Review of Cathay Pacific flight New York → Hong Kong in Business

Hello everyone,

This is my first trip report here on FR. I know that I'm writing about a post that occurred three years ago, which was when I started trip-reporting, and I thought that now is the right time to share it here, even if it's late! For this trip, I was going to attend a wedding in India, and this is the first leg of the journey going to Hong Kong from New York. Enjoy :)

Winter 2014-15 Trip Report Index:
1) 13 December 2014: CX845 JFK-HKG, B777-300ER, Business
2) 15 December 2014: CX685 HKG-BOM, A330-300, Business
3) 22 December 2014: CX684 BOM-HKG, A330-300, Business
4) 5 January 2015: CX653 HKG-BKK, A330-300, Business
5) 6 January 2015: CX614 BKK-HKG, A330-300, Business
6) 6 January 2015: CX890 HKG-EWR, B777-300ER, Business

Pre-flight:
I was originally booked to go on flight CX841, which departed at 9:00 AM EST. However, I had a prior engagement during the day of my arrival, and I wanted to get some time to unwind and relax prior to that. Also, I wanted to sleep throughout the flight. So, I ended up calling CX for days prior to departure and tried really hard in order to get a seat on flight CX845, which departed at 12:50 AM. It took numerous phone calls with agents before I could get my hands on a ticket on flight CX845. I'm glad that I was able to get a seat as this was the only option which was best suitable for me.

I left home at around 10:15 PM in order to head to John F. Kennedy International Airport.

I arrived at the airport a few minutes before 11:30 PM



Usually, Terminal 7 at JFK would be dead at night. However, there was quite a lot of people roaming around the terminal tonight.



Heading towards the check-in section for CX First and Business Class



CX First & Business Class Check-in counters



Heading towards security



Post-security:
Terminal 7 at JFK is a decent sized terminal, however many of the shops were closed after 11 PM. After a few shots of the terminal, I decided to head to the British Airways Galleries Lounge, located an escalator ride away after security.



Lounge invitation



Few shots of the lounge.



In my honest opinion, I have been to this lounge many times prior to starting to trip report. So, I would say that the British Airways Galleries Lounge in JFK is decent, but is quite old when it comes to the layout and interior design, and didn't really have a lot of variety in terms of food/drinks.

Boarding pass



Heading to gate 5



Boarding started at 12:05 AM, with a super long Y queue. Little did I know that there were going to be a series of delays for this flight. All of us ended up waiting by the gate for about 10-15 minutes before boarding actually began.



Time to go to Hong Kong!!



Down the bridge



Before I talk about the inflight experience, here is some of the flight info that I'd like to provide for those who are interested :)

Date: 13 December 2014
Airline: Cathay Pacific
Flight Number: CX 845
Route: New York (JFK) - Hong Kong (HKG)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Registration: B-KPK
Distance: 8066 miles
Scheduled Departure Time: 12:50 AM
Actual Departure Time: 1:31 AM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 5:40 AM
Actual Arrival Time: 5:59 AM
Flight Time: 15 hrs 50 mins
Departure Gate at JFK: 5
Arrival Gate at HKG: 29

Inflight:

Main business class cabin



Seat 26K



Controls



View from my seat, along with our neighbour: British Airways Boeing 777-200ER G-VIID which was heading back to LHR as BA182



Legroom, which is more than perfect for a 15 hour flight



Welcome drink - Orange juice



Hot towel



Flight Route



Pushback at 12:57 AM. At that point, I knew that we were going to be delayed for departure



Cabin Views



Taxiing to Runway 31L



Prior to takeoff, the lights of the cabin were completely turned off



We then took of at 1:31 AM making a turn heading towards Connecticut



See you soon, America!



My plan for a late night departure was to enjoy a light meal and go to bed. With 15 hours of flying time, there was no rush to anything. ;)



Time to discover the inflight entertainment, StudioCX!



What's on the menu, tonight?



Amenity kit



Fun fact: One of my favourite shows is The Big Bang Theory, and that was one of the shows that I watched for the majority of the flight



Table setup



My usual drink on long distance flights, Perrier!



So for dinner, I decided to go with the sea bass with steamed vegetables and jasmine rice. The dish in general was ok. Usually, I would look forward for the catering onboard CX, but this was quite a disappointment from what I've experienced in the past.



Oshiburi after dinner service



It was not long before the mood lights changed until it turned into complete darkness, which was the perfect environment for passengers to rest.



I thought to myself that I would be going to bed sooner or later, right after I watch a couple more episodes of The Big Bang Theory!



After reaching somewhere above Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, I obviously started to feel exhausted and wanted to get some rest.


So, within five minutes, I was ready for bed with the seat fully flat and the duvet all nicely spread out, and I slept for a good 8 hours. I must point out that the business class flat beds on the Boeing 777-300ER is extremely comfortable, especially for long haul flights like this one.



I woke up to only realise that I was getting hungry, so I requested one of the flight attendants for the wonton noodle soup, which is something that I haven't tried before on Cathay Pacific. The wait for the noodles was only 10 minutes.



For a drink, I decided to get the usual Perrier



Eating noodles, drinking Perrier, and watching The Big Bang Theory.



After satisfying my hunger with the noodles, I headed to the bathroom, which was something that I've seen many times before. In my opinion, I would say that the bathrooms in business class were quite bland, compared to the refreshed one on the 77G (which has no first class). The goods news is that I’ll see that again when I return to EWR in January.



Still yet a dark cabin



Afterwards, I checked out the progress of the flight and find out where we were and how long it would take to finally reach HKG. To my surprise, we were approaching northern China with approximately 3 hours left! Well, time flies when you have fun, and indeed I was!



I decided to rest for another hour before I woke up when the mood lighting turned on, which was about 2 hours from arrival.



Cabin with mood lighting



Hot towel



Orange juice for starters



Fruit platter and croissant, followed by yogurt




The trolley with the breakfast entrees came by, and I opted for the rice vermicelli with chicken and assorted vegetables. It was better than the sea bass that I had for supper.




Approaching Hong Kong




The arrival information was then displayed on the IFE




Final shots before landing




My seat as clean as I found it when I boarded



Cabin lighting was shut off in preparation for landing


We ended up landing 20 minutes behind schedule, primarily due to the late departure out of JFK as there was a heavy load of departures during that time. Also, I forgot to mention that during both takeoff and landing, there was a faulty overhead bin for one of the seats, which I found quite strange.



Taxiing towards the gate




Actual flight route




Docking at Gate 29




Disembarking/Arrival into HKG



I got my bags within 5 minutes. That's why I love having priority tags




Even though there are a few days before Christmas, it still feels like it already



Upon reaching the arrival hall, I headed towards The Arrival lounge. It is quite hard to locate as you have to go towards the entrance to Terminal 2.


The Arrival was quite small, but had a good variety of food and drinks. I ended up getting a cup of coffee as well as some fruit and pastries.


Afterwards, I took the first Airport Express back to Central/Hong Kong Station where I caught a taxi and made my journey from there.


It feels good to be back!! :)