Went through security to check-in… There were a number of agents working so there was no queue at all. The only waiting was for the agent waiting for me to dig up my ticket and passport…

I was relatively early for my scheduled flight. The agent volunteered to put me on this earlier flight. That worked out well because I wanted to head into town after arriving in HK. Rather than going into town at roughly 11pm (or even later), I could go into town at about 9pm.

BKK, like most NZ international airports, wanted passengers to pay departure tax at the airport. Handed over my 500B, and off I went to Immigration. As usual, I managed to pick the slowest queue. To be fair, it was the shortest queue when I arrived, it was just single or adult passengers, no families. At first, I thought the immigration officer was just stuck with that passenger, but he was slow with everyone… I was perhaps the fifth person in that queue, and it took some 15 minutes to go through…

I had a quick look around the shops, nothing too exciting, and nothing especially cheap. Then I went to look for the CX lounge. The airport map was utterly useless. It didn’t tell me where any of the lounges were. I’d a walk around, but couldn’t see a CX lounge. I did find the CX first lounge though, so I went in to ask where the business lounge was. They told me it was directly opposite from this first lounge. No wonder I couldn’t find it, I was looking at the wrong side of the terminal.

The business lounge wasn’t large, and it was rather full. I probably should have gone into the bigger QF lounge, which was also closer to my gate. I didn’t know whether the staff at the CX lounge was understaffed or just lazy – empty plates, glasses and cans were everywhere. They eventually came around to go a clean-up, but it wasn’t enough. Food and drinks-wise, this lounge was like the CX lounges at HKG. There wasn’t as much of it, but the lounge here at BKK was smaller too. If you’ve a choice at BKK between the QF lounge or the CX one, go to QF.

There were also 3 computers at this lounge, one computer wasn’t working, and one was occupied by a kid, so there was only one left with plenty of people wanting to use it. Unfortunately, I managed to crash it when I was checking my Hotmail… With that, I left the lounge and headed towards the gate.

I took my time getting there and by then, boarding has started. Unlike the BA chaos, CX have separate queues for premium cabins and economy passengers and separate doors through to the plane. Load was light for this flight – roughly 30%. For some reasons, I always get to sit with someone when the flight was light. The CSD told me as soon as the doors were closed that I could go and sit somewhere else. I picked somewhere with no one behind me so I could recline as much as I like.

This flight was a 777 with their new regional business seats and as many have reported, they were horrid. It was uncomfortable, it didn’t recline much and for some reasons, they stuck a piece of plastic underneath the seats so you couldn’t put your feet or anything underneath the seat in front of you – perhaps there were too many electronics stuff under there…

Service was up to the usual high CX standard. The CSD went around and introduced herself. Not just the CSD but some of the FAs also took the time to learn the passengers’ names. The CSD came around and handed out surveys for pretty much everyone in the business cabin. It was somewhat odd that only one or two passengers didn’t get the survey. The survey was some 10 pages long and it asked questions on pretty much the entire experience, from check-in to in-flight service and catering. The only aspect wasn’t covered was the lounge, which I put down some of the issues the BKK lounge had. The survey also came with a nice looking pen that we were allowed to keep.

We landed roughly on time, but it was a long walk and train to Immigrations. HKG is still one of my favourite airports. Everything is clean and tidy and nicely organised. Despite the long walk, there was still a slight wait for the luggage. We came out at Arrival Hall B. It took me a while to locate a sign to the Regal Airport Hotel. While it wasn’t too far, it was just a good 3-5 minute walk, since Arrival Hall B and the walkway to the hotel was at opposite ends of the airport…