Carfield

Dear folks,

Here is my trip report on the brand new nonstop flight from Toronto to Hong Kong on Air Canada’s A340-500. BTW, this is also the 1000th flight that I have ever recorded. Air Canada impresses me with great meal services that surpass CX in so many ways – the a la carte service and the traditional first class trolley service. On this daytime, there are four meal services – one main, two snack courses, and one light meal prior to arrival; out of these four meals, three are served in a trolley, with flight attendants plating the individual course. However, the seats are rather unimpressive in its angle of incline, which are very uncomfortable. I like the gadgets such as the laptop plugging, AVOD, and individual lamp light, but the angle is too steep and same with CX, there is no extended leg rest, which makes sliding even easier.

August 7, 2004
AC 15 YYZ-HKG Lv0945 Arr1315+1 Airbus A340-500 C-GKOL Fleet#951
Well after a well-rested evening at the Hilton Toronto Airport, which was very “classic” and undergoing renovation in the main lobby, I headed to the airport around 7:30am. The new terminal one was very stylish and the signs were fairly clear. Well, there was one section dedicated to Executive and executive-first class, elite, and super elite, which resulted in a long line – not a welcoming sign. Super elite has a separate line, as well as the kiosks, but Star Alliance Gold members, elite members, and J passengers were all placed in a separate line. Well I was processed within twenty minutes, but I think it will be better if domestic and international passengers are separated, so domestic passengers will not inconvenienced by International folks, which took more time with document checking and bags checking. The agent was polite and efficient, and gave me direction to the Maple Leaf lounge, and told me about the Midfield terminal that all International flights were departing from. She told me to get there early because the shuttle bus ride could take a while, which was true.

The new Maple leaf lounge was only accessible through an elevator on the left hand side after going through security. The sign was not clear, but just turn left after passing through security. The lounge was huge – with various sections. Beverage and snack stations were all over the place, except the Xerox business center. There is one major snack station, which has the continental breakfast food for us – various Danish, breakfast sliced breads, cereals, and bananas. The furniture at the lounge is so stylish and modern – I can’t find a right description – comfortable seats and lounge chairs. There was an interesting BMW lounge, Sony TV lounge, and conference rooms in the back. It is cool, even with the obvious advertising element.

Taking the warning seriously – I left the lounge around 8:20am and headed to the shuttle bus station. The shuttle itself took about 15 minutes, which was subject to the traffic situation. Well at a Saturday morning, it was not too busy. The problem with the shuttle was that we crossed some active taxiways and I could imagine the wait time during peak traffic hours. It can easily take 30 minutes. Well the Midfield terminal was not interesting, except duty free shops, two over-priced cafes with limited food selections, and a magazine shop. Planes wise – Air Canada everywhere – the Star Alliance painted Boeing 767 was heading to London LHR this morning, and Air Canada’s A340-300 C-GDVW parked next to my plane heading to Tokyo, a couple Airbus A320s heading to Antigua and various Caribbean destinations, and a Mexicana N668MX A320. Pretty quiet for the morning hours! The airport was quiet due to the nature of the weekend.

Boarding began at 9am at gate 524, and everyone settled down rather quickly. The J class cabin was divided into two sections and we were offered bottles of Dasani water immediately, followed by Chinese and English newspapers, and then amenity kits, and then choices of orange juice or champagne. Everyone was boarded by 9:35am, but then door was not closed till almost 10am due to a longer than expected refueling time and late bags. We pushed back ten minutes later and than headed to R/W33R for our minute long takeoff run. We took off from a beautiful summer morning at Toronto at 10:29pm.

Routing – it was the typical North Pole route these days… somewhat similar to NYC to HKG a month ago on CX. First off, we climbed to 29,000feet proceeding to Timmins, James Bay, and Hudson Bay before climbing to 33,000feet, and then slowly to 35,000feet in increment of 1000 feet before reaching the West of North Pole. After reaching the Russian airspace, we slowly climbed to 36,500feet before reaching Bratsk, Lake Baikai, Irkrutsk, Ulan Ude, Ulan Bator, and then 37,500 feet, and then 39,500feet, which was our final cruising attitude. Then we entered China and passing cities of Datong, Shijianzhang, Xiangtan, Zhoukou, Wuhan, Shaoguan, and Dangwan, and then into Hong Kong.

Carfield

The flight attendants are pretty good this morning, especially the two Chinese flight attendants serving us up front. The service surpassed expectations and I overheard the flight attendants asking passengers if they want snacks throughout the flight. Meal services took a while, as F/As are familiarizing with the new plane; but who’s in a hurry? It is a long fifteen hours and fifty minutes flight. I enjoy the layback meal service. The plane itself, Airbus A340-500, was a great plane – powerful takeoff and very quiet and spacious. It is a fine plane.

Menu Transcript
Spirited Debut
Today’s featured cocktail is Iceberg Cosmopolitian, Newfoundland-made Iceberg Vodka mixed with cranberry juice and a splash of Grand Marnier Liqueur… Cheers!
Nice cocktail and very refreshing…
Taste of China
Grilled Sweet Chili marinated Tiger Shrimp with Bell pepper and cucumber relish
Served in a Chinese soup spoon – delicious and shrimps are fresh… great canapé service!

Lunch
Opening Act
Smoked Salmon and Asparagus roll with Dill Mustard sauce and Caper Berries
Or
Fresh Field Greens, Sun-dried tomatoes, shaved Parmesan cheese, Balsamic and Olive Oil Vinaigrette
After table was set up individually (no tray at all), the F/A came out with the trolley – everything was plated in the appetizer plate in front of you. The salad was served in a transparent salad bowl and then the F/A served the salad into individual plate. The salmon was also plated in front of you… the dill mustard sauce was placed in a nice tomato bowl, and the salmon was fresh and asparagus was crisp. For breads, there were a choice of garlic focaccia breads, wheat and wholemeal rolls.

Main Attractions
Black Bean Beef with stir-fried Gai Lan and Jasmine Rice garnished with Lotus Roots Chips
Beef was very tasty and the jasmine rice was cooked in broth – tasty itself. The only disappointment is the gai lan, which looks “old,” in Chinese layman term, off-green, and over-cooked. Chinese vegetables don’t do well in the sky. The portion was generous and the presentation is thoughtful.
Or
Grilled Pork Tenderloin Brochettes with braised Red cabbage and sautéed Broccoli with toasted pine nuts
*Low carbohydrate alternative
Or
Braised Bean Curd with Chinese Mushrooms, Egg Noodles, and stir-fried vegetables
*Asian Vegetarian alternative

Simply Indulgent
A selection of fine port, gourmet cheese, and fresh fruit – plus today’s dessert selection
Pistachio Cassata with chocolate sauce, vanilla wafer
Or
Fresh Berries in a Chocolate Cup
First, cheese was served – four kinds of cheese – Emmantel, Swiss, Cheddar, and Goat, accompanied by dried fruits (figs, apricots, prunes), pears, grapes, and toasted mini garlic baguettes. Then the dessert cart was rolled out and I had the cassata with had a layer of raspberry sorbet, pistachio in a creamy filling, and surrounded by vanilla ice cream. Very good! The meal was filling and satisfying.

Sneak a Snack
We always make sure our in-flight pantry is fully stocked for between meal carvings. Don’t be shy – just help yourself!

Mid-flight snack
A selection of Finger sandwiches, Dim Sum, and Oriental noodle bowls is available throughout the flight. Please ask your flight attendant!
I missed this completely – sorry folks! But I saw Dim sum was served in individual bamboo baskets.

Carfield

Light Bites
Glutinous Rice Roll with Chicken
Stuffed Bean curd pockets
Sweet & Sour and Soy Dipping sauce
Mixed Greens with dressings
It was served around 8pm YYZ time – the trolley was rolled out with individual salad boats – tomato slices, radish, and mixed greens with a choice of herb vinaigrette or Caesar dressing. The dim sums were nice and the bean curd pockets remains crispy – vegetarian BTW.

Before Landing
Hearty Gourmet
Fresh Fruit
Velvet Corn soup
This final meal was served in two courses, and unlike some Asian routes, this second meal still follows the a la carte style, and first we had the fruit plate, which had some fresh sliced papaya, pineapple, cantaloupe, melon, and strawberries, a bowl of Chinese style corn soup, and then a choice of bread rolls (like lunch) but with additional thick sesame covered crackers. The meals were kept in a nice condition.

Ginger-poached Asian Sole with stir-fried bean sprouts and Chow Mein noodles with Sweet Soy sauce
Or
Herbed Chicken Breast with roasted vegetables and balsamic basil tomatoes
*Low carbohydrate alternative
Or
Stir-fried bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, celery, carrot, baby corn, broccoli with Szechuan Eggplant and Jasmine Rice
*Asian Vegetarian alternative
I had the vegetarian option, which was very nice, except the eggplant. I was surprised that the entrées were also plated individually in the galley… good job, Air Canada!

Wine List
Champagne
Drapper Carte D’or Brut Champagne

White Wines
Wild Horse Canyon Cordillera, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Febus, Chardonnay, Luyan De Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina

Red Wines
Chateau Des Charmes V.Q.A. Cabernet Merlot, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Chateau Pichaud Bordeaux, Artiques de Lussac, France
Santa Digna Cabernet Sauvignon, Curico, Chile

The meal services were definitely nice, although I don’t consider Dasani water, real mineral or spring water. I will rather AC serves some Canadian brands. Anyway, wines were offered at both the first and final meals. Entertainment is the AVOD system, but I am a bit sick of “Everybody Loves Raymond” only options… I think it can use more short subjects, such as CSI, ER, Friends, Will and Grace, and other comedies and mini series. The system only crashes slightly once… But the F/As are still seemed a bit unfamiliar with the new system. I have to teach my neighbor and the Chinese F/As were clueless.

I think the main difference between this set of Air Canada and CX crew is that these AC F/As are very proud of these new services and the purser solicited all the opinions at the end of the flight, and most passengers feel very positive about these additional services. Some may even find the light bites course a bit redundant, but from my observation, nearly every passenger part-took all meals.

Descent soon began at 1:01pm Hong Kong local time, and we were using R/W25R this afternoon, which meant that we needed to fly all the way past Hong Kong and made a U-turn. Gears down at 1:53pm and we landed on R/W25R at 1:55pm, and parked at gate 43 ten minutes later, with an El Al’s Boeing 777 4X-ECA and a CX 777-200 B-HNL by our sides. After arriving, I immediately headed to the transit point for my onward connecting flight to Kaohsiung. The CI transit desks at E2 were not busy at all (to my surprise), and there was a separate F/J line. I got my boarding pass and then headed back up.

Carfield

August 8, 2004
CI 626 HKG-KHH Lv1525 Arr1645 Airbus A330-300 B-18301
I did not use the lounge, as I needed to make some purchases at the Duty Free shops. By the time I reached the gate, it was 2:55pm and boarding had already begun at gate 26. The brand new Airbus A330-300 looked factory fresh and there was a huge J section between Door 1 and 2. Once boarded, the F/As immediately brought me to my seat and did not waste a bit of time to bring me a glass of orange juice, a bag of mixed nuts, and a choice of HK and TW newspapers. Headsets were already placed at one of the seat back compartments. The purser immediately introduced herself and took my light meal order, which was a choice of Taiwanese Pork Chop rice or Chinese Dim Sum, and also beverage order. The J cabin was about one third full and I moved back a few rows, so both my neighbor and I could have more spaces.

About these new seats, they are not the lie flat seats, but used the same models, with the hard shells design, PTV in the back of the seats, and the seats slide in front when reclined. The seats did not feature as much legroom as a typical long haul plane, but more than sufficient of medium haul flights. I like the seat back compartments that CI set up at the side of the seat… there were places to put shoes and small objects, like medicines and eye glasses. The seat color remains the typical CI’s burgundy color scheme. The entertainment system is very high tech and I cannot figure out by the end of the flight. It was a very short flight and we barely had time to enjoy the meals. The entertainment brochure was not attractively designed… I just think of “Mainland Chinese” when I got it… they could use some graphic design help. There were on demand movies, short subjects, and games, but I could not use them. Maybe I should try the longer TPE-BKK in the future. My feeling was that it was a copycat of EVA Air’s A330-200s, but EVA Air system is more user friendly. The control units on these CI planes were slow to respond and were very hard to comprehend. Maybe if I was in a more alert mode or have more times, it would be better.

The flight was pretty full in the back, but boarding was completed in 3:21pm and door was closed, followed by an immediate push back. I felt like that we were rushing. The jetway was barely pulled back (and was actually still moving) when we pushed back. We had to taxi all around the terminal to reach the takeoff runways of 25L, and it took a while. To my surprise, we followed the AC’s Airbus A340-500 that just took me to Hong Kong. The turnaround time was amazing for a long haul flight. The Airbus almost took the whole runway before climbing out from the Runway and heading back to Toronto. There was a nose/forward view camera system set up here, and the main screen was showing that particular view, with our seat backs showing the map. We took off at 3:37pm, and our flying time was an hour and three minutes with a cruising attitude of 37,700feet. The entertainment system was turned on immediately after takeoff. Despite of the short flying time, a hot meal was offered, as well as duty free and beverage services. Linen was set up at our table at 3:48pm, and then the meals were served individually from the galley at 3:52pm, and beverages at 3:57pm. The dim sum selection includes a Glutinous chicken rice wrapped in lotus leaf, two shrimp dumplings and two shrimp fun guos. The tray came with a fruit bowl of watermelon, melon, and pineapple, as well as a green tea mousse cake, which was my favorite dessert offered by CX as well. (For those who do not know, CX and CI shared the same catering kitchen in Hong Kong, and in Taiwan, they set up a catering company called “China Pacific,” so some food items are similar.) At 4:06pm, meal trays were collected, and more beverage were offered at request, followed by duty free carts at 4:16pm. Descent began a minute later, and we landed at Kaohsiung’s R/W9 at 4:40pm. Seven minutes later, we were parked at gate 22. In general, CI offers a pretty good product, and the meals were better than CX’s afternoon refreshment service.

I hope you enjoy the trip report!

Carfield

Scott218

Very nice report as usual. Any pics available?

djjaguar64

I love the menu details and the descriptions of all the services. I will be flying the A345 to DEL in NOV, I look forward to that flight and as well the inflight service. Carfiled please write a return report as well just to ensure on the inflight service consistency. ^

Guava

I thought the AC J seat on A343-500 are supposed to be flat with 180 degree angle, no? http://www.aircanada.ca/promo/hongkong.html

My recent experience with CX in J from YYZ to HKG was rather unimpressive, won't fly CX again on that route. Maybe because it was a midnight flight because the subsequent intra-Asia flights were good. I must say CX's intercontinental J product is deteriorating.

I'll wait and see if I should give AC J a try on YYZ-HKG, I probably will after this report.

djjaguar64

I flew CX to SIN via HKG 2 years ago in J when I was One World Ruby and had quite a pleasant experience both ways. Service was immaculate. Mind you service was actally better on the inbound to YYZ rather than the outbound to HKG.

sftrvlr

Another excellent trip report. Congratulations on the 1000th flight, too! Looking forward to the return journey ...

TimF10

Great report! Thanks for taking the time to include the details of the new service.

agmhkg

Carfield

good to know that you've enjoyed the new AC YYZ/HKG non-stop sevice so much, and while the new AC catering has been highly prasied by you, I hv the following article to share from the Skystrax sebsite pax opinion section with a brief comment towards the same flight. I guess no airline can fulfill all paxs need and expectation cos everybody have their own perception.

Air Canada - by O Khan

18 August 2004

AC from CDG to YYZ and then on to BOS. Later back to YYZ and then on to HKG, all in Executive First with my wife and three kids under 7. On the CDG to YYZ leg, cabin crew were very good and helpful with the kids. Provided entertainment, and had no problem with them wandering around. One even fixed my daughter's toy. I had the same problem as the previous writer regarding transit to the US. Enough said. The YYZ to HKG was on the new Airbus with the flat seats. Unfortunately, they are not horizontal, so the sensation is always that one will slide off. they are somewhat like the old Virgin Upper Class seats, which is not a compliment. Cabin crew were okay, but not nearly as friendly as the previous bunch. Food was marginal - bland and overcooked. Kids meals were the same for both meals. Finally for a 15.5 hour flight, the catering should have included two full meals, not one meal plus to snack/tea time meals. Overall, I'd say that AC is inconsistent both in the quality of its aircraft and its staff. Certainly, it is better than most US carriers, but as many have noted it is not up to snuff with Asian or even top-end European carriers.

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/air_can.htm

Carfield

Thanks for all the kind comments! I think the new AC service is impressive, especially compared to my CX's JFK to HKG n/s flight. I think AC offers more snacks and meals than CX...

About the last post, it is an interesting comment... I agreed with the seats -- you are definitely sliding off all times, but about the meals, I think there are more than enough food to go around... well, there is only one main meal, but the meal prior to arrival is like a meal with two courses -- soup and bread, full sized main course (no casserole dishes), and then fruit bowl for dessert. Then there are two refreshment courses -- the snack on demand is pretty much available at all times... you can have all three items if you want, and then the light bites have a green salad, and some dim sums... not bad if you ask me...

Anyway, I still stand by my statements and the meal pictures will be available shortly.

Thanks,
Carfield

jkc22

Thanks Carfield for pointing out key observations. I've never been impressed (rather, I was frequently disappointed) by the J meal service on CX trans-Pacific ex-USA. I've been having so much inconsistent service that I've since declined all "dinner/supper" service out of LAX, SFO, and JFK.

My last JFK-HKG flight was so bad that not only I complained, but two other passengers in row 16 also complained why the service took so long, and for such insubstantial service.

As a frequent CX customer, I am quite disappointed to see CX catering going on a backward trend, rather than continually improving. My colleagues who traveled with me on CX for the first time actually said CX catering was below the standard of AA (SFO-HKG vs. CDG-ORD) granted, the AA was a 2-class, so service was probably "upgraded" a little.

I’m also happy to recall that you noticed CX used to service cheese OR dessert after dinner/supper. Since they have changed to offer both now, many have forgotten that before you only got to pick “one or the other, but not both.” (In the words of the senior FA).

All in all, I think you are one of the few impartial FTers who is not afraid to make valid criticisms of a substandard product. Bravo!

Carfield

Pictures link added

http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.js...1&sort_order=0

Disclaimer -- I did not take part of the dim sum/noodle/sandwich snacks... so no pictures for that meal...