Life of a frequent flyer: Over the Pacific on Cathay: First Class on Cathay Pacific SFO-HKG

Over the Pacific on Cathay

First Class on Cathay Pacific SFO-HKG

Cathay Pacific 783 SFO-HKG
April 19, 2012
Boeing 747
Departure Time: 1:30AM
Arrival Time: 6:15AM
Flight Time: 13 hours 45 minutes
Seat 3A First Class
Aircraft Registration: B-HKE

Announcement for boarding the flight was made in the lounge at 12:35AM and I made my way to Gate A3. I did manage to snap a few pictures of the lounge when a mass exodus occurred after the announcement was made.

My Boeing 747-400 plane to Hong Kong

The boarding was done in two lines with the left being First and Business passengers and the right side for the economy passengers. We boarded via 2 jet bridges with the same differentiation for entering the aircraft.

The purser serving First Class was checking boarding passes and directing passengers to their seats. I noticed that the Business class passengers were simply given directions on where their seat was located and the deck they were on while I was shown to my seat in the First Class cabin at the nose cone of the aircraft.

The senior purser, Satomi, greeted me and showed me to my seat and told me that she along with Christine and Tina would be serving me during the flight. I told her that it was my first time in First Class on Cathay and she told me that it would quite the experience. She explained that I could stow my roll on-board in the closet in my suite With a full First Class cabin, it seemed that all of the cabin crew seemed frazzled to get the departure underway on a timely manner.

My Suite

It's a HUGE seat!

Before takeoff, an amenity kit and Shanghai Tang pajamas offered with Medium and Large sizes offered to me. I went with the Large size since it apparently would shrink later. Slippers and eyeshade were included in the pajama kit. My gut feeling told me to pick the medium since I got that size previous on Lufthansa and Thai Airways.

I was offered a pre-departure beverage and I went with the Krug.

When we got ready to depart, the inflight manager made some general announcements about thanking us for flying with Cathay, welcoming Marco Polo members, and flight time of 13 hours and 45 minutes. The captain (with a British accent) came on and gave us a quick briefing and told us to pay attention to the safety video. The safety video is animated and seems very dated to me. It was ok the first time I saw it but it gets old after a while. The cabin crew came out to point out the exits on the aircraft and that part of the demonstration only. They were smirking during that part and I thought it was funny that they did that.

We pulled away from the gate at about 1:20AM and were on our way shortly to Hong Kong. I was getting a little drowsy at that time and nodded off for a bit. Once we had lift off, I woke up again to catch the night light with a great view from the plane. Most of the passengers changed into their pajamas before we departed but I waited until we were airborne to do so. Tina came by to take drink orders and offered mixed nuts to start. I went with the Cathay Delight (Kiwi and Coconut based drink) and a glass of water.

It's gonna be a comfortable trip to Hong Kong

Satomi and they flight attendants went ahead and did the turn down service for those passengers wanting to sleep immediately. Then she came by and passed out the menus for the flight and explained that I could order anything I wanted anytime. I leaned towards the Chinese option for my dinner with a salad added to make it more complete. I went to the restroom to change into my pajamas and felt that they were too baggy and loose. I asked Tina if it was possible to get the Medium size and she said it would not be a problem. I offered to return the large size back but she said I could keep it and take it home (guess they didn’t want to reuse it for someone else). I went and changed into the new pair and felt more comfortable in it.

Shang Hai Tang Pajamas

Christine came by to take my dinner order and also suggested Krug to accompany my caviar service. Tina came by to set my table and there was even a handwritten note from the crew. Everything during the meal service was laid out on the table with precision and care with each course. A bread basket filled with assorted breads was brought out as well.

Personal Handwritten note

The caviar and salmon plate tasted very good and the presentation was nice as well. I watched a few episodes of Modern Family (3 to be exact) during dinner and managed to get three in over the dinner service. That show is hilarious! I need to go back and rent the DVDs for the first 2 seasons and catch up to be more current on it.

Caviar and Salmon

Bread Basket

Salad with Lobster

The salad with crab was decent and I could really taste the fishiness in the crab meat. The vinaigrette dressing had a nice zing to it and I thought the tear shaped tomatoes was quite the novelty as I have never seen those before. It also had dried cranberries which I also enjoyed.

Conch soup and cucumber/tofu

The conch and mushroom soup was ok; it did not taste bad nor was it very good to me, but it reminded me of a typical Chinese soup… random ingredients in my mind. It was served with a cold plate featuring sweet tofu and cucumbers which I enjoyed very much.

Kung Pao Chicken and vegetables with fresh rice

The main course took a while since they were waiting for the Jasmine rice to cook. I saw the rice cooker they had onboard and the rice is steamed fresh on board… which was a nice touch! I have never had rice so fresh on an airplane before. The pork was very tender and delicious with a nice spicy kick to it. The vegetables tasted more steamed than stir-fried, but when paired with the pork… it was very good nevertheless. Satomi offered to take a picture of me in my pajamas enjoying my dinner as she saw me taking several photos during the meal service. I was a little embarrassed about the offer, but she replied that I had the pictures to show everyone that I was enjoying the Cathay First experience.

Berries and Cream

Dessert was the final course for my meal and I went with berries and cream to start. It reminded me of eating cereal but instead of corn flakes, it was fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries instead. Very light and not too sweet like the Western options. It is a nice change from the usual fruit plate I usually eat onboard for the dessert.

Black Sesame Soup

The black sesame sweet soup was highly recommended by Tina and I requested it to be served cold. She brought out a rather full bowl of it and it tasted ok. I did not like the gritty texture of it as it was ground sesame pulverized into powder and then water is added to it. It reminded me of sesame candy that is commonly found in China. I ate most of it and could not finish all of it. Tina asked if I enjoyed it when I was finished with it and while clearing the plates. I had to be honest with her and told her it was ok. She apologized that I did not enjoy it and I told her that it was not a problem. I was glad I tried it and that I was already very full already. I really enjoyed the fact that they reminded me to enjoy each course as they set it on the table. After dinner was over, my AVOD froze so I had to ask Tina reset it for me.

Hot Towel and Pralines

It was about 3 hours into the flight (10 more hours to go) and at that time, the cabin was darkened as the other passengers that had the meal service onboard were sleeping already. Tina brought over a moist towel along with pralines and even offered to make my bed with a turn down service. I took her up on the offer and went to the lavatory to get ready for bed. The bed was very spacious and comfortable… even for a very obese person. The great thing about the seat is that the top actually pulls down and then they put a duvet topper on the converted seat to make it more comfortable.

I dozed off quickly and got in about 4.5 hours of rest when slight turbulence occurred while we approached the Russian airspace. I was awoken slightly with the seat belt announcement. I tried to drift off to sleep again but the thought of maximizing my time onboard and the urge to enjoy the snack service won out since I missed out on it last time I was onboard a Cathay Pacific flight (albeit in Business Class) to Los Angeles.

On my way back from the lavatory, Christine asked if I wanted anything to drink. I asked her what she was enjoying and thought it was pink guava juice. It turns out that she had a glass of pink lemonade Emergen-C. She offered to mix me a packet of the Acai version and I agreed to it. She mention that it was “off the menu” with a smile when she delivered it. We both had a chuckle out of it.

I also wanted to try the Hot Pot riced with a minced pork, water chestnut, and mushroom patty served with bok choy, chili paste, and soy sauce. It also came with a bowl of chicken broth that had shrimp, peas, carrots, and mushrooms in it. She told me that it would take about 20 minutes to get ready.

Fifteen minutes later, Christine came by to set the tablet and delivered my snack with precision once again. We chatted for a bit and she reveal that taking Emergen-C and using Echinacea, she rarely gets sick. At this time, we were about to pass over into Japanese airspace and I took the time to watch another episode of Modern Family (#4) while I enjoyed my snack.

Hot Pot Pork with soup

It was very good but using chop sticks to cut the patty was hard. Luckily, I had the spoon that came with the bowl of broth that I used as a knife. The Hotpot was really good and I ate all of the patty and most of the rice. Christine came by to clear my dishware and asked if I wanted anything else.

Haagen-Dazs with green tea and biscotti

I requested the Haagen-Daz Vanilla ice cream along with some green tea. While she did that, I took a quick stroll through Business Class to see the herringbone configuration. Even Business Class was pretty full but the seats looked very private. I experienced this configuration once before on a Delta flight to Dubai. It was not too bad on Delta as my traveling companion was seated next to me but we had to turn our heads backwards to talk to each other. I like the new Cirrus configuration that I had on my last Cathay Pacific flight to LA back in October. The down side is that on the Boeing 777 that features the new seas, it only has 4 less seats in Business Class.

The difference in meal service in Business Class is that there were fewer choices for the main courses, snacks, and breakfast. There were still several choices to choose from of course. There were snacks (apples, cookies, crackers, chocolates, candies) and drinks set up in the galley areas on both decks for passengers to enjoy.

After returning to my seat, my table was cleared and I waited a bit for Christine to bring my ice cream and Green tea. I continued my Modern Family Marathon with episode #5. I kept on cracking up when I watched it so I might have woken a passenger up possibly. I eventually finished watching all of the episodes available (one I had seen before previously) so I watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory.

At about 90 minutes before arrival (600 miles from Hong Kong), Tina came by to take my breakfast order and I went with the Western option since I wanted the made on-board eggs. I also ordered a mango smoothie, tea, yogurt, fresh fruit, and bacon/sausage/potatoes/tomato/mushrooms as well. She told me that it would take about fifteen minutes to get it all prepared.

Good Morning!

The other flight attendants were busy preparing food and converting the seats from the bed mode for passengers who changed out of their pajamas. While I waited on my breakfast, I changed out of my pajamas and started packing my belongings up for arrival into Hong Kong.

Fruit Plate

It took about half an hour to get my first course of fruit plate. Five minutes later, the Dannon strawberry yogurt showed up. Followed by my tea and finally, the plate of the main course was presented.

Yoghurt... in a plastic container

Freshly-cooked eggs with bacon, eggs, potatoes, mushrooms, and tomato

Tina apologized for the delay but it was understandable since they were doing a meal service and packing all the bedding as well. Come to think of it, I never did get my smoothie. I will chalk it up due to the fact that it was a full cabin. The ISM and an additional cabin crew member was helping out in the First cabin so clearly, they crew were very busy and occupied in getting everything. I think at one point, they had so much linen that they left it in one of the lavatories and locked it so that they could get to it after the passengers departed.