After months of endless business trips I finally was able to squeeze myself two weeks off this July and I really wasn't into anywhere fancy. I ultimately settled on a 9-day trip to Italy, a country I loved dearly for its food and amazing sites. I have previously focused on Southern Italy and so decided that it would be a good time to explore cities like Milan and Bologna.
I didn't take long before I got the CX tickets issued for a 21 July departure and was returning on 30 July. I would be flying with the 4-class B77W (77H). I originally was booked into Premium Economy but since I had 67,000 Asia Miles that would expire in Sept 2013, I was able to upgrade to J class.
We spent a good nine days in Italy treated with good food and wine but then it was time to fly back home…
Milan –> Malpensa Airport
CX234 has a departure time of 1315 so we had to leave the city centre quite early. The best way to go to the airport was by the Malpensa express
The journey from Milano Centrale took less than 45 mins and before we know, we were already at the basement of Malpensa
The terminal itself was actually quite decent for a medium sized airport but surely falls short of the megahubs like LHR and FRA.
There was quite an open view of the tarmac from the check in area and I was able to snap a few good shots
There wasn't any queue for the Business Class section and the lady at the check in counter was kind and helpful enough to help us organize our luggage that's packed full of shopping
Very soon we had our boarding passes and lounge invitations in hand and so went for the tax refund. Unfortunately the tax refund counters had a long queue full of mainland Chinese (apparently there's an Air China flight that was departing at about the same time) so it took almost 1.5 hours before we got everything sorted. This left time to hang around and we were lucky that the EU passport counter was empty at passport control (the non-EU side was, again, filled with mainland Chinese). We just managed to grab a sandwich and a drink in the lounge which wasn't anything special.
The flight would be leaving from gate B44 which was at the farthest end of the terminal. It took 15 minutes to walk there and on the way, I got a good view of Papa-whisky that would be taking me back home.
An overview of the terminal:
We had a few minutes to spare to walk around the terminal
…and bumping into a CX advert of the J class seat
I also saw a Blue Panorama B763 which is quite exotic to me
And then the announcement to board came over the PA and I was among the first to board through door L2
The sun was setting as we were flying over Eastern Europe and I grabbed this chance to walk to the aft J cabin for a shot of the mighty GE90
The flight was uneventful and I fell asleep soon after enjoying the beautiful sunset at 31,000ft
I apologize for not being able to post the photos of the meals as I took them with my DC instead of the DSLR
I didn't wake up until a few minutes before landing:(
ARRIVAL INFO Arr: Hong Kong Int'l (VHHH/HKG) STA: 2235z ATA: 2203z T/D: 2157z Stand: N64
I was invited to visit the cockpit soon after we docked into the gate. Had a nice chat with the captain who told me that CX is considering Istanbul and Zurich as their next new destinations (Fingers crossed :P). The crew left me alone to take some pictures of the beautiful 777 cockpit.
This amazing flight ended my Italy trip on a high note. I walked off the plane a very happy man:D Thanks B-KPW
Thank you all for reading!
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Verdict
Generic Airport Lounge Sala Pergolesi
/10
Comfort
Meal/catering
Entertainment/wifi
Services
Conclusion
Very satisfied to see Cathay being able to maintain its high quality J class service on long and short haul services. This journey has made me very proud of my home carrier!
0 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
Quite an interesting report! The Milan stop is operated by an 77W with First Class wheras the Rome stop is operated by an Airbus A340 with no First Class. Thank you
Thanks for posting yet another good report with some really beautiful pictures! Very cool that you got to visit the cockpit--that would never happen here in the US :-( How many miles did it cost to upgrade from W to J? Can any Premium Economy fare be upgraded or only certain ones? Too bad there are no pics of the catering, but I appreciate all the detailed desciptions you put in this report. Thanks again for sharing and I look forward to future reports!
Hmm that's kinda strange coz I do see people getting into cockpits when flying with US carriers, esp AA re the miles for the upgrade, its suppose to cost you 30,000 miles per pax on a round trip but my agent got be a better deal for 21,000 + a 16k PEY ticket I'm quite sure that only full fare Y tickets could be upgraded but I'm really not sure about PEY. The catering is actually very good and the main was a rack of lamb which was probably one of the best I've had in the air. I would try to dig that pic out and repost it asap
Thanks for the response. That's a good deal to upgrade! I wonder if I could use AA miles to upgrade. I'm currently a Delta FF and thinking of doing a status match challenge for ExPlat with AA. In the US, it's theoretically possible to visit the cockpit after a flight, but most pilots are very hesitant. While the aircraft is in the air, it's illegal to enter the cockpit.
I think the US pilots are more willing to let people visit the cockpit if the plane is off American soil, as there were a few occasions where they say its not allowed when I'm on the inbound to US but the crew was quite willing to let me in on the outbound. Well it might be illegal by law but 3rd world carriers such as AI and BG did allow people in cockpits in flight haha:D
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11 Comments
The Milan stop is operated by an 77W with First Class wheras the Rome stop is operated by an Airbus A340 with no First Class.
Thank you
So bad you could not edit the meal offer.
How many miles did it cost to upgrade from W to J? Can any Premium Economy fare be upgraded or only certain ones? Too bad there are no pics of the catering, but I appreciate all the detailed desciptions you put in this report. Thanks again for sharing and I look forward to future reports!
Hmm that's kinda strange coz I do see people getting into cockpits when flying with US carriers, esp AA
re the miles for the upgrade, its suppose to cost you 30,000 miles per pax on a round trip but my agent got be a better deal for 21,000 + a 16k PEY ticket
I'm quite sure that only full fare Y tickets could be upgraded but I'm really not sure about PEY.
The catering is actually very good and the main was a rack of lamb which was probably one of the best I've had in the air. I would try to dig that pic out and repost it asap
Thanks for your kind comments
Adrian
Well it might be illegal by law but 3rd world carriers such as AI and BG did allow people in cockpits in flight haha:D
The pictures of the your CX 77W are beautiful :D Me too, I love this cockpit !!!!! :D
The J seat of CX looks really nice !
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