Hi everyone! Welcome to the fourth trip report in the Summer 2015 series as well as my tenth trip report written on FR! Before I get into the flight review of this sector from Hong Kong to Bangkok, I just wanted to say that there were many obstacles that I had to overcome in order to get the selected flights that I will be reviewing for the rest of the series. Several changes were made which messed up my booking, but I was able to pull through it. I'll explain the whole scenario in the pre-flight section of this trip report. I must say, that the last few flights of the summer series were quite eventful and something worthwhile writing about. So, I hope all of you enjoy reading this flight report!
Summer 2015 Trip Report Index:
1) 27 June 2015: CX899 EWR-HKG, B777-300ER, Business
2) 22 August 2015: KA633 HKG-PEN, A330-300, Business
3) 28 August 2015: KA692 PEN-HKG, A330-300, Business
4) 31 August 2015: CX701 HKG-BKK, A330-300, Business
5) 1 September 2015: CX616 BKK-HKG, B777-300, Business
6) 1 September 2015: CX840 HKG-JFK, B777-300ER, Business
Pre-flight:
Prior to confirming the flights that I finally got shown in the index, the original plan was to spend one day in Bangkok where I'd take a late morning/early afternoon flight to go back to Hong Kong the next day before connecting on a flight to New York City. It's been a tradition I've had for many years where I would fly to Bangkok and spend a night or two before flying back to the US.
While checking in online for the return flight to Hong Kong, I found out that my original flight (CX750) which departed 11:05 AM, was cancelled for unknown reasons along with CX2700 that departed at 8:00 AM. So to cut a long story short, I had no choice but to take flight CX616 which departed at 6:40 AM!! I thought I was done with early morning flights, but this was just the beginning. In order to make the journey easier, I stayed at the airport hotel which is an ideal idea for those who have flight connections the next day like myself. After booking the hotel for one night, I was pretty much good to go, even though I was not looking forward to waking up even earlier compared to flying to/from Penang.
Anyways, back to the flight. I got the private car that I always hire in order to go to the airport. I arrived at around 1:00 PM, which gave me enough time to check-in, go through security/immigration, spend time in the lounge, and plane spot before I head to Bangkok as well as avoid the rush since it was already the end of the summer peak season. The process of booking this flight was smooth as always and I was done with security and immigration within a matter of minutes. Apparently, prior to check-in, I was expecting to go on the regional business class onboard the Airbus A330-300, but then the agent behind the desk told me that our flight was switched to another A330-300 with the long-haul business class cabin. I was pretty much in for a treat! ;)
HKG Check-in Area
Post-security:
My flight was departing from gate 17 today, so it was not too far from immigration which wasn't that bad. However, when it came to selecting a lounge, I knew for a fact that I would choose The Wing since it was one of my favourite CX lounges in HKG and I was not really a huge fan of G16 (which has been recently renovated and renamed to The Deck, which is something that I've been wanting to try out since it opened in March 2018). Even though the lounge was on the other side from where my gate was, I didn't mind the distance in this case.
Late afternoon departures
Duty-free area
The usual departures area
Cathay Pacific Airbus A340-300 B-HXG, in the oneworld livery
Gates 1-4 area
The Wing - Business Class entrance
Lounge invitation
I'm going to keep the lounge review short since I've already talked about it on my trip report from Hong Kong to Newark (Link can be found here if you'd like to read a comprehensive review: https://flight-report.com/en/report/32722/Cathay-Pacific-CX890-Hong-Kong-HKG-Newark-EWR)
Some shots of The Wing
Boarding pass
I was there for about 10 minutes before I started to head to my gate
Heading towards gates 15-19
Gates 15-19 area
Our ride to BKK: B-HLR
Gate 17 area
Time for a short hop to Bangkok where I'll only be in the city for less than 12 hours!
Heading down the bridge as always
Some pre-flight information before I board:
Date: 31 August 2015
Airline: Cathay Pacific
Flight Number: CX 701
Route: Hong Kong (HKG) - Bangkok (BKK)
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Registration: B-HLR
Distance: 1051 miles
Scheduled Departure Time: 3:50 PM
Actual Departure Time: 4:38 PM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 5:40 PM
Actual Arrival Time: 5:57 PM
Flight Time: 2 hrs 50 mins
Departure Gate at HKG: 17
Arrival Gate at BKK: F6
Flight:
Main business class cabin
My seat - 17K with the inflight controls
View from my seat, right next to a Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300, B-HLO
Pre-departure drink: Orange juice
The usual legroom on the Airbus A330-300
Hot towel
Flight route
From what I could remember, it was quite a medium load in the business class cabin
Even though I have ordered a special meal for myself, I was stilled offered a menu to see if there were any other options. Hence, here's the menu for the flight.
After a while, the captain made his pre-flight welcome and announced that our flight was going to be delayed due to some runway issue, which slightly changed the time of pushback as well as the takeoff.
We pushed back from the gate at around 4:15 PM, from which I knew for a fact that this flight was going to be heavily delayed
While pushing back, I was able to get a glimpse of B-KPZ, which just arrived from LHR as CX238 (Fun fact: I took that plane back to HKG from EWR in June)
Hong Kong International Airport: Plane spotter's paradise!
Hong Kong Airlines Airbus A320-200, B-LPK which will serve as HX228 to HGH this evening
North satellite concourse
Air China Airbus A330-300 B-5906 which arrived from PEK as CA109
HKG Air Traffic Control Tower
Taxiing towards Runway 07R
We lifted off the runway at around 4:40 PM, just close to an hour behind schedule.
However, there was hope that the delay wouldn't be that bad as it would be for a few minutes.
Since I didn't get the chance to complete The Big Bang Theory on my flights to and from Penang, I thought I might as well finish what I first started! ;)
I don't remember much, but the crew started with the usual drink orders as well as the meal service
As mentioned before, I requested for a Chinese vegetarian meal, which was somehow better than from what I expected
For drinks, I decided to go for Coke yet again
To end it all, Hong Kong styled milk tea
I knew for a fact that this flight was extremely short, as explained by the next photo upon finding out that we only had less than our until we landed!!
In the meantime, one of the cabin crew came up to me and we started chatting for a little bit. After a few minutes, I started to complete the inflight survey
As well as filling out the Thai immigration form
Cabin view
Before I knew it, the captain came on again with the pre-arrival announcement noting that we were already starting to descend into Bangkok. This is one con I have about flights like these, which is because they end very quickly!!
On the bright side, I was to get some goods views of Thailand upon descent
I was handed a bottle of Evian water one pre-landing checks were complete
The mood lighting was on this setting for the majority of the flight
Final shots before landing
We ended up landing at around 15 minutes behind schedule, primarily due to the late departure out of HKG. However, the taxi to the gate was quite short
Docking at gate F6
Post-flight:
Disembarking/Arrival into BKK
Upon disembarking the aircraft, we ended up on the usual long walk to immigration which was nothing new. Although, I found out that area of the airport was deserted, primarily due to the renovations taking place
Reaching the Premium Lane
Baggage claim, which took 5 minutes as always
BKK Arrival Area
Since I was staying at the airport hotel, there were frequent shuttles from the airport to the hotel which is quite convenient. As soon as I made it to the meeting place, I was on my way to the hotel!
