moondog

I took 2 HX flights this week, which might have been my first ever (I'm not 100% sure). I wasn't too worried about them going under because both were close in bookings.

Following are a few comments:
-I flew from SHA to HKG and returned to PVG
-both flights were on single class A320s
-the SHA-HKG flight was pretty sweet from a convenience standpoint; in fact
-the food was definitely edible (let's call it a midpoint between MU and KA)
-I found the staff to be friendly/professional
-they use PVG S1 (at least for my flight), which I greatly dislike

All in all, they exceeded my expectations, which were admittedly low.

uanj

HX is not really not bad but they struggle with IRROPS. By the way, be grateful for flying into S1 at PVG, HX used to use a lot of bus gates and it could take a long time for the bus to arrive and then you got packed in like sardines. S1 is faster than those remote bus gates.

moondog

I strongly disagree. One of the --often missed-- benefits of bus gates on arrival is that the bus actually brings you to where you need to be in order escape the airport in a semi-timely manner. I don't like the sardine thing either, but the train between S1/S2 and T1/T2 isn't exactly a picnic on this front. In any case, bus gates on arrival are MUCH FASTER than S1.

I can't speak for departures yet, and I must admit that I dislike bus gates on departure. I typically wait for the last bus, which tends to be a minbus with seats for all; this isn't so bad. My main issue is that the waiting areas feel like bus stations.

All that having been said, SHA T1 is vastly superior to PVG, and this was even the case prior to the renovation.

uanj

Moondog, by your own admission you just flew HX for the first time last week and did not get a remote gate at PVG. For the last several years prior to the opening of S1 flying either of the last two HX flights from HKG to PVG entailed a remote gate and there were many times we waited 20-30 minutes for the first bus to arrive.

moondog

I am well schooled wrt remote gates at PVG, though mostly on MU and FM. They are the same gates that HX used to avail of. I am quite confident that these are much faster than any S1 arrivals because I keep data on this stuff.

percysmith

"The aircraft, which have been stored, have not flown for three to 11 months. According to industry data, most of the planes affected are owned by the airline or a leasing company linked to its controlling shareholder, HNA Group."

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...er-ailing-hong

glasszon

I am due to fly with them in a week's time, I know no one has a crystal ball, but has anyone took a flight with them recently and can tell how things are going on the ground?

moondog

I flew them twice last week (as you can see from my posts upthread), and I thought they were pretty solid.

percysmith

Food



Seat (no TV and no individual seat map)

fuc847

can someone please confirm what you CAN do with the in-flight entertainment system? i have a toddler flying on HKA for 14 hrs on Jan 24th.. and i prefer if i can at least access some games on it. i mean not even flight map or data?

this is on airbus a350 i believe, is it a touchscreen also?

thanks,

EVA777

Might as well pretend it's not even there. No functionality at all. The safety demonstration was even done manually. The only thing I saw other than the date / time screen (which wasn't even right) was the front landing gear camera for about 10 minutes at take off and about 15 minutes before landing. Nothing more.

Are you flying from YVR or LAX? I am thinking the LAX route won't make it past the next week or 2. I know its scheduled to end February 8th but no tickets can be purchased for the LAX flight leading me to believe it will get axed once the heavy holiday travel is over.

dici

You can refer to the post #69 over this thread, they suspend the IFE system

east_west

I made the mistake of booking a UA flight with an HX connecting leg that has a long overnight layover in HKG. It looks like there are earlier HX flights available to my destination. Does anyone know if HX would allow me to fly standby on an earlier flight? Any charges for this?

brunos

Maybe HX paid supplier with recent cash injection, and the system is operational again.

Repooc17

I flew HX earlier this month ex-HKG (which had two go-arounds due to wind shear) and a diversion, the IFE system was operational in picture but no volume. Maps work as well as it could on an old A330, as well as entertainment (movies, TV series, etc), just without the sound.

Super light load. FAs were great, especially with multiple go arounds and subsequent diversion, they handled the situation as well as they could, despite obvious frustrations from many of the pax, and quite a few entitled Chinese pax with their unreasonable demands.