Moomba

Have BA moved to some new form of timekeeping? What was the expected arrival time matt?

matthandy

Oops. Changed now....

Genius1

A slow day at work has been livened up by reading this report so far! Great work as usual matthandy!

The SYD waiting area does actually look rather good – I don’t recall seeing that on my trip in 2010, so perhaps it is fairly new?

The QF Business lounge breakfast selection looks pretty decent for a J lounge – certainly better than BA Galleries Club lounges.

That was pretty cheeky asking the family to step aside at the gate! Not sure whether I’d have had the nerve to do that (although I admit to doing that when people are not entitled to priority boarding!).

How annoying for all pax to board at Door 1L!

CX’s new J seat does look pretty impressive, and seems to favourably compare to many F seats. I’m not sure about the airbag requirement, because BA don’t have them in First.

The menu looks quite extensive. The mains I thought looked better presented than BA CW, but that’s not really that hard! They do remind me of QF Domestic Business in a way (judging by the photos of that service – as you know I was relegated to Y on my domestic QF flights!).

Wow! £400/night at the Four Seasons – that certainly was a treat! I agree with you on the room styling – very much to my taste too. Great view from the room!

I think I’ve only ever been escorted to my room once – at the Ritz Carlton New York Central Park (IIRC the rate was similar to the Four Seasons HK).

Fantastic pics of the swimming pool, even if they are edited! Nothing wrong with editing in my book (although I don’t myself due to lack of time mostly).

Beautiful photos from Hong Kong itself. Really brings my trip from last year back. I think I was rather luckier with the weather than you though!

The wedding couple were possibly posing for media/advertising shots (ie. not really a couple). I’ve seen that a fair bit in both HKG and SIN. Hopefully that was the case!

How odd to be asked to wear a sticker for boarding! I wouldn’t have bothered either!

The Wing’s refurbishment really does look excellent, and your photos showcase it beautifully. Very impressive for a J lounge, as I’ve said elsewhere.

I believe the HKG lounge is now just a QF lounge, and certainly will be following the refurbishment of the F lounge later this year. I read somewhere that the BA branding will be removed shortly.

The new WTP hard product looks pretty decent, particularly for a day flight to the East Coast. Not sure whether I would find it comfy for a HKG trip though.

Good on you for telling the pax behind you off for jabbing the screen! If he didn’t like it, he shouldn’t have been so inconsiderate to start off with!

The WTP catering looks pretty rubbish – I think BA should offer a similar concept to QF with their own Premium Economy catering. At the very least, the crew should remove the foil from the main course and remove the covers from the starter/dessert.

I do like that hot towels are offered in WTP (I don’t believe this is the case in WT?).

Looking forward to the rest!

ellielovesem

Good point, that was very brave of you to speak to the person behind!

matthandy

Thank you for your detailed comments Genius1. I'm pleased that I was able to liven up your day.

I'm not 100% certain but I think that the refurbishment happened in maybe late 2010? It's been like that for well over a year, I'm sure. It's actually quite a nice place to spend an hour or so, not that I ever have

I was pleasently surprised at the hot food selection in the lounge. I'd say that it's the best that I've seen it. For some reason, QF only provide hot food at certain times during the way, and I always seem to miss it.

When you have a big professional standard camera you get away with all sorts. I don't think that the 'Dad' was too happy, but he didn't say no, so....

The new seat is really very good and very comfortable for sitting, dining, relaxing and sleeping. The only issue with sleeping is that the airbag makes the seatbelt rather bulky. I still prefer BA's New First though.

A good point. The mains are very well presented and of good quality, it's just a pity that they insist on serving them in those economy style dishes. Now that you mention it, they are almost identical to the QF Dom J servings and QF Premium Economy meals. It's such an odd thing because the starter was beautifuly presented, why not the mains too?

The FS was good, but not great and not exceptional as it should have been. The Ritz-Carlton on the way back was so much better.

I've been escorted a few times at lower grade hotels including the JW in Hong Kong and the Grand Hyatt in Singapore. In fact there check in took place in the room itself.

May I correct your use of the word edited? I prefer to use the word 'enhanced'. To me edited implies some kind of false representation. I've not actually added or removed anything from the original, just straightened it, boosted the colours and contrast etc. Lots of people have been asking me about the photos both in comments and via PMs, so I'll probably aim to post something at the end of the report regarding editing, if our mod will permit me.

Ha! I didn't even think of that. Perhaps that was the case. They didn't seem to have any family in tow.

The Wing is simply the best J lounge in the network as far as I am concerned. It's fantastic.

Interesting, they definately had the BA logo above the escalator. I wonder if they will remove that too?

The seat itself is pretty good, but again, not as good as QF, it's just not quite there.

Totally agree. I had a seat pocket massage on my flight back from Adelaide last night. When that happens I really want to go and sit in the seat behind the offender and see how much I can stuff in the seat pocket before he turns around and tells me off.

The catering, was ok. There are little things that differentiate it from economy, but again, it's just not as different as it could be. I know that I keep going on about QF PE, but it really is a fantastic product.

I don't think so no. On the flight back we got two hot towel runs I believe.


Thank you! Yes, I did feel bad for doing it, but I felt that it'd be better to address it early rather than get all tetchy about it during the flight and then suddenly explode at the guy at some random point, or just sit there and grumble, which is what us Brit's are good at.

TravellerFrequently

Excellent TR, matthandy !!!

Thanks for the detail.

I will be using CX J later in the year, so was very interested in your comments and photos.

Dealmaker33

Great report!

Truly excellent pictures!! Are you a photographer??

Well done! ^

jaguarpig

Fantastic livened up a dull and slow Friday afternoon^^, looking forward to The RC report, not been to HKG since they demolished our favourite old RC.

kered

Ahhhh, the perfect antidote to a dreary grey Friday afternoon.

The discovery that a new matthandy penned TR has been posted on Flyer Talk

Grande Annee

Great TR!

I was lucky enough to stay in the same type of room at the Four Seasons HK and agree that it was fab, especially as I had 3 nights there . The pool area is amazing overlooking the harbour ^. There is also an amazing spa which is simply first class.

This a huge hotel and maybe that's why you didn't get that personal service, but there are lots of staff to help should you need it. It is an expensive hotel but when I go back to HK I will find it very difficult to stay anywhere else.

I remember being shown to my room in Boston at the Mandarin Oriental, but that is a much smaller hotel, and I guess that doesn't happen at every Mandarin Oriental.

1010101

Here the 'done' thing is to have a million and one wedding shots taken in different settings before the big day and then choose which ones are to be displayed and then put in the wedding album. Not actually advertising photographers at all.

It really depends on the weather. The restaurants in the Ritz Carlton provide a special setting although if theres any cloud forget it, the building is too tall and you'll see nothing but grey. If there's cloud but no rain head to either the outside section of the Wooloomooloo restaurant in Wan Chai or any of the upper floor restaurants in iSquare (I've been to nanhai no.1 which was good but not great, especially considering the price). Truth be told there are ALOT of very good restaurants in Hong Kong that have very little to set them apart from all the others.

If i was in your shoes i would probably go to Din Tai Fung for the experience. Both Hong Kong branches are Michelin starred, and the meal will cost you circa 10GBP each. It's a real Chinese canteen type place and a bit of an experience but you will never find better dim sum at any price range. It's my girlfriend and I's favourite place to eat here.

BingBongBoy

Well... Yes, very true!

zerogx

A captivating TR so far. After 23 years of flying in Y (paid for by my dad and student loans), I finally took the plunge and booked my most recent HKG-LHR flight in WT+.

Unfortunately, my foray into the W cabin was not to be, as BA decided to bump me up to CW! So I was especially interested in reading your experience of that segment.

As I only got my op-up at the gate, I checked in as a W passenger and was given a sticker too. The rationale for this (explained to me in Chinese) was that on crowded night flights, drowsy passengers may ensconce themselves at a distance from the correct gate and neglect to listen for the boarding call. A sticker aids the gate agents in identifying which passengers to rouse.

The check-in agent had no way of knowing I have access to a lounge at HKG, but surely a glance at matthandy's status would have indicated that a sticker was inappropriate in this case!

zcat18

Wonderful to read your report as always, matthandy. ^

I'm a bit surprised at the lack of amenities in the new WT+. I know they've changed their pricing structure recently, but a couple of years ago, I tried to do a paid upgrade from WT to WT+ on a LHR-DEL segment and was quoted 3000 pounds (I'm assuming this was the difference between my discounted economy fare and the WT+ walk-up fare). While the IFE looks awesome and the seat certainly looks more comfortable than standard coach, I can't imagine what about that service BA see as being worth anywhere near 3000 pounds for a 9-hour flight.

mike&co

A truly outstanding TR, but that's what we expect from you...^