CDG-HKG in J
 

I finally had a CX flight that operated after 6 cancellations.
It was the once weekly A350 CX260. I am currently waiting for test results at HKIA, then 21 days quarantine.
Being very experienced with CX J/F up to 2020, I try to outline some 2021 differences.

Pre-airport: Getting all required papers (especially PCR reports) is a nightmare. CX is very proactive in contacting you and recommending solutions. They offer a verify by email services to check documents, even on Sunday.

Airport: CX tripled check documents at airport (actually 3 different checkers). No line as there were so few pax.
NO LOUNGE. CX was moved from TA to TE during covid. Most other airlines (e.g. QR) that got moved entered a contract with a private lounge, but CX did not. A silly cost-cutting measure.

Onboard: Fourteen J pax, 3 in PE, around 15-20 in Y. More rows than pax.
Food/service was good. Normal cutlery. The only difference is that starter and main dish were served on same tray. Otherwise, normal drink service (with nuts), cheese service, dessert service.
Frankly, food was quite noce.
Wines are mediocre to undrinkable. This is a recent trend with CX, as with many other airlines. But I am a wine aficionado and CX is really very bad for wine.
The A350 J seat is really nice and an improvement over the 777 seat. The new duvet is 5*, the best of all airlines even in F. The bed cover is nice too, but I doubled it with a folded duvet and that made an excellent bedding.

Altogether a good experience during covid (flight was cancelled and rescheduled 3 times)

When I flew back from FRA 2 weeks ago, no email document check was offered and only 1 staff checked my documents at airport.

And I totally agree with you that CX provides good J service during the pandemic and the A350 seat / Bamford bedding were superb.

By the way, any chance you took a photo of the menu? Just curious how different it was compared to my CX288 meal.

Good that you had a nice experience on board. Cathay’s document is a good service other airlines don’t offer.

However, I fail to understand the feasibility of these flights: All the Europe flights land in HKG in the morning. It effectively means your quarantine stay is 12 hours longer compared to those arriving in the afternoon/evening (like QR, LH, BA). Also, CDG, FRA Only have a weekly service with so many schedule changes. LH or QR seem to be much better options from Europe.

Yes but how often do QR flights get suspended.... so it can quite unrealable too

thanks for sharing your experience brunos

i think that most of CX flights are fairly empty these days and it’s so unbelievable how still CX is unwilling to help and support customers during irrops, especially after few of them in a row.

these are though days but sooner or later we will al get over them
and when business and travel will be back to normal, I wonder if pax after going through the CX non-existent customer care, will still choose to fly with them

I for one would rather land in the am, get all the testing done and be in the hotel by early afternoon. A 8-10hr difference doesn't really matter - it's a travel day... but maybe people like to have it as short as possible. I've so far hear of no one who actively choose a flight because it lands late. On the other hand everyone I know has left on the dot at midnight on release day.

Flights arriving late have the risk of delay and your whole hotel booking would be useless if you landed in HK the next day.
Then the government would probably send you to the Penny's Bay concentration camp for your 2-3 weeks quarantine.

I fully agree with you for the arrival time. It also reduces the risk of a complete chaos if your flight is delayed and lands after midnight as was the case during the recent typhoon and a BA flight.

A bit surprised by you point about leaving Q hotel on the dot a midnight. You need to make appointment for checkout so that corridors don't get busy. That means that most guests can only check out well past midnight. And then it can be a very long ride between hotel and empty home. Among people I know, many staid until breakfast. That is certainly what I will do with wifey in a few days . Of course, if you live near hotel and family is waiting for you, that is a different story.

But how much would they charge for that?

Looks like they won't send you to Penny's Bay after all:

https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/d...returnees.html

If, due to delay of my flight, I arrive in Hong Kong one day behind the schedule, do I need to bear the room cost for the extra night?
The quarantine period should be counted from the actual date of arrival in Hong Kong. Therefore, your compulsory quarantine period will automatically be pushed back by a day, and you have to bear any additional costs on room booking.

This issue has been widely reported when some flights got diverted during the past two typhoons in October (e.g. BA31).
The problem is that pax arrived one day later and had to extend their Q hotel by one day. Hotels were full for that extra day. Lots of problems for pax of BA31 diverted to Manila. Pax had to call from there to change bookings. For flights which were delayed to the next day, the DOH requested that they have proper hotel booking before being allowed to board. Penny Bay was a possible alternative.
Trying to book a Q hotel, or change a booking due to flight cancellation, is currently a nightmare,. And it won't improve with increased travel of western or Chinese New Year.

In some ways I’d prefer penny bay than a hotel. At least can open the windows.

Sorry, i should have stated that Penny Bay's just my wild guess.
I did ask a DoH staff at airport what would happen if someone don't have proper hotel booking somehow successfully enters HK, and he said they would ask the pax to call hotels until he could find one, but he didn't mention what would happen if one fail to do that.
I don't think they would be so cruel to send the pax to where he came from, so Penny Bay seems a possible choice. But again, just my speculation.