Review of Cathay Pacific flight Hong Kong → London in Economy

Welcome to the 5th part of the trip. This report will cover the Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Hong Kong to London Heathrow.

1. Part 1 MUC to DUS: Here!
2. Part 2 DUS to HKG: Here!
3. Part 3 HKG to KOJ: Here!
4. Part 4 KOJ to HKG: Here!
5. Part 5 HKG to LHR: You are Here!


I arrived at the airport at 7:18am in the morning. The counters were quite empty or may be because I used the business class counters.

The checkin counter for Business class and Macro Polo club members.

The security check and the immigration were pretty empty as well and I was through at 7:41am. Gate number 1 was assigned for my flight.

Cathay Dragon A330-300 in New livery at gate 21, ready for the flight to Beijing as KA900

This was my ride to London. B-KQQ, a B777-300ER delivered to Cathay Pacific Airways in August 2014. Still in old livery with C40W32Y268 configuration, without any first class.

The waiting area around gate 1.

Then I headed to the Cathay Pacific Business Lounge "The Wing", which is just in front of gate 2.

Once entered, I went straight to the noodle bar area. I ordered a wanton noodle and BBQ pork bun. While I was waiting for my food, I got myself an orange juice. I stayed for about half an hour in the lounge.

The entrance of "The Wing"

20 minutes after I left the lounge, boarding was started. With the priority boarding, I was the among the first passenger to board the plane (After the diamond MPC member of coz)

My seat 39K. Again, this is the first row of the economy class but this time on the right side of the plane. The seats in 39 and 71 rows are 2-3-2 configured while the rest of them are 3-3-3.

Cabin view during boarding. This cabin design was introduced in 2012, the color of the seats were different from those in A350.

View from my seat. The latest livery of "The Spirit of Hong Kong" was parked next to us.

A closer look of "The Spirit of Hong Kong", B-HNK, a Boeing 777-300. The design is much simpler than the previous versions.

Ample legroom. Like the A350-900, the PTV was mounted on the partition wall.

Another cabin view from my seat. The premium economy class was in front of me.

Menu and the landing card was then distributed. I asked the crew if I need the landing card for transit and he said yes. But it turned out that I didn't.

The loading of the flight was not high, I guessed it was about 60 percent and I again had my neighboring seat unoccupied. Pushback eventually commenced at 9:05am and I could see the previous 2013 version of "The spirit of Hong Kong" B777-300ER, B-KPB. As announced, the flight time was expected to be 12 hours and 15 minutes.

Passing by the Orient Thai Airways 747-400, HS-STC. This plane has been storing here since March 2016 as the airline failed to pay the maintenance fee. I wonder what will be the fate of this aircraft.

Entering the runway.

We took off from RWY07R at 9:24am.

The remote control for the PTV.

The welcome screen of the Cathay Pacific entertainment system.

About 20 minutes after takeoff, I visited the lavatory.

Backed from the lavatory, soon I started to watch the Spiderman movie.

Breakfast was served at 10:07am. I took the baked egg option with a cup of coffee.

At 10:42am, the cabin light was dimmed and it was darkened completely at 10:59am.

Just passed Wuhan and keep heading north.

Entering the Mongolia.

After I finished the Spiderman movie, I grabbed another orange juice next to the lavatory.

At 12:30pm, I started watching the second movie of the flight, a Hong Kong movie called Shock Wave.

After I finished the movie at 14:35pm, I went to the lavatory and backed with some snacks and orange juice.

At 15:19pm, I watched the third movie, The Circle.

A glimpse out of the window.

At 15:21pm, the cabin light was turned on again and refreshment was served. It was the same peanuts, and I had a glass of Sprit.

We were flying somewhere over Siberia in Russia. The wing and the engine had blocked most of the view.

A closer look on the ground below.

At 15:57pm, the lunch was served. I took the "Chicken" option with coke as the drink.

The Mövenpick ice-cream was then served. This time was Vanilla Dream taste.

Had a cup of coffee after the meal as usual.

At 16:56pm, the cabin light was turned off. And about 45 minutes later, I decided to watch "I am Legend" after browsing the movie database for a long time. This picture was taken after the movie, so the time showing on the screen was not correct.

I had a nap of about 30 minutes after the beginning of the movie. At 19:18pm, I asked one of the crew for a pen to fill in the landing card. I also requested a cup noodle as well.

The seat pocket items

At 21:02pm, descend shortly and 30 minutes to landing was announced. However, it seemed that Heathrow was very busy and we had to perform several holding patterns. At last, we performed 4 circles holding over the east of the airport before we granted the permission to land.

After long waiting and finally it was our turn to go down into Heathrow airport.

We landed on RWY27L at 15:06pm London time. Total flight time was 12 hours and 42 minutes.

Taxing to terminal 3.

Arrived at the final parking position at gate 342.

Thanks for reading!