CX 873
San Francisco (SFO)- Hong Kong (HKG)
Tuesday July 10, 2012
Depart: 1:10 AM
Arrive: 6:15 AM
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER (B-KPB)
Seat: 1A (First Class)

The closer I got to the aircraft, the bigger the grin on my face grew. I was greeted by the purser at the door and shown to my seat, 1A. She then wished me a pleasant flight and returned to the doorway. My first impressions of the seat were good. It was very spacious, well provided, and most important of all: private. I could hardly notice any of the other passengers while seated. Storage space was ample with a personal closet as well as space underneath the “buddy seat”. I’m a little shutter shy on board planes, but I did manage to get a few shots of the suite.


Buddy seat

I did try out the buddy seat, just because, and found it to be decently comfortable, although I wouldn’t want to spend too much time there.


Seat and IFE controls. Noise canceling headphones are stored in the compartment visible to the left

A few moments later, my flight attendant, Penny, came to introduce herself and inquired about my language preference. I indicated I could speak Cantonese, but it did not matter to me which language is used. She then offered to fetch me a selection of reading material and a beverage. I declined the reading material, citing the late hour, and asked for a glass of champagne. The request was met with a smile and a “Of course”. As soon as Penny left, the Cabin Service Director came to welcome me aboard and to exchange pleasantries. She left after saying Penny and Desmond (the other First Class flight attendant) would take good care of me. You bet they did.

Penny soon returned with a tray containing a champagne flute and a bottle of Krug. She set the flute down on my cupholder, properly presented the bottle to me, and poured the first of many glasses of Krug on this flight. As sipped my wonderfully chilled champagne and enjoyed the blissfully quiet cabin, I reflected on my journey to the pointy end of the plane, completed in just a few short years. It wasn’t long ago when I thought such a trip would be impossible and the closest I would get to the forward cabin is by living vicariously through trip reports. Boy, what a turn of events.



Pajamas, amenity kits, and menus were distributed next. At about 1AM, 10 minutes before scheduled departure, an announcement was made for all ground personnel to leave the aircraft. I overheard the FAs chat about the flight’s load, which was full in F, 95 percent full in J, and a full house down in economy. Wait, let me get this straight, United needs a full hour to board a domestic 757, while Cathay can board a fully 777 in less than half an hour. Hmm…

Just before the cabin doors were closed, our Australian Captain came on the PA to welcome us aboard and announced a flight time of just over 13 hours. The safety video was played as we pushed back and we were soon taxiing to the departure runway. I entertained myself by watching the belly camera through the IFE system. After a rather quick taxi, we hurtled down Runway 28R and lifted off after a rather long take off roll.

The seatbelt sign was turned off after we climbed through 10,000 feet, and the flight attendants sprang into action. Penny came around taking orders for post take off drinks. I ordered another glass of Krug, which was delivered with a dish of warm almonds and macadamia nuts.



The champagne and nuts were not a bad way to start a meal. Speaking of which, let’s peruse the menu, shall we?

Menu:

Caviar and fine smoked salmon

International Favourites
Mushroom cream soup

Heart of romaine with grilled jumbo prawn and Caesar dressing

Herb-mustard crusted lamp chop with jus, yukon gold mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, baby carrots, and yellow zucchini

Bucatini pasta with white wine truffle sauce and grilled baby vegetables

Chinese Favourites
Doubled boiled ginseng with chicken soup

Cold plate – marinated seaweed with carrot and Daikon radish

Pan-fried sea bass with plum sauce, served with steamed jasmine rice and stir-fried mixed vegetables.

Cheese and Dessert
Cambozola, Yellow Cheddar, Munster, Herb Goat Cheese

Seasonal fresh berries with sweet rose water

Chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream with raspberry coulis

Red bean soup with lotus seeds

Tea and Coffee

Pralines

For those of you interested in a liquid diet:

Wine list

Champagne
Krug Grande Cuvee

White Wines
Estancia Reserve Monterey Chardonnay 2007

Vincent Girardin Puligny-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes 2008

Red Wines

1855 Bordeaux Classification Wine Promotion
Chateau Lynch Bages 2004

Kalleske Greenock Barossa Valley Shiraz 2008

Finca El Origen Gran Reserva Malbec 2009

Port
Barrios Pinto Quinta da Ervannoira 10 Year Old Tawny Port

Aperitifs and Cocktails
Campari
Martini Russo
Martini Extra Dry
Tio Pepe Sherry
Harveys Bristol Cream Sweet Sherry
Tanquerary Ten Gin
Bacardi Rum
Belvedere Vodka
Bloody Mary
Screwdriver

Whiskies
Chivas Regal 12 Years Old
Johnnie Walker Blue Label
Canadian Club
Gentleman Jack Bourbon
MaCallan 17 Fine Oak Single Malt Whisky

Cognac
Tesseron Lot 76 XO Tradition

Beer
International Selection

Signature Drinks
Oriental Breeze
A sour plum tea and cranberry juice based non-alcoholic drink with honey and fresh lemon juice and a hint of rose water.

Cloud Nine
A refreshing combination of Vodka, Cointreau and Sprite with a refreshing touch of lemon flavour.

Decisions, decisions… I decided to go with the Western options as I would be eating a ton of Chinese food while in Hong Kong. Ten minutes later, Penny dropped by with the lovely bottle of Krug in hand to top off my drink and take my order. Caviar? Yes. Soup? You betcha. Salad? Yep. I chose the lamp chops for my main, which turned out to be a great decision. As for cheese and dessert, we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. She then recommended the promotional wine, which was the Lynch Bages, be paired with the lamb chops, to which I agreed to. And she was off to prepare dinner.

As I was finishing up my latest glass of champagne, Penny came by to set up my table. The tray table is recessed in the side wall of the suite, and appeared to be very sturdy and heavy duty. Linen was then laid, followed by a bread plate, butter dish, lemon for the caviar service, salt and pepper shakers, water glass, and finally silverware and the Cathay’s signature bon appetite card. For some reason, she appeared to be a bit rushed. Although the cabin was full, it appeared that only half of us wanted the meal immediately post take off.

This was followed by another top off of my drink. My caviar starter was delivered a few minutes later by the other flight attendant Desmond, who greeted me by name and took the opportunity to introduce himself.



The caviar and smoked salmon were tasty and went well with the garnishes. Penny came to clear my plate a few minutes after I finished. Noticing the plate was picked clean, she asked if I would like another serving of caviar. Is the Pope Catholic? The second plate was delivered a few minutes later, along with another refill. I polished off the second plate in no time.

My soup was delivered next. It too was tasty, with large chunks on mushrooms. However, it was lukewarm, but I’ll attribute that to my second plate of caviar. A bread basket, which included garlic bread, was delivered with the soup.



After my soup had been cleared, the salad was delivered. It too was delicious. The prawns were tasty and tender. Here’s where I ran into my only true gripe about the meal service. The knife provided was ridiculous dull. Although the prawns were tender, it took some serious sawing to cut them into manageable bites.



My main course was brought out a few minutes after my salad plate was cleared along with a mint sauce and hot mustard. The lamb chops were restaurant quality in terms of flavor, quality, and presentation. The Lynch Bages wine went down well with the lamb chops. The mashed potatoes and vegetables were equally as fresh and tasty. I had the same unfortunate problem with cutting into the lamb chops as I did with the prawns.



Cheese and dessert were offered, as my main course was cleared. Since I don’t ever eat like this on the ground, I figured why the hell not. The cheeses on offer were brought out on a cutting board for inspection. I chose a sample of each of the cheeses on offer and order a glass of Port to go with it. The cheese was delivered a few moments later, accompanied by the crackers and some fruit.



Dessert, Mr. Harrison? Well if you insist, Penny. I decided to order the chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream with raspberry coulis. As I was waiting for my dessert, the cabin lights were dimmed as all the other passengers had already finished eating. The ice cream was a bit too frozen to eat initially, but it melted enough in a few minutes. It was really good.



Dishes were cleared soon after I finished. I declined offers of coffee, tea, and pralines. Penny then asked if I would like to take advantage of the turn down service, to which I answered yes. I then headed to the lavatory to change into my pajamas. The Shanghai Tang branded pajamas are very comfortable, but I’m not a fan of its dark brown with red trim color scheme. After I changed, I returned to my seat to find my bed already made up. Cathay uses a thin mattress pad laid over the seat in a flat position. Although it doesn’t look like much, it does help smooth the uneven sections of seat quite a bit. Additionally, the seat is well padded enough to be able to pull this off. A fluffy pillow and duvet completed my bed in the sky.

At this point, there were a little over 11 hours off flying time remaining. I crawled under the covers hoping to get about 6 hours of sleep to mitigate the effects of jet lag. The bed is comfortable; however, I found the foot compartment, which doubles as the buddy seat, to be a bit narrow and restrictive, making it hard to change sleeping positions. Just for comparison sake, I’m 5’10.

I figured the late hour departure would help me fall asleep rather quickly. Unfortunately, I just dozed in and out for 2 hours and woke up for good after a patch of rough air with 9 hours to go. I once again fired up Cathay’s great on demand IFE system, Studio CX, to help pass the time. I had watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close during dinner. It was a rather intense movie, so I decided to go with something a little more light hearted: The Big Bang Theory. 17 episodes of the past season were loaded. I had missed the majority of the season due to work and other obligations, and I can’t imagine a better place to catch up on the show than in a comfortable bed cruising in excess of 500 mph at FL380 over the Pacific Ocean. I ordered a tasty Oriental Breeze to sip while watching the show.

The only drawback of Studio CX is that it is defaulted play nearly over a minute of same commercials before each and every TV show episode. Although, I will admit I really didn’t mind the Scotts Tower Commercial for some unknown reason. Anyways, back on topic.The next thing I know, 5 hours of flight are left and I was feeling a bit peckish for no apparent reason. Time to take a look at that snack menu:

SNACKS

Maryland crab cakes with tartar sauce

Roasted beef with sun-dried tomato horseradish mayonnaise on sour dough bread and mesclun salad

Shui gaw in noodle soup

Hot pot rice with steamed chicken and black mushroom, served with chicken broth

Ice cream

I decided to go with crab cakes, as I’ve heard good things about them. After ringing the call bell, Desmond appeared at my seat within seconds. After I informed him of my selection, he advised me that it would take about 10 minutes to prepare and asked if I wanted something to drink with that. I elected to go with another Oriental Breeze. Desmond reappeared within a few minutes with a hot towel and brought the tray with my snack and drink a little while after that. The crab cakes were delicious and the quantity was sufficient.



When he came to clear my tray, Desmond brought another glass of Oriental Breeze and a fresh bottle of water. I decided to watch Hunger Games after finishing up the last of The Big Bang Theory episodes. It was a pretty interesting movie, to say the least. As I was finishing up the movie, Penny came to ask what I wanted for breakfast.

Starters
Orange or apple juice

Strawberry smoothie

Fresh seasonal fruit

Natural or fruit yoghurt

Assorted cereals

Main Courses
Free range eggs-freshly scrambled, fried, or boiled
served with Canadian back bacon, grilled pork sausage, Lyonnaise potatoes, grilled tomato or sautéed mushrooms

Dim sum with chili sauce
Shrimp dumpling, siu mai, mini chicken glutinous rice wrapped with lotus leaf, chiu chow dumpling

Abalone and black mushroom congee, served with pan fried pork bun

Bread Basket
Assorted breakfast bread and fresh toast
served with Mrs. Bridges Scottish preserves. Tasmanian meadow honey and butter

Tea and Coffee

I ordered orange juice, the fruit starter, fruit yoghurt, and the dim sum main course to be served as late as possible. At that time, my empty glass and water bottle was sitting on my console; however, these were not removed until my table was cleared after the breakfast service.

At about 90 minutes until landing, she returned with a hot towel, glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, and proceeded to set up my table for breakfast. The fruit plate was delivered first along with the bread basket, which contained a croissant, bagel, and cinnamon roll. That fruit was without a doubt the best I’ve ever had on a plane (including my later SQ flights). It was fresh, sweet, and well chilled. The bread basket and the assorted jams and honey were another highlight of the breakfast service. Both the croissant and bagel were fantastic and were made even better by the aforementioned jams.



Strawberry yoghurt was brought next. I know some people have complained about how cheap it was serving yoghurt still in the carton. But it really didn’t bother me. After that was cleared, my dim sum was delivered accompanied by a small dish of chili sauce. The dim sum was pretty close to restaurant quality.



After my table was cleared, I waited about ten minutes for the seatbelt sign to be turned off after a patch of rough air. Only then did I head to lavatory to change. Soon we were descending into beautiful Hong Kong. The CSD came around the First cabin to thank everyone again and wish them well. I activated the belly cam again to gain a pilots perspective of the approach. The approach itself was beautiful as we descended just as the sun was rising. Touchdown was smooth and we reached out gate after a lengthy taxi. Thus endeth my first international First flight.