AMS-HKG-NRT-TPE-AMS in a weekend
Jul 24, 2001, 11:49 am
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 37,486
AMS-HKG-NRT-TPE-AMS in a weekend
Out on one of my quarterly 2 day world trips my journey this time brought me to Tokyo. As I had never been there I was eagerly looking forward to visiting Japan. I was booked on (paid) F class on Cathay CX270 connecting in Hong Kong and had also booked the Tokyo Hilton.
I arrived at the Cathay check in at Amsterdam Schiphol 2 hours before departure and went to the first class check in. The check in agent was busy but when she saw our first class Cathay tickets she immediately hung up and apologized for keeping us waiting (even though it was under 1 minute!).We had seat 1A and 1K pre-assigned but as Cathay is still having trouble getting back to normal the route would be flown with an airbus instead of a 747. We therefore chose seats 2A and C. Check in was a bit of a mess as the computer system was down and we had to be checked in through the phone, we also received hand written boarding cards and were told we would receive the printed ones at the gate.
As the Cathay lounge at AMS is a shared lounge operated by Globeground we skipped it and went shopping. When we arrived at the gate it was pretty quiet, I asked about my boarding card but it seemed the computer was still down and had to use the hand written one, the problem with this is that I would have to check in at HKG again for the trip to NRT. Boarding was a complete disaster; almost every passenger had a handwritten boarding card and had to be checked over the phone. The gate area was completely full and the gate agents made a mess of pre-boarding for first and business so we had to join a huge queue to get on the plane…
When on board I discovered what some others had already pointed out, the first class seats on a Cathay airbus are pretty bad! The seats were reasonably large but nowhere near as nice as the new Betsy seats. The size was about the same as BA’s old club seat although the airbus seats had electronic controls. We were welcomed with hot nuts and drinks. The FA’s passed through the cabin with a slipper set, sleeper suit and an amenity kit, the kit was pretty basic, just a folding bag with some small bottles. Male and female kits were the same as the shaving gear is in the toilet. We found out through the CSD that there were only 3 paying first pax and that the rest were upgrades, there were even some upgrades out of economy! She apologized for this and made up for it by helping us with everything before the rest of the cabin! After dinner and dessert I tried to sleep but as it was only 5 in the afternoon for my biological clock I woke up pretty fast and watched a movie, I also found that the seats were not very good for sleeping in (I am spoilt with BA first and club!). We arrived in a rainy Hong Kong on time. I had asked to receive my boarding card at the gate and had a print out of the request to HKG but was still sent to the transfer desk, the mess at AMS was nothing compared to the mess here, there was only one entrance to the transfer area and the HKG security guard was sending groups through leaving the regular passengers waiting, as I only had 20 minutes to catch my other flight I asked a Cathay rep to escort us through, when she saw our first boarding cards we were through in about 2 minutes… The gate for our NRT flight was very quiet as most pax were already on board, we got on and took our seats (1A/1K). Finally we got the new seats; they are the same look and feel as BA’s first seats and also have a personal video player, although NO empower connector! As soon as the seat belt sign was turned off I turned my seat into a bed and that was the last the FA’s saw of me until 20 minutes before landing! I had an excellent sleep of almost 4 hours.
Arrival at NRT was nice and smooth and as soon as the doors opened we felt the heat, it was almost 35 degrees outside… We bought tickets for the Friendly Limousine Bus service to the Hilton and waited outside in the heat. Taking the bus was a big mistake, we reckoned it would take under an hour but turned out to be 2 and a half hours! We arrived at the Hilton at 17:00 and checked in at the Executive lounge on the 37th floor. Check-in was great, very friendly and helpful. We both are HHonors gold (who isn’t these days?) and received a lovely executive room on the 35th floor. The room was nice and large and had most of the stuff you need when traveling (kimono’s, free internet, fax/printer and a well stocked minibar).
As the shops in downtown Shinjuku close at 21:00 we went straight out and walked to the shopping area. For someone who had never been in Tokyo and loves gadgets you can imagine I thought I had landed in heaven! The sheer amount of equipment was great. From useful stuff to the usual useless Japanese gadgets you read about! Certain prices were not cheap compared to European prices whereas others were very cheap (camera’s and lenses). I was surprised that hardly anyone in Japan speaks English and even when (as they can see) I don’t speak Japanese they continue to speak to me in Japanese…
We shopped for 3 hours in Shunjuku and went back to the hotel to eat. Although I certainly wanted to stay clear of the McD’s and KFC’s I did want to know what I was eating, the hotel was the only place with an English menu… I ordered a Japanese dish and headed of for bed.
After a very good nights sleep we headed off for the executive lounge for breakfast but were disappointed with the small choice, only breads, rice and some drinks, we probably should have taken the regular breakfast downstairs in the restaurant.
After packing we enquired with the reception about the traffic on a Sunday morning and taking the bus to the airport, according to the rep. it would take almost 2 hours. Traffic turned out to be very quiet and we were at the airport in an hour, Cathay check in was still closed and there was no way we could access any lounge so we ended up shopping in some of the many shops before customs at the airport.
When the checkin desk opened we checked in and got 2 lounge passes, the lounge was very standard and offered no extra’s like internet or separate first area.
Boarding our HKG flight was swift and would take 6 hours as we would also make a stop at TPE. This route was also serviced by a 747 new style and we got seat 1A/1K. Service was absolutely perfect, there were only 3 pax (one upgraded) and 3 FA’s to look after us! After a lovely meal I started work on this report. I enjoyed a quick meal of lemon fried chicken and steamed rice and finished it all off with a lovely (double) helping of ice cream. We landed at TPE and let the FA’s know we would be staying on board. At TPE the crew gets changed so all of our FA’s came by and personally said goodbye, the CSD even gave us a little note with her name thanking us again for flying with them! The new crew boarded and immediately recognized us from the flight on Saturday from HKG to NRT! They even remembered our names. As we were now the only 2 in the cabin they joined us and we chatted about our trips for about half an hour while they kept our drinks filled up. After a light snack I slept until we were almost at HKG. Transfer at HKG was quick and as on all the flights the FA’s kept the rest of the pax back until we has disembarked. This leg of the trip was great and I would like to thank Dorothy and her crew for such a lovely time. After getting off we proceeded to the transfer area and went straight up to the Wing. I don’t like the wing on a Sunday evening, it is to busy and finding somewhere to sit in is a major problem, even the library was full so we left the wing and went shopping….
The next nice surprise on out trip was that the next and final leg (HKG-AMS) only had 2 pax in first. Yet again we had 3 FA’s to the 2 of us… We chose a good seat and let the crew prepare a bed for us while we enjoyed dinner. After a light dinner of various Chinese snacks and (yet again) ice cream we slid into the bed they had prepared for us, the must have done a good job because I was out in about a minute! Just under half an hour before landing I woke up and was eating breakfast just 5 minutes later. We encountered the same friendly goodbye greetings from the crew and left the plane. Out next spot of luck was with customs at AMS, we had already put all the stuff we bought into my bag and hoped we wouldn’t get into any trouble at customs, I passed without a problem (luckily!). I was still pretty tired but had a full day at the office ahead of me, my employees had 2 meetings planned for me so there was no way I was sneaking out of the office early! You can imagine that the feeling of my own bed after 4 days was amazing, I was out in under a minute!
Once again, if any of the crew on our flights read this, thanks again for the great service (they had never heard of FT and said they would certainly look it up!)
Scott
I'll post some photo's and scans of the menu's as soon as I am back at my office, I leave for LHR tomorrow...
I arrived at the Cathay check in at Amsterdam Schiphol 2 hours before departure and went to the first class check in. The check in agent was busy but when she saw our first class Cathay tickets she immediately hung up and apologized for keeping us waiting (even though it was under 1 minute!).We had seat 1A and 1K pre-assigned but as Cathay is still having trouble getting back to normal the route would be flown with an airbus instead of a 747. We therefore chose seats 2A and C. Check in was a bit of a mess as the computer system was down and we had to be checked in through the phone, we also received hand written boarding cards and were told we would receive the printed ones at the gate.
As the Cathay lounge at AMS is a shared lounge operated by Globeground we skipped it and went shopping. When we arrived at the gate it was pretty quiet, I asked about my boarding card but it seemed the computer was still down and had to use the hand written one, the problem with this is that I would have to check in at HKG again for the trip to NRT. Boarding was a complete disaster; almost every passenger had a handwritten boarding card and had to be checked over the phone. The gate area was completely full and the gate agents made a mess of pre-boarding for first and business so we had to join a huge queue to get on the plane…
When on board I discovered what some others had already pointed out, the first class seats on a Cathay airbus are pretty bad! The seats were reasonably large but nowhere near as nice as the new Betsy seats. The size was about the same as BA’s old club seat although the airbus seats had electronic controls. We were welcomed with hot nuts and drinks. The FA’s passed through the cabin with a slipper set, sleeper suit and an amenity kit, the kit was pretty basic, just a folding bag with some small bottles. Male and female kits were the same as the shaving gear is in the toilet. We found out through the CSD that there were only 3 paying first pax and that the rest were upgrades, there were even some upgrades out of economy! She apologized for this and made up for it by helping us with everything before the rest of the cabin! After dinner and dessert I tried to sleep but as it was only 5 in the afternoon for my biological clock I woke up pretty fast and watched a movie, I also found that the seats were not very good for sleeping in (I am spoilt with BA first and club!). We arrived in a rainy Hong Kong on time. I had asked to receive my boarding card at the gate and had a print out of the request to HKG but was still sent to the transfer desk, the mess at AMS was nothing compared to the mess here, there was only one entrance to the transfer area and the HKG security guard was sending groups through leaving the regular passengers waiting, as I only had 20 minutes to catch my other flight I asked a Cathay rep to escort us through, when she saw our first boarding cards we were through in about 2 minutes… The gate for our NRT flight was very quiet as most pax were already on board, we got on and took our seats (1A/1K). Finally we got the new seats; they are the same look and feel as BA’s first seats and also have a personal video player, although NO empower connector! As soon as the seat belt sign was turned off I turned my seat into a bed and that was the last the FA’s saw of me until 20 minutes before landing! I had an excellent sleep of almost 4 hours.
Arrival at NRT was nice and smooth and as soon as the doors opened we felt the heat, it was almost 35 degrees outside… We bought tickets for the Friendly Limousine Bus service to the Hilton and waited outside in the heat. Taking the bus was a big mistake, we reckoned it would take under an hour but turned out to be 2 and a half hours! We arrived at the Hilton at 17:00 and checked in at the Executive lounge on the 37th floor. Check-in was great, very friendly and helpful. We both are HHonors gold (who isn’t these days?) and received a lovely executive room on the 35th floor. The room was nice and large and had most of the stuff you need when traveling (kimono’s, free internet, fax/printer and a well stocked minibar).
As the shops in downtown Shinjuku close at 21:00 we went straight out and walked to the shopping area. For someone who had never been in Tokyo and loves gadgets you can imagine I thought I had landed in heaven! The sheer amount of equipment was great. From useful stuff to the usual useless Japanese gadgets you read about! Certain prices were not cheap compared to European prices whereas others were very cheap (camera’s and lenses). I was surprised that hardly anyone in Japan speaks English and even when (as they can see) I don’t speak Japanese they continue to speak to me in Japanese…
We shopped for 3 hours in Shunjuku and went back to the hotel to eat. Although I certainly wanted to stay clear of the McD’s and KFC’s I did want to know what I was eating, the hotel was the only place with an English menu… I ordered a Japanese dish and headed of for bed.
After a very good nights sleep we headed off for the executive lounge for breakfast but were disappointed with the small choice, only breads, rice and some drinks, we probably should have taken the regular breakfast downstairs in the restaurant.
After packing we enquired with the reception about the traffic on a Sunday morning and taking the bus to the airport, according to the rep. it would take almost 2 hours. Traffic turned out to be very quiet and we were at the airport in an hour, Cathay check in was still closed and there was no way we could access any lounge so we ended up shopping in some of the many shops before customs at the airport.
When the checkin desk opened we checked in and got 2 lounge passes, the lounge was very standard and offered no extra’s like internet or separate first area.
Boarding our HKG flight was swift and would take 6 hours as we would also make a stop at TPE. This route was also serviced by a 747 new style and we got seat 1A/1K. Service was absolutely perfect, there were only 3 pax (one upgraded) and 3 FA’s to look after us! After a lovely meal I started work on this report. I enjoyed a quick meal of lemon fried chicken and steamed rice and finished it all off with a lovely (double) helping of ice cream. We landed at TPE and let the FA’s know we would be staying on board. At TPE the crew gets changed so all of our FA’s came by and personally said goodbye, the CSD even gave us a little note with her name thanking us again for flying with them! The new crew boarded and immediately recognized us from the flight on Saturday from HKG to NRT! They even remembered our names. As we were now the only 2 in the cabin they joined us and we chatted about our trips for about half an hour while they kept our drinks filled up. After a light snack I slept until we were almost at HKG. Transfer at HKG was quick and as on all the flights the FA’s kept the rest of the pax back until we has disembarked. This leg of the trip was great and I would like to thank Dorothy and her crew for such a lovely time. After getting off we proceeded to the transfer area and went straight up to the Wing. I don’t like the wing on a Sunday evening, it is to busy and finding somewhere to sit in is a major problem, even the library was full so we left the wing and went shopping….
The next nice surprise on out trip was that the next and final leg (HKG-AMS) only had 2 pax in first. Yet again we had 3 FA’s to the 2 of us… We chose a good seat and let the crew prepare a bed for us while we enjoyed dinner. After a light dinner of various Chinese snacks and (yet again) ice cream we slid into the bed they had prepared for us, the must have done a good job because I was out in about a minute! Just under half an hour before landing I woke up and was eating breakfast just 5 minutes later. We encountered the same friendly goodbye greetings from the crew and left the plane. Out next spot of luck was with customs at AMS, we had already put all the stuff we bought into my bag and hoped we wouldn’t get into any trouble at customs, I passed without a problem (luckily!). I was still pretty tired but had a full day at the office ahead of me, my employees had 2 meetings planned for me so there was no way I was sneaking out of the office early! You can imagine that the feeling of my own bed after 4 days was amazing, I was out in under a minute!
Once again, if any of the crew on our flights read this, thanks again for the great service (they had never heard of FT and said they would certainly look it up!)
Scott
I'll post some photo's and scans of the menu's as soon as I am back at my office, I leave for LHR tomorrow...
Jul 24, 2001, 9:04 pm
#3
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: Many
Posts: 2,496
Nice report! If you can spend a bit more time in Japan next time, IMHO it will grow on you, although it will grow faster if you get out of Tokyo...With an extra couple of days you can get out of the city on a day trip to the Hakone/Mt Fuji area, or even something as simple as down to Yokohama. Thanks again for the cool report.
Jul 24, 2001, 9:35 pm
#4
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: EWR and YUL
Programs: AA Gold, Loews Plat., SPG
Posts: 10
Scott:
Sorry if i seem rude asking this but would you mind telling us what you paid for that flight? Im just wondering if you have some source for less expensive first class tickets. Thank you
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-MC
Sorry if i seem rude asking this but would you mind telling us what you paid for that flight? Im just wondering if you have some source for less expensive first class tickets. Thank you
------------------
-MC