Hello, everyone! Welcome to Part 2 of the final leg of my summer 2017 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 CX754 onboard the mediocre Airbus A330-300, and now I'll finally be flying back to New York City. I guess the whole focus on this report and most of the travel series was how I abruptly changed my original travel plans as well as mainly concentrating on returning to New York. Anyways, I hope I haven't bored you guys already. Let's get to this report! :)
Summer 2017 Trip Report Index:
1) 28 May 2017: CX899 EWR-HKG, B777-300ER, Business
2) 24 July 2017: CX703 HKG-BKK, B777-200, Business
3) 25 July 2017: CX754 BKK-HKG, A330-300, Business
4) 25 July 2017: CX846 HKG-JFK, B777-300ER, Business
Pre-flight
After a short 2-hour flight from Bangkok and bypassing security at the transfer area within minutes, I made it to the departure hall
Various shops at HKG
While checking the FIDS, I happened to notice that there was no gate assignment for my flight. Usually, I'd go to the lounge closest to the gate. So, I thought I'd start at The Wing as that's like my home base
Gates 1-4 area
Heading towards the lounge
The Wing - Business Class entrance
Lounge invitation
Some shots of The Wing
Coffee Loft
Noodle Bar
The view from the balcony
Shirley Temple yet again!
After approximately half an hour, I headed out to see if I could spot some planes. I checked the FIDS to see what gate my flight was departing from. To my surprise, I found out it was gate 50! Honestly, I found that a bit weird, especially for a US-bound flight. So, I then headed towards The Bridge, which was located across gate 36. Also, it's closer to gate 50 so there might be a better chance of spotting planes since I couldn't find anything during the first time.
View from gate 1
Heading towards The Bridge via the Automated People Mover, which eases the journey to the other side of the airport
Automated People Mover
The Bridge entrance
Shots of The Bridge
To cut a long story short as I've reviewed this lounge before, it's fairly decent with a variety of dining options although it lacks a noodle bar and showers like others such as The Wing and The Pier.
After some time, I went to try my luck again in regards to plane spotting. I must say, the second time was indeed the charm
Lufthansa Airbus A340-600, D-AIHK, which will serve as LH731 back to MUC later this evening
Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300, B-LAI, which landed from MEL as CX134 and will serve as CX617 to BKK
On the way to gates 60-71
British Airways Airbus A380-800, G-XLEJ, currently going on remote standby before operating as BA32 back to LHR
Emirates A380-800, A6-EDU, serving as EK383 back to DXB
I just love the views from HKG!
Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300, B-LAZ, preparing to depart as CX695 to DEL
Thai Airways Airbus A330-300, HS-TEN, in front
After spotting the planes I could, I ultimately decided to head back to the lounge
Dining area
Catering options
I was back at the lounge for about 15 minutes before I headed to gate 50 in order to board the flight
Heading towards gates 40-50
Walking towards gate 50
By the time I got to the gate, there were delays which took 15 minutes, but we were finally able to board right afterwards
Plane to JFK: B-KPT
Time to finally head back home
Waiting for all these delays to get over with!
Heading towards the plane after secondary security
Well, time to board!
Some pre-flight information:
Date: 25 July 2017
Airline: Cathay Pacific
Flight Number: CX 846
Route: Hong Kong (HKG) - New York (JFK)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Registration: B-KPT
Distance: 8068 miles
Scheduled Departure Time: 6:45 PM
Actual Departure Time: 8:04 PM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 10:40 PM
Actual Arrival Time: 10:58 PM
Flight Time: 15 hrs 55 mins
Departure Gate at HKG: 50
Arrival Gate at JFK: 14
Inflight
First class
Main business class cabin
My seat, 25K with the inflight controls
View from my seat
Bumping into D-AIHK again!
The good 'ol legroom on the Boeing 777-300ER
Flight info
Pre-departure drink: Orange juice
Hot towel
Well-settled into my seat
Once boarding was finally complete, the captain came on with his pre-flight welcome, advising us that we would be a slight delay in arriving to New York due to secondary security as well as the usual heavy departure traffic in HKG. He even stated that there was going to be the usual turbulence which would occur on and off throughout the flight and that we would arrive into New York just a few minutes behind schedule.
Since I have once again ordered a special meal for myself, I still asked for the menu to see what other options there were
Menu for today's flight
Promotion for the all-new Betsy Beer
Amenity kit and US Customs form were distributed
It took a while for us to finally get clearance to pushback, but the taxi took approximately 10 minutes
View of the midfield concourse
HKG Control Tower
Cabin view with mood lighting in preparation for takeoff
View during the taxi
After the long delays, we finally took off at 8:04 PM
View after takeoff
Within 10 minutes after departure, the cabin lights changed yet again
I'll be back soon, Hong Kong!
Evian bottle
The crew came around the cabin another 10 minutes later, and that was when the dinner service was starting
StudioCX main menu
Time to continue where I left off!
Soon, the dinner service started with the drink orders. I got a Perrier as usual
Table setup with the appetiser and a bread assortment
The main course, which was exactly the same meal that I ate on my flight going to Bangkok the day before
The seat belt sign was on for most of the dinner service due to light turbulence
Rasgulla and another round of Perrier
It took about 5 minutes for things to smooth out, and I ended up getting some fruit to complete my meal!
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
Cabin views
Another shot of my seat inflight
I was pretty much just in time to see the cabin lights change, which is a highlight for me
Cabin in complete darkness
After a couple of episodes, I decided to open up the inflight map to find out our current location. It turned out that we were going above China, ultimately heading towards Mongolia and Russia
Only 11 hours to go!
Since I couldn't sleep, I settled to watch a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory until I called it a night
Progress of the flight before going to bed
Within a few minutes, I put the seat on the fully flat position and had the duvet all nicely spread out and drifted off to sleep!
Waking up after 8 hours
Orange juice for starters
Waking up above Canada
Fruit platter along with cereal and yogurt
Croissant
Another round of orange juice!
Cabin views
Hot towel to end the breakfast service
Almost there!
A little bit of sunrise over Ontario
Since there was not much to do at this point, I reclined my seat and continued to watch a couple more episodes of 2 Broke Girls. It was about 20 minutes later when the captain came on again stating that we are starting the descent into New York and that we would be landing approximately a few minutes behind schedule.
I then checked the map only to find out that we were already near JFK
Final shots before landing
It took some time as it looked like we were in a holding pattern
Cabin with mood lighting in preparation for landing
Before I knew it, we landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport at 10:58 PM, 18 minutes behind the scheduled arrival time. However, the taxi to the terminal took about 10 minutes
Actual flight route
Taxiing towards Terminal 8
Docking at gate 14, located at the main concourse of the terminal
Disembarking/Arrival into JFK
Post-flight
It took about 30 minutes to clear immigration and customs as the lines weren't that long. Although, it took a while to retrieve my bag, which is quite normal.
I breezed through customs and was on my way to the arrival hall, which is less impressive as I thought it would be
Terminal 8 arrival hall exterior
Afterwards, I went outside to meet my private cab driver, and then headed back home
Hi Rbix, thanks for sharing another very nice report on CX. I see what you mean about the overall experience--while the hard product is obviously great, everything else seems mediocre considering CX is a premium carrier. The fact that the crew didn't remove the plastic and aluminium covers from your SPML just feels lazy and non-premium. You expect that in Economy, not Business, especially on a premium Asian carrier. Luckily CX have been making improvements in J catering from what I understand, I guess they were getting too much negative feedback about the mediocre meal service.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the comment, KévinDC!! I would definitely expect that from Economy or even a short-haul flight like my previous flights to/from Bangkok. I guess not all flights are the same when it comes to catering and service. I just hope that the improvements on CX's catering is what they promised and the next time I fly on CX, it would be much better. Happy travels!
Good Report, BUT not good airlines!!
Airlines, especially EK and CX, have cut huge amount of budget, for its Business Class passengers..... For instance, I have to point out that even the LOUNGE FOOD, is a lot better than those onboard. The dinner and Breakfast costs them less than 40 bucks, for your flight, which is extremely unfair!!
Many people still arguing that CX is 5 star, but to me the answer is NO, at most 3-4.... NH, SQ, BR have done much better, even TK or TG, have FAR BETTER catering than CX does. What CX have is the lounges, that's it....If you look onboard catering, nothing to write home about......
Thanks for the comment! Even I agree that the quality has downgraded on CX, and the lounge food was definitely better than inflight. In fact, I am really looking forward to trying out SQ once they relaunch their service to/from EWR in October. It should be exciting along with trying the catering onboard other airlines such as NH and BR. Happy travels.