CX F HKG-YVR and AS F YVR-LAX
Sep 3, 2003, 3:10 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,352
CX F HKG-YVR and AS F YVR-LAX
Hi all,
Here were a series of summer trip reports! I have flown quite a few flights and here was a selection of few trips. The first one was my return to LA after the summer vacation on CX to YVR and then AS to LAX. The second one was a last minute return from HKG to SFO on OZ via ICN in mid August. The last one was my return to New York from LA on AA Y.
August 26, 2003
CX 838 HKG-YVR Lv1625 Arr1335
Airbus A340-600 B-HQA
Check in was fairly simple at the Hong Kong Airport Express station. The agent was efficient and friendly. Although my Alaska’s flights were booked separately on an e-ticket, the agent had no problems tagging my bags all the way to Los Angeles. Before I left, I checked the load in J. It was fairly empty and I had both 14A and C to myself. I went to the Wing for a bit. The computers were working erratically today, but got to check my email and made a few phone calls. I did not take part of the buffet but the service was as good as ever. Gate was 4 this afternoon, next to the SFO flight. It was obvious that both flights were overbooked. There were chaos everywhere but premium passengers got a separate line, which was a good feature. My boarding pass did not go through the machine, and after the magic beep, I was notified that I was upgraded to F and I was really surprised. I flew this RT and got upgraded to F both ways… what a great way to spoil me CX! Soon F, J and Y were booked full, but we got two great F/As @ Janet and Flora serving us upfront in F. I had a nice glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and newspapers were offered. Soon, a warm appetizer was served @ two fresh and tasty scallops in a lemongrass stick on a nice mango and grapefruit salsa. Then the French Declore amenity kit and Shanghai PJ/Slippers set were passed out with a nice cold towel. Door was closed at 4:29pm and we pushed back a few minutes later. HKG was finally backed to normal with a number of flights taking off in front of us and the maintenance base, which was filled with CX planes last month, was fairly quiet. After the taking off of a CX’s A330 (B-HLJ), a Boeing 747-400 Freighter (B-HUL), and a Garuda’s Airbus A330-300 (PK-GFE), we lifted off from R/W7R at 5:01pm.
Flying time was eleven hours and thirty-two minutes and the routing took us toward Makung, Taipei, Kagoshima, Hamamatsu (along the Eastern coast of Japan), Cold Bay of Alaska and onto Vancouver. We cruised 33,000ft, before climbing to 35,000ft and 37,000ft finally. Seat belt sign was turned off at 5:16pm and beverage order was first taken. Soon, dinner order was taken and this set of F/A chose to do everything a la carte @ no trolley service. (J class got the extra trolley from F…) The meal was beautiful.
Hong Kong to Vancouver
Wine List
Krug Grande Cuvee Champagne
Hogue Genesis Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2001
Chartron et Trebuchet Puligny Montrachet 1999
Louis Max Gervey Chambertin La Justice 1995
St. Supery Mertiage Napa Valley Red 1998
Chateau Lynch Bages 1997
Chateau Lynch Bages 1994
Dinner
Caviar and Balik Salmon Delight
Oscietra Caviar
And
Balik Salmon “Tsar Nicolaj” served with Warm New Potatoes and Crème Fraiche
I love the salmon, which was served with toasts, beautiful new potatoes, chopped egg, and lemon juice.
Soup
Asparagus Cream Soup with Coriander served with Mini Garlic Baguette
Okay bowl of soup @ the bread basket featured ciabatta, rye rolls, and Foccacia rolls.
Salad
Caesar Salad served with Caesar dressing
Main Courses
Stir-fried Chicken and Abalone served with steamed rice and Choy Sum
I had the chicken dish, which was always my favorite. A bowl of steamed rice was served separately. I was impressed with the preparation of Chinese food on CX.
Or
Beef Tenderloin with Shallot on Red Wine Parsley Sauce
Served with Fondant Potatoes, Oven Roasted Vegetables with Garlic and Thyme
Or
Grilled Prawn and Scallop Brochette with Lemon Basil Butter and Tomato Concasse
Serve with Dill Potato and Young Vegetables
Or
Penne Pasta with Plum Tomato sauce, Marjoram, Buffalo Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheese
Cheese Board
Brie, Cheddar, and Gorgonzola @ I had a piece of brie with brown bread and crackers, accompanied by carrot and celery sticks, white and regular grapes, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, and dried apricot.
Dessert Selection
Tropical Fruit Salad
Selected French Pastries
A nice selecton of fudge brownie, cheesecake, and assorted mini fruit tarts @ kiwi, mango, and dragonfruit @ beautiful
Haagen Dazs Ice cream with your choice of toppings
Bread Basket
Tea and Coffee
Pralines and Chocolate
After dinner, hot drinks service had to be temporarily suspended due to some moderate chops. But Janet managed to pass out the Evian water bottles and duvet blankets to everyone. I had a two hours nap before indulging at the entertainment programs. AVOD was featured at this beautiful Airbus A340-600. Although CX chose a bimonthly program now, I am sure that the AVOD programs will revert into the monthly mode after CX breaks even. One word about the new Airbus A340-600 @ it was very quiet and was a beautiful aircraft. During boarding, a CX F class passenger remarked to his wife that this must be a “small” plane due to the smaller F cabin. I really want to say @ no, this is not a small plane at all… it is a very long plane. During the mid flight, the F/A kept checking on us. They brought me a pot of hot tea and some cookies to munch on. And then I had a nice bowl of noodles @ really tempted to try the hot pot rice, but I could not eat hotpot rice at midnight North American time.
Refreshments
Noodles in Soup with Roast Duck and Barbecued Pork
Or
Roasted Vegetables with Feta Cheese in Puff Pastry with Salad served with Balsamic Vinegar Dressing
Or
Dried Bonito and Peanut Congee served with Pan-fried Dumplings
Or
Hot Pot Rice and Soup
Beef and Chestnut Patty on Rice in Hot Pot
And
Chicken, Wood Fungus, and Coriander Soup
Ice Cream
Tea and Coffee
About three hours prior to arrival, Flora came around to awaken passengers and took breakfast order. I chose to have the full breakfast two hours prior to arrival. It was a beautiful breakfast.
Brunch
Juice Selection
Appetizer
Fresh Seasonal Fruits
More fresh orange juice @ and the fruit plate came with melon slices, watermelon slices, kiwi, orange & grapefruit segments, and grapes @ fresh and ripe! It came with a nice bread basket with my choice of butter croissant and an apricot Danish @ warmed of course.
Main Courses
Omelette with Mushrooms
Mini Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf and Chinese Dim Sum
Vegetable Quiche Wedge
I had the dim sum, which were served in the infamous Noritake china dim sum basket. It had the glutinous rice, two shrimp dumplings, and a siu mai (pork dumpling).
Accompaniments
Grilled Back bacon and Lamb Noisette, Fried Potatoes, Broiled Tomato with parsley and fresh mushrooms
From the Bakery
Croissants, Muffins, Danish Pastries, Bread Rolls and Fresh Toast
Tea and Coffee
Descent began at 4:04am HK time. It was a cloudy afternoon at Vancouver, and we landed on R/W8L at 1:33pm Vancouver local time. It was a wonderful flight and we were soon parked at gate D73 nine minutes later. I caught the glimpse of CX’s Boeing 747-400 in line for take off at the nearby R/W08R. A rather aging JAL’s Boeing 747-300 (JA813J) was parked next to us. I flew that plane from Seoul to NRT two months ago @ definitely not the type of plane that you want to fly for long haul @ old Season seats and tired interiors, but good legroom in Y though.
Next was a nightmare. The transit at YVR was fairly simple. A cheerful and helpful CX agent, Cheryl, was waiting at the entrance way for Canadian immigrations and directing USA bound passengers (with a list of course) to the correct connection ways. It was fairly quiet but the bad news arrived soon. There were a group of about twelve AC Mainland Chinese passengers waiting in line. The US INS computer was down again (happened a lot lately) and with all these foreign passengers to check, the whole process took an hour. The family behind me missed their AS flights (Yes, there was a Horizon air agent stationed there). Cheryl was in the US bag claim area and was anxiously waiting for us. She even put our bags onto a trolley (I felt bad because my bags were really heavy.) Finally I got through and thanked her. She said no problem and was just upset that the AC agent won’t let me and the family behind us to skip line. Those Mainland Chinese passengers had a few more hours before their connecting flights to SFO. Well, I went straight ahead to the AS desk. A new bag tag was printed and I was directed to the custom line. Of course, the “beloved” custom officers sent me to the Agricultural X ray lines. Of course, nothing was found. They really expected me to carry fresh fruit and vegetables… really don’t know why! Well, I finally got to the nice AS board room and enjoyed a can of ginger ale.
AS 682 YVR-LAX Lv1559 Arr1857
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 N947AS
Our aircraft arrived on time from LA and boarding took place on time at gate E84. I was really in a lucky row, as I got both 1A and C to myself @ empty F seat really did not happen often at AS. A water bottle was already placed at the seat console and I stored my bags at the overhead bins. We closed a few minutes early and soon headed to R/W08R for takeoff. We took off at 4:13pm and flying time was a quick two hours and thirty-two minutes.
A dinner was served at this almost 4pm flight. In F class, our choice of beverage was first served with the standard green salad @ a nice Mesclun salad with tomato wedges, cucumber slices, and shredded carrots. The salad dressing was served in a non-brand plastic cup @ I think it is olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. I notice a couple changes @ there was no longer the white linen cover the tray but a nice blue and white checkers’ linen (not real linen, but not paper). The real S & P shakers become history and we got a set of salt and pepper packets. At the same time, Y class got their dinner basket, which features a warmed chicken fajita sandwich, a pasta salad and a cookie. Entrée choices for F class includes a grilled chicken breast with a brie cream sauce, green beans and rice or an excellent sweet potato filled ravioli with a pesto cream sauce topped with grilled peppers (red, green, and yellow) and a half broiled tomato. Dessert features a beautiful white and dark chocolate-layered mousse cake @ not so sweet. AS really did a good job for F class dinner on these medium haul West coast flights.
I took a nap for the rest of the flight and we hit a couple more rough spots. Descent began at 6:22pm and we landed on R/W24R at 6:45pm. We passed by the normal array of Qantas’ planes, including the new Walanji Dreaming Boeing 747-400ER (OEJ) and Air Pacific’s brand new Boeing 747-400. The Tom Bradley East wing was filled with mainly AS planes and a BA’s Boeing 747 heading back to London. We parked at gate 33 shortly, but bags took a long time (30 minutes) to come out. I still don’t understand why AS cannot take additional bag claim belts. It was really crowded at the bag claim area. Fortunately, only an Horizon Air’s CRJ from Boise shared our bag claim at the same time… some SEA bound flights were slightly late this particular evening.
Well, it was a good set of flight flying two of my favorite airlines in the world.
Carfield
Here were a series of summer trip reports! I have flown quite a few flights and here was a selection of few trips. The first one was my return to LA after the summer vacation on CX to YVR and then AS to LAX. The second one was a last minute return from HKG to SFO on OZ via ICN in mid August. The last one was my return to New York from LA on AA Y.
August 26, 2003
CX 838 HKG-YVR Lv1625 Arr1335
Airbus A340-600 B-HQA
Check in was fairly simple at the Hong Kong Airport Express station. The agent was efficient and friendly. Although my Alaska’s flights were booked separately on an e-ticket, the agent had no problems tagging my bags all the way to Los Angeles. Before I left, I checked the load in J. It was fairly empty and I had both 14A and C to myself. I went to the Wing for a bit. The computers were working erratically today, but got to check my email and made a few phone calls. I did not take part of the buffet but the service was as good as ever. Gate was 4 this afternoon, next to the SFO flight. It was obvious that both flights were overbooked. There were chaos everywhere but premium passengers got a separate line, which was a good feature. My boarding pass did not go through the machine, and after the magic beep, I was notified that I was upgraded to F and I was really surprised. I flew this RT and got upgraded to F both ways… what a great way to spoil me CX! Soon F, J and Y were booked full, but we got two great F/As @ Janet and Flora serving us upfront in F. I had a nice glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and newspapers were offered. Soon, a warm appetizer was served @ two fresh and tasty scallops in a lemongrass stick on a nice mango and grapefruit salsa. Then the French Declore amenity kit and Shanghai PJ/Slippers set were passed out with a nice cold towel. Door was closed at 4:29pm and we pushed back a few minutes later. HKG was finally backed to normal with a number of flights taking off in front of us and the maintenance base, which was filled with CX planes last month, was fairly quiet. After the taking off of a CX’s A330 (B-HLJ), a Boeing 747-400 Freighter (B-HUL), and a Garuda’s Airbus A330-300 (PK-GFE), we lifted off from R/W7R at 5:01pm.
Flying time was eleven hours and thirty-two minutes and the routing took us toward Makung, Taipei, Kagoshima, Hamamatsu (along the Eastern coast of Japan), Cold Bay of Alaska and onto Vancouver. We cruised 33,000ft, before climbing to 35,000ft and 37,000ft finally. Seat belt sign was turned off at 5:16pm and beverage order was first taken. Soon, dinner order was taken and this set of F/A chose to do everything a la carte @ no trolley service. (J class got the extra trolley from F…) The meal was beautiful.
Hong Kong to Vancouver
Wine List
Krug Grande Cuvee Champagne
Hogue Genesis Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2001
Chartron et Trebuchet Puligny Montrachet 1999
Louis Max Gervey Chambertin La Justice 1995
St. Supery Mertiage Napa Valley Red 1998
Chateau Lynch Bages 1997
Chateau Lynch Bages 1994
Dinner
Caviar and Balik Salmon Delight
Oscietra Caviar
And
Balik Salmon “Tsar Nicolaj” served with Warm New Potatoes and Crème Fraiche
I love the salmon, which was served with toasts, beautiful new potatoes, chopped egg, and lemon juice.
Soup
Asparagus Cream Soup with Coriander served with Mini Garlic Baguette
Okay bowl of soup @ the bread basket featured ciabatta, rye rolls, and Foccacia rolls.
Salad
Caesar Salad served with Caesar dressing
Main Courses
Stir-fried Chicken and Abalone served with steamed rice and Choy Sum
I had the chicken dish, which was always my favorite. A bowl of steamed rice was served separately. I was impressed with the preparation of Chinese food on CX.
Or
Beef Tenderloin with Shallot on Red Wine Parsley Sauce
Served with Fondant Potatoes, Oven Roasted Vegetables with Garlic and Thyme
Or
Grilled Prawn and Scallop Brochette with Lemon Basil Butter and Tomato Concasse
Serve with Dill Potato and Young Vegetables
Or
Penne Pasta with Plum Tomato sauce, Marjoram, Buffalo Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheese
Cheese Board
Brie, Cheddar, and Gorgonzola @ I had a piece of brie with brown bread and crackers, accompanied by carrot and celery sticks, white and regular grapes, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, and dried apricot.
Dessert Selection
Tropical Fruit Salad
Selected French Pastries
A nice selecton of fudge brownie, cheesecake, and assorted mini fruit tarts @ kiwi, mango, and dragonfruit @ beautiful
Haagen Dazs Ice cream with your choice of toppings
Bread Basket
Tea and Coffee
Pralines and Chocolate
After dinner, hot drinks service had to be temporarily suspended due to some moderate chops. But Janet managed to pass out the Evian water bottles and duvet blankets to everyone. I had a two hours nap before indulging at the entertainment programs. AVOD was featured at this beautiful Airbus A340-600. Although CX chose a bimonthly program now, I am sure that the AVOD programs will revert into the monthly mode after CX breaks even. One word about the new Airbus A340-600 @ it was very quiet and was a beautiful aircraft. During boarding, a CX F class passenger remarked to his wife that this must be a “small” plane due to the smaller F cabin. I really want to say @ no, this is not a small plane at all… it is a very long plane. During the mid flight, the F/A kept checking on us. They brought me a pot of hot tea and some cookies to munch on. And then I had a nice bowl of noodles @ really tempted to try the hot pot rice, but I could not eat hotpot rice at midnight North American time.
Refreshments
Noodles in Soup with Roast Duck and Barbecued Pork
Or
Roasted Vegetables with Feta Cheese in Puff Pastry with Salad served with Balsamic Vinegar Dressing
Or
Dried Bonito and Peanut Congee served with Pan-fried Dumplings
Or
Hot Pot Rice and Soup
Beef and Chestnut Patty on Rice in Hot Pot
And
Chicken, Wood Fungus, and Coriander Soup
Ice Cream
Tea and Coffee
About three hours prior to arrival, Flora came around to awaken passengers and took breakfast order. I chose to have the full breakfast two hours prior to arrival. It was a beautiful breakfast.
Brunch
Juice Selection
Appetizer
Fresh Seasonal Fruits
More fresh orange juice @ and the fruit plate came with melon slices, watermelon slices, kiwi, orange & grapefruit segments, and grapes @ fresh and ripe! It came with a nice bread basket with my choice of butter croissant and an apricot Danish @ warmed of course.
Main Courses
Omelette with Mushrooms
Mini Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf and Chinese Dim Sum
Vegetable Quiche Wedge
I had the dim sum, which were served in the infamous Noritake china dim sum basket. It had the glutinous rice, two shrimp dumplings, and a siu mai (pork dumpling).
Accompaniments
Grilled Back bacon and Lamb Noisette, Fried Potatoes, Broiled Tomato with parsley and fresh mushrooms
From the Bakery
Croissants, Muffins, Danish Pastries, Bread Rolls and Fresh Toast
Tea and Coffee
Descent began at 4:04am HK time. It was a cloudy afternoon at Vancouver, and we landed on R/W8L at 1:33pm Vancouver local time. It was a wonderful flight and we were soon parked at gate D73 nine minutes later. I caught the glimpse of CX’s Boeing 747-400 in line for take off at the nearby R/W08R. A rather aging JAL’s Boeing 747-300 (JA813J) was parked next to us. I flew that plane from Seoul to NRT two months ago @ definitely not the type of plane that you want to fly for long haul @ old Season seats and tired interiors, but good legroom in Y though.
Next was a nightmare. The transit at YVR was fairly simple. A cheerful and helpful CX agent, Cheryl, was waiting at the entrance way for Canadian immigrations and directing USA bound passengers (with a list of course) to the correct connection ways. It was fairly quiet but the bad news arrived soon. There were a group of about twelve AC Mainland Chinese passengers waiting in line. The US INS computer was down again (happened a lot lately) and with all these foreign passengers to check, the whole process took an hour. The family behind me missed their AS flights (Yes, there was a Horizon air agent stationed there). Cheryl was in the US bag claim area and was anxiously waiting for us. She even put our bags onto a trolley (I felt bad because my bags were really heavy.) Finally I got through and thanked her. She said no problem and was just upset that the AC agent won’t let me and the family behind us to skip line. Those Mainland Chinese passengers had a few more hours before their connecting flights to SFO. Well, I went straight ahead to the AS desk. A new bag tag was printed and I was directed to the custom line. Of course, the “beloved” custom officers sent me to the Agricultural X ray lines. Of course, nothing was found. They really expected me to carry fresh fruit and vegetables… really don’t know why! Well, I finally got to the nice AS board room and enjoyed a can of ginger ale.
AS 682 YVR-LAX Lv1559 Arr1857
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 N947AS
Our aircraft arrived on time from LA and boarding took place on time at gate E84. I was really in a lucky row, as I got both 1A and C to myself @ empty F seat really did not happen often at AS. A water bottle was already placed at the seat console and I stored my bags at the overhead bins. We closed a few minutes early and soon headed to R/W08R for takeoff. We took off at 4:13pm and flying time was a quick two hours and thirty-two minutes.
A dinner was served at this almost 4pm flight. In F class, our choice of beverage was first served with the standard green salad @ a nice Mesclun salad with tomato wedges, cucumber slices, and shredded carrots. The salad dressing was served in a non-brand plastic cup @ I think it is olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. I notice a couple changes @ there was no longer the white linen cover the tray but a nice blue and white checkers’ linen (not real linen, but not paper). The real S & P shakers become history and we got a set of salt and pepper packets. At the same time, Y class got their dinner basket, which features a warmed chicken fajita sandwich, a pasta salad and a cookie. Entrée choices for F class includes a grilled chicken breast with a brie cream sauce, green beans and rice or an excellent sweet potato filled ravioli with a pesto cream sauce topped with grilled peppers (red, green, and yellow) and a half broiled tomato. Dessert features a beautiful white and dark chocolate-layered mousse cake @ not so sweet. AS really did a good job for F class dinner on these medium haul West coast flights.
I took a nap for the rest of the flight and we hit a couple more rough spots. Descent began at 6:22pm and we landed on R/W24R at 6:45pm. We passed by the normal array of Qantas’ planes, including the new Walanji Dreaming Boeing 747-400ER (OEJ) and Air Pacific’s brand new Boeing 747-400. The Tom Bradley East wing was filled with mainly AS planes and a BA’s Boeing 747 heading back to London. We parked at gate 33 shortly, but bags took a long time (30 minutes) to come out. I still don’t understand why AS cannot take additional bag claim belts. It was really crowded at the bag claim area. Fortunately, only an Horizon Air’s CRJ from Boise shared our bag claim at the same time… some SEA bound flights were slightly late this particular evening.
Well, it was a good set of flight flying two of my favorite airlines in the world.
Carfield
