TimUT78

After several years of flying longhaul F and J, mostly from the benefits of being an AA EXP, this business trip marks the first longhaul trip I have taken in Y for a long time. This is my first trip since being reduced to AA Gold.

AA 2412 - SAT-DFW - Y - MD80

I arrived a bit earlier than I needed to for the flight, but I've always been paranoid about the SAT parking situation. There's been more than one occasion where I've come close to just giving up and going home because the parking structure was filled. This morning, there was plenty of space. Check-in was okay--I was still able to check in at the F counter with AA Gold. I had TSA PreCheck, so I was through in just about a minute.

This segment was just the regular SAT-DFW service on the MD80. I hear the MD80 is being phased out, I suppose I'll miss it a bit. Nothing major to report. The FAs in Y were actually quite cheerful considering it was so early the morning.

AA 137 - DFW-HKG - MCE - 773

Near boarding time, the AC made boarding announcements. I was impressed that the announcements were in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. In fact, all announcements at the gate and on the plane were made in all three languages--almost felt like I was in HKIA.

Here's the new 777-300ER. I was pretty excited to try the new plane, and was curious if this flight would be any different from AA's other longhaul Y that I experienced in the past. Since I booked this flight while I was still Platinum I was able to select MCE for free. Golds are now charged 50% of the rate.


Here was seat and legroom.


The IFE was actually quite good with an excellent selection of new and old movies. Way better than what I recall on that old 772 IFE where movies were played on a rotation. The touch screen was nice and responsive--maybe not as much as an iPad. There was a regular 3 prong AC power outlet under my seat and a USB plug under the IFE screen. There was a port for earplugs under the IFE screen and on the armrest. Apparently, you can chat with people on the plane. I noticed many people logged on but no one was chatting. It's also weird since our seat numbers were listed, too. Might be strange to chatting online when I can see the others from my seat.


The flight started with a hot towel service followed by drinks and pretzels. They didn't offer any ice and I didn't see anyone ask for ice throughout the whole trip. I figured they just didn't have any, but at least the cans were cold.


For lunch, I had the pork and fried rice, which came with a salad and edamame. I thought it was quite good. The pork sauce was a bit too saucy, but I know they try to enhance flavors to account for the altitude's effects on the taste buds. The rice was tasted great and I like the edamame. The Double Crunch Brownie was awesome--I know it was prepackaged, but I could have had several of these. I did not eat the roll as it seemed to be stale. Another drink service followed the meal service.


I tried to do some work on the flight. I purchased the wifi for $19 so I could do some work. It was a bit hard since the tray table sat a bit low. The connection was pretty crappy, especially on my laptop. It was very slow and I was just checking email and messaging people. iMessage wouldn't work on Macbook and I couldn't Facebook barely loaded. What was great though was that I was able to switch devices so long as I logged into the AAInflight each time. I'm sure you could only use one device at a time. The wifi connection was slightly better on my iPhone. The Wifi doesn't work when flying over China!

I spent a lot of time in the galley where i just walked and stretched. Others were just hanging out there as well. The fact that it was one of the longest flights in the world was tiring on the body, so it was good to have this area to stand. I also hung out in the back of the plane where there were also some water, juices, and left over midflight snack boxes. The FAs kept their curtains closed and were chatting away back there. Here's the galley before the FAs put out the snacks.


The galley was stocked pretty well with Milano cookies, water, juices, and Kettle chips. There was definitely a larger quantity than what is pictured here.


On one of my visits to the galley, an FA came in and turned the lights off. There were still a couple of us standing in there.

Walking back and forth in Y, I saw that every seat was taken. It makes me think that AA should have started this route sooner when I still had eVIPs!!!

Here was the midflight snack box. It had a very cold sandwich--the roll itself was a bit hard. It would have been better to have it come to room temperature more. It came with a Salted Caramel ice cream, but like with most inflight ice cream it was hard as a rock. However, the ice cream was delicious once it melted a bit.


The pre-arrival meal service started about 45 minutes before landing (compared to 1.5 hours on my return flight), which made it a rushed meal. I had the chicken and rice, which was also good. There was something wrong with my strawberry.


When we landed, I started feeling wet. There was condensation leaking from the vents above me onto my back, my pants, and the blanket that I had to cushion my back. I reported it to the FA, who did apologize for it.

I did not care for the cabin crew. As my seatmates noted, not one FA smiled during the entire flight and their timing was all off. During all meal services, the L side received their meals/drinks well ahead of the R side (where I was sitting). I also thought that our pre-arrival meal was served pretty late. When a couple of us were standing in the galley having snacks, one of the FAs came over and turned the lights on us.

Otherwise, I was as comfortable as I could be when it came to flying (MCE) coach. I had (spotty) internet connection most of the time, and the food was surprisingly good. I liked the mood lighting, which was the new AA blue in the ceiling and red on the side panels with the white overhead bins unlit. It actually looked like a good way to show of the AA colors.

We landed in HKG and I was so happy to be off the plane. I headed for the transit area. There was no one in line and I was able to airside in only a few minutes.

CX 464 - HKG-TPE - Y - A330

I was able to access the Plaza Premium Lounge with my Priority Pass Select. It's not my favorite lounge by far in HKIA, but it was okay. All the dining options were open, but I was still quite full from my AA flight! What I don't like about the Premium Plaza Lounge is that the last time, they roped off some areas for "Airline Invitation Only". Tonight, it was for "Cabin Crew Only". A whole section and even the open sections were taken by Emirates crew. Interestingly enough, the Emirates Lounge is across the hallway. I stayed there long enough to charge some stuff, check my email, and use the restroom. Then, I just headed to the gate and walked around. There was an hour delay because of TPE was down to one runway. The BR flight across the hall was supposed to take off around the same time and was also delayed.

Eventually, we boarded the flight. It wasn't a full flight. I had an empty seat between me and the person in the window. We were 7th for takeoff when we got in line! Even for a short flight, they handed out snack boxes in these nice paper bags. It was a hot chicken wrap with a box of oolong tea. The brown paper bags with the CX ribbons would have made a cute souvenir.


There was no formal drink service. However, the FAs did ask the Diamond/OW Emeralds if they'd like something else to drink when they were welcomed aboard by the ISM. Sigh, I remember those days fondly.

We landed in some heavy rain. It didn't talk too long to get through customs and immigration, especially since I only had carryon. I thought that, for some reason, there was a train or high speed rail from the airport, but it turns out they are still building that. Fortunately, I found a bus that took me to town.

CX 403 - TPE-HKG - Y - A340

The airport was fairly quiet, the CX F and J counters were all open but there was only one person in line for F. I used the CX J line to check in, with my lowly OW Ruby status. The TA was a very nice lady who was wearing a black overcoat with the CX nametag, but I'm not certain she was wearing a CX uniform underneath. I had the same observation in ICN at the JL ticket counter where the TAs were KE agents but wearing a black jacket (their KE hair ribbon was still visible). The TA printed all my boarding passes to San Antonio. She showed me on the TPE-HKG boarding pass that my AA number and my Ruby status was printed there. I'll get back to this part later.

The security line and the immigration line was pretty long. It took me about 30 minutes to get into the terminal. From the queues they set up, it appeared that it could have been worse.

I was able to use the More Premium Lounge with my Priority Pass Select. It is in the same hallway as the CX and TG lounges. At this point, all my pictures ended up square!


There was some good hot food offerings. I particularly liked the hotpot snacks like fishballs. It looked like you could order some soup noodles, but I wasn't sure how. There was also a room where there was a nice selection of cereals and bread.


At boarding time, I went to the gate only to find out that because TPE was down to runway, we would be delayed. When boarding was announced, I got in line with all the J and OW Elites. It was a very long line stretching from the gate to the end of the departure lounge. I'm not sure how well checked that was as the GA got to the person before me in checking passports and boarding passes and then left.

When I boarded, the passenger in the window seat was already seated. He had his elbow completely on my side of the chair, reading a newspaper. Not wanting to be confrontational (and not knowing Chinese), I waited until the boarding was complete to see if he'd move his elbow. Eventually, he moved a bit but took over the armrest. So, when he adjusted a bit I just moved my elbow onto it and kept it there for most of the flight. I guess it didn't phase him as he had no problem having his elbow touch mine.

Otherwise, it was an uneventful flight. Here was our inflight meal presented in a cardboard box. It was a stir-fried noodle dish, which was pretty filling. We also go a box of oolong tea. It was more than enough for such a short flight.


AA 138 - HKG-DFW - MCE - 773

When I booked this flight as a Platinum, there were no MCE seats available. Now that I am Gold, I can either pay or wait until 24 hours before flight to snag an MCE seat for free. Fortunately, an entire row opened up in MCE. I'm still surprised to see an AA plane parked at HKIA! They should have started this route decades ago.


I had high hopes for a civilized boarding procedures at HKIA figuring they had queues already roped off for First, Business, and Economy. I've boarded flights on QR, JL, KA, and CX and they were very orderly. It looks like they were set up to be very orderly and more so than in the US airports.


All business class and elites (all oneworld elites!) were put in the same line. It was a very long line. Business class passengers went to the first line to line up but were sent to the back of this one massive line. It looked longer than the developing coach line! Although the TPE agent noted that my status was printed on my boarding passes, this was only the case for the TPE-HKG boarding pass not the others. Frankly, I have nothing else to show that I was an AA Gold. Since these lines were already set up, I figured they would check as the GAs normally do a passport check and make sure we were in the right line. I flashed my boarding pass and they just looked at it went to the next person--so they didn't really check!

They boarded the pre-boards and then the Business class line. They did not announce boarding for First class. There was no one in that line, but I thought they would have made the announcement in case they were there. When I flew F on CX from HKG, they would make the announcement for F boarding. Granted, these agents were the generic HKIA staff, but they could have done this better.

We were searched for liquids on the jetbridge, which I think is an absolute ridiculous and wasteful procedure. We've already been checked for these liquids at security. We still have to go through CBP when we land, and for those who are making connecting flights, we have to go through security again. Here are some cabin shots:


The meal service started with a hot towel service followed by drinks and pretzels. For the meal, I had beef with noodles, which was good for AA catering. The salmon with cucumbers was a good appetizer. Again, I didn't eat the roll. The dessert was a banana cake, which was also quite good.


The midflight snack was a wrap with some curried chickpeas. It came with a Mars bar mini and three grapes. It was served maybe 7 hours into the flight (well more than halfway). I thought the wrap was great, but my seatmates didn't care for it and offered theirs to me.


I spent some time in the galley to stretch out, but I noticed there weren't as many snacks out. In fact, it was just pretzels, juices, and water.

We had a medical emergency on the plane during our flight. The FAs called for a physician or nurse. Several people came out of the forward cabins and headed back. It wasn't until much later on the flight that I realized the person in my row in the window was someone different. The original window passenger had a medical emergency and had to stay in the back of the plane--he switched with another passenger.

The pre-arrival meal was some fruit and a ham and cheese croissant. Sorry I couldn't get the light right on it! I really liked the croissant as it was still flaky and warm, and the cheese was all gooey.


We landed about an hour and half earlier. We all waited on board for the medics to arrive and escort the sick passenger off the plane.

I managed to be one of the first people at immigration even though I sat in the last row of MCE. I saw that there was a Carry E-Z zone which I presumes takes you through immigration and customs and right into the landside terminal. I only had carryons and was tempted to try it. But since I've paid for Global Entry, I might as well use it. The first machine I went to didn't work, but the second did. There was no line at the customs check. He took my receipt and I was landside in less than a few minutes after entering the hall.

I wanted to go to the transit desk to have them reprint my DFW-SAT boarding pass to get TSA PreCheck and to make sure I got a working boarding pass. There was a bit of a line there, so I figured going through the regular TSA line wouldn't kill me. Well, I had to be sent through the scanner twice, receive a pat down, and had my hands wiped down for explosives. While that was happening, they wiped down my backpack on the conveyer belt. What a fun way to come off a long transpacific flight! Honestly, all the TSA agents were very professional and it only added 5 minutes to my journey.

Fortunately, both my inbound and outbound flights were from Terminal D. I went to the AC and was checked in quickly. I figured, I'd still want to have my boarding pass reprinted because the other one didn't work in HKG plus I need a shower. There was a long line--apparently, there were major delays and people had to be re-routed.


Even the flight to HKG was delayed about 8 hours! It was totally packed. When I finally got to the front I was given a pager for the shower. And of course, when my boarding print was reprinted, it had TSA PreCheck printed on it. The shower felt great after a long trip though I wish I was in Terminal A! After the shower, I managed to find an open cubicle in the back where the conference rooms were. The AC had a Chicken Tortilla Soup and a Roasted Vegetable soup. I had the former, which was a thick, creamy, and spicy. It was a good food offering for the AC. After awhile, I needed some more room to walk around and breathe, so I headed to the gate.

AA 2385 - DFW-SAT - Y - MD80

I received 5 emails regarding changes to this DFW-SAT flight, which I presume was due to weather. But by the time we boarded, the flight wasn't that late fortunately. This flight was uneventful, at least for me. There were several other passengers who had to fly to SAT because their original flights to other parts of Texas was cancelled. One family had to drive a few hours after landing in SAT!

I survived my first trip in transpacific Y in many years! I like the 773 and MCE was more than adequate space for me. I was well fed. Service was mixed, but I can live with that so long as I can rant here. I'd do it again--in fact, I will be doing it again in a couple weeks.

For a more detailed report, visit my blog at Taipei '15 - SAT-DFW-HKG-TPE-HKG-DFW-SAT (AA Y/AA MCE/CX Y) and Concur Rant.

I also used this trip to try out a couple new items that to help me with my travels. See my reviews on the Tortuga Backpack and BluffWorks Pants, which worked great for my Taipei trip.

mkjr

Great tr. Aas y product looks decent. The old ife on a loop sucked. But the 2:5:2 was worse.

Sheun

Thanks for the TR TimUT78. I fly occasionally between HKG and Florida so this is of good interest for me. AA now offers the fastest connection and even their low fares gives me 100% EQM on AsiaMiles so I might give it a shot. Nice to see that you didn't feel too miserable in coach on this looooong flight despite coming from a world of J/F. So for a seasoned Y traveler like me, it should be breeze.

Do they also require extra security at other airports when flying to the US? At ICN, PVG or NRT to US? At HKIA they'd only do it when bound to US and Australia.

Interesting. On HKG-TPE, I've never been served the snacks on a bag. Agree, it does make a cute gift bag. Maybe that snack was cold and no need to re-heat, so they figured it would be faster for service.

I'm gonna miss those Mad Dogs too. Love those old school engines sound at take off. Feels like the 80's (which I'm too young to remember).

Bretteee

AA legroom is good and I also like the new 777.

To Europe from New York I always had nice crews.

The food / snacks seem better to Asia. I assume because they compete with Asian carriers.

hkskyline

I always thought it was a US/Australia requirement for additional pre-screening on the jet bridge at HKG.

farbster

Nice TR. I think you duplicated the kit-kat picture. I didn't see one of that awesome brownie

dat4life

Thanks for the report, TimUT78. I did the same flight, also in MCE, last year and I thought it was quite good as well. Bummer to hear your cabin crew wasn't up to par, as the crew on my flight was pretty good.

TimUT78

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Thanks! Yes, the old 772 IFE and seating was bad. I'm dreading an upcoming trip that I have on the 772 in Y. The main cabin has 3-4-3 whereas MCE has 3-3-3. I noticed that the aisles in the main cabin were fairly tight. I assume that's how they were able to squeeze in the extra seat--at the sacrifice of the aisle width and not the seat width. It was a challenge for me to walk through without bumping into the seats or other passengers!

Yes, they required our bags to be searched for liquids on the jetbridge.

The snack (the wrap) was warmed up. In fact, it was too hot to eat at first.

The new 777 is a beautiful plane. The J seats looked nice, just like CX's. Let's see if AA is able to keep it in good shape.

AFAIK, it is standard procedures for US flights at least. It's just annoying.

Thanks for letting me know! I fixed it, but unfortunately, the brownie was still in the package in the updated picture. I'll be flying the same route again in a couple weeks. I don't plan on doing a trip report on it, but I'll try to remember to get a picture of it.

Thanks, I agree that MCE was pretty comfortable. The HKG-DFW crew was great, so it wasn't a total loss .

bthotugigem05

The MCE on the 777-300ER is great, but I've done the DFW-HKG flight in regular Y and was miserable the entire 16h48m. I'll only fly this flight in the future if I'm in (at least) MCE.