Mom wanted his usual shopping, I wanted the JL massage, and Dad just wants to be left alone?
Massage didn’t begin til 2pm so off I went in shopping, Mom found a great price for a handbag, hehe
Back to the lounge, still have plenty of time so got some beef curry, Dad said it’s Average, crap me, who said Sons are hard to handle? How about Dads???

Ugh, I needed this massage for stress relief a long time ago, man do I miss you…

The time in the F lounge starting to click down and I headed off to Gate 64 for CX 451
CX sure boards plane really quick on most days, I left the F lounge at 3:05pm, gate was 2 min walk away and the flight was already at final call.
Door were closed 3:19pm

Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus 330-300




*3rd flight, 3213 Miles flown this year
Cathay Pacific Airways 451
Tokyo Narita to Taipei Taoyuan
3:30pm – 6:35pm, 4 hr 5 min flight
Business Class, Seat 12C
Food – Dinner
Equipment – Airbus 330-300

Like other CX flight, the ISM is usually at the 1st door to greet First and Business Class passenger, and some days you know you have a great ISM that day. Today was one of those, had a simply fantastic Indian ISM with a wonderful sense of humor.

Flight time was a little scary to say the least, 3 hr 55 mins to cover 1356 miles between Narita and Taipei. That mean the plane is only gaining 340ish miles per hour.
165 Mph head winds, DAMN!!!


Another speedy start by the trusty CX crew, with the same wasabi beans in the nut mix as the outbound NRT flight. Probably didn’t need to be speedy with the extended flight time today.



CX 451 NRT – TPE Dinner

Starter
Roasted duck breast with asparagus, cucumber, green apple and celery salad
Mixed salad with kalamata olive and balsamic vinegar dressing
Mugwort soba noodles

Main Course
Baked Salmon with sea urchin cream sauce, Japanese rice and mixed vegetables

Grilled Australian Prime beef tenderloin, potato mash with sun-dried tomato, roasted shallots, carrot and asparagus

Hong Kong style curry chicken with steamed jasmine rice and Shanghainese pak choy

Cheese and Dessert
Cheese selection
Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Haagan-Dazs Ice Cream

Tea and Coffee



Once again, went with the Japanese option just to change up the meal choice, was average





Yummy Pralines


After the meal, actually had a chance to have some casual talk with the ISM, apparently this was the 2nd day of their 2 day trip. HKG-NRT-TPE-HKG. CX crew seems to have an easier process to change into flying different routes, the company gives them a monthly schedule and the crew is free to trade with others for flight time. In comparison, the US system is more Seniority above all else, hence why we see older crew on longer routes.
Maybe this is one way to keep the crew more energize, I know for 1 thing, don’t 99% expect to see any purser on AA under 25 years seniority on a long haul.

Just before, I was originally booked on the later CX 531 TPE-HKG, but with such a great crew, I promised to try to switch to the earlier continuation CX 451 TPE-HKG

TPE is such a wonderful airport when it comes to airside connection, walk out to the arrival hallway, turn right for connecting security checkpoint and you’re easily back to the departure level.

And luckily, for CX 451, I did get my old seat back for the TPE-HKG flight.

*4rd flight, 3714 Miles flown this year
Cathay Pacific Airways 451
Taipei Taoyuan to Hong Kong
7:45pm – 9:30pm, 1 hr 45 min flight
Business Class, Seat 12A
Food – Dinner
Equipment – Airbus 330-300


As I was a little late for boarding because of the flight change, I was boarding around the middle of the pack on the Business Class Jetbridge, the crew welcome me back just like family which kinda surprised everyone else in J.

As I park myself in the same seat as before in 12A, I noticed such disgraceful behavior from a female passenger in Business Class in 14D.
The old saying is definitely true “Money can’t buy class” and sadly the old attitude back home hasn’t changed either “I have money, I can do anything I want!”

The “Da – Lu” lady in her upper 50s to low 60s y.o proceed to enjoy her time while the plane was still on the ground.

The seat in front of you is for your magazines, not your legrest


I’m done with the newspaper thanks, I’ll just throw it in the seat in front of me, LITERALLY!


And above all, just after take-off, I’m cold, you have a spare blanket, I’m taking it.
Seriously, you can’t ask the FA instead just grab the blanket off 12C which happened to be empty.
Ugh!!!

Now, the crew was still good as prior and was serving a lot quicker than as the short 1 hr 21 mins to HKG gives little leeway to finish the service.

CX 451 TPE – HKG Dinner

Starter
Smoked Salmon with honey mustard potato salad

Main Courses
Steweed pork belly with scallion, steamed rice, green beans, carrot and black mushroom

Pan-fried chicken with marjoram red wine sauce, boiled new potato with parsley, cucumber and pepers

Dessert
Pumpkin pudding with coconut milk




And with the short flight to HKG, the trip to Tokyo is over and time to head back to North America for a final semester.


Next Part
Part 8 – Rectifying a bad mistake Cathay Pacific “Cirrus’ Business Class, HKG-LAX