Review of Hong Kong Airlines flight from Hong Kong to Beijing in Economy

Hello everyone, welcome to a new series of flight report!
This "Back in Time" series will be about the flights I have flown on back in 2019.

In the series consisting of 2 reports, I will show you how the Hong Kong aviation market looked like before the covid-19 pandemic. I have dug deep into my photo album and found the pictures I took for these flights, and recall the most out of my memories. Though the pictures would be limited and are of low quality, as I was quite young back then, I would still hope to bring you back to our "good old times" and share the passion of aviation from the younger me.

Please enjoy the short flight report, where I fly from Hong Kong to Beijing (Capital)!

Aircraft: B-LNR (Airbus A330-343)
Age of aircraft as of flight: 9.2 years
Flight number: HX336
Scheduled flight time: 08:40 - 10:25 (+8) | 2h45m
Actual flight time: 08:01 - 10:46 (+8) | 2h45m
Seat: 54D (Economy)

As an Economy Class passenger, I was allowed to carry 20kg of checked luggage with a carry-on bag.

arrival at the airport

9th of May, 2019. This is a school trip, so I was travelling with around 50 other people all together. We arrived at Terminal 1 at around 5:30 in the morning. The timing is somewhat "ungodly" to me, as the flight departs pretty early, and I woke up at 3 that day. Did not have a good time.

We checked our baggage at aisle K. Back then, Terminal 1 of Hong Kong International Airport only stopped at aisle K, and expansion construction was carried out (2 more check-in aisles were added after that). 

Afterwards, we went through security, which is quick and efficient as usual. We then took the underground train to our gate, 208, which is located at the midfield concourse (now called T1 Midfield Concourse), the satellite terminal.

My flight is HX336, from Hong Kong to Beijing Capital, and we were ready to board. Back then, Hong Kong International still had these television screens on the gate number pillar, displaying flight information. Now they have been replaced by LED displaying screens.

cabin and seat

The aircraft I was flying on is B-LNR, which is a 9.2-year-old Airbus A330-343. The aircraft served as 9V-STK for Singapore Airlines since 2010, before being leased to Hong Kong Airlines by a leasing company in 2016. The aircraft features 30 Business seats and 255 Economy seats.

My seat is 54D, an aisle seat at the rear cabin (between doors 3 and 4). Legroom is around 32 inches.

The seat seems pretty standard to me at the time of flying, that would basically be everything I would expect from an Asian regional airline. It features a TV, which is controlled by the two-sided button remote underneath. Call buttons and reading light switches are also featured. There is a coat hook on the left, as well as headphone ports. There is also a cup holder and a 2-fold table. A seat pocket is also underneath, with safety instructions and magazine inside.

Leg room was 32 inches, which was not a problem for me, as I was really young back then (haha).

I was totally fine with this setting, as the seat consists of many working features that are useful. This is a pretty standard arrangement alike other Asian regional routes.

The seat padding is mostly comfortable. I took a picture of my flight ticket on my seat, and as you can see Hong Kong Airlines have traditional Chinese patterns painted on their seats.

We then took off at 08:01, 21 minutes behind schedule.

meal service | breakfast

Hot breakfast was served after takeoff.

Passengers could pick between a choice of two. I chose the Western breakfast, which consists of scrambled eggs, ketchup, bacon, and hash browns. Other side dishes include a cup of Nestle strawberry yogurt, and a bread roll with butter. Beverage is provided too, and I still remember I went for some tomato juice and I was loving it!

Frankly, the meal is pretty satisfactory. Some side dishes are featured, and the taste is nice overall.

I think that the portions are very nice, especially for a 2-hour flight. Taste-wise, I remembered that nothing much went wrong, and it is actually quite delicious. However, I still don't understand why airlines really love to serve hash browns on their flights… As they get heated up, they are highly likely to become soggy, which is the case here.

Overall, I find the hot breakfast with side dishes to be very appreciated, especially considering the post-covid Hong Kong Airlines providing hot meal service only on certain routes (As of the time I am writing this). Hope their hot meals resume on all flights soon!

in-flight entertainment

The entertainment system provides games, movies and music - the basic stuff. It kept me entertained for the duration of the flight. Remote controls are difficult to operate, as per usual, but back in 2019 that was pretty common so I didn't complain too much.

LANDING

We then landed at Beijing Capital Airport at 10:46, 21 minutes behind schedule. We then taxied to our gate and deboarded.

After some long walks, we finally reached the security area, where we did immigration checking and retrieved our bags.

This marks the end of this short flight report! Thank you for reading, stay tuned for my upcoming flight reports on the "Back in Time" series!