First DONE4 trip report

[djfuzz]

HKG-DAC

I read a comment somewhere noting that reading slabs of text in TRs can be off-putting. I am definitely an offender in this regard, so I apologise for my lack of conciseness. I’ll try to do better, but a warning – I won’t be starting to do so in this TR. Maybe next time!

After a very relaxing couple of days at the Peninsula (ate at Spring Moon and Nobu this time, difficult getting in due to Xmas rush but still was a great experience) we are heading off for Dhaka, Bangladesh to visit some family. In my monolithic design phase for this DONE4, I had tossed around the idea of coming to DAC from LHR with BA, but as I got around to making the booking, BA cancelled its DAC service for ‘winter’ (read: indefinitely). This left KA as the only OW airline servicing this port, necessitating another HKG transit (not that I’m complaining!).

At the time of making the booking, I noticed that KA’s D class availability disappeared very quickly. I nabbed our seats for an unsuitable date, but in the months between making the booking and flying, I noticed that KA changed its schedule a couple of times (without informing AA, resulting in a few awkward conversations with AAgents on the RTW desk) so I was able to rebook the tickets in D on a day that suited (again, just before they disappeared completely). Unfortunately, these changes meant that the return flight would go through KTM at a very ungodly hour. Interestingly, on my itinerary it now comes up as two segments (DAC-KTM and KTM-HKG rather than DAC-HKG on the same flight) – which means that our DONE4 will exceed the 16 segments. Of course, the changes were involuntary due to KA’s schedule change – does anyone have any experience with how this affects the validity of DONE4 tickets?

We chose to return on the Airport Express, having had a nice experience on it on the way in – and the stop was just out the side door of the Peninsula Arcade conveniently. Used in-town checkin at Kowloon station, again very convenient as it relieved us of the burden of lugging our baggage on the train back to HKG. Hopped on the train and headed straight to HKG T1 and through security. Going through a spot check, security and then immigration was a bit annoying – no express lane that we qualified for yet, but hoping to activate a HKIA frequent visitor enrolment on our next transit through.

Turned left on emerging through security and walked straight into the Wing First Class Lounge. After reading various TRs, threads and reviews on this site and FT, I was very much looking forward to our first Wing experience, especially so soon after our first Flounge experience at MEL. Again despite leaving well in advance of our flight, by the time we got to the airport and cleared customs I would say we had 3-3.5 hours to enjoy the lounge.

I forget who used to have this as their profile pic, but whoever it was, this photo was a tribute to you.

I would summarise my impressions of the Wing First as follows: not as ostentatiously stylish as the QF Flounge, but elegant nonetheless. Although both look out onto the runway, the choice of architecture is vastly different – the Flounge is upstairs and completely separated from the gate lounges downstairs – a sanctuary. On the other hand, the Wing embraces its position, openly above on a mezzanine looking over the gate lounges. It means that it can be a little noisey, but does allow you to feel more connected to what’s going on around you – there is something to be said (from a certain point of view) of feeling like you are actually in an airport, rather than completely isolated from all that. There was a sign somewhere that said boarding calls would not be made, but nevertheless we heard an announcement every couple of minutes (whether as a function of the lounge’s position, or in despite the sign).

The layout, with low partitioned areas of three sofas / couches and tables each allows for some privacy, but perhaps not enough, especially given the workstations scattered throughout the lounge. The use of opaque glass as partitions both within the lounge and against the balcony of the mezzanine does allow some privacy but also makes you feel cloistered in a bad way – it would be much nicer to have one-sided mirrors that allow you to gaze out onto the runway without others being able to pry into the lounge. The dining rooms were similar (apparently ‘The Haven’ at the Wing is serviced by the Peninsula, much the way the Flounge is serviced by Sofitel), though again the Flounge had more tasteful appointments and a far superior view. I briefly visited the Library, which has a direct analog in the Flounge too. I guess the size, in terms of capacity, was similar, with the Flounge shading the Wing slightly. We were there during a supposedly busy time in the lead up to the North America-bound flights, but it was pretty easy to find a seat. I imagine it would be busier later at night closer to the LHR departures.

Looking down along the mezzanine side of the First Class section of the Wing.

The Library.

The Haven.

I checked out the Business Lounge at the Wing briefly as well – seemed similar to the First Lounge, but clearly bigger and with a number of different areas. Obviously there was the Long and Short bars (not so busy) and the Noodle Café (very busy). Popped downstairs and had a look at the Gamezone too – looked very cool, though a few too many PS2s. I would have thought CX would have transitioned to PS3s/360s/Wiis by now, given that they’ve been around for coming up to four years. I would have to say that the Wing Business looked better than what I’ve come to expect from QF’s J lounges, which feel more like glorified self-serve waiting lounges (but for the bathrooms and their Molton Brown goodness).

Unlike the Business Lounge, the First Lounge had no bar per se – but within second of taking a seat, a waiter approached us and asked for our drink orders. Naturally, we took up the champu, which was Moet – reliable, if not as nice as the Tattinger at MEL. Mrs Djf wasn’t bowled over by the dining room at The Haven, so decided to get some food from the buffet and bring it back to our seats. We had some tandoori and kebab skewers with mint sauce, a delicious fried rice, sausages with onion sauce, various dim sum with a fantastic chili paste, shrimp bisque, a very light Irish chocolate cake cake, some pastries and some Peninsula chocolate. Great food, very tasty and satisfying – perhaps not as refined as the a la carte service at the Flounge, but just as delicious.

Food at the Wing.

Of course, the one stark point of difference between the Flounge and the Wing is the cabanas instead of the spa. The spa at MEL was lovely, but we were lucky enough to get in when it was relatively quiet – if it were busy we would have been fighting for a booking against the preferred F pax. After we were satisfied with our late lunch, we proceeded to take advantage of one of the cabanas, with their private bathroom, rainshower, bath and patio overlooking the stream – the separate day bed and flat leather seat meant that we could enjoy it together. The seats were comfortable if hard – and could really have used some pillows to enhance the experience (you might have been able to request pillows, but I can’t remember seeing them on the list of requestables). However, due to the fact that all of the cabanas look over the stream openly, noise from the other cabanas does filter down. Obviously this does keep the occupants honest to some extent (no potential for hanky panky), but it does also spoil the seclusion that the cabanas otherwise offer. We had a few couples with kids nearby and we could hear everything, from their conversations, to them showering and bathing. Admittedly they could have closed the internal door when doing so (as we did), but they clearly hadn’t and we had to live with hearing stuff we’d rather not have – not great. Aside from the noise though, we did thoroughly enjoy the ability to shower, relax and even have a bath in privacy in an airline lounge. While not as directly invigorating as the Flounge spa, it was relaxing in a completely different way. I probably prefer the spa, but both were wonderful options to have available to us in different places.

Once we were satisfied with having taken some time out to enjoy each of the benefits of the cabana, we had a bit of time left before the flight and tossed up whether it would be worth it to head over to the Gate 15 to check out the new Qantas J Lounge for a coffee. Ultimately, given the proximity of the Wing to our departure gate (4), we decided against it (seen one QF J lounge, seen them all?) and decided instead to have a coffee and snack at the Wing before leaving. Given the quality of food and service here, I’m just not sure whether there would have been any point in going to the QF J lounge – if the new Flounge was open it may have been another story though. Anyone know when that’s going to happen? I read that it should have been late December, but have seen to announcements about it (the J lounge was publicized pretty widely).

With boarding called for our flight, we walked through to the other end of the Business Lounge and straight out to our gate. Boarded through the priority lane and got to use the dedicated aerobridge for First/Business (really MEL/QF, if they’re using them for 330s in HKG, we really should have them for 744s).

I must say that I was quite surprised on boarding the KA 330. Not quite sure what I’d expected – I thought they’d have a regional J type product with bigger seats and legroom, but nothing special as far as the hard product goes. What I was met with was something similar to the AA hard J product – fully flat (if not horizontal) Recaro seats with IFE and storage mounted in front, but with much greater legroom and personal space between rows. The Recaro seats were pretty similar to AA, with all the same hangups – the two ‘relaxation positions’ are pretty awkward to get to, with the seat going up before going down, and neither is particularly comfortable. Without any independent lumbar and recline controls, it’s a bit of a game to try to customize something that suits your individual needs. These seats, though a little worn, were cleaner and better maintained than AA – it felt more like a true J class cabin than a clustered cubicle coffin (the curtains between cabins certainly helped). The only real disappointment I had with the hard product was the pillows – after being spoiled with soft QF pillows, these were small and hard, I’d have complained if I got them in economy. The bathrooms were much like QF’s J class bathrooms, but with paper towels and fake orchids instead of real flowers – and more regularly cleaned by the crew, even on a short regional leg.

In fact that is one thing that really stood out about KA – the J service was an absolute treat. Interestingly (and I hope not coincidentally) Mrs Djf was given a survey at the start of the flight (maybe OWE’s only?) about the inflight service, and it certainly did not disappoint (though I noticed others in the cabin getting a similar level of service too, so it wasn’t just them being nice to generate good survey results). We were always greeted by name (thankfully QF had lifted their game in that regard too), always offered a top up and rubbish disposal as the FA’s passed by, unintrusively asked if we required any assistance at various points throughout the flight. I didn’t have high hopes for KA, particularly on a route that I know other carriers skimp on, but they well and truly exceeded my expectations for even their parent company.

Only two things about the KA service were not exceptional – one, the food (we had a Moroccan chicken dish) was acceptable but not stellar, dessert was good but pedestrian (Haagen Dasz ice cream); two, the crew did not have landing cards for us onboard, resulting in a good ten to fifteen minutes spent in the arrivals hall frantically filling out the laborious Bengali disembarkation forms. Other arrival curiosities could probably be blamed on the port (like showing boarding passes on deplaning and the transit pax having to remain seated on board – without being able to go to the loo – while the aircraft was being cleaned). Seems like DAC is not one of those ports to take advantage of lounges while in transit; I hope KTM isn’t the same.

Pick up our final two (or three?) DONE4 flights very soon, and will of course track through to our return home as well (back to PE on QF!). We also have a Y CX leg from our positioning flight to Seoul, so the all-J bonanza is set to end soon too – has been great while it’s lasted! (Having said that, we’re both beginning to get a taste for Flounging).

 

[djfuzz]

The Business Class section of the Wing.

 

[djfuzz]

The Long Bar.

The Noodle Café.

The Short Bar.

The Game Zone.

 

[djfuzz]

The Cabana.

 

[djfuzz]

Dragonair J cabin.

 

[thewinchester]

Loving this trip report, great read and looking forward to the remaining instalments.

 

[Flying Fox]

Nice report. Keep it coming!

 

[k_sheep]

Brilliant. Loving it! Don't worry about the wads of text

 

[djfuzz]

DAC-KTM-HKG

So I’ve just finished lunch in the F cabin of QF30 returning home, and I feel like TRing, so here’s a start at the final DONE4 legs and the multiple bounds home.

Spent a little while in DAC, which can only be described as a shock to even the most seasoned traveler. We did some internal flights from DAC-ZYL-DAC on a GMG airlines Dash 8, a report for which will not be forthcoming because it is an hour of my life I would rather forget (which is saying something for someone who generally enjoys flying!).

Finally got around to our return leg which would take us through KTM on the way to HKG on KA. We would then complete the DONE4 on CX to ICN, and complete our CX positioning H-class fare back to HKG and stay that evening at the Novotel Citygate before heading off on a side trip prior to returning home.

We were hoping to meet a friend briefly in HKG during our transit, and of course to make some tight turnarounds (even if on the same plane) in ICN, so we decided only to check bags through the HKG and leave them at left luggage before checking back in for the flight to ICN. We would have a decent five to six hour layover in HKG which were hoping to spend sleeping at the Wing cabanas.

In any case, we arrived at DAC only about an hour in advance of our flight. This was due to a combination of (a) horrendous traffic; (b) lengthy bureaucratic and inefficient immigration procedures; and (c) my prior knowledge that the Dragonair shared lounge (run by Sheraton and shared with MH and EK, amongst others) was absolutely nothing to write home about. The checkin agent tried to check us through to ICN, but I asked that we be able to pick up our luggage in HKG (as we were over the Y baggage limits, which would affect our return positioning flight from ICN). If I’d been switched on, I probably would have asked if he could just check our bags right through back to HKG later that night, but I didn’t want to risk it, particularly since we were leaving HKG the following morning.

I’d prewarned Mrs Djf about the lounge, which she actually didn’t seem to think was all that bad. Some (mostly local) warm food, reasonable bathrooms (for the location) and (non-alcoholic) drinks on request. Worn but comfortable sofas and somewhat disorganized boarding calls. I avoided the food and just had some water and dry crisps, but it did seem like it would have been fine to eat. I just didn’t want to take any chances in advance of our many hours of upcoming Flounging.

When we finally boarded the KA 330, we were informed that there would be a slight delay due to the fact that this was ‘one of their slower ports’ (I can only imagine). The bane of my existence, a mosquito, managed to get into the cabin in the interim, but I’m hoping it didn’t make a snack out of us. I’d been feeling pretty ill up until the flight (slight fever, upset stomach) but past experience has taught me to struggle through it because the second we take off, and get back to calmer surrounds I’d start to make a magical recovery. So I went easy on the preflight drinks, but did sample KA’s signature Guava and Gin drink, which was interesting if not entirely my cup of tea.

The KA 330 cabin was pretty much identical to our previous flight, except our selected seats had a damaged piece on the centre console covered in a big ugly red CX maintenance sticker. We asked if we could move, but the FA suggested that there may have been pax joining from KTM that would be allocated to the other seats so we chose to stay put. We were graced by a couple of strangers sitting behind us who were having quite a loud conversation that was quite offputting, but we soldiered on. Sadly, the food on this first leg was even worse that our previous flight – a sandwich and roulade basically stuffed with some leaves, no meat or vegetables worth any real consideration. Pretty average for any carrier in a premium class, even if coming out of DAC.

After a brief hour flight, landing at KTM was interesting – watching the moonlit mountains on our approach was amazing, if not as much as it could have been had we arrived in daylight. We weren’t allowed to leave the aircraft in transit while it refueled and was cleaned. Unfortunately, we were delayed on the ground for an additional half an hour or so due to a faulty refueling rig. I slept most of the way back to HKG, so can only vaguely remember that the meal was serviceable and that sleeping in the fully reclined Recaro seats (with KA’s additional seat pitch) was reasonably comfortable compared to the AA experience in the same seats. We received an Agnes B amenity kit which looked nice, but again, I didn’t have an opportunity to use it (especially since I knew we’d have a long layover in the CX lounges at HKG to freshen up again).

We landed a wee bit late at HKG and, with a plan to get a third stamp on our PPs to be eligible for the HKIA Frequent Visitor program, leave our bags at HKG to avoid excess baggage fees, check back in and meet our friend before their flight left. Unfortunately, Murphy’s Law came into effect and we were held up at every turn – the KA flight docked at gate 66, so we had a long walk / train ride to immigration; a Kingfisher flight landed ahead of us, so we had a long wait at immigration (which was understaffed, and a little overzealous); our bags arrived on the A side, so we had to traipse over to the B side to leave our bags; CX F checkin agent was efficient, but he tried to be too efficient by putting us on an earlier flight (thereby eliminating our Flounging and leaving us in ICN for five hours while the lounges close!), so we had to fix that up; outbound immigration was similarly busy and slow; and finally, we had to train/walk all the way to a gate in the high 40s to meet her (and then walk back and around to the other fork to The Pier). We only had about 30 minutes with her so had I been thinking straight, I would have avoided The Pier and went to the closer Sakura lounge – but clearly the night flight had zapped my mind. Besides, I had read the CX lounge entry rules, and technically Mrs Djf was allowed to guest two people into the Flounge. Not so say the dragons – QF WPs allowed only one guest to the Flounge, so we would have to go to the Jlounge. The sign in front of them clearly contradicted this, but for the sake of salvaging what little time we had left, I let it go.

And so we got a brief taste of The Pier’s J lounge. Being early in the morning, it was pretty much chockers (in the sense that all the groups of couches were occupied, if not all the couches themselves), so we settled in at the Long Bar, watched some aircraft taking off and had some coffee and pastries. The food was nice, but not special. Didn’t have time to try out any other amenities, but we did take some water bottles with us. Took our friend to her departure gate, then walked / travelatored back down the spine to The Wing – which makes you realize how damn huge HKG is (and how impractical it is to lounge hop!).

Once again, The Wing F lounge was pretty empty, so we grabbed some couches and breakfast and got comfortable. Breakfast congee and dim sum was great as usual. I needed to print out our ICN-HKG boarding passes, but none of the printers in the Wing were functional, and I was advised to try something at Gate 25. Screw that, I thought, so I popped across to Gate 15 for a peek at the new QF J lounge. The first dragon was rather young/inexperienced, so she didn’t know what to do with my CX BP and AA PLT card, but another dragon came by and walked her through it. I mentioned I was only there to take a quick look.

Not that it would have mattered – the QP was pretty much empty, the two QF morning flights must just have been called. I contemplated having a quick Molton Brown shower but decided against it as Mrs Djf was waiting back at The Wing. I walked around, checked out the food (Congee and dim sum, plus some breakfast rolls) and made my way to the computers. Without going into the recent Mac vs PC argument, I naturally went to the iMacs first (stunning wallpapers of the A380, which I haphazardly captured), but for some reason they weren’t communicating properly with the printer. So I had to lower myself to use the ancient PCs connected directly to the Lexmark printers – what can I say other than I appreciate the availability of choice. With my ‘not a BP’ checkin confirmation in hand, I left the QP and headed back to The Wing.

Given the length of our layover, we naturally decided to make ourselves at home in a cabana. A softer bed and pillows would have been awesome (turns out pillows aren’t available) so I plugged in my noise cancelling headphones (some inconsiderate pax a few rooms down were playing loudish canto-pop, which carried to us across the stream) and had a snooze, followed by a relaxing bath. About an hour prior to boarding, we decided we’d have a spot of lunch but thought we’d head over to The Pier Flounge, since we were so unceremoniously turned away in the morning. We were graciously allowed in this time, though the few couch areas were all partly occupied – so we went straight to The Haven and sat down for lunch. There were some tasty looking Shanghai spare ribs and honey beans available, but I stuck to the corn soup and satays, which were both extremely delicious, as was the dessert (similar to that previously enjoyed in The Wing). Despite the buffet setting, the quality of the food at the CX Flounges really impressed me. The Haven at The Pier also struck me as a nicer dining room – it felt more luxuriously appointed, with black and white marble walls, and slightly more spacious.

The Pier itself I found felt a bit more like a Flounge – though marginally smaller than The Wing (deceptively, since The Pier had a dedicated computer area, unlike The Wing which had terminals spread through one end of the Flounge). The furnishings just seemed more opulent, and the ‘bunker’ feeling wasn’t as bad as the MEL J lounge since one side had windows looking out on to the tarmac. The bathrooms also felt more opulent, with white marble and stainless steel, rather than the dark granite of The Wing. Didn’t get a chance to try the showers or the Daybreak rooms. Definitely no announcements made at this lounge, so we were a little late getting to our gate (again, in the high 40s on the other fork). But that story, of how we finished up our marathon DONE4, will have to wait a little longer.

I’ve got a few more entries to go that I’ve been working on, but there’s a lot of content / photos to post, so I think I’ll post this for now and add the rest as they’re finished.

Next: HKG-ICN in CX J and vice versa in Y.

 

[ChrisBNE]

Great TR - really captures the essence of this type of travel. Many thanks.

 

[djfuzz]

HKG-ICN and ICN-HKG in Y – our hour in Seoul and the conclusion of the DONE4

Continuing straight on from my last report, we arrived at the gate for our final DONE4 flight to find it empty and at final call. So we raced through the priority gate and boarded quickly. We had two seats in the second row of the CX 330 with the (old?) regional J seats. They were not quite what I expected – a bit like the QF Millennium seats, slightly modern – but not quite modern enough. This was made clear by the extraordinarily washed out image on the looped IFE units in the armrests. The recline and pitch were adequate, though the cabin design was not as appealing to me as the KA 330. My first thoughts as we boarded and took off were that it was a shame to finish our wonderful DONE4 on such an ordinary hard product.

I quickly forgot these reservations the moment the inflight service started. We were given hot towels and drinks by an extremely pleasant and courteous FA, so much so that I actually noticed it (and perhaps especially so given the accusations of ‘mechanical’ service I often hear in connection with CX FAs). This was followed up by several requests to a few FAs who were almost as generous. As we taxied I saw something I don’t think I’ve ever seen in person before – an Emirates 747! I wish I had a camera handy to snap a photo of it (too nervy to use the iPhone).

Shortly after take off we were greeted by the purser who once again brandished a survey for Mrs Djf (I’d like to think this wasn’t connected with the high service level, but again, I noticed it wasn’t just us who were getting treated well). The purser was an absolute gem. She gave us an extremely warm welcome – warmer for Mrs Djf, obviously, as she is OWE, but she also passed it along to me as well. She had a chat to us for a little bit, and was surprised to hear that we would be accompanying them back to HKG later in the evening on the return flight. She then let slip that the return flight would be full and that some of the empty seats in the J cabin would be occupied by economy pax they’d have to push up. I said a quick silent prayer hoping that the op-up gods would come through for us, especially since it appeared Mrs Djf was the only OWE on the outbound flight. She also suggested that we join the Marco Polo Club since it was free for us as we were traveling in the J cabin. I’m not sure whether this will have any real benefits for us in the future over and above OW elite status, but it did get me to thinking about crediting to Asia Miles and looking at the requirements for qualifying for elite status on MPC (jury’s still out on that one). Naturally we both applied in any case.

The food was also pretty good – I had the bibimbap, which came in little portions to mix together, and my wife had a fish dish that looked great. Our drinks were also regularly topped up, and the bathrooms were similar to the KA ones and were well stocked with the dermalogica products I started becoming fond of (hate dry hands after using plane soap). We had a terrific flight, the FAs regularly stopped for a quick check up and chat, and I’d say the washed out analogue IFE screens were the only thing that wasn’t absolutely exceptional on the flight.

Much to our (silly) surprise, we landed on to a runway surrounded by snow. As we pulled up to the gate at the passenger terminal, I could see an EK 380 parked at the adjacent gate, always a pleasant sight. We left the aircraft promptly, promising the purser and FAs that we would see them again soon. On deplaning we were struck by the freezing cold as if it were a slap in the face. Despite it being winter in the northern hemisphere, we’d not been to any place that had been particularly cold as yet, so we were pretty unprepared for ICN (luckily we weren’t overnighting, as we were even less prepared for that!). It didn’t warm up again until we were well inside the terminal building.

I’d studied the transfer procedures on the ICN website, and after our messy transfer in HKG (and unusual travel plans), was braced for a lengthy transfer in ICN. Not so – we were the only ones transferring from our flight to an empty security check point. Promptly went through and emerged into the departures level of ICN. We went to the gate to collect our boarding passes, and despite a pause and ripping up of some boarding passes after Mrs Djf flashed her WP card, there was no magical op-up. I didn’t give up though, hoping something might come through when the passes were scanned on boarding. Mrs Djf wanted to try asking at the gate or the lounge, but having read the rumours that asking on CX will put you straight onto the 'Not Suitable for Upgrade' list, I asked her to refrain and rely on luck (or the CX priority list) instead.

We proceeded briefly to the CX First and Business Lounge, which we’d missed out on during our first ICN visit. As I mentioned elsewhere, this lounge was smallish (about the size of the Wing Flounge in total) but relatively empty considering the number of J seats (and presumably the number of MPC and OW elites) that should have been filled on the flight. Our aircraft was parked a few gates too far down to view from the lounge, but we did get a decent view of the EK 380. The food selection was pretty average – some basic junk food, small pastries / cakes, sushi and sandwiches, but no hot food. From memory, pretty similar to that offered at the Sakura lounge across the hall. Drinks were also pretty ho-hum – softies, water, but couldn’t find the booze, and certainly no champagne or Asahi on tap that I could see. The bathrooms were a lighter version of The Pier bathrooms, with less swanky marble. I was a little disturbed to see a sign posted next to the toilet stating that due to the lack of water pressure, no objects should be placed in the toilet but rather into the adjacent dustbin. I didn’t notice any irregular water pressure, but the various interpretations of what that sign meant led me to giving the dustbin a wide berth.

A short time later boarding was called for our flight and we proceeded back to the gate with our hearts pumping in the hope of an op-up (although Mrs Djf is a regular op-up receiver on domestic flights since her WP status came through, I’ve never had one on a OW carrier). We boarded at the priority lane and waited for the double beep, but alas it never came, so off we went into Y on this packed 330 flight back to HKG. Of course, we didn’t bump into our lovely FAs from the trip up on entry, so we humbly went down the aisle and occupied seats towards the back of the first Y cabin. There were no spare seats in the Y cabin so the flight must have been too full for op-ups, or MPC Diamonds, Asia Miles requests or other OWEs got in ahead of us for the upgrades.

The Y seats were the regional type seats with headrest IFE, instead of the hardshell product we got on our last trip up to ICN (which I actually quite liked). These didn’t seem so bad though, as they were very well padded, particularly in the headrest. We agreed that the flight back shouldn’t be too bad at all in these seats – until just after takeoff, when immediately after the seatbelt sign was extinguished, the person in front of me decided to do a full recline. I had to laugh as I knew that this would be just my luck, and took a QF009-style legroom shot. It was annoying but I probably could have sat quietly and dealt with it, except the person in front also decided he would repeatedly move around in the seat, thereby banging my IFE into my head and the tray table and the seat back into legs. I nearly spilled my drink at one stage and had to say something – I think a morsel got through because he kindly put the seat back up during the meal service, though it was promptly back down once they’d been cleared. Nevertheless, I soldiered on, trying to take it in good humour - and it validated my preference of the fixed hardshell product for short-medium haul flights such as this, which would have prevented the personal space being eaten up in this manner.

I was partly able to do this because of some lovely service from CX again. Perhaps it was because we got to know her a little on the trip up, and she’d already been so nice to us, but the purser came down and found us in the Y cabin and said that they missed us in the J cabin and were sorry they couldn’t get us a seat there. She stayed for a bit of a chat and thanked us for being such loyal customers (which we confirmed when we told her we’d be back in CX J the following morning – five CX/KA flights in just over 24 hours!). We also had a bit of a chat about the DONE4 (she said that some CX pax started their DONE4s out of Manila) and the various FF programs. She then brought us some J champagne and the J meal service, which was absolutely fantastic. I tried the fish dish my wife had earlier, which was wonderful, and my wife tried a beef dish, which she also quite liked. Despite my tug-o-war with the guy in front, the superb service from the CX purser really made both these flights shine for us. I understand the circumstances were unusual, that it was primarily for Mrs Djf as an OWE, and that our purser may have been unique, but right after getting off that flight I would have swore never to fly on anyone but CX ever again. If they can pull out an experience like that for their elite pax every so often, they absolutely deserve loyalty.

Naturally, we landed at a gate in the high 60s, so we had a very long walk back down the fork, train to the spine, and a bit of a wait at immigration. I really wish they would process the HKIA frequent visitor cards quicker (even now we’ll still be waiting another month or so). I’m also quite surprised that CX/OW don’t have an arrangement to allow premium/elite pax through a separate queue like they do at many other airports (hell, even in Australia), especially since Air France and others have an arrangement to do so. I really think CX needs to consider this, as it can be quite a lengthy process to get through HK immigration as a visitor, on both ends – and it is such a short distance from their checkin counter to The Wing! Some sort of fast track arrangement would really have helped us in the morning, as we wasted a good hour in queues that we would have preferred to spend with our friend (and were traveling in premium cabins on both incoming and outgoing flights).

Quite tired, we picked up our bags from left luggage and caught the shuttle bus to the Novotel Citygate. After a short 15 minute ride we checked in, but not after we were pushed aside by some rather rude fellow travellers when getting off the bus. Some people!

Novotel Citygate was nice, but again, nothing amazing. The fixtures and amenities were adequate, the bed was sufficiently comfortable, and had we the opportunity to look outside during daytime, I’m sure we’d have loved the view. In fact, we really would have liked to have stayed longer, to explore Hong Kong again, especially Lantau Island, but our plans had cut short any hope of staying longer in HKG for anything other than transit or overnighting.

So, technically, that was the end of our honeymoon DONE4. But after the hectic trip we’d had visiting family and friends, and a tough year, we figured we owed ourselves a bit of a relaxing break (albeit a short one), so we had a side trip planned before we caught QF30 back home.

Next – To Koh Samui on CX J and PG Y.

 

[Keith009]

Fab TR djfuzz. Seems like you struck the jackpot with the CX crew there. I have usually found Senior Pursers (purple uniform) to provide that high level of service you described, but Pursers (red) and regular crew (polka dots) not so much and they're the ones who're more 'mechanical', standoffish and Mongkok Girl-esque.

I actually prefer the older style regional J seating on CX to the newer regional seating. The older seats are more ergonomically friendly, and have more thigh support than the new seats.

 

[drron]

Now that was great service.Well done.

 

[thewinchester]

Kudos for the TR, there's been some bloody brilliant ones of late and yours is right up there

Also, sounds like those CX FA's you encountered were worth their weight in gold.

 

[djfuzz]

Epilogue – HKG-BKK in CX J, BKK-USM in PG Y

Thanks for the feedback again – I’ll try to keep our side trip legs shorter but I do want to finish it off for completeness. I'm getting through them much more quickly now, and I only really have one (maybe two left), plus some final thoughts.

QF009 – Indeed, our purser was a purple-suited senior purser, but some of our great FAs were polka-dotted too. However, as I’ll expand on below, not all of the purple-suited pursers were as exceptional.

After agonizing over potential break destinations, we eventually settled on Koh Samui, Thailand (USM), as we wanted to go to somewhere with a nice beach that neither of us had been to before. Unfortunately, getting to Koh Samui was not as straightforward as getting to Bangkok or coughet. We could take a Bangkok Air (PG) flight that was direct from HKG-USM but arrived late at night – not ideal for our limited time frame (and of course, earn no mileage). Or for roughly the same amount, maybe a little more, take CX to BKK in J and connect to a separately booked PG fare to USM, arriving mid-afternoon. Naturally we chose the latter – and the SCs from the additional J trip would put Mrs Djf over the threshold for the other PG, QFF Partner Gold (which is more a benefit for me than her obviously!).

We took the shuttle bus in the airport relatively early and used the CX F checkin again. Although it’s not a patch on the curbside F checkin room at MEL, I quite liked the CX F checkin – a few couches here and there wouldn’t have hurt, but it may be tricky given that it is in the middle of the airport. But there were ample agents and we were served immediately. They also took care of our excess baggage interlining onto PG, which I was a little concerned about, and checked the bags straight through to USM. We promptly went through immigration and security (a little quieter today for some reason), and still of course in the regular Visitors lane. We decided time was short, so we’d train up to the Pier for breakfast. Again, The Pier F lounge was not full, but the couch areas were half occupied. We managed to take a couch near a table shared with another couple (not sure they were thrilled), and grabbed some breakfast – the usual congee and dim sum, and I also tried a poached egg and salmon bun which was a lovely way of condensing a hot breakfast. We noticed that the kitchen did appear to make full breakfast and eggs any style on request, so we resolved to try that on our next transit through HKG. Unfortunately our stay at The Pier was short, and before long we had to head out to the gate (thankfully close by).

On boarding the CX 777 to BKK (our first one), I noticed that the seats were another type of regional business class – more along the lines of the older regional (or possible even long-haul) J product QF009 mentioned. Given the look of the hard product, I doubt CX has updated the cabin since first receiving these 777s. The seats were wider, obviously, in a 2x3x2 configuration, with a decent recline and seat pitch, in-arm IFE, but nothing really fancy or modern, kind of like the old QF Dreamtime seats. Mrs Djf wasn’t a fan, but I thought it was acceptable for a flight of such duration (we were hoping for a mid-haul flight, but were disappointed to see that the flight time would be less than 2 hours).

We were looking forward to the special CX service we received the day earlier, but this did not happen. The service was good, and reasonably attentive, but we’d been spoiled – there was no special welcome from the purple-suited purser, or any special treatment of any kind. Perhaps the cabin was full of elite pax and they were simply saving time (the flight continued on to SIN). The food service was not particularly memorable, but I did try the CX signature Cloud Nine drink, which I quite liked.

Our flight was uneventful, and a short two hours later we landed at BKK. I used to travel to BKK every year in the 90s, but this was my first time to Suvarnabhumi, so I was quite excited, especially when viewing it from the outside. The ‘teepee’ like structures were quite impressive. My excitement died down almost immediately on entering the building though. For starters, the interior was absolutely nothing to write home about – concrete and glass mostly, with no features of any special note. Secondly, the distance to immigration/transfer desks from the gate were almost as big as in HKG, but with only travelators and no people mover to cut out a chunk of the walk. So our transfer was particularly lengthy. On top of that, and this is not against the airport, suddenly we reencountered the rude travellers who would just cut right through you regardless of your pace, with nary an apology or by your leave. The signage wasn’t great either, but eventually we worked our way across to the other side of the terminal where we found the domestic transfer desk for PG and checked in with them. Now I didn’t even think about the check in process with them, but I was glad that they didn’t raise any concerns with the checked-through baggage (they just asked for a guess at the total weight, presumable for MTOW calculations). We then proceeded through immigration, which was relatively slow for such small queues (we had been given fast track passes onboard, but they were of no use at the domestic transfer area).

Once we got through immigration, we travelatored over a little further on to the PG domestic lounge. I was quite impressed that PG puts up a domestic lounge for its economy pax, and for such purposes I’d say it was very adequate. Lots of seating in small groups (plenty of empty seats too), some nice non-alcoholic drink options, basic food (I stuck to popcorn, but there was plenty of other Thai snacks), computer terminals and WiFi (on request). We sat down for a bit to sort out our return CX flight, then proceeded across the hall when the flight was called.

Our rows were called early so we hopped through the gate and onto the tarmac onto a bus. The bus drove us a fair way across the apron to our awaiting ATR72. On boarding I realized something very annoying – we’d been given seats across the aisle from each other. Tried asking our adjacent pax if they wouldn’t mind moving, but no luck (kind people that they were). After all that, we took off with two empty seats right in front of us! Very disappointed that PG weren’t on top of this. The flight to USM was a little longer than we’d hoped, but there was a snack service of a very acceptable chicken roulade and drinks. The seats were acceptable and clean, but obviously nothing to write home about on such a small aircraft.

Landing at USM was beautiful – a beautiful island, and a very beautiful airport. If you don’t know, USM is basically a serious of interconnected Thai-style open air shacks, with modern amenities inside. It’s owned and operated by Bangkok Air, which is why they have a virtual monopoly on traffic to USM. I didn’t take any photos, but there are plenty around on various sites (I think a TR on airliners.net has some particularly good ones). We were bussed from the plane to the terminal and waited for our bags at the ‘international’ carousel (with only two others).

After our bags came out, we headed outside to try and secure transport to the airport. Stupidly, I hadn’t booked a car ahead with our hotel (we stayed at the new Langham Place at Lamai Beach). I’d read various stories about being ripped off in taxis from the airport, so we asked around about Bangkok Air’s limousine service, and were told to wait aside for a moment. About twenty minutes later, I discovered this was because they were waiting for more flights to arrive so that they had the numbers to fill a bus to that area. When I asked if they had any cars available, they said even those had a half hour wait. Not wanting to waste our holiday waiting at the airport, I walked around to another side of the airport, where some local taxi drivers said they’d be more than happy to take us immediately. Sure, it was a bit dearer than the limo/bus, but to be honest, it was such a relatively small charge that I was annoyed we didn’t just do it straight away. I think all the whinging about cab fares on the island is a bit much – sure, it’s great to get around for next to nothing, but I hardly think it’s a rip off to pay an extra $5-10 to get to the other side of the island quickly.

Next - The return to HKG on a PG 319 and CX 330 with NGBC (and perhaps the conclusion)

 

[thewinchester]

I've said it once, and I'll say it again - great TR. Keep it up and look forward to reading the rest.

 

[djfuzz]

USM-BKK, BKK-HKG

Thanks thewinchester, thought I’d get one more out tonight before I turn in, and finish it off very soon.

Without going into too much detail, our stay at the Langham Place was absolutely spectacular. The service, location, rooms, facilities, spa and food were all top notch, and the deals available due to the initial shake-down period following its launch made it really great value. Would definitely return, and the Mongkok Langham Place has gone to the top of the list for our next visit to HKG (sorry Peninsula, you’ve shot out of our price range!).

Our return flight was on an A319, which was more of a comfort to Mrs Djf. There was a shortish checkin queue at the departures area, which we progressed through quickly. They agent had no trouble with our baggage (we’d joined their FF program to get an extra 10kg each), but did say that they could only give us two seats on the aisle, one behind the other. It was at this stage I learned that PG has web checkin and that pretty much everyone uses it. Still, I was massively disappointed that they did not preallocate groups on the same PNR. Anyway, we walked through the heat along a lengthy shopping strip to the gate (there is a tram that takes you at some interval, but we didn’t have time to wait). Walked beside a group of loud and obnoxious fellow countrymen, which always gives you a tear of pride in your eyes.

Each of the departure gates was set up as a ‘lounge’, with seating, complementary drinks, WiFi and computers. The seating was at a bit of a premium, but we found a couple of chair for ourselves. Boarding was prompt and we were bussed over to the 319 and boarded through the rear door (always a treat). No chance of changing seats again, as we were sitting next to other couples. The seats were more comfortable than the ATR72 seats, and also pretty clean (which is impressive given the fact that PG seems to run them up and down to USM at least twice a day on very tight turnarounds). The flight was very smooth, and food/beverage service of equal quality (this time a chicken burger of some description). The 319 had an overhead IFE system, where they played clips from the Canadian prank show ‘Just for Laughs’, which I thought was an especially effective use of overhead IFE on a route with travellers of many different linguistic heritages.

We picked up our bags (decided not to check them through this time) from the very efficient carousels (which promptly indicated last and first bags off a flight) and walked over to the international departures area. BKK has some very weird escalators that ascend very steeply then go vertical for a while, before ascending again – making for a very long horizontal distance between start and finish. And of course, the escalators to the next level don’t start from where the ones you’ve been on end, but require you to travel back to the other side, making for a lengthy ride up. Taking the lifts was also out of the question given the long queue for them. We finally got to the departures level and had a fair walk over to the end where the CX desks were.

There was an F class checkin desk, but this was busier than the J checkin, so we just went to the first available counter. Again, the checkin agent offered to put us on an earlier flight, but we had preselected our flight to ensure that we got the next generation herringbone business class seats, time in the lounge, and some time for a quick meeting with some friends landside. However, upon presentation of Mrs Djf’s WP card, the checkin agent put priority first class tags on our bags (as they had also done at HKG) – despite no F cabin sold on the flight, and in stark contrast to recent QF practice (as opposed to QF policy, which is to put F tags on WP bags regardless of the highest cabin sold on a flight).

After having a coffee with our friends, we headed in through the premium immigration line – much better than HKG, we were the only ones in there at first, and got through very quickly (I’d heard some horror stories about the new BKK, so this was great). We started the long walk across the terminal to Concourse G where the CX and QF/BA lounges were located, through the myriad duty free stores and lengthy travelators. Eventually we found the lounges, and based on reviews here, chose to go into the QF/BA F lounge. The F lounge was due to close at 5pm, after the QF and BA flights had been called, so we had limited time to make use of it. It was moderately busy, but there were ample seats available, and we chose to sit down near the food by the window.

Champu was Moet and the food selection was quite nice, some red chicken curry, rice and chicken pies. Lots of good drink options too – reminded me very much of the AKL F lounge, which I really enjoyed visiting. After all the flying and walking through heat and humidity, I decided I’d take advantage of the F lounge and have a quick shower – thank you Molton Brown! Always nice and refreshing, and remarkably consistent across international Qantas lounges. I probably preferred it slightly when compared to the CX lounges / cabanas, nicer products and more airy, brighter facilities. WiFi was incredibly slow though, which was quite disappointing. Randomly bumped into a mate who was heading home on another flight which was also nice. The QF/BA departures were both delayed, so we squeezed an extra half hour out of the F lounge, then left with all the other pax and walked next door – didn’t get a chance to go to the QF J lounge as we decided it would be best to wait for the calls for our flight in the CX F and J lounge.

I have to say, I’m very glad we ate and showered in the QF F lounge, because the CX lounge also lived up to the reviews here – in that it was very subpar. The lounge was small – it was very quiet, so we managed to get some seats, but I’d imagine seating would be at an absolute premium if it were any busier. The food selection was average, with only some crisps and sushi available, and some limited drinks (no booze I could find). And the worst bit – there were no toilets, and pax were asked to use the facilities outside the lounge in the airport proper. Putting the word ‘First’ in the title of the lounge is a misnomer and very risky for CX, because the lounge product at BKK is extremely substandard for an airline of their pedigree (especially when compared against the facilities at HKG, or even at other regional ports like ICN). Given then choice (and availability), I would chose the QF F lounge (and possibly even the QP, if it is of consistent quality with other regional QPs) over this CX lounge any time.

To be fair, the WiFi was better than the QF F lounge and they did have a good selection of reading material (or perhaps I hadn’t been paying attention to the reading material in other lounges as I’d been preoccupied eating, drinking, watching telly and being merry).

In any case, we left just before they made the calls and walked and travellatored the long distance to the gate. We arrived to find an absolutely jam-packed gate lounge, with no seats free, a huddle around the boarding door and no discernible separate queues for premium/elite pax. The flight was obviously delayed for a little bit as boarding was not called for another 10 minutes. But boarding was an absolute mess, with special needs and high row pax called first, but all of the pax streaming through the two doors, with no discernible signs pointing them in any particular direction – handled really badly by the ground staff, who weren’t helped by the layout of the gate or the compliance of the pax.

Anyway, once on the plane we made our way to our preselected seats on the K side of 330 (chosen in order that we wouldn’t be facing anyone else across the aisle). Ironically, I was seated behind Mrs Djf again, though this time by design. For a while I didn’t think we’d get the chance to sample the NGBC CX seats, so I was really pleased we could arrange it in the end. And I was very impressed by the seat – I’d heard the arrangement felt ‘coffin-like’, and though it was a teensy bit claustrophobic, on the whole I found sufficient room for my body, lots of seat-side storage options, and found the seat to be quite comfortable. I particularly like the soft satin cushions at the head of the seat, which felt much better to me that a regular headrest plus separate cotton pillow. It was a little disconcerting not being able to look over at Mrs Djf without craning my neck or getting up – perhaps they should have opaque sliding partitions like BA?

Taking off on an angle was a little weird, but I was able to look out the window without too much difficulty. Also, it was great that you could easily put your feet up on the legrest during taxi/takeoff/landing, unlike most other types of premium seats. It was a pity this flight was too short to really give these seats a go, but I tried with what time we had. The recline options were decent, and I was able to get comfortable very quickly. I also liked the fact that the noise cancelling headphones (yay! Finally CX!) were easy to access at the seat, and didn’t need to be returned at the end of the flight. The screen was very big and very crisp, and it was good to give Studio CX another run through (our last time using it was back in the economy hardshell seats on our first entry to ICN). There was a decent variety of content on the IFE (not quite as diverse as QF), but also a healthy number of episodes per show as well. Of course, the fact that the screen had to be moved in order to receive food/drink service was a bit annoying, but a small sacrifice for the quality of both. We found the food and drink service to be very good, though again the FA service was not as special, personalized or attentive as our ICN trip had been. There was a couple next to us who were connecting to a LAX flight who were OCD about asking which gate we’d be arriving at, which gate their flight would leave from, how to get there etc, well before we’d taken off or before any info had come through – and they had a luxurious hour and a half to connect! The FAs dealt with these requests with far more patience than I’d have had, and sure enough, when the info did finally appear, there was another round of questions. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the hard product and would be keen to give it a go on a long-haul flight – I certainly don’t think it’s as terrible as I’ve heard it made out to be. It’s different, sure, but I think there’s still a good product there if you can get used to it.

Ironically, we actually arrived at a gate relatively close to immigration, and had a much quicker queue through it (tried the B area this time instead). The couple from the plane somehow managed to miss the transfer to their very clearly signed and nearby gate, which was amusing if nothing else. I think they eventually found The Wing, which would have been a start in the right direction. Baggage was promptly delivered again, and I desperately wanted to get Mrs Djf to take me into The Arrival briefly before it closed, but common sense kicked in, and we decided to head straight to the hotel to turn in before our early departure back home the following morning (also, the shuttle bus to Novotel Citygate was about to close for the night, so something had to be sacrificed).

Next - The final flight: QF30 (J in F seats) and the new HKG QF F lounge.

 

[djfuzz]

More photos of CX NGBC.

 

[djfuzz]

The end – The new HKG QF F lounge and HKG-MEL

As mentioned in other threads here, we were traveling home in QF 30 in PE, and given the fcat that no F cabin was being sold (but PE was no longer being seated in J), we decided we’d try for either an op-up or points upgrade. I put in a points request, but seeing the loadings (and hearing of dot’s extraordinary luck), I was erring on the side of cancelling and taking our chances on an op-up (as traveling in PE on a day flight was not a terrible worst case scenario). However, our points request was confirmed just before I was able to cancel it, so we took our PE->J upgrade and naturally selected seats 3E/F in the F cabin for our return trip.

After another very short night at the Novotel Citygate, we shuttled back to HKIA (together with a family carrying half a plane’s worth of checked baggage – how they got on an aircraft without paying a fortune’s worth of excess baggage fees is beyond me). Discovered that the QF checkin is on the far right side of the departures level, completely on the other side to the CX checkin. QF F checkin was nothing special, just another counter, and we were served immediately. Despite getting a gold-coloured F BP slip, and being advised to use the F lounge, our bags were once again tagged with Pink Business tags (come on QF, at least change the wording of your baggage policy for WPs if you’re only going to tag the highest cabin on a flight instead of F). We proceeded through the right-hand side immigration and security checkpoint, which was much faster than the other (CX) side. Immediately to our right on emerging through immigration was the QF F lounge, so we headed right in and checked it out. I was hoping to be the first to post some pictures of it, but dot beat me to it, so I’ll only post a few.

I hadn’t been to the QP in HKG previously, so I have no point of comparison on the refurbishments. I understand that there’s still some work to be done on the F lounge, but in general I was impressed enough. It had the general design of a QF lounge (similar in many respects to the new J lounge), but also had the open air feel of The Wing. The F lounge was much larger than The Wing’s F lounge though, with much more in the way of seating (but alas, no cabanas or Haven dining room). It was also remarkable empty – as noted in the separate thread, clearly the lack of F pax on QF29/30 meant that the lounge was populated only by WPs or F pax headed to SYD. I briefly checked out the food and drinks bars, pretty much as described as depicted by dot – Veuve as the champu, congee with accompaniments (not as nice as The Wing), dim sum, breakfast rolls, toast and muffins. I’d say the F lounge has sufficient space (and need for differentiation) for QF to open a proper kitchen and cook up some decent breakkie / dinner for their F pax / WPs, along the lines of The Wing. Whether the commercial imperative is there is another thing I suppose. There would also be enough room for building some break rooms along the lines of the Day Break rooms or cabanas (or – dare I say it – a Payot spa), but I guess the Flounge isn’t open all day for long transits, unlike the Jlounge or The Wing/Pier. Bathrooms were the standard QF Molton Brown hard product, and I didn’t try the showers but assume them to be similar. Only noticed one television in a little section past the food section and telephones (where I also presume the computers were). Didn’t really seem like there were any options for kids to amuse themselves, like the PS2s in The Wing’s Gamezone. However, all in all, it seemed like an adequate lounge, if a little wanting in the food department.

We thought we’d compensate for that by heading to The Wing for custom breakfast, so we took the walk over to the other side of the terminal (took more than five minutes – much longer than I expected). However, we noticed that the CX section of immigration was absolutely chockers. When we got to The Wing, the dragon told us we could go in but that it was quite busy and that there was a wait for dining, and that we may wish to try the QF lounge instead. We took a look inside anyway, and she was being generous – the F lounge was as chockers as immigration, with all seats taken and many pax standing round. Completely unlike the previously three mornings we'd been at The Wing when it was very quiet. We went to The Haven, but there was also a queue there snaking out of the room about five people deep, and naturally the dining room was packed as well.

So we gave up our hopes of eggs any style and walked back to the QF Flounge, I did half think about dropping in on the G16 lounge, but realized that it wasn’t going to be better than the QF lounge, so we cut our losses. Much like The Wing, there were a few lounge attendants in the Flounge, but they were mostly standing around or clearing up plates, rather than taking the proactive role of hosting/bringing drinks to pax – a small adjustment that would really enhance the experience and again make it feel more like a First class lounge. For breakfast I had something small, just a couple of dim sum and champu. I did help myself to some of the Haagen Dazs ice cream though, which is always a winner.

I had to leave my BP with one of the lounge attendants in order to get a power adapter, unlike at The Pier, but no big deal. What was annoying was how slow the internet connection was, as discussed in another thread. I couldn’t find a dedicated Flounge SSID, so I jumped on the Jlounge one – which, its security obstancles aside, was quite weak up in the Flounge and didn’t help the already struggling speed.

In any case, we weren’t there was too long before our flight was called. Walked down to G18 to find two huge snaking queues at both the F/J and Y boarding lanes. Turns out people weren’t reading signs or listening to announcements again, so a FA had to send half the F/J queue away. There was a secondary security check for liquids halfway down gate just before it snaked into the aerobridge, which was a bit annoying, but quick. And then we boarded the QF 744 and once again turned left.

The F cabin was only a little over half full, and all of row 4 was empty (which is actually where we should have sat, but no big deal). We were probably the only pax joining the cabin in HKG. I think some J pax who weren’t WP had been sitting in the cabin on the LHR-HKG leg, but had to move for some reason (can’t have been the lack of seats), so had to move their bags out. Again, despite the half empty cabin, we did have to go hunting for a free overhead bin, which is one of the annoying things about the 744 F cabin.

However, the service was very pleasant, perhaps more personal because two dedicated FAs were serving a half-full cabin – definitely a cut above the usual QF J service. Hadn’t flown on a day flight in the QF F cabin before, so was a little disappointed when some pax kept their windows open after the FAs had closed them all, but I guess on such a flight, with careful sleep timing due to jet lag, it’s their prerogative (though I wish they’d have done it in J instead of taking an F seat and not reclining for the whole flight!) – which is why we probably should have moved to row 4, which was much darker than the others. But we only slept for a couple of hours in order to enjoy the bed and be rested properly after the short night and traveling we’d done the day before. IFE was great as usual (finished watching a great Will Ferrell show and started but didn’t finish Pam Ann’s London show), and the food was also excellent. Lunch was a very nice cream of broccoli soup and garoupa, and dinner/refreshment was a tasty salmon with crème fraiche and beetroot. Much better than the pedestrian offerings on the MEL-HKG leg. We were also given the warm almonds, which I’m guessing is a part of the hybrid J/F service, as I’ve never gotten them in plain J. As before I took advantage of the Payot products in the F cabin toilets, which were superb for keeping one’s hands/face from getting incredibly dry. I also liked the fact that the windows in the F cabin toilets were frosted over until locked – and provided some amazing views mid-flight when the windows in the cabin were shut.

Landed relatively on time, bumped into another flight’s worth of people at immigration but the express pass helped us through. I forgot to sign the arrival card, so we were marked for inspection and the express card was no longer of any use to us. Bags took a while (this is MEL after all, with all of the negative connotations that implies), but ours were relatively close to the head of the pack. Two huge lines snaking around the carousels to get through customs, but they moved pretty quickly and soon enough we were back home (in incredible heat – the hottest day of the year apparently, so no worries with the weather transition!).

 

[djfuzz]

Photos of the final flight.

(Apologies for the picture heavy page, but at least they're small!).