Seeing it in pictures has always made me long for getting there one day, and here it is, finally:
Maldives! Although I’ve traveled quite a bit and tried many J and a few F products in the last few years, this will be my first hand at writing a trip report to share back to this community. Any constructive comments are welcome!
Planning
The hotels were all points/certificates redemptions: 3 nights at the Conrad Maldives using weekend certificates and 2 nights using points (95k/night). We paid an additional ~$360 for a confirmed upgrade to a Superior Water Villa on the last 2 nights so we can try it as well, it is Maldives after all! In Hong Kong, we stayed at Intercontinental Hong Kong using my Chase Anniversary certificate for 1 night, and then the “Into The Night” award nights for the last 2. We paid an additional HKD700+10% (inclusive of Ambassador discount) for an upgrade to Deluxe Harbor View room.
As for the flights: while US Airways hadn’t merged yet with AA, one “sweet spot” in their award chart is Maldives – it was classified under the same region as Southeast Asia, so traveling from MNL-HKG-MLE-HKG-MNL in CX business class was just 30k Dividend Miles round trip. Definitely a steal, so I knew I had to get this before the 2 FFPs merged. Also, coming from SFO in F required 135k AAdvantage miles for the positioning flight SFO-HKG-MNL, and the return HKG-LAX-SJC trip. Yes, I threw away the last HKG-MNL segment since I did not need to go back to MNL on the return
Award availability was also sparse on the direct HKG-SFO return flight, so had to settle for a transit in LAX.
After reading through pages and pages of FT and blogs for getting the most value out of one's miles and points, I think we could file this trip under the "Best Value" or “Aspirational" Classics category
The final itinerary:
Check in at SFO International
Check-in took a few minutes with the agent finishing 1 person on the First Class lane. The check-in agent for some reason (probably due to my Asiamiles profile reflecting my second citizenship) asked for my other passport which I gladly showed, but took her a few more minutes looking and flipping both my passports, which I quite didn’t get why. Ultimately after a few more minutes, she showed me all my boarding passes and lounge invites from behind the counter, and then stepped out, stood in front of me, and finally handed the paperwork. It was a quick, simple, extra effort that put a nice, personal touch to the check-in process.
The CX lounge, as has been written in the past, is this oddly positioned lounge that’s towards the end of a long hallway. This time, the hallway had some plastic covering due to construction work, but nothing too bothersome.
Got the usual wonton noodle soup as a mini-dinner, but held myself on finishing everything so I can enjoy the inflight meals
The beautiful bird taking me for a 13 hour journey tonight.
CX873
SFO-HKG
Actual flight time: 12:58
Actual departure: 1:30am
Actual arrival: 5:29am +1
B77W
Seat 2A
The F cabin was 6/6 full tonight and with the rush to make up for the delay due to CX872 coming in late, the ISM welcomed me on 1L but I ended up showing myself to my seat without any other assistance by the crew.
Amenities were shared a few minutes after getting settled (pictures taken after the flight). I really like the PYE pajamas now, more than the previous Shanghai Tang ones; the fabric feels softer and the quality slightly better. On another F trip last year, they issued them in grey color, but this time the dark brown-grey looks much nicer.
I did not quite have any liking for the new Aesop kit, though. I felt it was very lacking compared to what other airlines offer, including EK F, and heck, even LAN J
Crew continued to work as fast as they could to catch up with the delay, leaving me with just 1 pre-takeoff glass of Krug
Amuse bouche + Krug
After a long taxi but smooth takeoff, we were finally on our way!
After-takeoff warm cashew nuts + more Krug!
Caviar service
Appetizer and soup from the Chinese menu – Cucumber with XO sauce, and double-boiled conch soup. Both were good.
Main course from the Chinese menu – Steamed cod, pak choy and carrots, jasmine rice. The cod was slightly overcooked but was quite tasty.
Dessert from the Western menu – pudding and vanilla ice cream
Cheese and fruit
After dinner service, I went to change to my pjs and brush my teeth, and upon returning to my seat I saw my bed already made, without me prompting the crew. No bedtime pralines, though
The consistently comfortable CX F bed
Managed to get 4 hours sleep and couldn’t get back, so I turned to the snack menu and got me a short rib burger (very tasty), downed with 2 Cathay delights and another helping of the ice cream that came with my pudding from dinner. FT should have an 'oink' emoticon; this would have been the perfect spot to place it
Short rib burger + Cathay delight
One more 1-hour nap and a few Big Bang Theory episodes later, it was time for breakfast.
Touchdown in Hong Kong was smooth, and despite departing 30 minutes late from SFO, we still landed ahead of schedule.
CX F is always a safe bet – decent food, great service and excellent hard product – consistent almost to a fault that some frequent fliers unfairly put them on the ‘ho-hum’ bucket. My experience tonight wasn’t different – food was good, bed comfortable, and cabin temperature well maintained.
Next up, The Pier F...