Note: apologies for the quality of some of the pics and my deteriorating writing as the report continues. I’ve not written anything like this for ages and describing things in a unique manner for some reason is getting more and more difficult for me...
Introduction
It's the end of the year again, the time when everybody packs (and overloads) their baggage to fly off to faraway places. Somehow, for whatever reason, there is always a certain place very popular during this season, and that place changes every year. In 2012 it was Taiwan, and the previous year it was Hong Kong. I was no different from the mainstream crowd, deciding finally to fulfill my wish of spending a few days in the Pearl of the Orient, albeit with the (very great amount of) help of my parents.
I come from an immigrant Chinese family, with my parents coming to Singapore for better job prospects in the '90s. Somewhere along the way, they decided to fulfill their biological purpose as an organism, to ensure the continuity of their own kind, and I came into existence in '98. My fascination with airplanes began soon after, on an SIN-YVR flight before 9/11. I remember very clearly the photo of me with an SQ FA, and of me pointing at spoilers during descent. Fast forward to 2013 and although now I'm too shy to ask for a photo with the FA, and although I now fully understand how the spoilers work, my fascination and my passion for aviation has stayed. It is of course unfortunate that I, as a mere 16 year old stuck in school learning (and forgetting) every single weekday, now end up in the category of the "leisure holiday traveller", flying just enough to retain my Marco Polo membership. The idea of having enough money to travel to exotic places every other week has always been in my mind, but until the time I'm laughing my way to the bank holding a big fat paycheck and returning home in a Gulfstream business jet, that thought will forever just remain in my mind. It is thus no surprise that I find myself treasuring every single flight that I am on these days, because at least I can count myself fortunate - that my family has enough money to afford to look down at the world from a pressurised metal tube 35000ft in the air, whereas a few of my friends are limited to looking down at the garbage truck leaving their apartment building. But I digress.
Of course living in Asian society means being filial to our parents, and of course that means regular visits, which in turn translates to plane rides. SQ flies direct to PVG from SIN, but what is the fun of flying non stop... So after weeks of begging and persuading Mum and Dad on how wonderful Hong Kong is and how badly my 6 year old sis wants to visit Disneyland, we finalised our travel plans. 6 days in our hometown of Changshu, Jiangsu province, 3 days in Beijing, a day in Shanghai and 2 days in Hong Kong, from a very boring itinerary of 2 days in Hong Kong and 12 days in Changshu. Then of course it was time for the favourite part of trip planning: booking the air tickets. However, all those begging and persuading had cost us precious time, and it was in late November that we decided that we were better off booking air tickets rather than trying to swim to Hong Kong. But alas as we logged on to the Cathay website (which is miles ahead of SQ IMO) the seats on the good flights were full, leaving only a few flights with awkward timings available. Searching on other airlines gave me little luck, the fare was either much more expensive, or the transit time was ridiculously long (I wouldn't have minded, but my mum would be bugging me about why MH does not fly SIN-HKG nonstop the whole time at KUL). So in the end we had no choice but to go with CX instead. Not too bad, CX is one of my fav airlines but the flight timing meant we only had 2 days in HK.
Finalised Itinerary
CX734/Y/SIN/HKG14-12/1630STD/2020STA
KA876/Y/HKG/PVG/17-12/1000STD/1220STA
CX367/Y/PVG/HKG/29-12/1220STD/1500STA
CX711/Y/HKG/SIN/29-12/1600STD/1950STA
Pre-departure
Time flew by as my school holidays passed (our school year ends in October and starts in January). However as time passed, I became more busy too… as a council elect I was involved in this year’s year 1 orientation program, and of course that meant extra commitment during the holidays. The problem with my trip was that it coincided with all the dry runs, and as I was part of the community in charge of the programs, it meant I would miss out on a lot. Oops….
But of course we could not change the flight date - relatives were informed, tickets were booked and my parents had applied for leave, so what could I do? There was nothing except to make the best out of my situation, which would be to constantly update myself (editing a proposal up in the Great Wall because that was when I received it >_>) and complete as many things I could before the flight date. The weeks leading up to the flight I was horribly busy, returning to school every single day to make preparations, and my parents too were involved in projects at work. Everybody was busy and everybody forgot about that luggage bag that had been sitting in the living room until the evening before our flight, when to our horror, we realised that it was empty. So it was a mad rush down to the neighbourhood mall to get our travel necessities and winter clothing, and we ended up staying awake till 1.30 to get our packing done. So much for having an aviation/travel enthusiast in the house…
The day of the flight was of course busy as usual, as I had to return to school (again) and Dad had work, leaving Mum alone at home to ensure that everything was packed. I neglect to mention my sister in this case, because all she did was to ensure that ALL her toys were packed - apparently they will die if they are left alone without their owner for 2 weeks……………..
The flight
Airline: Cathay Pacific Airways
Flight: CX 734
Reg: B-KQK
Standard/Actual Time of Departure: 1630/1652
Standard/Actual Time of Arrival: 2020/2033
Class/Seat: Y/46K
2 hours before STD and I had just returned home from school. It was the typical last minute scene - Mum would be running around the house hurriedly unplugging everything from the mains, Dad throwing toiletries into a bag, and me of course, verifying flights and photography equipment. 110 minutes before STD and we were still at home, trying in vain to get a cab. We had 3 phones simultaneously on the table, next to each other, calling 3 different cab companies, and every one of them had been on hold for at least 5 minutes. I honestly thought we were going to miss our flight - the airport was on the opposite side of the island. It was as if luck was playing with us - one by one the companies hung up on us claiming that there were no cabs, but a quick look outside the window and one just passed by. Come on, picking us up will give you a good $30 in income, and give us 2 weeks of happiness…….
95 minutes before STD and we finally got a cab - by simply walking down and waiting by the roadside. Talk about time wasted… The cab driver was understanding and he told us that he would try to get us to the airport as fast as possible, which we agreed on, until he nearly crashed into the centre divider twice on a straight road. Dad, not wanting to make the criticism of his driving skill obvious, simply told him our flight had been delayed for 30 minutes so there was no need to drive so fast. Obviously, we survived our journey to the airport.
Changi’s terminal 1 is the oldest terminal in the airport, but hell it hardly does look like one. Everything was extremely modern and efficient - just like how airports should be (sadly not all of them are). It was slightly crowded but that can only be expected, as Changi grows in volume and flight numbers over the years.
It was about 65 minutes to STD, few minutes before checkin closes, so there was nothing to do except to proceed straight to the checkin counter. Cathay uses row 12 at Changi - right about in the middle of the terminal, There was a bit of a queue but the waiting time was not very long - we had about 10-15 people in front of us but waited 5 minutes maximum (estimate).
Check in was done by a very polite male agent. We had 2 bags between us and nothing was overweight (thankfully), so it was just a quick weighing of baggage and verification of receipt before our boarding passes were issued. My parents did not select our seats for some reason when booking, so I was quite thankful to find that we were issued seats 46GHJK, which had no seats behind us yet unlimited recline. Of course I as the aviation enthusiast took 46K, beside dad and sis in 46HJ, and mum in 46G. (ignore the 46H in the pic)
Changi T2 and T3 airside is awesome from an aviation enthusiast’s POV since both of them have unlimited apron views, and if I had more time I would have went there instead, but T1 has security done at the gate and a holding area there as well - hence you can’t just stick your camera into the window and photograph all you want. Also I prefer YVR’s airside hall due to its big airy feeling (IMO) but Changi is very good too - especially with T3 (minus the viewing mall). Customs is done right after the entrance airside - my family holding a Singapore passport we could use the automatic clearance gate which basically involves scanning your passport and fingerprint, an extremely simple, fast and efficient process. However my 6 year old sis could not, for whatever reasons (probably too little/short/whatever) use the automated gates so my mum and her had to wait in line at the “normal” counters, which took only about 2 minutes longer.
We were not into shopping, and with about 45minutes before STD there was nothing much we could do anyway so we just proceeded to our gate for the security clearance. The officers did their job efficiently and politely - there was no rush in getting the passengers to take out their laptops, phones, etc., but this also meant that the family in front of us took ages to do so, holding up the entire queue. Can’t people take them out as they’re queuing up - wouldnt this make everything faster?
After the security check we proceeded into the holding area at the gate - it was alright but it could definitely be bigger - some passengers were left without seats. I did not mind though, as a quick glance outside showed that it was possible to photograph aircraft here.
(Apologies for picture quality. There was no sunlight as it was just after a heavy thunderstorm hence I had to bump up ISO)
We remained in the holding area for quite a while - it was 1600 and boarding had not started, in fact ground agents were still unloading things from the aircraft which I had no idea what they were (the dnata truck in the pic). At that time the pilot also came around too, to do his pre-flight inspection.
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It was a pleasant surprise for me as I noticed that we would be flying on B-KQK, delivered less than 10 days ago to Cathay Pacific. Originally I had thought we would be flying on an Airbus A340 as Flightaware said so, so I was quite surprised when I saw the 77W parked in front of the gate. I honestly have no idea why almost every flight I take seems to be on a Boeing 777. On my trip to Vancouver last year on CX every sector was flown by a 777 even the 747 sector which got subbed with a 777 (-.-), and my previous visit to China in 2011 was also done by 777s. I can even remember back in 2010 I was scheduled to fly back to Singapore from Melbourne on an SQ 747, but that plane got called to do the previous flight operated by an A380 after it went tech, and I got rebooked on Emirates, flying a… …. ...777. I do not hate the 777 though, it is a fantastic aircraft and the age of this plane could not make the flight better.
Eventually 5 minutes before departure boarding was finally announced, from the rear of the aircraft (after first, business and Marco Polo). Very logical method and I do not understand at all why certain airlines do it from the front and clog up the aisle in the process. Nobody fought to get ahead too, there was a very orderly queue formed and we made our way down the aerobridge to the aircraft.
This 777 still had the “new plane smell” on it but it was not very obvious as I had a runny nose at that time, but it was clear that this was a new aircraft. Everything was spotlessly clean. We boarded from 2L and was greeted by the inflight service manager who indicated the way to our seat. On the way a flight attendant noticed my sis and welcomed her onboard with a very nice smile (and made my sis smile too). It was a small gesture but a very personal touch by Cathay.
We settled down into our seats but noticed that our overhead bins were FULL even though there was nobody around - so we ended up putting out carry ons into the bins in front at row 43. Just then a woman ran up the aisle from the back and opened the bins above us to take down some of her personal belongings. She was still holding her boarding pass and a quick glance told me she sat way back in row SIXTY - what was she doing with her carry-ons in row FORTY-SIX? I had the overwhelming urge to tell her off but did not want to start a commotion so I just kept to myself - after all she will get her retribution at the end of the flight.
(That woman has nothing to do with the above paragraph)
I love the new Economy seat. The legroom is good (although I am only 1.7m), the cushioning is quite nice too and the recline is certainly more generous than the shell seat. The PTV in front of me is extremely responsive and quite easy to use (more on that later) and there was no annoying IFE box like in certain airlines. Certainly better than the shell seats (horrible for sleeping) and I could recline all I want since there was nobody behind me to get annoyed.
Apologies for weird framing.
Boarding was completed at about 1650 and it was then the captain came on the intercom for his announcement. I understood none of it because his voice was so muffled and he spoke as if he was talking to ATC - it was so fast I could catch nothing. The ISM came on after that and repeated his announcement in Chinese and Cantonese (seriously how do they understand that? It just sounds like goodafternoonmynameisxxxxxxxwelcomexxxxxflightxxxxxxweatherxxxxxxxxflightattenda​ntsxxxxxxxxxblablablahopeyouenjoytheflightonuhcathaypacificairways to me). The safety video was played after that. I have watched the same thing over and over again both on and off the aircraft, but I still do make it a habit to watch and listen, because just in case, you know…….
Legroom (I am 1.7m):
Seat pocket contents (the safety card was permanently borrowed by me):
View outside:
At 1652hrs pushback finally started. As we pushed engine 1 was started and we waited a while before engine 2 started, before we finally started the long taxi towards runway 02C…..
I always love this feature although it is useless in the air but the moving map substitutes that
I took the opportunity to snap a little more aircraft - the angle was not good though because of the plane’s position and the fact that I did not want the wing to get in the photo.
Yes I know it’s not straightened but I’m busy nowadays
After a longish taxi we finally turned onto runway 02C. The captain did not stop but instead turned onto the runway, aligned with the centerline and advanced the throttles to the max. There was not much of a sound difference because the 77W is so quiet. The takeoff was short and powerful and I believe we used up about half the runway (based on my geographical knowledge of the runway as I cycle adjacent to it every week) before we lifted off.
There were quite a few ominous looking clouds in the sky and I was quite nervous as I hate and am scared of turbulence out of paranoia, but apart from a few light bumps there was none. The 777 gained altitude quickly and we flew over Pulau Tekong on the way.
Changi Exhibition Centre
I have no idea why the pic turned out this way. I don’t think its the depth of field because I was using f5.6, and there was nothing on the window anyway…
Dedicated to all the young men and women out there serving my country.
After takeoff the nose camera became useless, so it was time for my favourite feature on the IFE - the moving map.
After about 20-25 minutes of climbing we reached our cruise altitude at FL 370 (I think, my memory is failing me) and the FAs came around with snacks and towelettes. Definitely not SQ attention to detail where they have blankets, hot towels etc, but I do find CX service much more natural unlike the former which is always so robotic. I do not eat nuts so I did not eat them (sorry couldn’t resist) but sis and dad finished them all….
Afterwards I had to write a program proposal to submit once I landed in Hong Kong, but I had my seat fully reclined and was enjoying a cup of diet coke in a metal tube hurtling through the atmosphere at mach 0.81 - I wanted to enjoy this moment. Of course I was not travelling in J to the Carribean on a getaway with the prettiest girl in my life (though that would be awesome if I ever had the chance to), but hey this seat is nice, service is good and the flight has been smooth, besides I did not pay a single cent for this trip. So instead of being a good committee member like I was supposed to be, I went to explore the IFE…
Cup of coke
I’ve always liked StudioCX. Sure it cannot compete with ICE which was the best thing ever, but it was much better than the time I flew SQ and the Krisflyer system on my (and Dad’s) was constantly crashing and lagging all the time. I suppose they have improved it since then, but bad impressions do stay…. the only problem I noticed was that I took quite a while to find out how to adjust the volume. Of course now I do know, but nowhere was it stated how to… I thought they could make it more obvious on the IFE program itself. Maybe it could’ve been in the inflight mag, but for people like me who ignore everything in the seat pocket except that safety card, it would be as good as not putting it there at all. It’s a small thing though and overall the system works well so I will not be so harsh. I found World War Z in there and proceeded to watch the whole thing. I used the provided headphones which were crappy as usual but I did not expect much, and as long as I could hear what was going on in the movie I was satisfied enough. Off the plane I do not invest much in audio either - I prefer cheap $15 earphones which work nicely and don’t make you get emotional over them when you lose them. Meanwhile the FAs did not appear until meal service, which was fine for a flight of this length, but maybe there should be more drink runs on a long haul.
Meal service commenced halfway through the flight and we had a choice of seafood fried rice or “pasta”. This was the most disappointing part in the whole service. CX had apparently cut costs by choosing not to distribute menus in economy, which I guess normal pax wouldn’t really care about, but I, as a menu collector, am greatly disappointed in. I did end up asking for a J menu after the flight though and the FAs were happy to give me one of the extras. (thumbs up to CX) Secondly I know this is my fault, but I’m going to say it anyway, but for whatever reason I interpreted seafood fried rice as rice filled with all kinds of “seafood” i.e. prawns, crabs etc, which led me to choose the pasta. Again I emphasise that this is my own fault and I do not blame CX on this one but it was annoying all the same, as my parents chose the seafood option and got a very nice-looking dish. I ended up taking the “pasta” and got this:
I have never heard of pasta looking like this before, but my culinary knowledge is next to non existent so it could just be me. Either way the dish was quite tasteless and my parents said the same about the fried rice. The last time I flew CX the dishes tasted quite nice so it could just be a one-off, but I thought this catering could have been much better. Again I admit me misinterpreting the FA is my own problem (and I do not know why I interpreted it that way I guess my brain was not functioning that day) but the quality of the food could’ve been much better. SQ does much better in catering IMO with a bigger helping and more variety and they consistently tasted good the times I flown them.
After the meal and movie it was about 80 minutes to landing and I remembered I still had that proposal to write, so I set my IFE to the moving map and switched on my laptop. I could not for the life of me find the AC port though, but my laptop had enough battery anyway, so I didn’t care. There was a USB port on the seatback but I didn’t use it.
I had to go to the lav then, though. I made time for a quick visit. The pax before me was a disgusting idiot who did not flush before exiting so I went in only to stare at a puddle of yellow urine in the toilet. Ew. Disgusting. I know the flush is scary, but it will not suck you into the toilet….
(Yes that’s a nexus 5 I’m using)
Just in case some of you are eating:
Our descent started quite early - 40 minutes before landing. During the descent the plane performed a series of turns, which the captain explained we were to be delayed around 10 minutes due to traffic in HKG. No problem that would give me an extra 10 minutes to complete my work, and I was not in a rush anyway.
Cabin view on descent
Descent was quite smooth as well, although it was raining quite a bit. There were a few bumps here and there of course, as expected, but nothing that I could not handle. As the seatbelt sign switched on the FAs came around to check on the pax, and I did my own landing check as well. Seatback upright, tray table stowed, camera bag under the seat in front of me, belt fastened and tightened, overhead bins closed, no sudden urge to go to the toilet. I was a bit tired at this point and promptly fell asleep on the window so I remember nothing on final approach, but woke up just before a smooth landing on runway 25L. The reversers were applied and sleepy me got flung forward until I finally woke myself up fully and told myself that I was finally in HKG.
Taxiing to the gate:
We arrived at 8.33pm, a 13 minutes delay, but that was nothing much…. there was a short taxi to the gate before the engines were shut down and doors opened. Finally….
Parked next to company:
I did not want to hold up the rest of the plane, so I let everybody else get off (including that person from row 60 who then held up everybody behind her as she got her baggage) first before requesting for my menu, which the FAs were happy to oblige. I thanked every FA as they went passed and walked up the aerobridge into HKG. Didn’t ask for a cockpit visit though - I regret it!
Quick peek at J cabin:
It was a quick stop at the toilet before making our way to baggage claim. Arrivals was designed very simply - but it was functional and efficient, and that was the most important arrivals-wise. The wifi was free and fast too and the moment I connected I had a spam of about 500 messages from my friends back at Singapore on whatsapp….
Baggage claim could use some design, but like I mentioned, it was efficient and it worked, that is the most important in my opinion.
After proceeding through baggage claim we walked down the corridor to immigration. I do not remember anything from immigration though, for some reason, so I cannot write about it
The maps at HKG were a bit difficult to use though - I took quite a while to find the bus terminal, and the direction signs were slightly confusing. In the end I did manage to get my octopus cards which I topped up at the add value machine nearby. For some odd reason it did not accept the older HK notes only the newest ones (even though the locals said they do), so I ended up having to visit 7-eleven to get it exchanged. I had to visit it anyway because I had to get myself a prepaid mobile card, but still, it was weird…
With baggage claimed, mobile card bought and octopus ready, we then proceeded to the bus terminal. As a Singapore public enthusiast I hear lots of good stories about the bus system in HK and my first impression was definitely very good. We were staying at the Cosmopolitan Hotel near Causeway Bay so we could just take A11 directly and walk over.
The Cityflyer E500MMC was miles better than any Singapore public bus in terms of quality - even our Wright B9TLs here rattle and jerk all the time due to neglect by our transport companies. The wifi on the MMC did not work though but it was not much of a problem to me because I had my prepaid sim card and I could just use the data from there. It was a very smooth ride up until the stop before mine, when we suddenly got caught in this huge jam at Hennessy Road. We did not move at all for 15 minutes, and after 5 minutes the driver actually got off his seat and opened the doors to chat with another driver on the adjacent bus. It cost him his memory though, because when we finally moved off, he forgot that I had pressed the bell and just flew past my bus stop without stopping. When I confronted him he spoke in very broken english that I had apparently not pressed the bell and sure enough the bus stopping light was not on. But I perfectly remember pressing the bell and the buzzer sounding……… It was lucky though that the next stop was not very far, and I did not want this incident to spoil my entire impression of HK public transport so I let it go. It was then a short 10 minutes walk from the bus stop to the hotel, albeit in the rain, but the weather was not very cold - a shirt and a jacket were fine for me; apparently my friends in HK have been exaggerating quite a bit.
Due to the jam we actually lost quite a bit of time and when we reached our hotel it was already 10.45pm. Being a bus enthusiast I’d simply have dumped my luggage in the hotel room and gone out to snap buses but with my parents around and having to wake up at 6am the next day I decided against it. After all in a single day, I had taken buses, trains, taxis and even planes, and I was extremely tired.
Overall
CX is still one of my favourite airlines. Of course it is not perfect, especially in the catering department, but I find their service more than adequate for a short flight. SQ is mainstream amongst my friends who go on vacation, and I’ve gotten tired of hearing praises from them. To me, SQ is good yes, but I do not like the robotic way their service is conducted. Changi, of course, is efficient and pretty as always, but I’d have wanted more time to explore airside given how rarely I get to go in. It’s hardly my fault though because everybody was busy before the flight, but the next time I’d definitely arrive like 3 hours before departure or something. HKG is an awesome airport (more on departure when I have time to write the return segment) but maybe it could use some more colours to make it look even nicer…
Feedback is appreciated and welcomed. I know this report might’ve been really long but that’s just my writing style even in school, and some of the pics are a bit crappy, that I apologise too - my D200 is getting old….
>> to be continued <<