US HK UK flyer

Just some experiences flying out of LHR in Y:

- On check-in/baggage drop: most employees (ladies standing around) extremely helpful, even proactive in coming up to me several times asking if they could help. However, the person manning the desk for passenger enquiries seemed very flustered in dealing with everyone in line to the point of basically telling everyone he couldn't help them with basic baggage/seat requests. This was despite most people using the machines for automatic check-in/bag drop and not even giving him much to do.
- Flight was completely full, and the staff on check-in told me that every flight recently was the same way. However, it's Easter holidays in the UK which may have an impact on this. One of the FAs was surprised by how busy the flight was which may indicate that this hasn't been the case recently (although maybe he didn't always fly this route)
- FAs were very nice/polite especially on boarding and deplaning although I can see how someone not used to HK service standards would understand their curt efficiency at times as somewhat gruff
- The food, while not always *looking* appetizing (presentation is never a priority in Y!) was surprisingly good
- Mealtimes, which were something complained about on this forum, seemed reasonable - maybe a little more than about an hour after the nighttime takeoff from LHR and two hours before landing in the afternoon in HKG
- There was no problem with availability of types of meals that I heard/experienced
- Bottle of water available in the seat
- One major problem I had was the first drink service, served in a paper cup. I used the fold-out cup holder to avoid having the tray out but the cup was not strong enough to hold wine and it leaked a little bit. It also swished around a lot when there was turbulence and risked spilling out of the narrow cup. They should go for the wider cups on this service, and maybe another material (yes plastic is not as environmentally friendly but there must be a material that doesn't leak as easily)
- Flight time was only about 11:30, an hour less than scheduled; have they found a route with better winds or was I just lucky?
- Nice to see the comeback of the in-flight magazine, something I haven't seen even on other airlines post-pandemic! Made me feel like I was back in 2019..