This was an early start for me - my flight was scheduled for 8:10 am, so that meant I needed to be at the airport around 6am if I wanted to have time to visit CX lounges... My aim was to catch the very first train to the Airport at 5:50 am, so I had to leave the hotel around 5:30 latest. Having suitcase packed the night before and hotel stay paid the night before too, I woken up at 5am.
Check-in at the airport was smooth - though the First Class check-in for Cathay Pacific at Hong Kong airport is a bit weird. They don't have typical check-in desks, but mini stands where they check you in while someone else takes your bags away. I didn't managed to take a photo as one of the check in agents rushed to me to welcome me. I was already checked in on-line, but I have asked for a printed boarding pass, I also got an invitation to the lounge. Invitation is not required to access the lounge, but it speeds up the entry as they don't need to scan your boarding pass.
Security was smooth, but again, there were not enough immigration booths open. Hong Kong airport does not offer fast track security / immigration to any premium cabin travellers. On the other hand - it's not really bad - maximum 10-15 minutes wait if you're unlucky - like me who, again, got stacked in the queue of families with children...
The Wing
I really like the Pier, but on this occasion I decided to visit the Wing which is right next past immigration - turn left and you're there.
The Wing is available for anyone travelling oneworld operated flight in First Class or holding an Emerald level status.
The lounge is an open air venue so it gets a bit of the noise from the terminal including announcements etc.
On the other hand - you can see planes from the lounge:
There are a few areas, first is the mini champagne bar:
Then there's a lounging area with semi private booths:
At the end of the lounging area there's a manned bar, unfortunately picture turned out to be so bad I won't post it.
There's also a snacks buffet if you're in the rush or dining is busy:
As I missed breakfast at the hotel I headed to the dining room to have some breakfast there. When I arrived there, it was almost empty - when I was leaving, there was a queue of people waiting for the table. Glad I arrived early!
I was told to sit wherever I wanted so I opted for a table by the wall, here's a view from there:
Breakfast a la carte menu
I've ordered some pancakes which were very good - but also a safe choice as it's hard to make them bad
The dining also had an extensive buffet of breakfast options.
Hot Asian style breakfast options:
Hot English style breakfast options:
Cold cuts:
Salad buffet:
Cheese and sweets buffet:
An impressive amount of options for breakfast I would say! As I already had pancakes, I opted for some fruit salad and a coffee:
After the meal I've settled in one of the pods in the lounging area with a glass of champagne - waiting for my flight.
Soon it was time to go - my gate was in the middle of the long terminal, so good 10 minutes walk from The Wing. Boarding was scheduled to start at 7:30, so I left the lounge 7:15.
CX691: Hong Kong - Singapore
Airline: Cathay Pacific
Flight: CX691 HKG ✈ SIN
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER B-KPQ
Gate: 30
When I arrived at the gate, my date was already there:
As you can see weather was not amazing - cloudy and misty.
I really like Hong Kong airport and their queue management - as the airport is so spread out there's a plenty of space for queues. For this particular flight there were separate queues for 1) First class and emerald, 2) Business and sapphire, 3) premium economy and 4) economy passengers. Staff proactively ordered passengers to move from one queue to another upon checking their boarding passes before boarding started.
Interesting thing in Asia - many staff members watched their phones while waiting - here's a help assistant for pre-boarding passenger watching movies
Boarding started on the spot at 7:30, I was one of the first persons to board. Once I got to my seat - 1A - I've noticed that Cathay offered a generous number of windows - 3 per seat in First Class cabin!
That's better then BA, who only offers 2 windows
On this aircraft First Class cabin had only 6 seats in a generous layout of 1-1-1. 1A and 2A I think are the most private as middle seats are behind a dividing wall. When I checked in I could only select seat 1A or middle seats (I had 1A preselected long time ago), but load in the cabin was 2 pax only. Not sure if someone missed their connection or CX just blocked other seats for whatever reason?
All cabin crew serving First cabin came by to introduce themselves. Cabin Director also mentioned that they have some extra crew today on board who are going through training. She asked me if I didn't mind if my service was part of their training - interesting and why not?
I was also offered a glass of champagne while we were still on the ground as a pre-departure drink - notice a fresh flower - there was one at each seat!
Boarding was taking some time, so two more glasses later I was given a hot towel on a plate:
I should also mentioned that CX provided a proper noise cancelling headphones compared to e.g. BA who provides some cheap ones.
Ife was standard CX one with a generous screen - maybe not the biggest one in the sky, but perfect for watching movies.
I really liked the pull-out mechanism basically moving the screen closer to you - making watching movies a more comfortable experience.
The first seat also features a companion seat should you wish to dine together - similar to the BA one.
Right before take off I was given a breakfast menu - in the end it was breakfast only service, so nothing exciting there.
After departure I got a drink with warmed nuts:
As they took drink and breakfast order together, I asked for some orange juice... otherwise I would have asked for another glass of champagne
A good few minutes later breakfast service commenced with some fruit salad and danish pastries:
For main breakfast I opted for dim sum selection which was excellent!
A closer look at dim sum:
While enjoying dim sums, I got a hand written note thanking me for flying with Cathay - a nice touch, though I could see note was written earlier while my last name was added later
After the meal I went for some coffee - they had a proper coffee machine on board and said they could do proper cappuccino - as I don't drink milk, I settled for black americano
After I've finished breakfast, I got another hot towel:
Feeling fed and relaxed I continued to watch a movie - didn't have to ask for a blanket as it was ready for me to use with a generous pillow:
Few more pics from the cabin - the view of three windows was amazing
I really liked how wide and generous the seat was:
Cabin decorations - identical to what I've seen in the First class cabin on Dragonair:
And toiletries - same Aesop brand as used in First class lounges:
I did mention earlier that there were extra crew on training on my flight - there was not enough crew seats for them on the plane, so they were using crew rest area seats for take off and landing. And quite unusually, the doors to the crew rest area had to stay open.
Weather in Singapore was a bit better than in Hong Kong, so after 3 hours flight we were approaching the airport with some amazing views.
Didn't realise that Singapore was surrounded with some exotic looking islands:
And finally got to see Marina Bay Sands hotel on approach too:
After we've landed we got a short taxi to the terminal building, but still managed to catch some interesting shots.
Cargo apron for Singapore Airlines:
Scoot Boeing 787 parked nearby:
Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300 undergoing engine maintenance:
We've arrived at the Terminal 1 - immigration was a breeze, so I was on the train to Terminal 3 within minutes from landing.
Crowne Plaza Hotel
For my stay in Singapore I chose Crowne Plaza hotel located inside the airport. I read it offered an excellent views over the runaway from the room, so I booked one of those at a small premium.
The hotel made a really good impression on me - looked sleek and well designed. And it was connected to the Terminal 3 right next to the sky train station connecting to terminal 1 and 2.
Nice welcome carpet for IHG members:
At the check-in desk I was told I was upgraded to the Club room overlooking pool with access to the club lounge. Lovely - not what I wanted! After explaining a reason behind booking the runaway room I got moved to room 806 which I was assured had good runaway view. I also kept the club lounge access so win win for me
Room indeed had an amazing view over the runaway:
It also had a nice desk conveniently located:
Toilet was a bit weird with the glass window - not an issue for me, but it wouldn't be possible to see planes from the bath
Few minutes later I got welcome snacks delivered to my room:
I also got a call from a manager (hotel manager?) who apologised me for the mishup with the room and sent me a complimentary dessert:
So just to give you a perspective - pool has no runaway views and rooms overlooking the pool wouldn't have it either:
Despite the room swap issue overall I would say Crowne Plaza was a good choice - excellent customer service! I've got IHG Platinum status (not the highest) thanks to IHG credit card and never really get recognised in any way while staying at IHG hotels, so Crowne Plaza at Singapore airport did a good impression
I would stay there again!
I'll cover spotting at Singapore in a separate post!