate and had the agent tracing my bag. There were numbers of passengers heading off to HKG tonight. Business class was completely full, which could be a good sign. It might also due to cancellations of various Hong Kong bound European flights recently. The AA Flagship lounge has a classical and elegant look (well, in my words, “dated”), and snacks involve some quiches, sandwiches, fruit brochettes, and packaged snacks, and a self-serving bar.

Boarding began early at 9:45pm, and I was among the first passenger to enter the business class cabin. The F/A immediately offered me newspapers and the usual pre-takeoff beverages. Yes, the newspaper and magazine selections have reduced, and “Apple daily” is no longer loaded for those HK gossipy folks. Soon the J class was filled, and the F/As were busy passing out the usual menus and amenity kits (a new Biotherm design kits). Hot towels had become history, and replaced by refreshing towelette. It was interesting to see F/As using the hot towel tongs to pass out these wet wipes. BTW, the towels at Premium class bathrooms still exist – I guess those towels are disposable anyway. Door was closed at 10:26pm and pushed back in a few minutes. Heathrow was quite busy as the last couple late night flights were heading to Africa and various Asian destinations. After a BA’s Boeing 747-400 with Union Flag livery, and El Al’s Boeing 747-400, and then another BA’s 744 took off, we lifted off from Runway 27R at 10:49pm. A Virgin Atlantic’s old livery A340-300 “G-VELD African Queen” and Gulf Air’s A330-200 (A40-XA) were following us at the queue for taking off.

The routing this evening took us first to 31,000ft as we passed through Amsterdam and climbed further to 33,000ft, passing south of Copenhagen, entering the Baltic Sea, passing North of Riga, the city of Tartu, St. Petersburg, Novosbirsk, and climbing further to 37,500ft as passing Mongolia and Xining, Lanzhou and Guiyang, and then towards Hong Kong. Flying time was eleven hours and nine minutes.

The catering out of Heathrow was a complete disaster, but the service was fine, especially a completely full Boeing 747 flight. Supper was served first, but the mandatory beverage and cashew nuts were first passed out. I immediately noticed that everything was covered, even the pre-takeoff beverages. So the F/As had the additional task of removing covers in front of you. Before, they just removed them in the galley. Pre-plated casseroles, like intra-Asian flights, replaced the “pick and choose” entrée trolley and the tinfoil was not removed until they were served to the passengers. Here is the menu transcript and wine list –

Wine List
Champagne
Billercart-Salmon Brut Champagne

White Wines
Louis Max Pouilly Vinzelles 2000
Framingham Sauvignon Blanc 2002

Red Wines
Chateau Haut-Vignoble Seguin, Saint-Estephe 2000
Vieux Chateau des Combes 1999, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
Hope Estate Merlot 2000

Port
Dow’s Late Bottled Vintage Port 1995/1996

Supper
Salad
Seasonal Salad with Tuna and Tomato served with Lemon Vinaigrette
Wilted mesclun greens, tuna fish from a can, and some tomatoes – awful appetizer – not premium class (not even economy class standard – one really expects the high quality tuna fillet – not some tuna fish can

Entrée
Pan-fried Fillet of Cod on Leek Cream sauce served with Parsley Mashed Potatoes and Fresh Seasonal Vegetables
Or
Stir-fried chicken with black bean sauce served with Sesame Rice and Fresh Seasonal Vegetables
Extremely salty – fortunately they had white rice on the side! There is problem with London’s Chinese food catering!

Light Selection
Noodle in Soup with Wonton

Dessert
Cheese Plate – pre-plated
Fresh Seasonal Fruits – whole fruit basket – banana, apples, and pears
Macadamia Tart with Custard

Bread
Assorted Bread and rolls – two kinds of rolls, instead of three, but garlic bread is still here
Tea and Coffee
Pralines

Snack
Noodle in Soup with Wonton
Grilled Ciabatta with Chicken and Bacon
Ice Cream

The usual Studio CX was presented and you had a choice of great movies this month, such as Chicago, DareDevil, the Hours, the Recruits and various short subjects. Then I righteously fell asleep for the rest of the flight, until brunch was served at 8am.

Brunch
Juice Selection
Appetizer
Fresh Seasonal Fruit
1/2 kiwi, cantaloupes, 2 orange, 1 grapefruit segment, pineapple, and strawberry

Main Courses
Omelette with Mushrooms and Cheese served with Grilled Back Bacon, Breakfast sausage, and Fried New Potatoes
Or
Potato and Onion Tortilla served with Broiled Roma Tomato and Flat Cup Mushroom
Or
Dim Sum with stir-fried Noodles
Pot sticker, shrimp dumpling, and some kind of meat ball with oily fried noodles – not good, but edible.

Bread Selection
Croissant, Danish Pastry, Blueberry Muffin or Soft Roll served with Preserves, Honey, and Butter

Tea and Coffee
Pralines

Catering was bad, bad, and bad. This is definitely not CX’s best effort and the Chinese food served was bad beyond imagination. That tuna fish appetizer was just a shame. I saw this menu before, so this menu did not reflect cost-cuttings because of SARS. For a profitable route like London, CX needs to upgrade its meals a bit. I was disappointed, but almost expected them because supper flights always had poor food, except out from Vancouver. Descent soon began at 9:32am, and we landed on R/W7L at 4:58pm HKG local time. We were parked at gate 3 a few minutes later. HKG was a sad scene, but a serious lack of activities. All the outer wings were parked with CX and KA’s planes with engines covered up with green blanket. One Airbus A340-600 was on the list. When our plane parked, I noticed that the Virgin’s Airbus A340 made it to HKG earlier than us, despite they were behind us in takeoff from Heathrow and as we all know, A340 has a slower cruising speed, so CX planes are flying at a lower speed and more fuel efficient manner than before.

June 8, 2003
CX 107 HKG-AKL Lv2025 Arr1115+1
Airbus A340-300 B-HXG
The transit procedures were the same as before, but staffs were taking our temperature before entering the security checks. Nothing too crazy! After reaching the departure hall, I could not help to notice the quietness of this airport. I have never seen Hong Kong CLK airport that quiet, even during some low hours. The shops were fairly empty and the CX preferred gate area was extremely quiet. The restaurant area was better with staffs having their meals there. The Wing was pleasant as usual and I had my iced lemon tea and talked on the phone a bit. Boarding began at 7:58pm and the load on this flight to Auckland was really low – F had three passengers, J had one fourth load, and Y had less than thirty passengers. The boarding was completed within ten minutes. The service was much better on this segment and Cecil was an excellent flight attendant. He constantly asked me if I wanted anything extra. Anyway, door was closed at 8:19pm, and soon headed off to Runway 7R for our takeoff. No plane was ahead of us, so we had the whole airport to ourselves.

We took off at 8:34pm, and flying time this evening was ten hours and twenty-nine minutes. The routing took us first from Hong Kong towards the Philippines. We climbed to 33,000ft initially and passed the city of Tarlac, San Fernando, Manila, Bacolod, Cebu, and Davao, and then climbed further to 35,000ft, and then 37,000ft before crossing Torres Strait, Cairns, and then turning towards Auckland after passing by Brisbane. I had a nice view of the Australian East Coast as we silently entered the Tasman Sea.

Dinner was first served and savories have formally canceled and only cashew nuts were offered with beverage now. The food was slightly better, but not to my personal taste. The salmon appetizer was bad…
Wine List
Champagne
Champagne Deutz, Brut Classic

White Wines
Framingham Sauvignon Blanc 2002
Jacob’s Creek Reserve Chardonnay 2001
McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Hunter Valley Chardonnay 2000

Red Wines
Chateau Haut-Vignoble Seguin, Saint-Estephe 2000
Vieux Chateau des Combes 1999, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
Hope Estate Merlot 2000

Port
Dow’s Late Bottled Vintage Port 1995/1996

Supper
Salad
Seasonal Salad served with Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing
Mesclun green salad with cherry tomato and slices of Parmesan cheese – better than LHR salad

Appetizer
Salmon, Hot smoked with Potatoes and Artichokes
Not the type of smoked salmon that I am looking forward to – very disappointing, but the side potatoes and artichokes are fresh and tasty

Main Courses
Stir-fried Beef Tenderloin with Pineapples
Steamed Rice
Black Mushroom with Oyster Sauce and Pak Choy
An okay dish
Or
Sauteed Seabass with Leek and Mustard Sauce
Boiled New Potatoes with Parsley
Fresh Seasonal Vegetables
Or
Braised Chicken in Red Wine Sauce
Garlic flavored Mashed Potatoes
Fresh Seasonal Vegetables
Or
Mushroom Ravioli with Tomato Basil Sauce

Cheese Board
Still here with three kinds of cheese
Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Sliced melon, cantaloupe, grapefruit, strawberry and large grapes

Dessert
Chocolate Mascarpone Cream Cake served with Raspberry sauce
Very nice cream cake – not too sweet – just right!
Or
Haagen Dazs Ice-cream
Choices of Vanilla and Banana ice cream

Bread
Assorted bread and rolls
Garlic bread, Italian Focaccia bread, French, and Onion rolls
Tea and Coffees
Pralines

Pizza and Noodle Soup are available after the supper service.

After dinner, I watched a few Hong Kong short subject videos and then a snack station was set up that has M&M, Kit Kats, Raisin cookies, and CX peanuts. I slept initially, but then I stayed awake for the rest of the flight. Due to the light load, brunch was not served till a bit later than the usual two hours mark. Juice and towelette was passed out at 5:37am Hong Kong local time. Here is the rest of the menu:

Brunch
Juice Selection
Appetizer
Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberry and kiwi

Main Courses
Scrambled Eggs with Cottage Cheese on English Muffin served with Grilled Ham slice, Fried Potatoes, Broiled Tomato with Herb and Button Mushroom
Or
E-fu Noodles with Straw Mushrooms and Chives
Chinese dim sum served with Chili sauce
Two Siu Mai (Pork Dumpling with yellow skin) and one fun gou (steamed minced pork dumpling) – nice – the e-fun noodles are good too.
Or
Almond French toast served with Maple Syrup and Butter

Bread Selection
Croissant, Blueberry Muffin or Soft roll served with Preserves, Honey and Butter
Tea and Coffee

Descent soon began at 6:33am, and we landed on Runway 23 at 11:03am Auckland time (AKL was four hours ahead of HKG), and slowly headed towards Gate 6. SARS booklets were passed out as we disembarked, and soon I was in central Auckland. I hope you enjoyed this Oneworld trip report, as the next journey will involve the Star Alliance carriers. Service-wise, I honestly think Star is a bit stonger, especially the premier selection of European and Asian carriers. Of course, as Ann Robinson will perhaps say to United, “you’re the weakest link!” A bit sidetrack, I watched the UK version of “the Weakest Link.” Let me say that Ann was being very kind to Americans, but it made it a better show. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy the next installment of my trip report!

For those who care, I was “grilled” by the New Zealand immigration again but no bag search this time! The agent questioned me carefully about my brief stay. I even gave her the ticket from the beginning. She thought I was crazy, and questioned me on some traveling dates… Sometimes, I really miss traveling in the EU… the only question was, “where are you going?” Well, I stayed at the Rydges Auckland, which was a decent business hotel – not fancy, but essential. The bed was good. I slept mostly throughout the day and the night – I could not believe how much I could sleep.

Carfield

flamboyant 1

good report, nice read!

Thank you!

B-HXB

Catering ex-LHR has always been poor - in fact, I would go so far as to say that of all the outports I've flown out of, LHR is absolute bottom when it comes to food quality.

A pity that CX have scaled back their dinner service on the CX107 to a supper one; although I won't be missing those savouries I wish they'd bring back those honey-glazed nuts they used to have!

number_6

CX has not! Dinner was served on my flight HKG-AKL 2 weeks ago -- not supper. I was the only F passenger and had to make the sacrifice and eat all the caviar (actually only managed about half of it). And drink all the wine (again only managed half, cried as they poured out the various wines at the end of the flight). Dinner was so filling that I passed on the brunch (and the otherwise fabulous freshly-prepared eggs that CX does).

RTW4

Great report.....but I must say that CX first probably now has a BIG advantage over CX business based on your report. I have heard from other passengers that CX business class food has really gone downhill. But I have taken several CX first class flights in the last couple of months and the service has been terrific and the food outstanding

pallensf

Pleasurable reading Carfield...

Good one...

Blessings...

------------------
Patrick A. Inouye, LMT
volunteer trip reports moderator

B-HXB

Well, the meal CX have always served on the CX107 they have called Supper on the menu, but they actually have scaled back. I have in front of me a menu from March 2003 and one from May. The March 2003 menu is what CX have been serving on the 107 for a good 3 or 4 years now: the caviar & salmon, soup & salad, two mains, two snacks, five Chinese dishes, Chinese dessert, ice cream.

The May 2003 menu still has the caviar & salmon, soup & salad, but now have four mains and NO Chinese dishes. Chinese dessert is replaced by a fruit salad and/or pastries.

That represents a cutback to me - not so much in quality or quantity, but probably to avoid meal duplication when there are few passengers.

I might also point out that CX has never offered freshly prepared eggs on their NZ routes (either on the CX107 inbound to AKL or the CX118 outbound), because the service is a brunch rather than breakfast. Pity really because the breakfasts are usually much more substantial than the brunches.

[This message has been edited by B-HXB (edited 06-10-2003).]

onedog

Thanks for the most excellent three part trip report.

PresRDC

Great report Carfield.

BTW, were/are the FA still wearing surgical masks?

Seat 2A

First Class report, as always.
Thanks, Carfield!

Carfield

Thanks for the kind comments!

Although CX called the "main meal service" on my HKG-AKL flight a supper, it is actually a dinner service, as you can see the additional appetizer service, four main entree choices, cheese board and fruit plate, two choices of dessert, and pralines. The meal is fine, but it is just the content of the menus that are slightly cheaper than before. Instead of possible Scottish smoked salmon or salmon sashimi, it uses hot smoked salmon, which is local. INstead of possible seared tuna or tuna carpaccio, it uses tuna fish from a can.

The brunch is always a smaller meal than breakfast. The difference is the additional cereal and yogurt course served on breakfast.

I hope this whole SARS thing will be over soon and CX will return to its better self.

Carfield

BTW, I was shocked to find out that my aircraft actually stayed overnight at AKL. The AKL-HKG flights are slashed to five times a week.

number_6

I flew HKG-AKL at the end of May, didn't keep the menu but know what I ate. Chinese dishes as well as lamb. No dessert so I can't comment. But despite being the sole F passenger there was a full selection of meals (5 different main dishes, all of which were boarded, and I had 2 different ones -- maybe more, I didn't pay much attention). Two different soups (western and chinese). And both caviar and the Caviar House Balik salmon. As for breakfast, it is indeed brunch -- which I skipped. I did have a soft-boiled egg which was cheerfully prepared by the FA (and perfectly done, later I found out she made 6 of them, each a few seconds apart, in order to pick the best one). I have never been on a CX flight where freshly prepared eggs -- including the holy grail for preparation at altitude, soft-boiled -- was not available. Maybe I was lucky, maybe they catered the aircraft to my tastes (I did book the flight several days in advance but did not order a meal or anything special), maybe I was just lucky ... somehow I doubt that and think my service was the norm. I did check my flight each day and no-one was ever booked in F (I was worried they would cancel the flight due to the light load, but it turned out to be almost full in J). The possibility of so much variation from meal service on the same route (in the same month) is a bit disturbing to me, wish I had looked at the menu and kept it. Now I am curious whether I had a better meal service than the norm (I have no CX status).

[This message has been edited by number_6 (edited 06-11-2003).]

B-HXB

Interesting statement you make there, number_6; looking back at past menus (which I invariably keep because I'm a pack rat) the CX107 pre-landing meal has always been designated a 'Brunch' with no freshly prepared eggs available, which seem to be reserved for 'Breakfast'-designated services.

This is what I have in my May 2003 menu for CX107 brunch service:

Main Courses
Spanish Omelette
Mini Glutinous Rice and Chinese Dim Sum
Steak and Mushroom Pie

Like I said, I've never seen freshly prepared eggs on the brunch menu, and the CX107 has offered brunch for pre-landing ever since I've started flying it, which must be three years now at least.