ARJ85

Great Report! Looking forward to the rest.

I took the FRA-ICN in Asiana First last year myself - and i think i only ate half as much as you ! Well - i will be taking this flight in a few weeks again - lets see how this one will turn out

Short hair Francis

You lost me with interdit?????
I think 5 scoops of ice cream prior to OZ First is plenty in DECEMBER!
What do you want me to have, high blood pressure, diabetes by 25?
OZ private charter was amazing, I didn't even notice the rest pilot in 4K.

Now why won't you fly with me
Probably would be tough to schedule one considering we're all booked with "RGN", "SQ Flood-Gate" and UA "4 mile" tickets.
I make a killing with the food, you make a killing with the booze

That being said, its very hard to doubt me on my eating abilities, especially on a good day^
Don't forget I had dinner at Senators Lounge too.

Those flights were back in 2011, Long story but I have a theory behind my thinking.
How I have miles for redemption for Star Miles, I used to be YYZ/BUF based so the family had AC miles around and we also stocked up with US miles when the time was right.
Now we only had 120K AC back in Jun 2011, and AC's rules on North America - Asia (incl. HKG) was you can route via TATL or TPAC with 2 stopovers plus destination.
We called them "Mini-RTW"
AC however decided to change the rate from 120K > 175K eff. Jul 15, 2011
, we only had enough miles for 1 ticket and my mom won't fly without my dad so I took them and they got CX F from me.
Thus, this ticket was a "Burn, baby, Burn"

That AC ticket was
Used in September
HKG-BKK-FRA (TG F)
FRA-CPH (LH J), Stopover, went on a 12 day cruise, Sept
CPH-MUC-ORD (LH J/F)
ORD-YYZ (UA F), Destination

Used in December
YYZ-YUL (AC J)
YUL-ZRH-CDG (LX F/J) Stopover
CDG-FRA (LH J)
FRA-ICN (OZ F)
ICN-PEK-HKG (CA J)

Why I went with OZ F over LH F,
I've done LH F a couple times prior, never on OZ F
I had the 346 on LH F on that MUC-ORD and I found the product old and starting to get repetative.
FRA-ICN was served by a LH 346 at that time.
I like the service on OZ over LH, but FCT is hard to beat.


Haha, only half, No Way
Its very enjoyable and I didn't found the seat to be fine if you ask me.

SFO777

LOL. French for forbidden, not permitted, verbotten.
As in "monsieur, no photo ear at Notre Dame"

Short hair Francis

Thankfully the places were packed with people so everyone was doing it.

You know its bad when I understand verbotten and not interdit

Since when did I learn German
Danke SFO777

Short hair Francis

Aren't either of the 2 photos below be WAY MORE "interdit" then the Notre Dame?

Amber Room, from Catherine Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia

zcat18

Great to see you back at it, Short hair Francis!

Will I be seeing you at SIN Do in January?

Short hair Francis

Thanks zcat18, I know its been a long time since I've written a TR.
Close to a year but its good to be trying to write them again.
I see you took the UA 2P route, has Smi/J been nice to you?

SIN DO? Way too early right now to know, probably won't make up my mind until October or November at the earliest

Short hair Francis

Part 5 – Ugh, Seoul Traffic, Air China Business Class ICN-PEK-HKG


With the long trip on the ICN airport train and the continuing Seoul subway ride, it was almost 6pm before I reach the Grand Hyatt. Thankfully I was slightly ahead of my friend at arriving the hotel, he did however left me a message at the hotel for me.
For any of you that have previously stayed at the Grand Hyatt Seoul, you would know it is on top of hill at Itaewon. My friend thinking it was a short walk decided to walk all the way up from the metro station lol

Grand Hyatt Seoul








*Would the TSA allow ice skates in carry-on or is that a weapon?

As he has become an English teacher in Seoul, he has been falling in love with Korean food and everything else Korean, but he didn’t mind some nice Western food at the Grand Club.

A very nice amount of Hors D’Oeuvre as they were closing the drinks and food at 8pm, the Grand Club ladies told me take as much as I wanted


A couple of drinks and my friend simply show me a bit of Itaewon due to the numerous delays that had built up during the day so I just simply ran out of time.

Itaewon


Due to an early wake up time needed for the morning flight and being a weekday, didn’t spent too long partying.
My friend did beg me to no-show for my flight so I can stay longer, couldn’t do that but I did promise him to go to ICN again in 2012 if he’s still teaching

Dec 14, 2011 – Wednesday
TG 629 ICN-HKG 10:50am – 1:50pm (772/J)

Had an early breakfast around 6:30am prior to checking out of the hotel, and try to squeeze a couple sights prior to leaving for Incheon airport.
Let say I try to squeeze way too much.
As you see, turn out to be an extremely dumb idea as I didn’t leave the Grand Hyatt until around 8:40 when your flight leaves 10:25am. Plus the stupid cabbie that drove in the Namsan tunnel and got me stuck in traffic for over 30 mins to Seoul Station.

AHH!!!!!
I stinkin hate you cabbies who take advantage of people, here’s a 50000 Won bill for a 7700 Won ride. Let’s just say this Korean cab driver who speaks no English literally had to dig out his entire cab to give me the change and to top it off, no tip for you for screwing me over!!!!

Didn’t catch an airport train until 9:30am from Seoul station, which meant I completely miss my flight.
D’OH!!!!! First time that’s happen to me, at least I had no bags and I was on my last leg going home. Ugh….
I definitely pass the newsto my friend on fb, what did you say about “No-show”??? I actually friggen missed my flight!!!!!

Got to the TG desk around 10:10am, they were absolutely no help as they refused to do anything for me and only pointed me to go to the AC office.
That took me about 3 tries to find as it was extremely well hidden, the door is a grey unmarked door
Fortunately with the help of the AC ICN baggage office which lend me their phone line, some lucky open award space. I was rebooked to connecting through PEK on Air China.
It’s the first time I’ll say I was grateful to be flying Air China in Business lol

Dec 12, 2011 – Wednesday (Rebooked)
CA 124 ICN-PEK 1:05pm – 2:05pm (332/J)
CA 117 PEK-HKG 5:30pm – 8:50pm (321/J)

By the time I completely re-did my ticket, it was already close to 11:30am and the CA desk was open. KE manages the CA operation at ICN and the lounge invite was for the KE lounge at the satellite concourse.



Having never remotely ever touched anything Skyteam, it was interesting to see a different perspective although it was just a mediocre lounge and the lounge ladies later asked me to take no more photos

Seoul Incheon Korean Airlines Satellite Lounge




Part 5 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Having finally found some time to check out the CA equipment on ef, I found out I get the new CA 332 on the ICN-PEK flight but unfortunately a regional 321 on PEK-HKG segment. Better than another day in ICN I guess

Air China International Airbus 330-200




Air China International 124
Seoul Incheon to Beijing Capital
Scheduled - 1:05pm – 2:05pm, 2 hr flight
Delayed Departure – 2:05pm, ATC delay from Mainland China
Delayed Arrival – 3:22pm
Business Class, Seat 11C
Food - Lunch
Equipment – Airbus 330-200

Boarding was started at T-30 minutes, and like my usual routine, new equipment means Premium Gate Lice

Fortunately this flight was beyond empty and I had more than enough time to take all the pics I wanted. The FA also quickly hang my coat

Air China International Airbus 330-200 Business Class Cabin



Air China International Airbus 330-200 Business Class Seat









I was originally seated in 11C but as the J cabin was so empty, it ended up 5/30.
I moved myself to 13C where I had the entire row all to my own privacy.
For anyone familiar with regional flights concerning mainland China, you know tarmac delays for up to 2 hrs is not uncommon and the Chinese Air force can shut down the air route at anytime they please. Business Class usually works out better in these situations as you will be sitting in the plane on the tarmac waiting for a slot.
Today’s delay was 1 hour so I had plenty of time to try out the seat and the captain even allowed electronics on and drink service in Business.

The FA did a tray service for PDB and an open bar service during the tarmac delay


The AVOD system was also turn on by the FA which was great seeing sometimes CX won’t even do that for PVG-HKG flights

Part 5 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Just around 2pm we pushed back and started taking off to the Northwest and very close to North Korean airspace
At least they don’t mind the airline I’m flying on today!

As usual CA like most other airlines stayed far away from the North Koreans

CA has a menu but they only have 1 copy, so if you want to future reference yourself, ask to take a photo of the menu!

From what I can remember based on both flight, there is a (Chinese Meat Main), (Chinese fish main) and a (Western Main).

For CA 124, I went with the chicken which turned out quite nicely and better than what I thought.





Shortly after the meal service, I tried some more with the CA AVOD system and it did have some western audio music like Britney Spears and Foster the people.

Sadly, CA should’ve bought better control console, as the seat next to me had a broken console

Wonder if it was “Made in China” lol

I had about a 20 min nap on the flat bed and the seat itself is plenty long for me personally

Approaching smoggy Beijing




Connection in PEK was done relatively easily, a swip with the visa and back downstairs to reclear security and I’m back to the departure area.

How can I be sweating in December, too much heat in the airport, off to a shower in the CA J lounge. Nothing memorable here but they do give you a pair of flip flops for the shower which is highly recommended. Also meet 2 Canadian female gymnastic girls in the lounge which was awaiting their flights back to Vancouver, haha, that made a nice conversation seeing I had lived in YVR prior.
Everyone in the lounge had an annoying time figuring out the wifi internet at PEK including myself, this is a new wall building alright

About 4:45pm, I was simply bored and started walking to E59 which was a bus gate


Air China International 117
Beijing Capital to Hong Kong
Scheduled - 5:30pm – 8:50pm, 3 hr 20 min flight
Delayed Departure – 5:50pm, inbound equipment delay
Delayed Arrival – 9:49pm
Business Class, Seat 2C
Food – Dinner
Equipment – Airbus 321-200

Luckily as a HKG flight, most people start queuing very early for the flight, HKGer do love to queue!
Boarding was delayed from 5:00 > 5:30pm due to inbound equipment delay, J passenger have a private van whereas everyone else gets stuck in the big bus.

Air China International Airbus 321-200 (Sadly, a crappy pic)


J seat was similar to the old AA 738 F seats and the Y boarding crush came. My seat neighbor, he did look like a mandopop or cantopop singer? Completed dressed like he just came out of bed, not shaven and still severely hungover or drug high?
Didn’t really care, he boarded with Y and was definitely not my top 10 best seatmates ever.

Takeoff at PEK at a peak hour, wait for a takeoff slot of course, took off about 6:40pm, didn’t remember too much from this flight unfortunately but was served a Chinese fish main for this flight





Fell asleep after the meal service as I was dead tired, and woke up near the approach into HKG.
What do I think about CA premium service
Boarding and Check-in – They do separate lines, and the premium mini-van is a nice consideration
Seats – Dependent on equipment, I would rather fly KA J instead of the CA 321 J on PEK-HKG if I had a choice
Food - Average, no worse than US airlines if you don’t mind Chinese food, quality seems to better ex-PEK vs. ex-PVG. I refuse to eat ex-PVG catered food
Service - Surprisingly good onboard, English wasn’t shabby either but having limited Mandarin speaking skill like myself would help by all means.
Lounge? Save your time elsewhere

Sadly was parked at a tarmac position at HKG but I did position myself correctly on the bus so was the first to clear HKG immigration
I’m back at my 2nd home for 3 weeks. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone.


Next Part
Part 6 – A fresh start to 2012, Taipei, Taiwan

zcat18

Smi/J has thus far spared me the pain that many of the Plats, 1K, and GS are feeling. However, I am seriously considering making the jump to US in 2013. Despite the reputation, I have excellent luck with them almost without fail (their customer service is well beyond the UA standard) and their access to upgrades for lower-level elites blows United out of the water. If it weren't for the AA merger rumors, I would have taken their challenge and made the move already.

At any rate...your TR continues to seriously impress!

Short hair Francis

That's good considering all the drop flight, miss upgrade, Jump Ship to AA i've been hearing since 3/3.
I've been doing those 100% US miles things for awhile and they aren't bad for rewards if you ask me. Very flexibile rules.

Thank you, will continue to try to impress!

Short hair Francis

Part 6 – A fresh start to 2012, Taipei, Taiwan


The Second Section of the trip report covers Part 6 – 7 which is The January family vacation, Jan 1 – 4 (HKG-TPE-NRT-TPE-HKG).

Just like eightblack, family vacations I think brings out the best and the worst out of everyone in the family.
Me – Everything premium please, the more the merrier, First Class over Business
Mom – Just make me comfortable but affordable, no coach over 3 hrs preferable
First Class, whatever? No alcohol for me and hardly eat anything. Lie Flat Business will do
Dad – You do everything, you plan everything, Whatever don’t bug me. Make sure its First or Business and have people serve me. You better be marrying a girl before coming to me was my old family motto for Dad

This trip was a long time waiting, mom had long for a family trip to Japan. And sadly, I’m never have enough days in Asia to spring 1. This year, I had 1 month off during winter break, saved 3 days of mileage running later in the week.
CX runs a HKG-TPE-NRT route, and take advantage of a <24 hr connection in TPE. I get to visit TPE since I’ve never been there and I agree to open the mileage bank for a Japan trip.

Family gets a CX J HKG-TPE-NRT and CX F NRT-HKG on AA miles,
I went and got some AS miles via a 40% bonus sale and got a CX J HKG-TPE-NRT-TPE-HKG ticket, needed the later TPE stopover for another ticket

Jan 1, 2012 – Sunday
CX 564 HKG-TPE 1:15pm – 2:55pm (744/J)

After another HKG NYE DO, seems to be the only time to HKG gang seems to be less busy. It was great to meet Friendly Skies, wolf539, kchika and percysmith as well meeting kaka again.
Sadly for 2012, I’ll be in North America for NYE courtesy of the Burmese Junta.

Like other 2 class service, if flight is served by a 3 class planes on CX, first come first serve for CX Diamonds/OW Emeralds among others. And I manage to get the family out of the house by 9:30am on New Years Day, and get to HKG by 10:30am.
Originally assigned 11A, 12A, and 14A on a 744, check in at the First Class counter and with some supervisor input, managed to get 1A, 1K, and 2A on a 744 for the family.


Travel on New Years means the airport was just DEAD…..
And so was the CX Wing F lounge, which will be one of the last time I transit there before the upcoming renovation. Definitely gonna miss the cafeteria for the next 9 months or so.

Here’s for remembering the old CX F Wing Lounge, with X-mas decoration






Like most family trips, dad is simply bored with a drink and a newspaper, I go lounge hopping and taking photos and mom goes shopping, everyone is happy and we meet back just prior to boarding.

I went to tour the cabin a bit which I did enjoy but the Wing will always have my heart in HKG <3
Around 12:20pm, got back to the Wing and got the entire family to walk out to Gate 64.

Cathay Pacific Airways Boeing 747-400


CX 564 to Taipei and continuing service to Osaka Kansai


*1st flight, 501 Miles flown this year
Cathay Pacific Airways 564
Hong Kong to Taipei Taoyuan
1:15pm – 2:55pm, 1 hr 40 min flight
Business Class (First Class Cabin), Seat 1A
Food – Lunch
Equipment – Boeing 747-400

It’s been such a long time since I’ve been in a CX First Class cabin, its always a nice surprise to see an old friend







F cabin ended up being 7 out of 9, with the family up in 1A, 1K, and 2A, a lady in 2K, a Japanese couple in 3A, and 4A and a Chinese kid in 4K.
Still, this provided a very comfortable 1 hr 15 min flight to TPE.
Flight was on time with takeoff from 26L. Crew sprang into action very quickly on this short leg with the meal service

CX 564 Lunch

Starter
Fresh seasonal fruit

Main Course
Wok-fried Kurobuta pork in sweet chilli sauce steamed jasmine rice and Chinese vegetables

Pan-fried ling fish with lemon butter, braised beans, roasted fennel and spinach

Dessert
Steamed meringue on vanilla sauce

Tea and Coffee

Had the pork this afternoon despite a good brunch at the Wing.


Wish I can find the translations but I hated those Chinese vegetable

And hopefully CX can change its AVOD policies, limit all those extra videos shown at the beginning of the flight. On a TPE flight, you can barely watch anything, I probably had 20 mins max after the meal service and prior to prepare the cabin for landing.
And others might criticize me on this, neither myself nor my mom enjoyed row 1
Guess we both are a bit claustrophobic, my dad however prefers row 1, next time he can have it.

A very speedy immigration as I found in later months in Taipei as well and it’s the first time I’m here since? When I was 10 y.o? Can’t remember
Took a couple mins to figure out to figure out the various bus which took us to the Grand Hyatt, thankfully the family was here a couple months ago on a TPE turn.
With the 1 hr bus ride plus the wait for the bus itself, it was around 4:45pm before getting to the Grand Hyatt Taipei.

Grand Hyatt Taipei




Part 6 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Diamond Check in was done on the Grand Club floor which was 15 I believe

Grand Club



Club King Room, assigned on the 17th floor



With some light snacks and drinks at the Grand Club with Mom, dad wanted some rest. Later on, we headed out light dinner near the Taipei City Hall metro station which was a 10 min walk from the Hyatt.

And off to Taipei’s nighttime favorite after dinner, Shilin Night Market
The metro ride took about 30 mins to get to Jiantan station on the Tamsui line

Shilin Night Market










Dead tired after all the snacks and various good shopping, went back to Hyatt for the overnight.





Woke up around 6:30am for breakfast, now here’s why I love my mom, she like myself will treasure our down times at home but not on vacation. So in the morning, we decided to see a couple more sights before going back to TPE by 9:30am






Around 9:30am, we checked out the Grand Hyatt and catch another airport bus back to Taipei Taoyuan airport


Next Part
Part 7 – Hi Tokyo, I’m not connecting today

SFO777

Classic. Having met your folks a couple of times, this is so funny.
Your description of your dad is hilarious. "You do everything, you plan everything, Whatever don’t bug me. Make sure its First or Business and have people serve me."