Maximising sleep on Dragonair?
Feb 9, 2019, 5:58 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 20
Maximising sleep on Dragonair?
Never flown with Cathay before - occasional Easyjet around Europe is more my norm for work 
I’m going to be flying HKG to HND on a flight numbered CX5396, which I understand is actually a Dragon flight. In “Regional Business”, and yes, I’ve read all the comments about the seats
It’s a 4.5 hour flight, from 2350 to 0525 local, and I want to get as much sleep as possible in order to function in Tokyo the next day. No interest in any food and drink service on the plane (if they even do any at that time) beyond possibly a bottle of water.
Presumably the flight attendants can take a hint if I’m asleep, and not try to wake me up to shove breakfast at me? Or do they have cards with a choice to tick like I’ve seen a few times, or do I need to have a word beforehand?
Any other hints from the experienced here? It’s currently shown as an A321 and I picked a window seat halfway along as being most “tucked away” from anything, but there’s probably still scope to change if there’s a better idea.
I’m assuming the flight will depart from the North Satellite - is that a safe bet or do Dragon fly from main gates as well?
Cheers,
Pete
I’m going to be flying HKG to HND on a flight numbered CX5396, which I understand is actually a Dragon flight. In “Regional Business”, and yes, I’ve read all the comments about the seats
It’s a 4.5 hour flight, from 2350 to 0525 local, and I want to get as much sleep as possible in order to function in Tokyo the next day. No interest in any food and drink service on the plane (if they even do any at that time) beyond possibly a bottle of water.
Presumably the flight attendants can take a hint if I’m asleep, and not try to wake me up to shove breakfast at me? Or do they have cards with a choice to tick like I’ve seen a few times, or do I need to have a word beforehand?
Any other hints from the experienced here? It’s currently shown as an A321 and I picked a window seat halfway along as being most “tucked away” from anything, but there’s probably still scope to change if there’s a better idea.
I’m assuming the flight will depart from the North Satellite - is that a safe bet or do Dragon fly from main gates as well?
Cheers,
Pete
Feb 9, 2019, 7:28 pm
#2
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: CX, UA, Shangri-La, Hyatt, Starwood
Posts: 7,708
Unfortunately there really isn't much strategy to this.
It's an awful flight for sleep.
Hard product is same Cathay Pacific regional J and Cathay Dragon J. You can find a million reviews on them here, not many favorable, particularly for sleeping . Since they do the slide forward thing not much of a real recline.
Japan is an hour ahead of HK fyi. In reality your airborne time will be approx 3-3.5 hours tops. And of course that includes descent, getting up to 10k feet, etc.i think you'll be lucky with 2.5 hours of peace and that includes the meal sevice.
There is no seat "tucked away" on any KA config. But of the four plane types they fly, the 33R - 3 class A333 with F - is probably best because J class is spread across two cabins. However, this configuration never flies HND, in fact neither does the other A333 (33C, 2 class, 1 big J cabin). HND is almost always / always flown by a narrow body.
Cathay Dragon flies from both the satellite and main terminal. So "yes" to your question. But it's unfortunately missing the point, because the satellite will be used for NARROW body planes, which your HND flight is almost certain to be.
Sorry to be the bearer of had news. My recommendation if you really want to arrive Tokyo refreshed is take a different flight!
It's an awful flight for sleep.
Hard product is same Cathay Pacific regional J and Cathay Dragon J. You can find a million reviews on them here, not many favorable, particularly for sleeping . Since they do the slide forward thing not much of a real recline.
Japan is an hour ahead of HK fyi. In reality your airborne time will be approx 3-3.5 hours tops. And of course that includes descent, getting up to 10k feet, etc.i think you'll be lucky with 2.5 hours of peace and that includes the meal sevice.
There is no seat "tucked away" on any KA config. But of the four plane types they fly, the 33R - 3 class A333 with F - is probably best because J class is spread across two cabins. However, this configuration never flies HND, in fact neither does the other A333 (33C, 2 class, 1 big J cabin). HND is almost always / always flown by a narrow body.
Cathay Dragon flies from both the satellite and main terminal. So "yes" to your question. But it's unfortunately missing the point, because the satellite will be used for NARROW body planes, which your HND flight is almost certain to be.
Sorry to be the bearer of had news. My recommendation if you really want to arrive Tokyo refreshed is take a different flight!
Feb 9, 2019, 8:30 pm
#3
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: MPC-DM, Enrich-Plat
Posts: 1,310
Never flown with Cathay before - occasional Easyjet around Europe is more my norm for work
I’m going to be flying HKG to HND on a flight numbered CX5396, which I understand is actually a Dragon flight. In “Regional Business”, and yes, I’ve read all the comments about the seats
It’s a 4.5 hour flight, from 2350 to 0525 local, and I want to get as much sleep as possible in order to function in Tokyo the next day. No interest in any food and drink service on the plane (if they even do any at that time) beyond possibly a bottle of water.
Presumably the flight attendants can take a hint if I’m asleep, and not try to wake me up to shove breakfast at me? Or do they have cards with a choice to tick like I’ve seen a few times, or do I need to have a word beforehand?
Any other hints from the experienced here? It’s currently shown as an A321 and I picked a window seat halfway along as being most “tucked away” from anything, but there’s probably still scope to change if there’s a better idea.
I’m assuming the flight will depart from the North Satellite - is that a safe bet or do Dragon fly from main gates as well?
Cheers,
Pete
I’m going to be flying HKG to HND on a flight numbered CX5396, which I understand is actually a Dragon flight. In “Regional Business”, and yes, I’ve read all the comments about the seats
It’s a 4.5 hour flight, from 2350 to 0525 local, and I want to get as much sleep as possible in order to function in Tokyo the next day. No interest in any food and drink service on the plane (if they even do any at that time) beyond possibly a bottle of water.
Presumably the flight attendants can take a hint if I’m asleep, and not try to wake me up to shove breakfast at me? Or do they have cards with a choice to tick like I’ve seen a few times, or do I need to have a word beforehand?
Any other hints from the experienced here? It’s currently shown as an A321 and I picked a window seat halfway along as being most “tucked away” from anything, but there’s probably still scope to change if there’s a better idea.
I’m assuming the flight will depart from the North Satellite - is that a safe bet or do Dragon fly from main gates as well?
Cheers,
Pete
Assuming you do fly J, there is that famous oddly reclining J seat, with a very small chance you get something better when a 330 is swapped in.
However, even that ugly seat is not the end of the world. Just take care to recline the seat only a very little and slide down your body, hanging in the seat belt, you may be able to relax sufficiently to doze off. At least, I manage to do so. As a matter of fact, when I want to sleep in that seat, I don't recline at all, slide down, put on the blanket and even before the aircraft is in the air, I lifted of. I sometimes even skip the welcome drink. I usually wake up around 2-2.5 hours later. If there is still time left, I sometimes manage to get drinks and some food too (that's with the cathay pacific flavor).
The cabin crew is not going to disturb you when you sleep, since you follow the "rules": seat belt on, seat upright.
And as QRC3288 wrote: The flight itself is shorter than the time difference between the listed departure and arrival time.
Oh: And yes, it's a shame to have to "use" a J seat in such a way, to be able to sleep
Feb 10, 2019, 12:27 am
#4
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Join Date: Dec 2004
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Feb 10, 2019, 12:41 am
#6
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 564
If you want to function properly the following day, these short overnight flights to Japan/Korea aren't the way to go. Far better to fly the day before if at all possible and have a bed for the night. Every time I have taken this flight, I've been exhausted and little productive the next day.
Feb 10, 2019, 3:39 am
#7
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,800
You can sleep the whole flight
Ignore everything on board
When I did the flight for NYE, I got there in a little under 3 hours. Yawn!
Just try to stay awake for the morning and get a nap in the arvo.
Ignore everything on board
When I did the flight for NYE, I got there in a little under 3 hours. Yawn!
Just try to stay awake for the morning and get a nap in the arvo.
Feb 10, 2019, 8:11 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 20
I absolutely intend to do that. Plan is to change into comfortable sleeping clothes shortly before boarding, and settle in to “sleep mode” as soon as I sit down. As I said in the original post, I don’t want to waste any time with food or drink especially since I have a bit of time in the Pier beforehand (then probably Qantas for a last drink immediately before, with the adjacent “secret” lift down to the bus station
).Interesting point about leaving the seat upright instead of reclining, so that I don’t need to be woken up on the descent. I’ll see how it feels in the different modes.
As far as choice of flight - I don’t need to conduct business or anything the next day in Tokyo, and should have an opportunity for a nap during the morning. I do specifically want to fly to Haneda rather than Narita, and the late departure out of Hong Kong suits my plans there well. So I’m content with this choice of flight, just want to make the most of the brief sleeping period available during it.
Thanks,
Pete
Feb 11, 2019, 2:48 am
#9
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: UK. BAEC AAdvantage
Programs: Mucci Des Oeufs Brouilles et des Canards
Posts: 3,671
Sure, but if they were stupid about it they might wake me up in the process of finding out that I don’t want any. I assume that’s not the case, but I thought I’d ask just in case someone replied “yeah, they’ll do that unless you do XYZ before you go to sleep”.
I absolutely intend to do that. Plan is to change into comfortable sleeping clothes shortly before boarding, and settle in to “sleep mode” as soon as I sit down. As I said in the original post, I don’t want to waste any time with food or drink especially since I have a bit of time in the Pier beforehand (then probably Qantas for a last drink immediately before, with the adjacent “secret” lift down to the bus station
).Interesting point about leaving the seat upright instead of reclining, so that I don’t need to be woken up on the descent. I’ll see how it feels in the different modes.
As far as choice of flight - I don’t need to conduct business or anything the next day in Tokyo, and should have an opportunity for a nap during the morning. I do specifically want to fly to Haneda rather than Narita, and the late departure out of Hong Kong suits my plans there well. So I’m content with this choice of flight, just want to make the most of the brief sleeping period available during it.
Thanks,
Pete
And most importantly, just relax. If you're uptight about getting to sleep you won't no matter what you've done prepare. You haven't said what you are doing on the day of departure? Maybe exercise to tire yourself out. If you have time, get a hot shower at the airport to relax some more. Good luck!
Feb 11, 2019, 7:52 am
#10
Suspended
Join Date: May 2006
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Posts: 9,952
just tell the crew when they serve welcome drink shortly after you board (theres only 8 seats, it wont take that long)
then you can doze off. (2355 is too early for me to doze off)
then you can doze off. (2355 is too early for me to doze off)