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

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 HKG-YVR

Cathay Pacific 888 HKG-YVR
April 26, 2012
Boeing 777-300ER (new business configuration)
Departure Time:  12:35AM                 Actual: 3:27 AM
Arrival Time:  9:15 PM (-1 Day)         Actual: 12:57AM
Flight Time: 11 hours 40 minutes
Seat: 16A        Business Class
Aircraft Registration   B-KPE

I walked into an almost empty Business Cabin and snapped a few pictures.  One of the flight attendants, Charlotte, came by to offer pre-departure beverages and I went with the Cathay Delight again on this flight.  It was so good that I made sure to grab another one from her when she came back for more passengers.   

Since there were not many passengers on the plane yet, I took the time to change into my Shanghai Tang pajamas from my inbound flight.  The boarding process was hectic as it would be busy and then empty depending on if a bus came by to drop off passengers.  An older man came through with a big hurry and knocked a tray of drinks that Charlotte was carrying and made her spilled over some seats and herself.  She handled it very professionally and I felt bad for her that she had to go through that ordeal with no apology from the passenger.  One of the other flight attendants came by the Business Class to pass out hot towels and collected them later.

Captain Jake Campbell came on at 3:20AM before departure to inform us about the reason for the delay and that out flight time to Vancouver was 11 hours and 45 minutes.  The lighting warning at the airport put everything to a complete stop and it took a while to bus all the passengers to the plane along with the fact that it took a while for the airport services to resume.  Also, they had to finish up the rest of the cargo loading onto the plane as well.  I took the time to catch up on blogging as I had plenty to time to settle in and relax before the flight.   

The safety video started at 3:20AM and we were on our way a 3:50AM with a takeoff right before 4AM.  The journey from my cousin’s apartment to take off from Hong Kong took over a time span of 12 hours making this start of my trip very long.  Things could definitely be a lot worse than flying in Cathay Pacific new Business Class.  I am thankful that we were on our way to North America.

At about 4:20AM, John (the purser) came by to hand out menus and greeted me (in Cantonese) but I was not sure what he said.  He did it with a smile so I assume it was something good.  Charlotte later passed out amenity kits and Evian water to the passengers.  Another flight attendant went through the cabin to pass out landing cards for passengers arriving for Vancouver.

The dinner service started promptly with the table cloth presented.  Then it was followed by a tray with the salad served with duck and vinaigrette dressing.  I accepted Garlic bread from the bread basket along with a Coke Zero and water.  I enjoyed the chicken main served with bok choy, bamboo shoots, and jasmine rice. 

For dessert, there were three options to choose amongst from for a sweet ending to the meal. I skipped over the cheese and crackers plate but could not resist the chocolate mousse (served with raspberry sauce) or the fruit plate (grapefruit, honeydew melon, orange, cantaloupe, and grapes).  I also requested green tea to better enjoy my dessert.  Later, Charlotte came by with pralines and I picked out two to enjoy.  I watched Insider the Actors Studio interview with the cast of Modern Family which kept me entertained during my entire meal.

 

JAL flight bound for Tokyo

 

During the dinner service, the dark outside quickly gave out to daylight.  Now I understand the meaning of the double sunrise. When departed Hong Kong, it was nighttime and as we travel across the Pacific Ocean, it gave way to daylight.  When we land in Vancouver, it will be midnight again and will give way again to daylight one more time for our arrival into New York… thus the term “double sunrise.”  It got a bit chilly in the cabin so I was able to get a thin blanket from Charlotte before I went to sleep.   

The main blanket covered my legs and most of my torso and the new one covered my arms and the rest of my torso.  It was about 9 hours before we were expected to arrive into Vancouver and the cabin lights were darkened to allow rest for the passengers.  When we were about to pass over Japan on the journey, I succumbed to sleep for the next 2.5 hours.  I did eventually wake up when we were 6 hours away from landing into Vancouver.  Then I vacillated between sleeping more or getting a snack to eat but sleep won out and I dozed off for another hour.  

Cathay New Business Class configuration is very comfortable with a lot of personal space.  The seat is wide enough for me and the seat turns directly into a lay flat bed and is genuinely one of the best products out there.  I am not sure if I even want to try out the old herringbone configuration when the new one is so spacious and comfortable.  Maybe one time on a Boeing 747 upper deck if it comes down to it.  After I got up again, I requested the beef noodles and Charlotte advised me that it would take about 15 minutes for them to prepare it.  

I helped myself to some sweets and chocolates in the galley. Later I had to opportunity to chat with John while waiting for my meal to get ready.  He informed me that all the seats in First and Business class were all taken up tonight.  Only a few seats were left in economy class.  The crew members on this flight are based in Vancouver and a new crew will trade places with them when we landed and the new crew will provide service on the way to New York.  He told that the day flight to Hong Kong from Vancouver has a lot of Indian passengers and sometimes they have requests for 70 plus vegetarian special meal requests.  That flight serves a lot of passengers not only from Vancouver, but also from Calgary and Seattle as well.  It is also perfect for connections onwards from Hong Kong to New Delhi and Bombay (Mumbai) and thus has a nickname of “India Express”.

I watched as they prepare the beef noodle soup and first they warm the meat, bok choy, and then add hot water to the noodles.  They put everything together in a bowl and then serve it with a packet of Guilin style hot sauce.  It was pretty good but I passed on eating the fatty parts of the beef.  When my snack was served, I asked Charlotte about the incident during boarding when the older gentleman was in a rush and knocked her beverage tray all over herself.  The sad thing is that she is used to that type of behavior but I told her that it should not be expected nor happen to anyone.  There was about 5 hours left in the flight after my meal was over and I tried to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of the flight.  We were expected to arrive into Vancouver at 12:45AM (3.5 hours after our original arrival time) and then we would leave at 2AM and arrive in New York I am guessing probably at 9AM.

I then asked John if I could try the Chicken Tandoori skewers (served with yogurt sauce and tomatoes/cucumbers) with the Haagen-Daz Vanilla ice cream to finish it off.  I watched a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory to pass the time.   Then I tried to go back to sleep but just ended up lying there but not really completely sleeping.  At about 1,600 miles (3 hours) before arriving into Vancouver, the cabin lights came back on as the crew prepared for the bunch arrival service.  It seemed a little strange as it was about 1PM Hong Kong time and 9PM Vancouver time (with about a 3 hour delay factored in as well).  I opened my window shade and saw that it was slowly turning into dusk at about this time and thus a whole day cycle has almost passed during the trip so far.

Since a lot of other passengers were getting up as well, there was a line to use the lavatories.  To start off breakfast, I had a green tea and a berry smoothie to drink.  A plate of kiwi, pineapple, honeydew melon and strawberry was served.  The breakfast bread basket selections included: croissant, biscuit, and muffins.  Then I had the Bircher muesli and strawberry yogurt next.  

The food cart came by at about 2 hours before our Vancouver arrival and I went with the Chinese option Dim Sum for this arrival meal.  It was not as good as I had expected as I felt the food was a little dry and salty.  Then again, I could try the Western option on my next arrival or grab some at the Flagship Lounge in New York (time permitting).  It was dark again by the time I finished my meal and that meant it was almost midnight in the Pacific Time zone.

I was finished with my breakfast with 90 minutes left until arrival into Vancouver and I continued on watching episodes of The Big Bang Theory.  With about 30 minutes of flight time left, I changed out of my pajamas and watched the plane underbelly camera as we landed into Vancouver International airport at about 1 AM.  The taxi to gate 73 took about 10 minutes and we were allowed to leave the plane shortly.