Introduction
American Business Class 777-300ER Dallas To Hong Kong
Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui
Cathay Pacific “The Bridge” Business Class Lounge Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge Hong Kong
American Business Class 777-300ER Hong Kong to Dallas
After an uneventful flight from San Francisco and a night at the Element DFW Airport, we made it to the airport at around 10AM for our 12:15PM departure. Our flight was leaving from the D Concourse, which was especially convenient, given that the American Express Centurion Lounge is located there.
We spent about an hour in the lounge (including a 15 minute massage), before going to our departure gate, D23.
Departure gate DFW Airport
We got to the gate at around 11:30AM, at which point first and business class boarding was already underway.
American 777-300ER DFW Airport
American 137
Dallas (DFW) – Hong Kong (HKG)
Wednesday, September 10
Depart: 12:15PM
Arrive: 6:05PM
Duration: 15hr50min
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 4J (Business Class)
I had selected seat 4J, which is located in the mini cabin, consisting of just eight seats spread across four rows.
American’s new business class consists of reverse herringbone seats which are among the best in the industry. Not only are they incredibly comfortable for sleeping, but they’re also private, given that they face away from the aisle and have a nice “shield” right near where your head goes.
American business class seat 777-300ER
American business class seat 777-300ER
The entertainment screen pops out from the seat in front of you, and there’s an ottoman of sorts for your feet. If I had one criticism about the seat it’s that there’s not much vertical space by where your feet go, if you stick them all the way onto the ottoman.
American business class seat 777-300ER
The seat also has ample storage. There’s a compartment to the side of the seat which has room for headphones, bottled water, etc. There’s also a mirror there.
Waiting inside the compartment were Bose headphones. I do love how American has Bose headphones in both first and business class internationally — it amazes me how some of the world’s top airlines use really cheap headphones in business class.
American business class seat storage 777-300ER
Below the side console is even more “open” storage. There’s plenty of room for shoes, a laptop, etc.
American business class seat storage 777-300ER
The seat controls are located next to the side console, and it’s where the reading light, seat controls, and entertainment controls are located. All are intuitive.
American business class seat controls 777-300ER
Also waiting at the seat were a pillow and blanket. While it’s not Westin Heavenly Bedding as on Delta, American does have decent pillows and blankets in business class.
American business class pillow and blanket
Already waiting at my seat upon boarding were the amenity kit and a bottle of water. Within minutes of settling in, one of the flight attendants offered me a pre-departure beverage (I selected water) and the menu for the flight.
American business class bottled water, menu, and slippers
American business class menu
American’s amenity kits are rather boring, though do have all the essentials.
American business class amenity kit contents
While first and business class were full, economy was only about half full on this flight, so boarding was efficient. At around noon the captain came on the PA to add his welcome aboard, informing us of our flight time of 16hr25min, which he expected would put us into Hong Kong on schedule.
American 767-300 DFW Airport
We began our pushback at 12:10PM, which was five minutes ahead of schedule.
Pushing back DFW Airport
The safety video began to play as we taxied to runway 18L, which we reached within five minutes.
Taxiing DFW Airport
Once there we were number one for takeoff, and after a long takeoff roll were airborne.
View after takeoff from DFW Airport
I quickly “extended” the entertainment screen and turned on the airshow, so that I could appreciate just how long the flight was.
American business class airshow
American business class airshow
I spent the next 20 minutes looking out the window, though when departing Dallas there isn’t much to speak of in the way of views.
View after takeoff from Dallas
Once we passed through about 20,000 feet the crew began their service, starting with shutting the curtains between first and business class… if you can even call those things “curtains.”
American business class mini-cabin 777-300ER
I browsed the entertainment selection further. American actually has a decent selection, with a fair number of movies, TV shows, etc. Nowadays I don’t really have the attention span for movies, so I browsed the TV selection instead.
American business class entertainment selection 777-300ER
I decided to watch an episode of the HBO series “Looking.” Meh.
American business class entertainment selection 777-300ER
About 45 minutes after takeoff the service began, starting with hot towels.
American business class hot towel
After that lunch was served. The lunch menu read as follows:
And the wine & beverage list read as follows:
Service was efficient — the flight attendant primarily working my aisle got the job done but wasn’t overly friendly.
Service began with the cart being rolled through the aisle with drinks and hot nuts. I had a Diet Coke with lime, water, and hot nuts.
American business class hot nuts and drinks
About 15 minutes later the cart was again rolled through with the appetizer and salad. There was also a bread basket, from which I selected some pretzel bread.
American business class appetizer and salad
The appetizer consisted of Thai chicken with watermelon and a mint dressing.
American business class Thai chicken appetizer
Then there was a salad with assorted greens and feta cheese.
American business class seasonal greens
For the main course I ordered cashew chicken, which was surprisingly good — I loved that it came with a ramekin of nuts.
American business class cashew chicken main course
Then for dessert I had ice cream with a little bit of chocolate sauce.
American business class ice cream sundae
All-in-all it was a good meal for business class on American. It was by no means “gourmet,” but was entirely edible.
One of the best things about American’s new 777-300ERs is that they’re equipped with wifi. After lunch I tried to connect, though it wasn’t working. After checking with the crew, they informed me that the wifi wasn’t working as the antenna was “broken.”
I was pissed — I boarded a 17 hour flight with stuff I had to get done, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to count on it working as advertised. I realize there will be service interruptions, but if the antenna was actually broken and they knew it wouldn’t work, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect they’d inform passengers in advance so they can plan accordingly.
With that in mind, I decided to nap for a bit, and did manage to sleep for about four hours.
After a nap I worked on some trip reports on my laptop. In looking at the menu I noticed that they had Hong Kong style milk tea, which is one of my favorite drinks on Cathay Pacific. So naturally I ordered one. Kelly, one of the Mandarin/Cantonese speakers aboard, made it for me. She wasn’t the flight attendant primarily working my aisle, but was an awesome new hire.
It’s actually something that was interesting about the crew. The four (or so) Mandarin/Cantonese speakers on the flight had been hired within the last few months, and were hard working and friendly. Then the other flight attendants weren’t quite as good.
Anyway, the Hong Kong style milk tea was great — unlike on Cathay Pacific it wasn’t made with powder, which is a good thing.
American business class Hong Kong style milk tea
I decided to roam the plane a bit, and checked out the walk-up bar located between the two business class cabins. It’s near door 2L (where passengers board), and is one of the cool features of the new 777-300ER.
American business class walk-up bar 777-300ER
Between meals they set up food at the bar. In this case they had finger sandwiches, wraps, tomato & mozzarella, and a bunch of different types of cookies. Of course they were all gone in the first half of the flight.
American business class bar snacks 777-300ER
American business class bar snacks 777-300ER
American business class bar snacks 777-300ER
I then wandered to the back of business class — the second cabin is huge, so I really do prefer being in the mini cabin, because it really does almost feel like first class. I also have a slight preference for the “J” side, since the bathroom on the right side of business class is twice the size of the bathroom on the left side.
American 777-300ER business class cabin
At this point we were over Alaska, slowly approaching the halfway point of the flight. Man, this is a longhaul!
American business class airshow
American business class airshow
By chance I tried to log onto the wifi again, and was thrilled to find it was actually working. I guess it wasn’t broken entirely, but rather just not operating for the first several hours of the flight.
American’s wifi prices are exceedingly reasonable on international flights — you can’t beat $19 for wifi with unlimited data. Thanks to the fact that an announcement was made that it was broken, not many people seemed to be using it, which meant it was pretty fast.
American 777-300ER wifi cost
After getting a bit of work done, the crew offered passengers the mid-flight snack.
The snack menu read as follows:
I selected the roast beef wrap, which was served with slaw, spicy aioli, and fruit.
American business class mid-flight roast beef wrap snack
Meanwhile my friend had the grilled chicken, which was served with udon noodles and fruit.
American business class mid-flight grilled spicy chicken snack
After the snack I worked for the next five hours or so. With about three hours to go to Hong Kong I was tired once again, so decided to take a nap.
I woke up to a frantic crew announcement, whereby the flight attendants were announcing that all service had to be suspended immediately as everyone had to sit down now.
American business class airshow
Go figure there wasn’t any turbulence, so after 15 minutes they announced they could resume their service.
American business class airshow
I slept through the “brunch,” though the menu read as follows:
My friend did have the three cheese omelette with beef, which was served with salad and a cappuccino mousse tart. Interesting combo, all around.
American business class three cheese omelette
Our descent into Hong Kong was gradual, and there were some amazing views on the approach. The picture below doesn’t at all do it justice, but we had a clear view of Victoria Harbour, which is rare.
View on approach into Hong Kong
View on approach into Hong Kong
View on approach into Hong Kong
View on approach into Hong Kong
View on approach into Hong Kong
We touched down on runway 7L at around 5:35PM, well ahead of schedule.
View on approach into Hong Kong
Touchdown in Hong Kong
Our taxi to the gate took about 15 minutes, and as usual my eyes were glued outside the window the whole way in.
Taxiing to the gate in Hong Kong
I couldn’t help but take note of the lineup of an Air France A380, Emirates A380, and Lufthansa 747-8 — sexy!
Taxiing to the gate in Hong Kong
Almost as glamorous as the lineup of an Air China 737, Air China 737, Dragonair A321.
Taxiing to the gate in Hong Kong
For a moment I was concerned we had actually landed in Sydney, as we parked right next to two Qantas A330s and a Qantas A380.
Taxiing to the gate in Hong Kong
The door to the plane was open by about 5:50PM, at which point we made the roughly 10 minute walk to immigration. In my experience in Hong Kong in the evenings there’s either absolutely no queue for immigration, or a super-long queue. Fortunately in this case there was no queue, so we were through immigration and on our way to the hotel within minutes.
American business class bottom line
All things considered this was a lovely flight. I have to say I think it was the longest feeling flight I’ve been on. Most of my ultra longhaul flights are in first class, and there definitely is a comfort difference between first and business class. You might not notice it on a six hour transatlantic flight, but on a sixteen hour flight…
American’s new 777-300ERs really are competitive and a joy to fly. The food on the flight was edible, and between the three meals and walk-up bar, I don’t think anyone went hungry. Wifi on an international flight is awesome, despite the initial scare of it not working.
And while the service from the more senior flight attendants was unmemorable (which I’d consider to be a compliment compared to some of the memorably bad service I’ve had), the new hire flight attendants were all great.
Well done, American!
Have you flown American to Hong Kong yet, and if so, what was your experience?
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