Finished my second trip of this fare the other day. Overall, would definitely fly them again. Some interesting items that occurred:
* Strict on weight for carry on bags, even for business. On my first segment they wanted me to check it but after pushing them a little they relented. However, on future trips I saw others having to check normal sized carry-ons after they were weighed. On all my segments the overhead bins were pretty open. I learned to just walk up with my backpack on and my rollerboard rolling easily and when they would ask if I had any bags to check I'd say no, just carry on. Not sure if it was b/c I was gold they weren't asking to weigh my bags anymore or what.
* Had my main course forgotten on my flight to HKG. They came up and asked if I wanted dessert, so I had to inform them I hadn't gotten my main entree yet.
* Watched what seemed like a heated argument between two FA's on one segment. Both were talking fast and loud with unhappy faces in the middle of business class. Since I don't speak the language, no clue what it was about, just thought a little unusual.
* IFE is not great...by the second trip I had pretty much nothing to watch as I had either seen it or had no desire to watch it...brought my own movies/shows to watch.
* Really liked the business class layout on their A330 HKG-BKK (Optimares Maxima)...never seen it before so it was something new and the IFE screens looked super sharp (didn't watch anything, just slept).
* Still prefer their old layout with either the A or K seats. I feel in lay flat mode these offer more room than their reverse herringbone seats (even better than American and Cathay's business class seats in all configurations).
* Final leg HKG-LAX they didn't dim the lights in the cabin. All other flights I have been on (Cathay, American, and Hong Kong Airlines) always had their cabin lights turned off after the food service. I got up to use the restroom about 5 hours in and inquired why the cabin lights weren't off and they said they were following their standard operating procedure b/c they had their most senior FA on board and she always goes by the book. I thought this was a really weird response...they offered me some tea to relax me and I said I was fine, I had the eye mask and ear plugs, I was just curious as I had never seen this before.
Hopefully there is another sale for next year.
