I opted to eat straight away, and so within 15 minutes or so my table was set with the ‘new’ service, featuring red water glass.
Dinner table setup
A choice from a basket of bread was offered, along with an undisclosed canapé plate – quite a tasty thing, but still none the wiser as to what it actually was.
The soup starter was delicious, possibly the best soup I’ve ever tasted, served with a fresh (but uninspired) side salad and further choice of bread.
The lamb rendang was very nice too, followed by an equally lovely coffee-inspired dessert trio.
Dessert, showcased on the leather folded table
A pot of English breakfast tea concluded the dinner service which was as good in quality as Qantas’s First offering, although BA do provide slightly larger portions (most welcome!).
The mood lighting was in full swing by now, and I lowered my electronic blind to reveal a funky blue effect, mimicking the roof and floor lighting of the F cabin. As I took my PJs to the (consistently clean) washroom to change, the male member of the cabin crew offered to make up my bed, and when I returned my seat had transformed into a 6’6” flat bed, made all the more spacious thanks to the lowering armrests in New F. After concluding Harry Potter, I switched the lighting to the lowest setting (all off except a faint blue light in the foot area, covered mostly by the reclined seat). However, the blue light in the centre of the cabin ceiling was on throughout the night, and really was most annoying. Apparently the new B77Ws are even worse, with two white spotlights at the rear of the cabin remaining on throughout the night in addition to the blue light. According to a Business Traveller article, BA are set to make a change to the software to allow crew to dim the lighting further, but how long this upgrade will take to come into effect remains to be seen.
The bed itself was very comfortable (plenty long and wide enough too), and privacy has slightly improved in New F over the older seat, with the ‘wings’ around the head area having been extended slightly. It would be good to see some sort of door to the suite, however, although this may prove a little too claustrophobic for some. After a few hours’ rest, I settled on watching The Social Network, a most impressive film that made for interesting viewing. I requested the rather refreshing breakfast fruit plate halfway through the movie, and this was promptly brought by a female cabin crew member who seemed to have relieved my ‘usual’ crew member. At the end of The Social Network, I was beginning to feel the jetlag a little, and dozed for another few hours before awakening to the sounds of breakfast being prepared in the galley.
Annoying blue light
The Social Network
Here is the Breakfast menu for BA25 (April 2011), with my choices again highlighted in red;
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Breakfast
Starters
Chilled fruit juice
An energising fruit smoothie
A selection of yoghurts
A selection of cereals
Fresh seasonal fruit plate
A wide selection of breakfast pastries and rolls
Main
Traditional English breakfast of scrambled free-range eggs with grilled bacon, Irish pork and herb sausage, baked Portobello mushroom, hash-brown potatoes, black pudding and baked beans
Smoked salmon and scrambled egg burrito with cheese sauce
Blueberry French toast crumble with blueberry syrup
Beverages
Teas
Coffee
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After changing back into something a little more civilised, during breakfast I listened to some of Taylor Swift’s latest album – I’ve not heard much by her before, but was impressed enough after the flight to purchase the album on iTunes. I enjoyed my fruit smoothie and gooseberry yogurt, but was not feeling up to a full English breakfast. Mr 2K clearly was, however, and seemed quite surprised at the arrival at his seat of an overflowing plate of unhealthiness!
Ottoman in the morning light (still very narrow)
The usual ‘almost there’ shot
Shortly decent had begun, and I requested a duty free bag from the crew in which I deposited my PJs and washbag (I had packed my rollaboard to full capacity, as I had not checked in any hold baggage). We arrived in HKG on time via RWY 07L, and taxied to Gate 19 at the main building end of the terminal.
Sensibly, all gates at HKG have dual airbridges, and both of these are always utilised for widebody aircraft. As such, we disembarked through Door 1L, with the crew holding back the Club World masses. The gentleman from 1A and I exchanged a little ‘you go first… no, you go first’ moment at the door, as he emerged from the ‘K’ side of the aircraft through the galley. The friendly female crew member who had mostly been serving me exchanged a comment along the lines of ‘so polite’, and with a thank you and a smile I departed the aircraft and embarked on the 5 minute walk to immigration. It took about 10 minutes to be processed through the Visitors channel, but once I had my passport stamped I was landside within two minutes.
The Airport Express is by far the easiest way to reach Kowloon/Hong Kong Island, and there is a ticket desk conveniently located to the right before making the final exit into the arrivals hall. After purchasing an excellent value HK$300 Octopus card, allowing for two Airport Express journeys and unlimited MTR/MTR Bus travel for three consecutive days, it didn’t take me long to find the clearly signed train platform. The journey to Kowloon Station took around 20 minutes, and thanks to no queue for a taxi at the extremely efficient manned taxi rank, I was checking in at the InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong only around an hour after landing.
Next: InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong and my time in Asia’s World City