teriyaki

I don't recall ever writing a full trip report before so this may very be my first one. Go easy guys

3 months ago.
Thanks to this FT Thread , I was able to nab a ticket from YVR-HKG at a price never before seen. A co-worker of mine was lucky enough to be at dinner with me when the fare broke, naturally at this price there was little convicing needed. 2 Tickets to HKG booked on a whim.

Outbound YVR-SEA-HKG August 14
Inbound HKG-SEA-YVR August 21

End to end. 7 days.

2 days later. News broke that my grandmother whom lives in Hong Kong passed away. My family, who resides in Vancouver immediately made plans to fly back to join with our extended family for the funeral. By this time, the deal was already long gone and fare prices were back to normal. We ended up booking those flights to HKG for about five times the cost of this itinerary, but in times like that money is the least of your worries. You just want to be there. I did not take pictures or log any details of this earlier trip, our moods were too solemn and minds too unfocused.

Back to the itinerary at hand, after all the dust had settled and I was back in Vancouver. I realized I had a small problem on my hands. I had another trip to HKG coming up in about a months time. After some very non-decisive banter, we decided that we'd forgo HKG altogether since both of us had recently just visited and instead make that a launch-pad for a budget trip to SE Asia. We set our sights on the cheapest possible flights out of HKG and somehow we ended up with Singapore. What is a trip to Singapore without a stop in Malaysia though, so we added KUL to our itinerary with a cheap AirAsia flight from SIN to KUL. Now time was not on our side, and we really wanted to keep the budget low. What did we do? Book an overnight train from KUL to SIN to save both on one nights accomodation and save on travelling costs.

After all the planning was done and all the flights and train booked, what started as a simple trip to HKG, our itinerary ended up looking like this.

YVR-SEA-HKG-SIN-KUL-SIN-HKG-SEA-YVR, all in economy, and all packed into 7 days. I was a little nervous to say the least.

By the end of this though, this would yet again change. We'll find out why later.

Note: I did not plan on writing a full report on this trip. Most of the pictures only encompass the DL281 trip from SEA-HKG since I wanted to document that the most for FT. The rest will be snippets of the other flights and mainly the food of SE Asia.

With that long introduction out of the way. Off we go.

teriyaki

Leg 1 YVR-SEA

First leg of the trip means we need to make our way down to Seattle. This short hop consisted of a quick flight aboard an Alaska Air operated by Horizon Air Q400. I don't know what it is, but these things just make me a tad more nervous when I get on. Oh how we're spoiled by the jet age. All-in-all. It was a very short flight, about 30 minutes and we were back on the ground in Seattle. Alaska employees are always upbeat and friendly, and this flight was no exception. All the ground staff and FA's seemed to genuinely enjoy their job and enjoy helping people.

Only got one good shot of the Q400 here.

005 by teriyakijack, on Flickr

This is only my second time taking a Q400, and each time its a joy because who doesn't like a good standing on the tarmac. An Avgeek's delight, even as the rain started to sprinkle in Seattle. After a few blissful moments, our baggage was unloaded and we made the trek inside to the shelter of the Delta Sky Lounge in Terminal S.

Next up.. the new Delta Service from Seattle to Hong Kong in Y

teriyaki

Leg 2 SEA-HKG

On to the main course. Our layover in Seattle was 4 hours after a quick morning jaunt over from YVR. I was excited to traverse to the south satellite for the first time in Seattle, and of course check out the Delta Lounge since today was coincidentally the first day of their new lounge food options.

I ended up taking more videos than pictures here. I compiled a video TR logging the entire DL281 experience. If you'd rather video than a text heavy TR, then click the link below for a Video TR.

Video Trip Report of DL 281 SEA-HKG Service

Before we could find our way to the south satellite though, I thought I'd pop by the Alaska Lounge to see what that was all about. My travelling companion (lets name him RA) has never been inside a lounge before so he was equally excited.

We spent about an hour lounging around in the AS lounge. We found ourselves a nice corner overlooking the tarmac and proceeded to utilize the free wi-fi to get back into our "social" networks. Time flies when you're on the internet and I suggested we mosey our way over to the other terminal to check out the Delta offering. RA was comfortable where we were though, and asked if the Delta lounge would be able to top this experience. I couldn't promise anything as I'd never been, so I just crossed my fingers and said "yes absolutely".

We took the train over to the main concourse, and made our way around to the south side and hopped onto another train that connects to the South Satellite where all the international flights depart. My eyes lit up as the plane-spotting started shifting from small regional aircraft to A330's, 767's and 747's. This was the terminal to be at. We stepped off our little train and scouted for the entrance of the Skyteam Lounge. We managed to find the stairs among the chaos and giddily ran up and into the throes of a wonderful lounge attendant.

We chatted while she verified our boarding passes and passports. She printed us off new BP's since our original were issued by AS, not sure if this benefited us in any way but sure why not. I asked if they had their new food set-up already and she was quite amused at how I came to hold this knowledge. I kept my mouth shut

We were in. The lounge was bright and airy. We headed straight to find ourselves a nice sitting area and it deemed quite a challenge. The lounge was packed! After some scouting, we managed to secure two seats in what I can only describe as high-blue-wall-chairs. You sit in these and all you can see around you is blue cloth.

We went to grab ourselves some food, and of course check out what the new menu offered.

012 by teriyakijack, on Flickr
013 by teriyakijack, on Flickr

The Salad was surprisingly tasty, as was the soup of the day. Also tried the hummus spread and it was also outstanding. Delta has got themselves some winners in terms of food in this lounge. Before we knew it, it was time for boarding and we headed downstairs after saying goodbye to the lovely lounge attendant.

We missed some of the early boarding process and we walked straight into the short line and got our passes scanned and onto the jetway.

We were seated in row 16. Regular economy, not fancy economy. My extensive research foretold me we'd atleast we had power ports, and we did. We didn't end up needing them since DL's IFE has a USB charging port that is handy for charging up your personal belongings.

024 by teriyakijack, on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127277...n/photostream/


I found the menu that they pass out upon boarding really neat. It tells you exactly what to expect in terms of food service. It also outlines the food options, and drink options. I wish every flight had this. It would completely eliminate those nervous moments when a FA asks you for your meal choice, and you have to make a split-second decision (usually regretting it after).

[/url]031 by teriyakijack, on Flickr032 by teriyakijack, on Flickr
033 by teriyakijack, on Flickr

After pushback, we taxiied out to the runway where we were 3rd in line for take-off. Moments later, we were rumbling down the runway and airborne! Finally, we were on our way across the great Pacific.
041 by teriyakijack, on Flickr

dat4life

Nice start, teriyaki. It may seem small but the menus and the other little touches Delta has brought back to international coach does make it seem more "premium". Out of curiosity, what did you use to access the Board Room and SkyClub?

roastpuff

Nice TR so far, looking forward to it as I'm taking DL199 to ICN instead of HKG in Nov!

dat4life - my guess is Amex Plat or Priority Pass?

worldtraveller73

My gosh Delta International Economy is miles ahead of $misek's United.

In seat back IFE,
Printed menus in economy,
Free alcoholic beverages,

If only their FFP was better . . . I've have total reason to switch over!

Annalisa12

In enjoyed your detailed trip report. Thanks for posting.

teriyaki

I actually did a Status challenge to Delta to get access. In a perfect world this one trip would have been enough, but things are not perfect in this world and things go awry.

Yea, Delta is on a completely different level. My last flight transpac flight on UA was just plain misery both on my end and seemingly the FA's end.

richmond3121

I've got a theory on this - adding a menu back into economy class makes the food and beverage service far more accessible for non-English speaking passengers, especially the way this menu is designed. With the characters next to the English equivalent, a passenger can point at a menu choice and the cabin crew can understand the choice, rather than shouting back and forth... all for the, what, 5˘ it costs to print a menu like this.

Clever, and a easy way to improve the in-flight experience and possibly generate some repeat business.

Just a theory though

teriyaki

I don't doubt that at all. Although Delta must have made their best efforts to find capable Mandarin and Cantonese speaking F/A's for this route, it is painfully obvious that they were not used to speaking the language fluently. Refer to the video and you can hear some sample soundbites. Not an issue, but I do remember myself having a chuckle at some of the awkward silences during boarding announcements.

Apologies for the late updates, not used to writing trip reports (let alone on time)


Lets continue with the journey.

I don't remember at what time first meal service came around but I definitely hadn't finished my first movie yet. I chose the Beef Stragonoff for the the first meal service. I was wary of how good the asian option would've been. I usually save that choice for when I'm leaving from an asian airport. Not sure if this factors into the quality of meals at all but I feel one should stick to what one country is more adept in.

054

Anyways, it was decent. Washed everything down with my favourite drink in the air. Tomato Juice. (I would later discover that Tomato Juice on CX is completely different from all other juices I've had on all NA Carriers)

060

Not even half way yet... But we have more food to look forward to!

Here is the mid flight snack they handed out. It comes in a really nifty draw-string bag.

064

I kind of wanted to keep the bag even though it had contained food products. Downside of presenting the Banana this way was that mines was completely bruised (likely be jamming in all the snack bags together).

Here it is opened up to reveal all the goodies inside.

067

The quality of the food was alright. The sandwich is the only real catered food here and lets just say the included mayo really saved it. I completely recommend using the entire package if one plans on eating this sandwich

I actually managed to get some sleep in on and off for a few hours during this flight which rarely happens on Trans-pac flights for me, especially the outbound since I'm usually much too excited to start a trip to sleep. Seat comfort was good on the A330 on Delta. I was in the Aisle seat. It is kind of hard to explain but one as less legroom width when in the aisle due to the placement of the seat supports in front. If one is looking for good legroom, definitely go for the window seat.

We had our 3rd and final meal service and I chose once again to have the western option.

072

I had a slight issue with this meal. The chicken inside was slightly undercooked and I didn't even realize it until I had scarfed down about 90% of it. It wasn't raw or anything, but there was definitely some cause for concern for me at this point in time since I have a relatively weak stomach and you never want to have stomach issues while on board a plane.

Nevertheless, I didn't appear to have any issues with the food. Another movie or two later and we were on final approach for HKG, one of my favourite cities in the world.

I didn't take many pictures while on approach or landing since I've been here more than a few times but the AA 777 sitting pretty in HKG did catch my attention.

080

We were parked at the main termainal but one of the furthest gates from the main concourse so after deplaning we had to take the shuttle which was able to swallow all the passengers and whisk us off to immigration in about 1 minute.

I did have HKID so I was able to utlilize the highly efficient express gates through immigration. No interogation, no passport stamping, just scan your finger and go. Mr.R though would have to go through regular visitors immigration so I waited at baggage claim to reconvene. Baggage came out shortly after I arrived at the carousel. All-in-all, the speed was pretty expedient considering how far our gate was.

Next up. A 16 hour layover in HKG

tcook052

Had you considered buying Economy Comfort seats? Just curious.

siaa380

When I took my flight, I ended up springing for the exit row seats (which you can buy for $50 at T-24). I had the whole exit row to myself and the leg room was plentiful. You get access to spirits in Y on DL so I felt like this was a better option then EC

tcook052

Sounds nice IF exit row seats are available at T-24 which is a gamble. I was a little curious to hear if OP had considered EC and if they passed on it why.

teriyaki

In fact, I was really contemplating opting for the EC seats. However, since Mr.R would've had to pay full price for the EC upgrade both ways we opted to just stay put in regular Y. It really wasn't too bad, but for $60 bucks I think i'd opt for the EC if travelling alone.

tcook052

$60? DL is quoting CAD$153 one way SEA-HKG in Feb. upgrade to EC.