(The Regal Airport Hotel segment will be posted 'when I check-out' of the hotel.)
Woke up probably earlier than I needed to this morning (not the first time in this trip), especially given the airport was literally a short walk away. When I headed downstairs at 6:30am, the lobby was quite busy with people checking out and checking in. Among the people checking out was a crew from Thai Airways, they were all quite pleasant to each other despite the early hours, and some of them seemed to be meeting for the first time... Most of them were busy puffing away at the sofas near the counters though.
After arriving at the 'wrong' Arrival Hall last night (i.e., having to walk the entire width of the terminal to get to the hotel), the CX check-in counters were located at the 'wrong' end of the terminal, so I'd to walk the entire width of the terminal again to get to the counters at the far end of the terminal. If this was CX's home terminal, which I assumed they'd get preferential treatment here, why didn't they pick counters in the middle of the Departure Hall...
Got to the 'check-in with hand luggage line' (aisle C), and while one agent was busy with another customer, the other just ignored me... So I stood there for about 30 seconds and with no service forecoming, I walked off... The next aisle (B) had the premium passenger lines. Was checked in by a very polite agent, but she wasn't able to give me my return boarding pass. I was slightly surprised by that, especially when I'd no checked luggage, it's not like the flight was the next day or anything. She said I'd to get out of Immigration and Customs to get my boarding pass. Perhaps she didn't know people would be so weird to sit in a metal tube for the whole day and not go anywhere...
The check-in hall was buzzing with activities at this time of day already, but it was very quiet at airside. Shops were in various stages of opening and there didn't seem to be that many early flights...
The flight was leaving at Gate 3, so the Wing it was. Presented my invitation to the lounge agent, and after a brief walk around, I discovered I was their customer of the morning.
Talked to the agent upstairs to see whether I could get my return boarding pass, and after a few minutes of keyboard tapping, she asked whether the first row would be OK, fine by me...
Went to the Noodles Bar for some hearty breakfast. It's quite tasty, if the serving was a bit small. The pan-friend pork bun and the Chinese soya milk (not sure what the English name is) were served warm and I needed 2 servings, plus some dim sums from the buffet section to quiet my stomach. Who knew sitting in metal tubes being fed all the time could make one hungry...
A few more suits arrived at the lounge, but there were at most a dozen customers at this hour of the day. After some email checking, my attention span ran out so I left the lounge and walked around the shops. BTW, I got an email from home that my 'lost' luggage had arrived...
I didn't do any shopping, but I planned my purchases for tomorrow when I leave HKG for home. I didn't want to buy them now and only to carry them back here tomorrow. Flights at this hour seemed to have relatively light load, there was a CX flight to SYD at my neighbouring gate. That flight was an Airbus something-or-rather (not too hot on plane-spotting), but there were 150 passengers at the most, and I was being generous... It was probably closer to 100.
It's time to board my flight, again with separate queues and separate doors for first/business and economy passengers. I didn't ask for any seat assignments for any of my CX flights as there seemed to be a reputation for CX to swap planes in the last minute from previously advertised. However, none happened during my trip, and this flight was served by a 747. I got a seat upstairs and the load was about 50% upstairs. Yet again, I was stuck with someone next to me when there were plenty of empty seats about. Pre-departure drinks, newspapers were offered and gladly accepted. For some reasons, I was especially hungry and I had 2 of their Kiwi Delight drinks even before the doors were closed...
Anyway, just before the doors were closed, I moved into an empty row at a window seat. The CSD came around and introduced herself and welcomed each individual passenger. The menu was also offered at the same time.
After levelling out, breakfast was served. It was all laid out on a trolley for your selection. Lucky I'd a decent amount of food at the lounge, as the breakfast (regardless of which choice) was swimming in oil. I didn't what type of oil they used, but it surely couldn't be good for you...
As it turned out, the window seat wasn't that flash and the IFE screen would flicker every few seconds, so I moved across to the aisle seat - my 3rd seat of this flight... Since this was a long-haul aircraft, the seat was the better long-haul seat and the IFE also had AVOD. With AVOD (and probably it being morning), I was able to watch the whole movie without falling asleep for once...
With very favourable winds, we only needed some 3:45, instead of the 4:15 advertised in today's programme... Hmmm, I wondered how long the return flight would need...