SIN-HKG, CX 714, Saturday, 2009/08/08, 11:00-14:55
Airbus 330, seat 12A

After a good night's sleep in Changi's transit hotel, I start the day in the BA/Qantas lounge at 9:00. As they have no more flights for a few hours they are just about to close the lounge, and so I'm directed to the smaller BA/Qantas First lounge nearby. A few remaining passengers leave for the Sydney flight, and I have the entire lounger for myself. It isn't much different from the larger lounge I've been to earlier. I have a small breakfast and catch up on e-mail.



This flight seems full; all business class seats are taken. The aircraft looks battered and the seats, again in a "regional" configuration, are quite similar to those on my JL flight last night. The monitors are tiny. But the service is a completely different story: before departure the very attentive cabin crew manages a full drink service, as well as a hot towel service. The cabin attendant addresses us by name, consulting the flight manifest only on the first time, but then apparently remembering our names for the rest of the flight (there are some 24 seats in the cabin). Menus are handed out and the food, as well as the wine, is tasty and very nicely presented. Did I mention warm nuts and two towel services? All in all, this is a great flight experience. I can't wait to experience CX on a real long-haul.








On approach to HKG we loop over the city and I catch a hazy glimpse of this skyscraper landscape -- very impressive. We land on time and taxi to gate 30. My onward flight leaves from 24 but I head to "The Wing", Cathay's lounge, with a friend I met on the flight here. It's a little hard to find as the signs are a little confusing, but once you're there you realize how huge it is. I only had an hour to spend there, we sat on the bar and drank water, but I didn't like the feeling of the place: too crowded, in spite of its enormous size. The noodle bar looked interesting from a distance.





Then it's a rush to gate 24, where my LAX-boud flight is already boarding. an additional security check and I'm on board.

HKG-LAX, CX 882, Saturday, 2009/08/08, 16:15-14:15
Boeing 747-400, seat 90A

The longest flight on my trip. it is scheduled as 13:00 hours and is announced to be 12:20 hours actual time, this is the flight I've been most excited over. It starts really superb. As I reach my seat I'm offered a glass of champagne, and the lovely flight attendant, whose name I should find out, declares it to be happy hour. Indeed, as soon as my glass is empty she spots it and says "you need a second glass", which she promptly delivers. They also hand out steaming hot towels before take off. Then the captain comes up on the PA and indicates that we're fortunate to have the airline's best cabin staff manager, Aurora. The captain, by the way, has a british-sounding name and a perfect English accent, which was the case on my previous flight as well. I wonder how many of CX pilots are ethnic Chinese.

The seat is less inspiring than the service. It does, as I read before, feel little narrow and the cabin looks crowded, almost claustrophobic. Once you get to know it, though, you realize there are hidden storage areas that make your space more productive, and it's certainly more private than any other business class seat I've been on. We'll see how it functions as a bed later on.








We take off from 25L at 16:40, and are expected to land a few minutes ahead of schedule. Service is great: friendly, cheerful and efficient. I find out that her name is Elsa, and she keeps my glass full at all times. This time it's "nuts or olives? Or both?", followed by a very nice first course: a variation on Nicoise Salad, with pan seared tuna and green beans. The main course, tenderloin steak in wine sauce, is overdone and disappointing. As on the first flight, there's a cheese tray, a fruit selection and then the dessert, a very good cheese cake. In spite of the main course, the entire experience is excellent.




After dinner I try the bed, and it's great. Totally flat, no humps, long enough for me and very comfortable even when lying on the side. The blanket is light and fluffy, and I could have really enjoyed a good night's sleep, but Morpheus did not visit. After some two hours I give up and try to work.

Here, the limitations of the seat are more expressed. It's very hard to use a laptop, as the tray table is too high and too far away from the seat. This is when the space really does feel narrow. On the other hand, there's a well-placed power outlet so I can work as long as I want, and the noise-canceling headphones, coupled with a selection of hundreds of CDs, provide decent entertainment. They also have a selection of over 100 films, and then TV shows and games and more. Undoubtedly a wonderful experience.

Some examples of the small touches that make Cathay stand out. The flight attendant remembered my name on both flights; the power outlet can accept multiple types of plugs; the little screen of the media control shows the time left on the current file playing, as well as the remaining flight time; the lavatories are cleaned after each and every use, or so it seems; etc.

We land at 14:15 local time after looping over LA, taxi for 15 minutes and then stop and shut down the engines so we can be towed to the gate -- this procedure is new to me, but luckily it doesn't take more than 5 minutes. The line for immigration, in contrary, is long and winding, and takes some 35 minutes to clear, plus 5 more for customs.