dylanks

A trip of firsts: HKG and PEK on AA/CX F/J

Hong Kong and Beijing on AA F/J and CX J

Overview and flight preparation

I was invited to speak at a conference in Beijing, and decided to combine this with a trip to visit some of our customers in Hong Kong. I started looking at ticket options, and initially reserved a first class award using BA Avios (Saver level awards were available) from Los Angeles to NRT on AA. After investigating prices to get from Tokyo to Hong Kong and Beijing, however, and looking at ticket prices for business class travel for the entire journey, it was better to simply book a paid business class ticket. As a BA GGL, I was able to cancel the award ticket without incurring a redeposit fee.

This trip report will also compare my experience to other recent experiences on BA flights.

With AA, routing via DFW on the outbound and ORD on the return was around $4,500 in business class, whereas CX was closer to $7,000 for travel via LAX. This gave me the chance to try several new flight options for the first time:

• AA 777-300ER in first (using 25,000 miles for an upgrade, which cleared 48 hours prior to departure)
• AA 787 in business class (first time on any 787)
• CX on medium-haul (regional 777 aircraft was swapped with longhaul A333 a few days out)

This left my routing as:

PHX-DFW (AA, first)
DFW-HKG (AA, first)
HKG-PEK (CX, business)
PEK-ORD (AA, business)
ORD-PHX (AA, first)

Overall the flights were great, with all flights departing and arriving within a few minutes of schedule. More details to follow as I post about each segment of the trip in future posts.

Hotels

My stays were a bit short to consider Airbnb, so I chose the following hotels:

• 3 nights at the Cordis in Mongkok (formerly the Langham Place)
• 1 night at the Ritz Carlton on top of the ICC near Kowloon Station, using a mix of points and cash
• 5 nights at the V-Continent Beijing Parkview Wuzhou Hotel (arranged by the conference organizers)

Trains

I also had a day trip from Hong Kong to Guangzhou, which was booked in advance in first class.

Tourism

I had some time to see a few sights in Hong Kong and Beijing. I'll share those experiences in more detail as well.

grandgourmand

Cool...what's the last picture?

aidy

summer palace is Beijing, a really nice place (one pic of these is still my screensaver)

dylanks

It's amazing how much everyone talks about the Forbidden City. I would much rather spend a day at the Summer Palace.

steveman518

Definitely agree-I've rented out one of those paddle boats mostly for the photo ops from the water ^

dylanks

April 15: PHX-DFW
AA 542
Seat 1C (First)
Scheduled: 05:00 - 09:16
Actual: 04:57 - 09:23

I was transported to the airport with a car service at the very early time of 03:15am. I arrived at PHX by 03:45, and made my way to the priority check-in counter. I was greeted at the entrance by a friendly agent who remarked that I must have a long journey today. She said that most passengers that arrived this early in first class were connecting to longhaul flights.

I checked my bag and was through security by 04:00am. With TSA PreCheck closed, I used the priority lane and had PreCheck light (shoes and belt on, laptop and liquids removed from bag, xray machine rather than body scanner).

The lounge does not open until 4:30am at PHX, so I found a seat at the gate, where boarding began around 04:25am.

Given the very early start, I was the first passenger in first class to board and was quickly seated as I wanted to maximize my sleep time and not hassle with overhead bin space above row 1.

The remainder of row 1 was a family with their 3 month old baby, and they were on their way to India. I offered to switch to 1A so they could sit together, but was told I did not need to switch. I think the husband/father wanted to be able to nap on the first flight! We had a good chat about our busy days ahead, and I managed a 30 minute nap during taxi and initial takeoff.

While not a full meal service, the friendly flight crew did offer fruit and snacks. The wifi was reasonably fast, and our flight landed on-time. A lengthy taxi brought us to our gate in a C concourse a few minutes late. I took the train to the D terminal and made my way to the American Express Centurion lounge. I had a backup plan of the AA lounge if the Amex lounge was too crowded, but that was not needed this time. I noticed that the area beneath the lounge is being renovated. In my mind I wondered if Amex is expanding the lounge, though I doubt that is the case.

The lounge agent suggested a massage service with immediate availability. This was my first time actually getting a massage at any Centurion lounge, and it was a decent 15 minute treatment on a massage chair. I then enjoyed a light breakfast in the lounge, listened in to a WebEx meeting, completed some work and chatted with my wife and son prior to departure.



April 15: DFW-HKG
AA 137
Seat 1J (First)
Scheduled: 12:25 - 18:00
Actual: 12:22 - 17:44

About 45 minutes prior to my flight, I departed the Centurion lounge and walked a few minutes to gate D23. Boarding had already commenced for business and first class passengers, so I made my way through the crowd. Upon boarding I was instructed to turn left and found my seat at the front of the plane and settled in for the next 17 hours.

Seat and hard product

The seat has quite a bit of space, a bit more than a BA 747 in F. It has a number of interesting features, and I felt like I discovered more features throughout the flight. First, the negatives about the seat:

• It's not as comfortable as I would expect. I think I prefer the BA F seat cushion, and maybe even the AA 787 J seat cushion for comfort
• The controls and approach to the seat feel a bit awkward, sort of like a committee of people said "it would be cool if we could add this feature", without really thinking about how it all works together. This is really not a big complaint, as I think this less polished approach resulted in some cool features.
• Lack of storage by the seat (no space to store a laptop) for takeoff and landing

And then some things I really liked about the seat:

• The available space and two tables. It made it easy to eat dinner and use the laptop on the side table and watch a movie at the same time, while using wifi
• The choice of seat rotation (straight for take-off/landing), diagonal for eating and sleeping, and perpendicular for a desk setup
• Power and wifi. Two universal power outlets and two USB ports, and a reasonable wifi service for $19
• The seat has a massage function, though it seems to only work for a few minutes at a time

Overall, I think I like the hard product experience a bit better than BA F, because of the wifi and extra space.



Meals and soft product

Headphones, bedding, slippers, and amenity kits were at the seat when I arrived. Menus and pre-departure drinks were served prior to take-off, and meal orders were taken. I found the early service to be fairly brusk, but the crew warmed up over the duration of the flight.







I had pre-ordered the beef. My first choice for starter (ginger beef with mushrooms and pesto sauce) was not available. I was told that others had ordered it before me, but I noticed the passenger in 1D who ordered after me received it. It was not a big deal at the Tuna togarshi was fine as a starter.

The drink selection for teetotalers who also don't like soda is fairly limited. Whereas CX has their excellent Cathay Delight, I was pretty much limited to water and fruit juice.



Overall, I found the tuna togarshi ok, with a fairly spicy kick. The Creamy kale soup was decent, the seasonal greens salad with spicy sesame vinaigrette was ok, and the breads were not really gourmet as advertised, but tasted fine.







The grilled beef filet was prepared nicely (medium to medium rare), but was fairly bland. The accompanying potatoes were ok, while the spinach and mushrooms were simple and ok.





For dessert I enjoyed the warm shortbread and berries, as I try to avoid ice cream when I fly.



I enjoyed a few movies, and the wifi service was decent. With this lengthy route, I was surprised just how long you can fly over Canada and still be in Canada!





There were snacks throughout the flight available at the front of the cabin in the galley area. Given the duration of the flight, I thought that AA does a great job with keeping you full.

AA also keeps the cabin temperature very cool. I'm usually sweating on longhaul flights on BA and CX, but I actually needed a blanket on this flight. I think this is great, as the temperature matched roughly what studies have shown to be the optimal sleeping temperature. Each seat also has individual air vents, something that is lacking on most other longhaul flights.

Around dinner time in Dallas, a light snack was offered. I had the seared chicken with chili bean noodles. It was nothing special, but satisfied my hunger at that time. Fruit was served as a dessert.



I slept for a couple of hours, and then woke up again and continued to work some work while wifi was still available. About two hours before landing, a light meal was offered. After a small starter salad, I had the duck which was ok, and a fruit parfait was served as dessert.



Overall, the food was not as solid as recent experiences in BA first, but was better than expected from AA. While none of the meals were extraordinary, I remained nourished on the 16 hour flight.

While the overall flight was fine, something about the journey felt like it was never going to end. I cannot imagine spending that much time on this aircraft in economy.







We landed into Hong Kong slightly early, but found ourselves waiting for an aircraft to clear the taxiway before we arrived at our gate.





In typical Hong Kong efficiency, I was through immigration, had my luggage, used the ATM, had a SIM card installed in my iPhone, topped up my Octopus card, and was on the Airport Express train in less than 30 minutes.

arlflyer

Must have been a bunch of Cantonese Italians on your flight? Would love to have a visual of that item...


I know, right? I've only ever flown to HKG a couple times, both in CX F. As much as that is romanticized (and if you must fly, it is surely one of the best ways to fly), it is still 16 hours in a seat in dry air. As you say, I cannot imagine doing it on a regular basis and/or in economy.

krazykanuck

I've done IAH-DXB r/r and JFK-AUH r/t, both in Y in the past 2 years and its kinda rough. I've decided that I want to go back to South Africa and despite being able to get a good route on QR for ~$900 I'm like, nope. I have no desire to do that in Y! I'm flying CX F to HKG in a couple weeks and am pretty excited!

flyingeph12

When flying to Asia, I tend to stay up all night before (partly because to connect to the Asia flights from DFW requires a super early morning flight) and then get on the plane and sleep. 16 hours passes by much more quickly when you're asleep for 10 of them. Also helps with the jetlag.

I am enjoying your report so far and am looking forward to the rest.

dylanks

After a quick ride on the Airport Express train to Kowloon station, and a 10 minute taxi ride, I was at the Cordis hotel (formerly Langham Place). It's one of the nicer hotels in that area, and conveniently located near one of my client's offices. I arrived around 19:00 local time, and basically got setup in my room, talked with my wife, enjoyed the views, and then crashed for the night. The check-in staff were very nice, and offered me a hotel towel while they checked me in. I was in the Deluxe Harbour View room, which pretty much looked exactly like their photos within the candles. My photos did not turn out particularly well. I tend to take photos very quickly, and with the poor lighting, they were rather blurry.




Overall it's a great hotel, nice amenities, great dining options, an excellent breakfast buffet, and a decent lounge which has access available for about $50 per day if not a Langham Place status holder. I purchased access in part because of the complimentary pressing service, as well as wanting a place on Sunday to work while my room was cleaned, and to have something extra to review.

I woke up Sunday after a great night of sleep, and took in the view.




I also caught a view of my next hotel (the ICC tower in this photo):



Around 6am, I made my way down to the excellent breakfast buffet, which a wide range of western and eastern cuisine. I always eat too much at these buffets.








The room also included a free cell phone for use in the local area, as well as for calls to several countries including the US. I primarily used it as a wifi hotspot while walking around, though it was fairly slow when needed.

The gym in the hotel is decent, and has a modern rowing machine which I find to be the most exhausting cardio machine you can find in a hotel gym. After the gym, I spent some time in the lounge, which offers nice views and seating for around 100 people in three areas. Given that the lounge was pretty occupied, I did not get a chance to take any photos, but it offered a decent selection of snacks, a breakfast service (which pales in comparison to the buffet), and a nice afternoon tea service.



Around lunch time, I walked around, through a food market next to the hotel.








Really nothing says southeast asia to me like the combined aroma of poulty, seafood, humidity, car smog, and smelly durian fruit!

And I then walked some more, and then through the Olympian City malls. I had really wanted a quick meal at Pepper Steak, but it was closed for renovation.





Lush has really taken over the world, much to my wife's delight:



I settled on a very nice Japanese restaurant, Itacho Sushi. I had looked for La’taste Vietnamese Cuisine, but did not easily find it, and I also considered trying simplylife, but the queue was massive as always.

It's becoming increasingly common to order via tablets in Asia.



I started with miso soup:



And then a hand rolled shrimp tempura roll:





And some tempura:



And then two rolls, one which had beef, and the other which had soft shell crab and mango on top:



I then walked back through the street market which had picked up a bit in the mid-afternoon.





I picked up some mangosteen, one of my favorite fruits that cannot easily be found in the US. They look unfriendly from the outside, but they open easily, and are very tasty, like a sweeter lychee.





For the afternoon and evening, I spent most of my time working in the lounge and in the room, and the Cordis has fairly fast and reliable wifi. I had a couple of conference talks to refine, and some presentations to update for meetings the next two days, as well as a bit of work to catch-up on. While I usually get to be more of a tourist, I've seen most of the more famous Hong Kong sites, and to me, experiencing Hong Kong is more about walking around and the food rather than a specific tourist site.

For dinner, I was fairly exhausted and had a very early morning ahead of me, so I settled on room service and enjoyed an excellent steak, which was served with baked potato, vegetables, a small side salad, and some bread.



I called it a night as I had a 7:30am train to Guangzhou the next morning.

dylanks

Ha, too funny!

Definitely!

Enjoy, I've only flown CX J, and their F product looks very nice (I was one row behind, sitting there with mild envy as their F seats are very spacious.

I tried that. I only slept about two hours the night before. Unfortunately I slept a short bit on the PHX-DFW flight, but then I was just wide awake on the HKG flight. I adjust fairly quickly, mostly because I require less sleep than most. I've had two or three LH flights in my life where I've slept more than a couple of hours, one was SQ J A380 SYD-SIN-LHR, and another was BA CW BKK-LHR. Usually though, I find myself very productive and enjoy the quiet time to work and don't sleep much on flights.

dylanks

On this day I had a business trip to Guangzhou to visit a customer. With an early 07:25am train, I skipped the lovely Cordis breakfast and took a taxi to Hung Hom station, arriving around 6:15am which was far too early. Most of the station is under renovation and those shops and restaurants that were not were mostly closed. I found a muffin at Pacific Coffee for breakfast.



Immigration and security were quick, and there is even less to do in the train waiting area.



I boarded the train and it was a fairly slow ride out of Hong Kong before the pace picked up in China. There was quite a bit of morning rain which made for a particularly gloomy morning.



I had a chicken noodle dish on board the train which was decent, but not memorable.



After a few stops in Shenzhen and other cities, I arrived in Guangzhou roughly 2.5 hours later. Immigration was reasonably fast and I was to the subway station within fifteen minutes of exiting the train.



I bought a refillable card and took the subway and then spent the day meeting with my client.











I found a quick early dinner along my walk to the subway station and then returned to the train station. There is a new shopping mall at the station that has a good variety of dining and shopping options, but once you clear the main area for the train to Hong Kong, you are back in a fairly desolate area without much to do while waiting for the train. Immigration and security took about 25-30 minutes, so I didn't have more than a 10 minute wait before boarding commenced.





The train ride back was about 30 minutes slower than scheduled without explanation, and made several stops in China to pick-up additional passengers.



Upon arriving back at Hung Hom station, immigration back into Hong Kong was finished within about 10 minutes. My experience with China and Hong Kong immigration continued today as in the past. Not once has an immigration agent in either country ever said a word to me. They simply accept my passport, look through it, scan it, and then stamp (if in China) or give a piece of paper (Hong Kong).

The taxi queue was fairly backed up took another 10-15 minutes. I blame confusion over this sign I tried to board 3 taxis at once, but that was not a fruitful venture:



The taxi driver was particularly rude and tried to find another passenger, even though I showed him the hotel location in Mandarin. Finally I was driven to the Langham Place shopping maill rather than my hotel. I made my way back to my room, had a quick chat with my wife, and crashed pretty early. It was a fairly long day, but on the plus side, the meetings went reasonably well.

dylanks

I woke up early and again enjoyed the breakfast at the Cordis.



I checked out of the hotel, and walked to visit a customer where I gave a talk and then had a few smaller meetings. For lunch, we ate at Hyatti restaurant, which claims to be the best Mediterranean food in Hong Kong. It was indeed quite good and we had some friendly banter with the staff throughout the meal. They have a few specials each day. I enjoyed a falafel wrap which was really nice.

After lunch and a quick coffee, I returned to the Cordis to fetch my luggage and then took a short taxi ride to the Ritz Carlton Hong Kong. This was my first ever stay at a Ritz Carlton, though I had previously visited the Ozone bar at the top of the hotel. While I would not normally choose to switch hotels during a trip, in this case it was worth the experience!

Upon arrival at the Ritz Carlton, you are placed in an elevator that stops on floors 9 and 103 of the ICC.



After a short two minute ride, I arrived in the lobby and was greeted and check-in commenced.



I was offered a nice tea and hot towel while check-in was completed. I then took another lift to floor 110, and my luggage was delivered a few minutes later. The room was exceptional, and offered a spectacular view of Victoria Harbour. The photos really speak for themselves.





















The room offered a great work environment, with exceptionally fast wifi.



I also enjoyed the gym which is on floor 118. While it does not have everything, it offers a good selection of equipment, and an open air terrace outside the main workout area. There is also a swimming pool and other amenities available, though I was focused on the gym for my workout.













My thoughts on viewing the nightly light show were dashed as fog started to roll in:







I considered dining in the hotel restaurant or leaving, but I really just wanted to work and enjoy the room since I was there for only one night, so I ordered room service, with an excellent lobster dish on a bed of asparagus and carrots, along with a juice and bread. I also enjoyed the Ritz Carlton signature cake for dessert. The best part of the service was the attention to detail with the room service staff. Dinner was served on a table next to the window, and I was encouraged to be seated so the napkin could be placed on my lap. Basically they made every effort to bring the restaurant experience to the room!



By the time the light show started, the view was non-existent with some faint light shining through:



If not the best hotel stay I've ever had, it's in the top 3. It was just a very nice room and I did not find anything wrong with the hotel or service. Really just such a great experience before heading to Beijing the next morning!

Madone59

The views from the RC look amazing ^

roadwarrier

Floor 110 !!!

The photos are great, but, boy, I would not be able to even get close to the window at that height.

Looking forward to the rest of your TR.