Flight routing
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- 4CX542 - Hong Kong to Tokyo Haneda
This is the last report of my trip to Singapore via Hong Kong. Usually I'll fly to Narita instead of Haneda, because flights to Haneda are usually more expensive (close to city center). But this time I managed to get the Haneda flight with a reasonable price (Tokyo-HKG-SIN for 55,000yen tax inclusive).
Took the MTR Airport Express train to HKG. Dropped my bag at counter and head straight to The Pier Lounge for my lunch.

cathay pacific the pier lounge
My flight was assigned to gate 43 near the west end of the terminal. So, no doubt I would hit The Pier Lounge.

Buffet Area, with variety of decent food, including pizza, rolls, pasta, pan-fried fish fillet, Christmas cake, bakery……





Yes, you guessed it, my favourite dandan noodle + wonton again from The Noodle Bar. The sour sweet pork rib was tasty too!


Sitting area was as cozy as usual. The Pier is always my favorite lounge.

Before heading to the boarding gate, I was attracted by this 'Christmas Pudding with Brandy Vanilla Sauce'. My curiosity told me I must give a try to figure out what it tastes!


It's a cake-like dessert with a lot of raisins added into it, topped with vanilla sauce with wine. A bit too sweet but tasty!

Then I left the lounge and head to gate 43. The aircraft of today, Boeing 777-300 (non-ER version with derated engines) only flying on regional routes.
CX542 HKG - HND

Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300 (Reg: B-HNO), first flight on Feb 2004.

Cathay Pacific is refurbishing their 777 fleet economy class from 3-3-3 config into 3-4-3. It's always controversial if it should be regarded as a downgrade of services, so I won't talk about it here. But today I still got the 3-3-3 version aircraft. Fixed shell seats without recliner and again, a controversial topic if one should or should not recline the seat. Personally I don't mind this type of fixed shell seats as everyone just can't recline, thus everyone is fair!

A small episode I think it was quite interesting. We always hesitate to pick a window or aisle seat. However before my flight, when I was looking at the seating plan, I found a passenger picked a middle seat (Yes! Middle of middle! Please refer to the pic below). Someone told me he/she was probably trying to pick the middle seat and so that nobody sitting next to him/her. We usually pick our seat with empty seats next to us unconsciously. This passenger probably wanted to utilize this 'unconscious'. So I decided to sit next to him/her to see what's this passenger look like! In fact, my fellow passenger was not a 'guy', just a usual-looking Japanese woman in her 40s. She ended up sitting in the middle, sandwiched between two strangers…

And extra… I think of this Apple ad in the good old day…
The in-flight meal, choose from Penne in tomato sauce OR Teriyaki beef rice. I'm not a beef lover so I chose penne. The penne was an 'upgraded version'. In the past they just gave you penne mixed with tomato sauce, and that's all. Glad that CX is now so generous to upgrade it with a lump of cheese and a few cubes of chicken meat! The appetizer Green tea soba was good.

The best part usually comes late. Yes, Haagen-Dazs ice cream again.

Everything went uneventful. Flying between Tokyo and Hong Kong just like riding on a shuttle bus for me. Touch down at 9:21pm and took Keikyu Line to home.

That's all for this trip. And… if you click on my profile, I still got some uncompleted reports such as the Vietnam trip last year. Sorry for the big delay and I'll try my best to make up all those reports!
Thanks for sharing this FR
The Pier is a nice and cozy lounge.
In my opinion the Noodle Bar offer is way above the buffet offer
(not really qualitative products).
"as everyone just can't recline, thus everyone is fair!"
Yes, I agree with you.
In that way it's much better.
"Yes! Middle of middle!"
And even more : in the middle of the cabin !
"So I decided to sit next to him/her to see what's this passenger look like! "
Interesting analysis of the conscious and the unconscious ;)
In the end you were disappointed!
"Glad that CX is now so generous to upgrade it with a lump of cheese and a few cubes of chicken meat!"
CX, the pasta company ;)
I'm always afraid that the pasta could be overcooked.
"Flying between Tokyo and Hong Kong just like riding on a shuttle bus for me"
A great routine...
See you soon
Hi Lagentsecret thank you for reading this report! Yes, the signature paste is always overcooked (they really call that the signature pasta), hard and dry.
Nice pictures of the Pier. I had read so many good things about it. What an interesting story about the passenger picking the middle seat. I always see empty rows or middle seats. It's very rare that that seat is not taken by boarding, especially how full many of these flights are today. Great review
Hi Lbfortress thank you for stopping by. I think of this old hilarious Apple ad (and I added it into my report) lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8RJlWhp0B4
Ha Ha, so you were looking at an Apple's buddy lol
But that's true that sometime we do encounter some 'lovely' passengers, like occupying your space with his/her arms, talk loudly during the flight, or you could just name more examples...
I just love the fact that you choose to sit next to her out of curiosity. Did you actually ask her for a reason to why she did so? If I have to sit in a middle seat, the one in the middle lane would be the least of my choice.