Over the Pacific on Cathay: Business Class on Cathay Pacific YVR-JFK

Over the Pacific on Cathay

a.       Introduction/Preface

b.      The Club at DFW and Admiral’s Club DFW Terminal D

c.       Domestic First Class on American DFW-SFO

d.      Admiral’s Club SFO

e.      Cathay Pacific First & Business Class Lounge at SFO

f.       First Class on Cathay Pacific SFO-HKG

g.      Cathay Pacific The Cabin HKG

h.      Business Class on Dragon Air HKG-CAN

i.        China Hotel, A Marriott Hotel, Guangzhou &  Exploring Guangzhou

j.        Business Class on Dragon Air to HKG

k.      Cathay Pacific Lounges HKG

l.        Business Class on Cathay Pacific HKG-YVR

m.    Business Class on Cathay Pacific YVR-JFK

n.      American Airlines Flagship Lounge JFK 

o.      Domestic First on American JFK-DFW plus Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Business Class on Cathay Pacific YVR-JFK

Cathay Pacific 888 YVR-JFK
April 26, 2012
Boeing 777-300ER (new business configuration)
Departure Time:  10:50PM                 Actual: 2:16 AM (+1 day)
Arrival Time:  6:00AM (+1 days)       Actual: 10:10 AM
Flight Time: 5 hours 10 minutes
Seat: 16A        Business Class
Aircraft Registration   B-KPE

Passengers had the options of either going through customs into Canada or go into the transit lounge.  Since I was continuing into NYC, I got to “enjoy” the lounge for about 45 minutes. They did provide bottled waters for the 100 or so passengers waiting.  There were vending machines and restroom facilities available as well. Boarding for the flight started at 1:45PM for the First and Business Class passengers and I quickly went onboard to my original seat of 16A.   

I chatted with Jenny; a Hong Kong based flight attendant for a bit and she told me that most passengers sleep on the plane on the way to NYC and that a meal service would be provided after takeoff.  They were working our flight and the return flight in the evening CX 889 back to Vancouver which departs around midnight Eastern Time.  That makes a long work day especially since the flight was delayed 3.5 hours from Vancouver.  It was not a fun process waiting around in Vancouver and I would not want to do it again anytime soon and instead would opt for the direct flight to NYC from Hong Kong in the future. 

Captain John Sosslar came on at about 2 AM before departure to give us the weather development in New York and the storms occurring in the Midwest.  He apologized for the delay due to the inbound aircraft but we should make up some time in the air on the way to New York.  Air Traffic Control has cleared us for departure (given the fact that both Eva Air and China Airlines flight departed already) for the evening.  

The doors closed at 2:15AM and the safety video came on shortly thereafter.  It took about 10 minutes to taxi to the runway and we left at 2:35AM local time.  The onboard computer revealed that we should be landing into NYC after 10:20AM Eastern time and will need to go through immigration.  Even with Global Entry, I most likely would not make my connection to Washington-DCA and then to Dallas/Fort Worth and arriving at 4PM.  I plan on calling the AA Executive Platinum desk to see if they can protect me on the non-stop 4PM flight from JFK to DFW and arriving at 8PM.   

 

Back-up plan would be to check with the Cathay Pacific ground staff to both check on my bags and to see if they can rebook me on a later AA flight.  At 4:50AM, the entertainment system was turned on once again and the staff got ready to do the meal service.  Christine, the senior purser, came by to greet me and offer me the menu for the Dinner service.  We chatted for a while when she found out that I was on the inbound flight and wanted to find out more about the delay from Hong Kong.   

Somebody was tired and went straight to sleep during boarding

 

Later, Jenny came by to pass out the menus, amenity kits and I requested a female kit (to give as a gift) since I got a male one on my previous fight.  She told me that she would have to check with the purser but it should not be a problem.  Christine came by and gave me a female kit and offered to give me an extra one when she found out that I planning to give it to my mom.  I also asked her for a customer comment form to compliment John and Charlotte from my previous flight.  I took a few minutes to fill that out and gave it back to Christine to turn in to their corporate office.  

The meal service started with a side salad with 2 paprika jumbo shrimps presented on a tray.  Later, cabin purser Terry came by and I got garlic bread with my starter.  During this time it got pretty turbulent but the service still went on (hot beverages were suspended though).  Christine came by with the drink cart and I got Coke Zero to enjoy.  I learned that it was an 8-day trip for this Hong Kong based crew.  They fly to Vancouver and stay 2 nights, then to JFK and wait 10 hours and back to Vancouver then stay 2 nights and then back to Hong Kong.

For the main course, I got the Beef Massaman which was served with Jasmine rice and vegetables.  It was a really good dish.  Last time I had the same dish was on Thai Airways last year in August.  The final course was a fruit plate along with a slice of almond cake. 

The fresh fruit plate included honey dew melon, pineapple, cantaloupe, and watermelon.  The almond cake was not that impressive but I ate most of it.  The finishing touch was a praline that I enjoyed when Christine came by later.  I watched an episode of The Simpsons during the enjoyment of my dinner meal.

At this point when the meal service was over, we were about 3 hours from NYC and I decided to take a short nap.  Somewhere between finishing the dinner service and by the time I work up about an hour from NYC (crossing over Toronto), the sky had changed back into daytime once again.  I cannot stress how comfortable the new Business Class seats are on Cathay Pacific.  I felt like I had enough room to stretch out and having a truly lay flat seat is wonderful. 

The estimated arrival time for out flight was now about 10 AM but depending on Air Traffic Control.  The captain came on 30 minutes before arrival to let us know that we were preparing to land soon at JFK.  We taxied to Terminal 7 and immediately headed towards customs and immigrations.