Review of Cathay Pacific flight from New York to Hong Kong in Business

Hi everyone! Welcome to another trip report where I'll be covering my flight back to Hong Kong for the Christmas holidays. Prior to heading to the airport, I had an event that day, and I was definitely looking forward to this flight as I could finally relax and unwind! Before I get into the flight details, I just wanted to say that I'm not going to be doing a travel series and this is going to be the sole trip report for the Christmas trip of 2015.
The reason why I chose to post this flight to Hong Kong is because the upcoming flights to/from Bangkok along with the return flight to New York City were very uneventful and I felt there was nothing for me to really talk about. However, I will post my flights that I took during the summer of 2016, from which I will be back with my usual travel series. Anyways, without further ado, let's get to this report! ;)

Pre-flight:

Before heading to the airport, I got a notification from CX saying that my flight was going to be delayed to 2:15 AM as the incoming aircraft was going to be arriving late. I guess I was glad that my flight was delayed primarily because I had a very important event that I was a part of, which was quite stressful! On the bright side, the delay gave me some more time in order to get ready before I head to the airport. Luckily, when it came to booking the flight, the process was very smooth. Anyways, back to the flight!
I left home at around 10:50 PM in order to head to John F. Kennedy International Airport, making it there with plenty of time to spare!

It's that time of the year again!

Terminal 7 Departure Lobby

Then, I headed to the CX First and Business Class check-in counters, where it didn't take long for me to complete the whole process. Before I knew it, I was all set to go to Hong Kong!

Heading towards security

Post-security:

Once I cleared security, it was about 11:45 PM, and the first thing I noticed was that the terminal was exceedingly empty with little to no people. However, I was not surprised since we were the last departing flight out of Terminal 7 and we pretty much just had the space to ourselves.

My standard shot of Terminal 7

Terminal 7 Gate Area

I decided to hang out at the British Airways Galleries Lounge until our flight was ready for boarding

Lounge invitation

Few shots of the lounge

I have reviewed this lounge previously on another report going on the same route. IMO, I don't think much has changed, but it is still a comfortable place to relax for a few hours, especially if your flight has been delayed! (Link can be found here)

It was pretty clear that we were the last flight out of Terminal 7 that night

The lounge was mostly empty!

Boarding pass

While walking around the lounge, I asked one of the attendants at the front desk what the boarding time is for my flight. Apparently, they have just received information that it was delayed even further to 2:45 AM!! Since there was a lot of time before my flight, I decided to sit back, relax, eat, listen to music, and surf the web using the free WiFi

Approximately 40 minutes later from when I found out that my flight had the extended delay, the announcement was made for our flight saying it was ready for boarding. I thought to myself that it's about time and hopefully that these delays would be over. However, I was wrong.

As soon as I got to the gate, I remember waiting for an additional half and hour, making the delay even worse!

The gate finally opened at 2:15 AM, which was supposedly the scheduled departure time

Down the aerobridges

Let's go! ;)

Flight info:
Date: 17 December 2015
Airline: Cathay Pacific
Flight Number: CX 845
Route: New York (JFK) - Hong Kong (HKG)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Registration: B-KQV
Distance: 8066 miles
Scheduled Departure Time: 12:45 AM (delayed to 2:15 AM)
Actual Departure Time: 3:14 AM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 5:40 AM
Actual Arrival Time: 7:38 AM
Flight Time: 15 hrs 55 mins
Departure Gate at JFK: 6
Arrival Gate at HKG: 42

Inflight:

Main business class cabin

My seat, 25K, with the inflight controls and headset

View from my seat

I forgot to mention that we were delayed for another 30 minutes in order for boarding to be completed. So, that meant including the time to pushback from the gate and taxi to the runway, we were going to depart at around 3:15 AM! ??
One of the best seats with the best legroom!

Settling into my seat!

Flight route and info

Orange juice at 2:30 in the morning? Don't mind if I do! ?

Hot towel

As always, once boarding was complete, the captain came on with the rather quick pre-flight welcome along with an apology for the late departure due to the inbound flight being delayed
The main business class cabin was full by the time boarding was complete

I could tell that the crew were trying their best to quickly wrap things up so that we could finally depart
Approximately 20 minutes later, we were cleared for pushback!

It was quite a long taxi to the runway.

After the many delays which somewhat felt like an eternity, we finally took off!

Cruising towards Connecticut

Peace out, America!

There was some light turbulence after we took off, which was expected. For the most part, the flight was generally smooth with a few hits of minor turbulence at some parts here and there.

Time to discover the inflight entertainment!

Menu for tonight's flight.

In this case, the one thing that I found strange is that breakfast would be served halfway through the flight instead of two hours prior to landing.

Evian mineral water bottle

Amenity kit

After browsing through the inflight entertainment, I decided to watch some 2 Broke Girls

My standard drink: Perrier!

I ultimately decided to skip the dinner service as it was almost 4 AM in New York and I already ate dinner before leaving for the airport. So, I was not really in the mood to eat anything during the dinner service.

Hot towel to conclude the dinner service

Less than 5 minutes later, the cabin lights were shut, allowing for passengers to rest

I decided to open up the inflight map to find out our current location. We were currently cruising above Canada, and it turned out that we were taking the route which would eventually head towards Alaska compared to the Greenland route that I've been accustomed to

Only 13 more hours to go!

Afterwards, I decided to call it a night. Within less than 5 minutes, I set the seat in the fully flat position, lay the duvet all nicely spread out, and I was ready for bed!

Just when I thought I would get some sleep, I was definitely wrong. I slept for only 6 hours and felt very groggy afterwards.

I was pretty much just in time for the breakfast service

Halfway there!

Orange juice for starters

Fruit platter and croissant, followed by yogurt. The first thing I could tell is the downsizing of the catering and how that aspect was decreasing over time.

The trolley with the breakfast entrees came by, and I opted for the seafood congee with a shrimp rice roll.

Once the breakfast service was over, I headed to the bathroom with the standard J sink

Within 15 minutes, the cabin went back to darkness

Since I couldn't sleep, I settled to watch Ted 2. I have to admit, I was a fan of the first movie, and I didn't get a chance to see the second one. So, this was a perfect chance for me to see if the sequel can live up to its predecessor!

Once I finished the film, I felt tired again. Ultimately, I dozed off again

Then, after a few hours, I started to feel a bit hungry. So, I requested one of the flight attendants for the wonton noodle soup, which is nothing but a CX classic! As always, I added a Perrier to go along with it.
While my noodles were getting prepared, I checked the flight map yet again to discover that we were already above northern China. I eventually went back to watching 2 Broke Girls.

Before

After

This is pretty much the high life in the sky! ;)

Still yet a dark cabin

After watching a couple of episodes of 2 Broke Girls, I went back to sleep.
When I woke up, I checked the flight map again, only to find to my surprise that we were already near Hong Kong with less than an hour to go.

I knew for a fact that I was not in the right state of mind during this flight, primarily due to my lack of sleep and the stress from the event prior to the flight
The next thing I could remember was when the captain came back on with her pre-arrival announcement, saying that we were now starting the descent towards Hong Kong International Airport and that we had the usual 30 minutes until we landed.
Approaching Hong Kong

Arrival information

Final shots before landing

My seat as clean as when I boarded

Once everyone was done preparing for landing, the cabin lights came back on. I have to admit, this was somewhat of a weird flight in terms of timing. However, at least I was able to get the experience on what it was like to have a flight delayed for several hours and the effect it has.

We landed at 7:38 in the morning, which was more than 2 hours behind the scheduled arrival time

However, the taxi to the terminal was not that bad as we got to the gate within 2 minutes from when we landed
Docking at gate 42 next to a Thai Airways International Boeing 777-200, HS-TJE, preparing to serve as TG603 to BKK

Actual flight route

Disembarking

First class

Arrival into HKG

Post-flight:

The walk to immigration was quite long, but the automated people mover made the journey much easier, as always!

Wow! I'm not surprised with the number of people since it was only a few days before Christmas!

I pretty much breezed through immigration, and made it to the arrival hall within 10 minutes

Arrival hall

I made my way towards the Airport Express platform since I was too tired to go to The Arrival lounge

Airport Express train interior

I arrived at Central/Hong Kong station within 30 minutes, where I immediately caught a taxi afterwards and made my journey from there.

I don't know if I have made it clear, but, it felt good to be back!! :)