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

Hello, everyone! Welcome to Part 2 of the final leg of my summer 2016 travel series! This trip report is in continuation from Part 1 where I showcased the flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong where I took flight CX750 onboard the brand-new Airbus A350-900, and now I'll finally be flying back to New York on the good 'ol Boeing 777-300ER, an aircraft that I've known and loved for many years. I guess this report can be a good comparison between the two aircraft and find out whether or not if there was any difference when it comes to overall service. Anyways, I hope I haven't bored you guys already. Let's get to this report! :)
Summer 2016 Trip Report Index:
1) 19 August 2016: CX653 HKG-BKK, A330-300, Business
2a) 21 August 2016: CX750 BKK-HKG, A350-900, Business
2b) 21 August 2016: CX846 HKG-JFK, B777-300ER, Business

Pre-flight:

As mentioned from my previous trip report, I missed my connecting flight (CX840) after a two hour delay from Bangkok. As a result, my family and I were put on the next flight (CX846) which would depart at 6:45 PM. So, after bypassing security at the transfer area, we were already at the departure area near gate 36.

Since the automated people mover goes one way, we had no choice but to take the long walk towards gates 1-4. It's about a 10 minute walk, which is not that bad. By that time, I finally made it towards the duty-free shopping area located not too far from the gate. I eventually discovered that our flight to JFK was departing from gate 15, which gave us the obvious choice to go for The Wing!

Duty-free area

FIDS

Gates 1-4 area

On the way to the lounge

Entrance to The Wing

Thanks to my father, all of us were able to gain access to the First Class section yet again!

The famous balcony view, the second time around!

More shots of the First Class section of the lounge

New boarding pass issued for flight CX846

I headed up to the champagne bar and got myself a glass of Veuve Clicquot, which is one of my favourites

The customary picture of the bottle

A fine glass of Veuve Clicquot

After approximately 15 minutes, my family and I went to The Haven (the dining area) and see what the catering options were like over there

There were à la carte options as well as choices from the buffet

While my parents ordered from the à la carte menu, I ended up getting food from the buffet

After spending more than 40 minutes in the lounge, we headed towards the gate. In fact, we made it just in time prior to boarding

Gates 15-19 area

As always, time to head back home!!

After going through secondary security, we were able to board the plane.

Well, time to board!

Some pre-flight information:
Date: 21 August 2016
Airline: Cathay Pacific
Flight Number: CX 846
Route: Hong Kong (HKG) - New York (JFK)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Registration: B-KPR
Distance: 8066 miles
Scheduled Departure Time: 6:45 PM
Actual Departure Time: 7:14 PM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 10:40 PM
Actual Arrival Time: 10:43 PM
Flight Time: 15 hrs 55 mins
Departure Gate at HKG: 15
Arrival Gate at JFK: 6

Inflight:

First class

Mini business class cabin

Main business class cabin

My seat, 25K, along with the inflight controls. What I found weird prior to boarding was that my seat was actually assigned by CX according to what was available onboard. However, I was quite content with the arrangement!

The comfortable legroom

View from my seat: a China Airlines Boeing 737-800 operated by Mandarin Airlines, B-18607, which will serve as AE1842 back to RMQ

CX846 is the perfect flight for connecting passengers like myself. By the time boarding was completed, the main business class cabin was completely full!

Pre-departure drink: Orange juice

Hot towel

Flight info

I was well-settled into my seat for the next 15 hours! ;)

Once boarding was finally complete, the captain came on with her pre-flight welcome, advising us that we would be a slight delay in arriving to New York by a few minutes due to heavy departure traffic in HKG, as well as that there was going to be the usual turbulence which would occur on and off throughout the entire flight, which is generally expected on these kind of flights.

We pushed back at 6:51 PM

The views with a beautiful sunset

Cabin view with mood lighting in preparation for takeoff

HKG Control Tower

Views during the taxi

Taxiing to Runway 25L

We then took off 30 minutes behind schedule at approximately 7:15 PM
Making a turn towards Taiwan

Peace out, Hong Kong!

Within 10 minutes after departure, the crew came around the cabin to distribute menus as other amenities

Menu for today's flight

Amenity kit, mineral water bottle, and US Customs forms were distributed

Discovering what's on studioCX

I immediately started with Hello, My Name is Doris, primarily due to the fact that it stars Sally Field and I'm quite a fan of her movies. In particular: Norma Rae, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Lincoln. Sorry that I keep going off track when it comes to movies! Let's get back to the flight! ;)

Soon, the dinner service started with the cabin crew taking drink orders. Like always, I got a Perrier

Table setup with the appetiser and garlic bread

A second round? Don't mind if I do!

For the main course, I ended up going for the Malaysian seafood curry, which was not bad

Just as I expected, there was bound to be some turbulence. This was where the first round occurred.

It took about 20 minutes before things started to smooth out, allowing the crew to resume the dinner service. At that time, the trolley with fruit and cheese plates passed by. Since I wasn't in the mood for dessert, I just asked for some fruit.

Cabin view from the back of the main J cabin

Hot towel to officially end the dinner service

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

Once I got back to my seat, the next thing I knew was the cabin lights changed, ultimately leading to complete darkness.

I decided to open up the inflight map to find out our current location. We were currently cruising above Japan heading towards the Pacific Ocean with more than 11 hours left of remaining flight time.

After looking for more programs to watch during the flight, I ultimately went for New Girl yet again!

I completed watching an episode of New Girl until I realised that the seat belt sign was back on, indicating we were going towards another round of turbulence somewhere near Mt. Fuji. It eventually subsided after 15 minutes.

After watching a couple of episodes of New Girl, I decided to call it a night after passing Japan.

As always, it didn't take long for me to set the seat in the fully flat position, and spread out the duvet. Before I knew it, I was ready for bed!

Surprisingly, I slept for a good 8 hours only to wake up just in time for the breakfast service

Orange juice to start my "morning" even though I knew it was approaching night-time in New York

Fruit platter along with yogurt

Waking up above Canada

For the main entrée, I chose one of my favourites: assorted dim sum as well as a mini chicken glutinous rice

Meanwhile, I decided to catch up on what I've missed on The Big Bang Theory!

Cabin views yet again, with different settings of mood lighting

Cruising near Toronto, with approximately an hour left before landing

Time was really flying (No pun intended!)

Since there was not much to do at this point, I reclined my seat a little bit and watched a couple of more episodes of The Big Bang Theory for the remainder of the flight.

It wasn't long until the captain came on again stating that we are starting the descent into New York and that we would be landing in 30 minutes

Starting the descent

Final shots before landing

Cabin with mood lighting in preparation for landing

Well, after the crazy journey that my family and I had, we finally landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport a few minutes behind schedule at 10:43 PM

Actual flight route

Taxiing to Terminal 7

Docking at gate 6

Disembarking/Arrival into JFK

Post-flight:

Just like every US arrival, I went through immigration and customs. However, the surprising thing about this arrival process was that it was very quick. In fact, we made it to the arrival hall within 20 minutes!

Anyways, as soon as we collected our bags, we were on our way to meet our private cab driver, and then headed back home.

*In January 2017 (a few months after this flight), I heard that CX was relocating to Terminal 8. In my honest opinion, this was a bittersweet moment. I had flown in and out of Terminal 7 for years, and it's quite sad to see CX moving operations. On the bright side, Terminal 8 is a massive terminal which is claimed to be twice the size of Madison Square Garden, and I think the move would be very beneficial for American Airlines passengers as they don't have to exit the terminal. Although I'm excited to see CX's new home in Terminal 8, I'm really going to miss Terminal 7 so much!