Review of Cathay Pacific flight Hong Kong → Manila in Business

BACKGROUND

This is the second part of a two-leg journey from London to Manila.  The legs involved in this journey are listed below.  Click on the other leg for more details about it.

This trip was arranged on relatively short notice. I was prepared to spend the Christmas and New Year's holiday in Britain. But I was asked by family if I wanted to return to the Philippines for a few weeks. 

Given that it was the Christmas holidays and I was requested to go home at the last minute, I expected fares to be extremely expensive. However, I found a Cathay Pacific fare of under £2,350 (or just a little over US$3,000) return. As carriers like Singapore Airlines were charging the same amount for economy class seats at around the same travel period, I figured a £2,350 business class ticket for a flight commencing in less than 60 hours at the heart of the Christmas holiday was the best Christmas gift a five-star carrier could give us.  

INTERMISSION: HONG KONG STOPOVER

The arrival gate was at the extreme end of the terminal so it was quite a walk to the next available transfer point. The gate information was not yet available for my next flight. I boarded the automated people mover to take me to the front of the departure area. Only one human metal detector was online but it did not take too long.  

Even though I had about two hours of layover, I needed to run errands such as buying some treats and sorting out some important business so lounge hopping was much less of a priority.

It was unfortunate that western fast food outlets such as McDonalds and Popeyes were no longer where they used to be stationed and were instead replaced by oriental outlets. But I was not there for the food since the lounge and my flight would provide a lot of complimentary bites later. I managed to buy some treats that people back home have requested.

With time to spare, I visited The Deck lounge of Cathay Pacific. Even though it was far from my gate, I was already at the area anyway so it was best to access it first. It featured a relaxation room and noodle bar. But I was there primarily to take a shower after a long flight. And I was impressed that its shower room looked very similar to the one at Cathay's Heathrow lounge, right down to the supplier of the shower equipment, although the placement of the shower cubicle itself was slightly different. This time, I was lucky that I did not have to wait for one to be available. It took me 15 minutes to freshen up and the bathing supplies were plentiful. I did not have to ask for help from staff once inside.

After this, I had to go to another end of the terminal to orient myself to the location of my next flight. I saw a regional 773, just as advertised. After brief plane spotting, it was time to head to The Bridge lounge, which was closer to my departure gate. I just grabbed a slice of cake, pudding, and cheese and sat down at a pod. Admittedly at this stage, I was less focused on enjoying the ambiance of the lounge and more concerned about sorting some important last-minute business - particularly setting up my Philippine mobile phone number. It was a hassle and it took a while to ensure the bills were settled and requests were filed. Nonetheless, had I had more time and less to worry about, The Bridge would have been worth enjoying. 

TIP: Cathay Pacific has four business class lounges at Hong Kong International Airport. As much as possible, use the lounge closest to your gate to avoid hurrying. This list shows you the gates closest to each Business class lounge.  

With less than a half hour left before departure, I made my way to the departure gate. As I was walking on the jet bridge, I made one more follow-up to activate my phone service. Luckily the staff at my phone provider was gracious to help me with it.

FLIGHT PROPER

Enter text here…

Whilst Cathay's economy flights between Hong Kong and Manila are quite overrated, business class is a different story.

The flight I was on featured a proper regional business class seat. It meant that each passenger had to sit next to someone else. Moreover, the seat was not lie-flat and storage was considerably more limited. At maximum though, a passenger is no more than a seat away from the aisle and it was not difficult to ask passengers to make way if I suppose it is adequate for a one-and-a-half hour flight. When I boarded the flight, someone was seated in my seat but lucky me because my preferred seating area, the front window seat, became available. The purser who distributed the menus seemed to recognise that we exchanged seats. Speaking of menus, unlike during my long-haul flight, the menu for this shorter segment was presented on a traditional booklet.  

We departed slightly late because of some passengers failing to turn up. The flight took off more than a half hour after scheduled departure. The announced flight time was shorter than the actual flight time though, so we were expected to make up the time.

As this was a short flight, I did not bother to watch videos or films even though Cathay stocked this flight with loads of it. Instead, I created an audio playlist from the in-house collection and play it whilst viewing the moving map. I was lucky it had dozens of my favourite hits. The USB port next to the TV screen could be used to connect an iPod content to the IFE unit. However, I found it weird that the system tried to read my Apple Watch as an iPod but not my iPhone XR. As for placement, I thought that the USB charging port was located inconveniently as it will require me having to stand a bit. As always, there was an AC power outlet, which I used for my watch. 

Once the seatbelt sign was switched off, it was time to try reclining the seat. When I first heard about the product, I thought it would be a lie-flat bed. It was clearly not. But for a short flight, a lie-flat seat was not necessary. 

Also, as I was seated in the front row, my tray table emerged from the side and not from right in front of me. 

Shortly after take-off, I made one trip to the toilet at the rear side. I was surprised it was untidy. For one, there was water left on the sink. Though I was not sure if the ground staff or a previous passenger on the same flight as me was responsible.

The meal service started pretty early. This time, I felt as if I was served with a complete full-course meal with appetisers coming first. For my main course, I had the grilled lamb option. Given that the flight was pretty short, the crew worked efficiently on this. The food was tasty. I had tea for for my beverage. I was slightly surprised the crew here did not have camomile tea, which was offered on the previous leg.  

For the remainder of the flight, I just spent most of the time in my seat listening to my playlist and waiting for my devices to finish charging. I also had a quick glance at the economy class to find out that they were still sporting the old 3-3-3 seat configuration. Even if the seat had limited recline, at least that cabin would not look as crowded and the aisles were not narrow. 

I made a second toilet trip. The seat belt sign was switched on as I and someone in front of me were queueing, and the crew was understanding enough to not nudge us to return to our seats.

Before I knew it, I could see the streetlights and building lights making a certain pattern from my window. Even the street traffic gave an obvious clue that I am in the Philippines.

ARRIVAL

To be fair to Cathay, we landed almost on time, but what took long was the ground traffic. It was another reminder that I was back in the Philippines.

Our gate was not so far from passport control. This time, I decided to try the new automated passport control. It felt counterintuitive because they needed a printed boarding card to be scanned along with the passport itself. Sometimes the process can be frustrating as the machine may not read the passport after just one, two, or even three tries. And once you enter the machine, the biometrics may still be misread. If the biometrics cannot be fully verified, they will ask me to step back and try the process again or proceed to a manned passport control desk. Luckily with the help of an attending agent, I was able to manage the process. Once at the end, the machine issued a sticker which I could affix to my passport to.

At baggage claim, I was surprised that despite business class passengers supposedly getting priority in their baggage, it took some time for me to retrieve my bags, about 10-15 minutes. With that I made my way to the exit and my holiday began.