Originally Posted by
cmhua777
My flight was a 3pm departure to HKT. Juneyao had the first nonstop of the day (and TG doesn’t fly the route), which is why I took it. There was no fast track given, though I don’t believe HKT has the service to begin with.
The flight had a choice of two meals. One was a shrimp soup and the other a pork noodle dish, IIRC.
I ended up in an aisle in row 2. It was not the best, however, since a family of three was in the same row, except I, being in the aisle, split them apart. I didn’t want the window, so lived with the family occasionally talking over me. Suppose this wouldn’t have happened in a world where you can select your seats in advance as to sit together.
The other thing I found odd, which I didn’t mention, was that there was a camera (or at least a decoy) that was mounted above the cockpit door to monitor the cabin. There were signs indicating we were being filmed and in the first row of economy an employee wearing a “security” shirt with a body cam was also onboard.
Onboard security is common, nearly all flights have one security agent and they are not exactly undercover.
HO in business is just OK if you get a great price, otherwise I would skip them. I have flown them maybe a dozen times now and even in J (domestic or international) there is no IFE. Meals have not been consistent, have had some good ones and some that were memorably bad. Check-in in TPE for HO is no fun, they only open 2 or 2.5 hours before the flight and the business counter is signed but not manned. Last time we had to wait a good twenty minutes for someone to step away from the regular economy line who was dealing with rebooking someone. Still better than joining the end of the massive Y line, though. Star Gold ahead of us were turned away from the J check-in counter unless they had a connecting flight on a full Star carrier which added to our wait.
So, if you have a good price, it's fine. If you are Star Gold in Y not connecting to another Star flight please note you get zero benefits. No priority check-in or lounge access.