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Cathay's New Manchester Service: CX358 J Class

Cathay's New Manchester Service: CX358 J Class

Old Dec 15, 2014, 9:08 am
  #1  
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Smile Cathay's New Manchester Service: CX358 J Class

Hello Flyertalk,

It's been three months since I last travelled when I flew back to the U.K after my summer vacation (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...hr-b77w-j.html). I am now back at home in Hong Kong after a long anticipated flight from Manchester, and this report will walk through every detail of this new flight.

Background

Cathay Pacific announced in April 2014 that it would resume flights to Manchester, but this time as a non-stop service. As someone living in the Northeast, the new flight meant a more convenient way back as well as an alternative to the ever more crowded "Hellrow". The flights commenced on 8 December, so I would be on only the 4th flight to HK.

Pre-flight

I was originally booked into Premium Economy but has requested an upgrade through the MPC system some three months prior. J class was quite empty then and I soon received my confirmation.



I left home very early for the train ride that would take me to Manchester Airport.





The journey was about three hours and I arrived at the airport at just after 9am.



Went on one of the skylink walkways to get to T1 where the spotting location is.



It was quite chilly and icy but thank goodness the weather was good.

An overview of the remote stands, with my 777 waiting to be towed back to the gate:



Three flights flying over the field



My wings of the day, B-KQP, was finally pulled back to the terminal 2.5hrs before departure.



The newbie with the locals in the background





The famous MAN T2 shot: The BY 788 being de-iced before push back, next to a pair of VS jumbos.



I took the short walk back to T2 in time for check-in

Check-in and lounge

Cathay was given a rather large check-in area with 12 counters. But even so, the Y queue was so long that it spanned across almost the whole width of the terminal



The queue for business was short and I was checked in immediately. Speaking to the agent, she told me that J was half full but both PEY and EY was overbooked so she was expecting a lot of op-ups. Bad news for me as I was hoping for an empty mini cabin to myself.



She soon handed me my BP as well as invitations to the Escape Lounge in MAN and the Arrival lounge for after I land.



CX's dedicated ticketing counter



The CX check in area is right next to the escalator that would take me to security.



One of the perks of flying J is I get to slash the massive queue *smug face*



... and I'm through to airside in just 5 mins (impossible if this was London)

T2 has a decent sized duty free shop and a food choice of F&B stores, not bad for a medium sized airport.



Flight Information, would be departing from gate 206



Headed towards the Escape lounge which is right by gate 209, in between security and our gate.





Cathay shares a separate corner of the lounge with Delta



The Escape Lounge unfortunately was a complete joke. There wasn't any warm food on offer and all there was was a coffee machine that didn't work properly and some ice cold sandwich that looked like a million years old to me. I have to give credit to the attendants though as they were very attentive and somehow managed to get me a bowl of tomato soup. Nice gesture!



I left the room utterly disappointed so I went spotting for a bit just to cheer myself up.

VS B747-400 "Ruby Tuesday"



PIA's 77L AP-BGY, operating the 5th freedom LHE-MAN-JFK routing



And finally my four month old bird, B-KQP





Boarding

Boarding started at precisely 11:20am, again a super long Y queue



Down the stairs and through the bridge



Seat 23K, offering a perfect view of the mighty GE90 engine




Pre flight welcome drinks served




The captain soon came on the PA to announce that pushback would be delayed as they had to de-ice the wings, but also said that the flight time would be a short 10h40m due to strong tailwinds.

We left the gate some 40 mins behind schedule

Flight Information




CX/CPA 358
A/C: B777-367ER
Reg: B-KQP (Ln 1224)
Route: EGCC-VHHH
Block Time: 10h40m
Passenger On Board: J - 40, PEY - 32, EY - 268 TOTAL - 340
Load Factor: 100%
Fuel Loaded 93.9t
T/O rating: MAX
Cruising Altitude: FL310 -> FL370

Departure Weather: CAVOK Q1011


Thomson B738 with the new split scimitar winglets



B738 & B752




Flight info on the control



Rolling on Runway 23R, with the sole A380 serving MAN in the background



Rotate!



Turning east towards the English Channel




Drinks were served when the plane is still in its climb



Went for my favourite Cathay Delight with warmed nuts




Menu was distributed







Starters was good and I especially enjoyed the salad dressing





The main course choices were put on a trolley and I went for the "Three Cup Chicken" which has become very popular in Taiwan



The chicken was very tender and cooked in quite an authentic flavour. Always enjoyed a hot bowl of steamed rice at 30,000 feet



Then came the three choices of cheese



The Orange Chocolate cake was absolutely brilliant! Goes perfectly with the raspberry sauce




As we were in Northern Winter the sun set just 3 hrs into the flight

Turning the seat into a completely flat comfy bed




To my surprise, this A/C comes with a First Class style loo





Jurique Amenities




Managed to sleep for a good 5 hrs, but then got a bit hungry so I ordered a bowl of Wonton noodles. The chili sauce does the magic as usual.



Not bad for a midnight snack


]

The crew set up a small snack bar in the galley, and I took some grapes and peanuts to go with my movie






Before I knew it breakfast was served when we were 2 hrs out of HK

First muesli and fruit



Then came my only complaint for the flight. Apparently they've ran out of breakfast choices because of the last minute op-ups and had to serve me PEY food (Also because I'm seated in the last row)

The fried noodles wasn't bad but I didn't feel good psychologically



The sky began to light up after Breakfast and I was given a beautiful sunrise as we complete the final few hundred miles







The Capt came on to the PA for his "30 min to landing" announcement, stating good weather in HK

Short Final to 07R, the HK-Macau-Zhuhai bridge construction in the background



Touch down, reverse on full




We docked into gate S23 more than 30 min ahead of schedule at 7:18

No flight experience is complete (for me) without a cockpit visit







And just for the sake of trying, The Arrival lounge. Quite small but has a few showers




That's the end of my Manchester flight. Thanks for reading along!

Conclusion

Quite a satisfying flight again. Very typical of the high quality CX service and would have been perfect if I could have had a full breakfast. I'm also very happy to see healthy loads on the new flight, and most certainly hope to see it go daily in the near future. Manchester Airport was quite decent for what it is but the lounges really need refurbishing as it looked old and tired.


Hope you enjoyed the report! Comments most welcome!

Happy Holidays!

Adrian

Last edited by freakinflyer001; Feb 15, 2015 at 3:47 am
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Old Dec 15, 2014, 9:31 am
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Thanks for sharing, CX looks awesome - I need some more AS miles to spend .
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Old Dec 15, 2014, 9:32 am
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So the crew served your breakfast main to some op up passengers? That is quite frankly unacceptable even if you are sitting in the last row. They should have counted and served the op up passengers the PY meals instead.
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Old Dec 15, 2014, 9:52 am
  #4  
formerly known as Tad's Broiled Steaks
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The Arrivals lounge also had a phone from which you can make free local calls...just like in the section pre-immigration where you buy ferry tickets.
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Old Dec 15, 2014, 9:56 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by JALPak
So the crew served your breakfast main to some op up passengers? That is quite frankly unacceptable even if you are sitting in the last row. They should have counted and served the op up passengers the PY meals instead.
Yes it's unacceptable but the last minute op-up numbers were really crazy on that flight.

I also think it doesn't show on the crew pax list who the op-ups are.

Oh well these sort of glitches do happen so I might as well just swallow it
freakinflyer001 is offline  
Old Dec 15, 2014, 10:35 am
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Originally Posted by freakinflyer001
Yes it's unacceptable but the last minute op-up numbers were really crazy on that flight.

I also think it doesn't show on the crew pax list who the op-ups are.

Oh well these sort of glitches do happen so I might as well just swallow it
Yes it does. The IFS knows exactly who the op ups were and yes it does show on the cabin crew list the op ups, and those with status or asia miles accounts.

Would this be a UK based operating crew or HK based crew?
Guy Betsy is offline  
Old Dec 15, 2014, 11:26 am
  #7  
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Originally Posted by freakinflyer001
Oh well these sort of glitches do happen so I might as well just swallow it
I would spit it out in a letter to Cathay.

Thanks for the great report.
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Old Dec 15, 2014, 1:00 pm
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Great report. Thanks for all of the pictures!
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Old Dec 15, 2014, 3:46 pm
  #9  
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Great trip report thanks for sharing.

I love the photos of the 77W against all the piddly little planes at MAN. There's nothing like seeing a real plane amongst all those mini planes.

Interestingly it looks like MAN is still printing dodgy boarding passes. They don't look like proper Cathay stock in the photo.
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Old Dec 15, 2014, 4:02 pm
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Nice report.

Originally Posted by 000
Great trip report thanks for sharing.

I love the photos of the 77W against all the piddly little planes at MAN. There's nothing like seeing a real plane amongst all those mini planes.

Interestingly it looks like MAN is still printing dodgy boarding passes. They don't look like proper Cathay stock in the photo.
That will be up to CX's check in agent in MAN. BA, AF and KL passes from MAN appear on the regular paper for those airlines as I remember?

As for piddly planes, BE codeshares with CX now to provide an IOM-MAN service on a Dash 8.
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Old Dec 16, 2014, 12:22 am
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what is the difference between Fast Track and Priority Lane at Manchester Airport's security? both seem to be for the purpose of jumping the queue
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Old Dec 16, 2014, 4:53 pm
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Did you have any sort of status with CX? Not that I would say its fair, but if the opups in J were all DMs or GOs then it'll be understandable on why they were given a proper J entrees.

But still since you were holding a legitimate J ticket it might be worth a shot to shoot MPC and email and tell them your experience of being served a Y+ meal. They might throw a voucher or some miles your way.

Nice TR btw.
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Old Dec 16, 2014, 5:14 pm
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Originally Posted by GE90-115B
Did you have any sort of status with CX? Not that I would say its fair, but if the opups in J were all DMs or GOs then it'll be understandable on why they were given a proper J entrees.

But still since you were holding a legitimate J ticket it might be worth a shot to shoot MPC and email and tell them your experience of being served a Y+ meal. They might throw a voucher or some miles your way.

Nice TR btw.
I disagree. Passengers without status should still be given priority over op up ones with status. After all they paid for the service with miles/cash be free opup who paid for Y or PY service only.
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Old Dec 16, 2014, 6:35 pm
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Nice TR! I agree with you on loving engine views, but I prefer to sit a bit further up front where I can see the turbines
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Old Dec 16, 2014, 7:02 pm
  #15  
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
I would spit it out in a letter to Cathay.

Thanks for the great report.
Hi everyone,

Thanks for the advice. Have sent in a complaint letter to MPC.

Last edited by freakinflyer001; Dec 17, 2014 at 2:31 am
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