Review of Cathay Dragon flight Hong Kong → Hangzhou in Business

Hi there! This is a continuation of my previous series of flight reports in December 2017. Despite stopping over in Hong Kong several times, I have never actually left the airport to explore the city. As such, I decided that it is finally time to visit Hong Kong. On top of that, it was a while since we visited Taiwan, especially the southern part, and so that was added to the itinerary. With extra time, I decided to pay Nanjing a visit to visit the War Memorial sites as well, and possibly try the Cathay lounges in Hong Kong by upgrading my ticket with my IHG Reward Points converted to Asia Miles. Talk about killing 2 birds with 1 stone. With such a complicated itinerary, there was only one airline to fly: Cathay Pacific. 

Here was my itinerary for the entire journey:

19 Dec CX 710 SIN to HKG B777-300ER (Previous Report)
19 Dec KA 622 HKG to HGH A330-300 J (HERE)
22 Dec KA 811 NKG to SIN A330-300 J (Coming soon)
25 Dec KA 432 HKG to KHH A330-300 Y (+/-)
31 Dec KA 495 RMQ to HKG A320 Y (+/-)
31 Dec CX 735 HKG to SIN A330-300 Y (+/-) 

It has been a very long break between my reports due to the absolute lack of time. However, I still love sharing flight reports as it heps be recollect all the fun moments of my travels. 

This was a landmark trip for me. I previously was fiercely loyal to my home airline Singapore Airlines. However, during this trip,  Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon left such a strong impression on me that i decided to sign up for Marco Polo Club, of which I am now a silver member and enjoying quite a fair bit of benefits I never would have gotten in SQ. Hope to share more of these little perks in my future reports including a double upgrade on SIN to BKK, upgrade on SIN TO HKG, as well as nice flights such as HKG to LHR. 

More on that in the future. Now to continue with my trip in 2017.

Lounge Hopping in hkg

So after arriving on CX 710, I proceed to the transfer counters and cleared security within 10 minutes. And my lounge hopping started with The Bridge. 

The Bridge is divided into two parts: One part having the bar with handcrafted drinks and food section known as the bakery. The other part has a similar food section known as the bistro, coffee loft and showers. 

Unfortunately I did not take many pictures as it was rather crowded. 
    

Food selection of the bakery. Area has limited selection of pizza, western food, dim sum and wide range of soups, bread etc.  

What's left of the pizza and coffee loft with handcrafted beverages

The lounge provided excellent views of the tarmac and allowed natural light to come in giving in a really bright atmosphere. 

Overall, I was impressed with the lounge. Food quality was good, and amenities were adequate. Atmosphere was also warm and welcoming. But definitely not the best lounge in HKG. Up next in this lounge hopping, the now defunct lounge The Cabin.  

Unfortunately this lounge no longer exist. The main theme of this lounge appears to be "wellness" with food focusing on wholesome and fresh food. 

There are a few counters serving salads, superfoods, fresh juice in addition to a limited buffet. Compared to other lounges, the interior did seem a little more dated. Just like almost all other Cathay Lounges, I was treated to wonderful views of the tarmac.  

Tarmac views: Avgeek dream. Philippine Airlines A330 to Manila 

The Whale from my Homeland, Singapore Airlines A380 coming in from Singapore. I recall that this service was delayed by at least 1-2 hours. 
 

Only picture of food selection I have from the Cabin: Bowl of fruits, fresh starfruit juice and Cold Udon noodles. Nothing to shout about. Didnt stay long here before heading across the airport to The Wing 

Apologies again for the lack of pictures inside the lounge. The Wing has Cathay's Signature noodle bar with noodle options such as Dan Dan Noodles as well as a limited buffet spread. There is the Long Bar with a bartender with wide selection of alcoholic drinks including freshly shaken up cocktails. The Long Bar affords lovely views of the tarmac as well, just as all cathay lounges do. 

Overall, back then, the food quality was excellent and having freshly cooked noodles is always a bonus. However, I noticed that the Wing tends to be very crowded which does destroy the atmosphere quite a bit. 

Next up, the newly refurbished Qantas Lounge. Spoilers: it was impressive, arguably the best Oneworld Lounge in Hong Kong  

 

Some plane spotting while walking across the terminal. JAL 777-200 with Oneworld livery. 

The Qantas Lounge has a modern and sleek design. It has a fully serviced Bar (serving Char Siew Rice as well), a good buffet spread and drinks area, as well and more than ample seating. Although I went towards the late evening where there were many Qantas flights heading out to Australia, the lounge never felt crowded. Staff were also friendly and proactively clearing plates and offering drink refills and food.  

Buffet Menu: mainly western selection. The food was of high quality. 
 

I had done my research prior to coming to the lounge and noted that they have a char siew rice. I saw pieces of char siew hanging by the bar area and figured thats where it is. The staff promptly prepared a serving of char siew rice and served in to me with all smiles. 
 

A simple dish, but yet extremely flavourful and the meat was tender. I was incredibly impressed. Possibly the best dish among all the lounge food I had that evening. The lounge staff went around the lounge to offer guest more food, including this char siew pau and a Christmas cocktail 

Again, wonderful views of the tarmac. This time, the Raccoon from my homeland. The A350 is fast becoming my favourite aircraft

With just about 2 hours more prior to my flight, I headed to the final oneworld lounge I could access: Cathay Pacific's Flagship Lounge The Pier. 

This lounge was huge! It was divided into 5 sections: The Food Hall, Bar area, Noodle Bar, The Tea House as well as a rest area with beds for the weary traveller. Showers were also available in this lounge. 
 
Since I had spent quite a bit of energy walking around the whole airport in search of lounges, I decided to proceed for a shower to freshen up.  

The shower space was reasonable, and Aesop brand soap and shampoo was provided. Basic amenities like dental kit was available while other amenities like razor were available on request. 

After a refreshing shower, I headed to explore more of this lounge.  

The food hall. Basically food was on display and the chef behind the counter will scoop your choices for you. While the counter does give a more upscale experience, I still think a buffet is more practical.  Above was the small sleeciton of finger food I had. The quality was average. 

One section of seating available. In the background of the photo you can see that tarmac views are again available. 

Despite being full, how can one miss out the signature noodle bar? Had a serving of Dan Dan Noodles which was creamy and nutty. Feeling FOMO, I went for a serving of wanton noodles just to try it out. The wantons were sufficiently plump and noodle texture was good. 

Counter style seating located in the noodle bar. There were many different kinds of seating available: from counter style suited for eating, to lounging chairs for those looking to laze and relax. 

This lounge continued to amaze me, especially with the tea house where there was a large seleciton of freshly brewed teas from loose tealeaves available. I could not resist, but ordered a pot of tea to complete the Pier Experience. There was also a small selection of chinese snacks such as almond pastry, egg tarts available here as well 

After all that insane amount of food I ate, i proceeded to wind down in the rest area. I guess it is burnt some calories by walking around through the entire HKIA.

And before long, my 8 hour layover came to and end and I proceeded to the boarding gate for my flight. 

KA 622 HKG to HGH

Depature from Gate 50 this evening, not too far away from the Pier. Flight was full in economy and snaking queues started to form once pre boarding announcements were made. Thankfully I was travelling in Business class today and was onboard before the crowd came. 

My seat for today: 16A. This seat is identical to the Regional business class seats in Cathay. Unfortunately I can only call it a more premium premium economy class seat: No lie flat beds (although it was not an issue for a 2 hour flight), not much storage space available as well. However, I wouldnt be keen to take this seat for longer flights on CX/KA or red eye flights. Definitely will not pay the premium price of business class for this "premium economy" seat. 

Flight time today was just about 2 hours.  

Welcome drink was served together with a prepackaged towel  I am unable to recall what this drink was at all and I was not impressed that no hot towel was given. Menus were provided on this short sector as well 

Good quality sound proof earphones. Range of entertainment was decent but not as extensive as CX

On time departure out to Hangzhou this evening, providing nice views of surrounding areas of Hong kong 
 

Shortly after departure, the crew sprang into action and started laying the tables for dinner service. By this time I was stuffed from all the food in the lounge, but I still had to eat something to try out Business class food. Started with some champagne, a oriental seafood jelly salad and some anemic garlic bread that turned out to be quite yummy. 

Two choices for main course: Chinese style wok fried chicken or beef stew with pasta. I went for the latter as I anticipated eating lots of chinese food the next few days. 

I am not a fan of this Casserole style of service as it makes it look less premium. Food quality was acceptable. After all, food is never really Cathay/Cathay Dragon's strong suit.  

Ended off the meal with a simple haagen daaz ice cream and hot pu erh tea. Shortly after, the captain made the annoucement that we were on our descend into Hangzhou

 

Arrived in Hangzhou at around 1030pm and parked at the gate after a short taxi. 

One final look at the A330 that brought us to Hangzhou, in here (then) new Cathay Dragon Livery. 

Baggage came quickly and I took a cab to Holiday Inn Express near Hangzhou East Railway station, awaiting my train journey to Nanjing the next morning 

That's all for this report! Stay tuned for future reports on my journeys with cathay pacific