Airline: Cathay Pacific
Flight Number: CX840
Aircraft: Boeing 777-367/ER
Registration: B-KQJ
Seat: 2K (First)
Distance: 8305 miles
Duration: 14hrs 49mins
The activities on the last day of our visit were on Lantau Island and so we stayed close to the airport, opting to take the midday hotel shuttle the half mile to the airport in plenty of time for our 4.05pm departure.
Conveniently the shuttle dropped us right by the entrance for the Cathay Pacific desks and one of the agents in the First section beckoned us over, but once she heard we were on one of the US bound flights she walked us over to a separate desk across the way.
First check-in
Guarding said desk were security personnel who asked plenty of questions about our bags and our trip before waving us over to the seated agent. Boarding passes were printed and brown “First Priority” and “overweight” tags attached to our checked bag signifying we had stocked up a little on our travels! She directed us to the Courtesy Channel and off we went…
First check-in for US bound flights
The Courtesy Channel was completely empty and with smart immigration gates equally so it wasn’t but a couple of minutes from check-in to entrance to The Wing. I can remember the time when this was *the* lounge although now it certainly plays second fiddle to The Pier but with plenty of time on our hands and with The Wing’s convenient location it made sense to lounge hop. We had a quick poke about, although my wife was not too impressed and decided we should make tracks to The Pier rather quickly. I do love the way lounge looks but compared to the days of The Peninsula catering and the like it seemed to have lost its special edge. Heck, even two chairs we saw had large rips in the leather!
The Wing, and the views from the lounge
We took the train down the one stop and walked over to Gate 63 and down into First Class section of The Pier. I just love the way this place looks, it feels so homey and classy.
The Pier
We booked ourselves a couple of foot massages and then went into the Dining area to grab some lunch. With three champagnes on offer I opted for Perrier Jouet (the others being Henriot Rose and Louis Roederer 2012) and chose some Roasted duck to start and Roasted pork neck for main course. Both were delicious, in particular the latter, and the portion sizes just right too so you could indulge in several different options if you wanted without guilt. Nice touches included the Cathay brushwing on the champagne glasses with attention paid to having them face us when delivered.
The Dining Room
From the Dining area we moved to the bar at the opposite end of the lounge, ordering a couple of cocktails and enjoying the view of the arrivals runway and moving traffic outside. An absolutely filthy British Airways A380 showed up and rather ruined the view, so I focused on my Asian Pear mojito instead…
The Bar - Asian pear mojito and espresso martini
In anticipation of our upcoming foot massages we sought refuge in The Retreat, a row of daybeds that face out onto the tarmac that are attached to the area where our treatments were to take place. I lightly raided The Pantry, an area of self serve goodies such as cakes, macarons, drinks and snacks and moved on over.
The Retreat
My wife’s buzzer went off just after getting situated summoning her a little earlier than anticipated so I lay back enjoying my macarons and cake until she returned some twenty minutes later. Shortly after her return my buzzer followed and my poor feet that had walked god knows how many miles across four countries in the last couple of weeks enjoyed a well earned rest and rejuvenation.
As was the case with our previous week’s HKG-DPS flight today’s was also going from the furthest possible gate, this time on the opposite side of the terminal at Gate 4. So once my massage was wrapped up I immediately put my feet back to work, retracing those steps of last week, this time heading right at the end of the last moving walkway.
Boarding was yet to start but there was a large group already in the economy line. Again we hovered back away from the boarding lanes, enjoying the view of 77W Quebec Juliet parked a short distance away and the departures from 07R roaring past.
Gate 4 and Quebec Juliet
As it became apparent boarding was just about to start we placed ourselves in the First/Emerald boarding lane and were shortly called forward for the quick secondary security check before being directed to the podium where we waited a few more minutes before our boarding passes were scanned and we were let loose onto the jetbridge. There was another brief wait as a Cathay representative stopped everyone by the entrance to the First/Business jetbridge although this didn’t stop one guy from barging past everyone almost knocking an unaccompanied minor over in the process and then playing ignorant when he was told boarding hadn’t started yet! When we were directed onto to the jetbridges the guy then continued his ways, practically bodychecking my wife into the side of the narrow entrance. Bizarre!
When the welcoming FAs at 1L noticed our First boarding passes their welcoming smile widened and we followed their outstretched arm as their escorted us to seats 1K and 2K, the little staircase up to the crew rest above open behind them.
Nuts were promptly brought over along with a bottle of the 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne. In recent months Cathay Pacific had upped their champagne game, I was secretly hoping for Krug 2004 (which had been served on this route in June) but this was an excellent alternative.
The pre-departure service continued, next with my sleeper suit, headphones and washkit being presented by the same FA this time kneeling in the space between my seat and the aisle. I went ahead and changed, placing my clothes in the large closet beside the PTV.
The Cathay Pacific seat is one of my favourites, it isn’t fussy and the cabin is just an elegant place to be, plus the width, 36”, is practically unparalleled. I would be lying if I hadn’t been looking forward to this flight for a few months. We settled in nicely, enjoying the Taittinger top-ups as boarding continued. Around thirty minutes after boarding, and with two other passengers joining us in 2A and 2D, we started the taxi out to 07R to begin my longest non-stop flight to date. There was no hanging around as the Australian flightcrew brought us around on the end taxiway and kept Quebec Juliet going for a sweet rolling takeoff. As one would expect for a near fully laden 777-300 with more than 8000 miles of travel ahead of it the roll was quite long, but not outrageously so and we lifted into the air remarkably effortlessly.
The view for the initial climbout has to be one of my favourites anywhere, and luckily the weather was co-operating. Following the initial portion of the climb we turned south over the northern part of Kowloon, offering amazing views of Tsim Sha Tsui and Hong Kong Island itself. After reaching out almost as far as Clear Water Bay we turned New York bound, a smooth rising climb out over towards mainland China, Hong Kong’s bays, mountains and beauty replaced with large scale urban sprawl of Shenzen and Dongguan.
Disneyland Hong Kong, Central thru Kun Man Tsuen, Tsim Tsa Tsui and Wan Chai, Quarry Bay and Taikoo Shing, Clear Water Bay and the last photo is Lingdingzhou (east of Dongguan)
With the visual distractions outside proving less enticing the first fresh glass of Comtes de Champagne arrived with accompanying amuse bouche and I settled for following our progress on the inflight map whilst enjoying some music off my phone. Amusingly the graphic for the 77W was for an aircraft with the revised livery, although this was one without it.
Our main flight attendant, Soriya, was aware that my wife and I were going to dine together and when the time came attached the piece to her table and invited me forward. My seatbelt was not very cooperative but eventually I coerced enough of it out of its hidey-hole to be able to buckle myself in comfortably whilst the table was formally laid out for course #1...caviar with all the trimmings! As has been the case for the longest time the cabin crew write a little card for each passenger and present it at dinner. As it was my wife’s first flight on Cathay Pacific hers welcomed her onboard whilst mine welcomed me back. As I credit all my flying to British Airways and so had that number on the booking I was curious how they knew I had flown them before, and what kind of information made it onto the manifest/passenger record.
The second course was supposed to be soup but the heavy turbulence that had been anticipated for the first few hours changed those plans rather so Soriya apologized and asked if the balik salmon could be dished up next, with the soup following once things had calmed down. The heathen she is my wife doesn’t like salmon, balik or otherwise, so I was able to enjoy double dipping! Delicious!
As the air was a being a little kinder the soup was able to make an appearance without delay and my wife and I took different paths on the menu. She had opted for the Chinese favourites whereas I, for reasons unknown to me at this time went down the Western options!
I paired my rather unremarkable pork chop up with a Cathay Pacific classic, 2008 Chateau Lynch-Bages. My wife opted for a glass too and Soriya heartily approved of our selection noting it was a real favourite of hers. I had enjoyed older vintages on flights past with Cathay Pacific and it did not disappoint in 2018. We went on to polish off most of two bottles during the course of the meal service! As a sign of the details when we got to bottle number two our glasses were refreshed and I was once again asked to taste it to ensure it wasn’t corked.
Stir fried Maine lobster, with celery, carrot, broccoli and jasmine rice and Grilled Dingley Dell pork chop , celeriac apple puree, brocollini, vine ripe tomato and cider sauce
I sat out my wife’s favourite, the cheese course, and awaited the apple tart with ice cream dessert, mine this time delivered with Hong Kong milk tea.
Baked apple tart with vanilla ice cream
As you can see from the progression of photos the violent chop was back with a vengeance, and with an untold amount of champagne, wine and water glasses along with tea and soup dishes (my wife’s dessert was soup) I was afraid we might drown amongst the contents of our table. As it continued for a few minutes it became apparent we’d have to decide what drinks we wanted to “save” by holding them in our hands….I’m sorry Hong Kong milk tea but the Chateau Lynch-Bages won out…
The arrival of the boxes of pralines was a sign the meal service was over and whilst I might have picked wrong with my dishes (what was I thinking, I always pick the Chinese or Asian choices, especially on Cathay Pacific!) it was still fun, enjoying the plentiful Taittinger and Lynch-Bages top ups and the novelty of sitting with my wife for our final meal of our trip.
I returned to 2K by which time we’ve been in the air for almost four hours, and my behind was happy to have the full 36” width rather than the slightly more snug buddy seat of 1K! By this time 2D had bedded down for the night although the guy in 2A was just finishing up his meal service and changing into sleeper suit so at least we didn’t feel like we were gatecrashing a sleeping party.
I reclined my seat deeply, pulled the shades down and enjoyed Dunkirk and one of a handful of episodes of Top Gear that was on Studio CX. By the time these were done we had just seven and half hours to go (where did all that time go?) and I asked for my bed to be made up for the night. I sat in the empty 1D whilst Soriya and her colleague readied it for my slumber…
I’ll mention it again but the width, oh the width…in most business class seats, and even in first class on many airlines the width can leave you a little snug when fully reclined. No problems here, the seat being so wide that when my wife’s bed was being made up she sat next to me on the same seat and it wasn’t that uncomfortable! So when it came to my own sleep this ranks up there with the best sleep I’ve had aloft, and that had nothing to do with Mr. Lynch-Bages or Ms. Taittinger! Despite that I think my subconscious didn’t want me to sleep through the remainder of the entire flight (something that has happened to me on Cathay Pacific before in First, we were not far off final approach into HKG and I was woken up by the crew who were too afraid to disturb me until the last possible moment!) and so with three and a half hours to go I awoke somewhere over central Nunavut. The guy in 2D was getting stuck into breakfast and I wasn’t quite sure what to go for. I don’t usually get any jetlag regardless of how many timezones I cross or length of flight and my gut feeling was to go for the regular breakfast and dim sum items rather than have say, a burger or other filling snacks off that portion of the menu.
I watched some more episodes of Top Gear, occasionally lifting the windowshade to see if there was anything of interest going on below as the time to JFK ticked down. After tiring of that I watched a CNBC documentary about luxury travel in Hong Kong that seemed to scarily mirror our time there with both our hotel, several restaurants and a few activities featured prominently!
With 75mins to go the moodlighting was brought up and I felt OK with having the windowshade open on a more permanent basis, enjoying the early evening clouds pepping up down below whilst listening to more music on my phone. Seeing that we were now firmly over US territory cemented the fact this trip was over and this flight was sadly coming to an end.
With about thirty minutes left I grabbed my clothes from the closet and some toiletries from my bag and went to freshen up. With two bathrooms shared between four passengers I didn’t feel as rushed as I often do towards the end of longhaul flights where plenty of other passengers seem ready to batten down the door to perform pre-arrival ablutions.
With all of my items packed away in preparation for landing I placed my large pillow beside me as an armrest, as I had done at the beginning of the flight, and thumbed through the Business Traveller magazine that had been offered to me some fifteen hours before and had been lodged in the literature pocket since. Amusingly there was a reader’s letter about passengers being offered meals at strange times onboard such as breakfast just before an evening landing. Hello to that man but my dim sum was rather good!
Soriya came by for the last time to say goodbye, thank us for flying with them, and pass on congratulations once more. She also mentioned that we would be disembarking out of 2L. On previous Cathay Pacific flights passengers had been held back to allow First passengers to disembark first but with the mini business class cabin just between us and 2L it was to be seen how easily this would be done this time around.
We passed over the New York City itself, with JFK clearly visible below and I was almost certain this meant we would get to enjoy the Canarsie approach onto 13L. With its long sweeping turn to starboard it offers great views back over the city for those sitting on the left hand side, whereas for those of us on the right it’s a chance to see JFK operations in action. Either way, on this flight everyone could enjoy the view below from the nosewheel camera and sure enough I set my now stowed PTV up as such.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKZjhpJtgf8
With a firm bump we were on the ground for the first time in just shy of fifteen hours. I fired up my phones and readied myself for a quick escape from the aircraft, as we taxied past Terminals 5 and 7, and over the JFK Expressway to Cathay Pacific’s JFK home of eighteen months, Terminal 8. From my side of the aircraft I didn’t see which gate we had pulled up at and the seatbelt sign went off very quickly so the wife and I made a quick escape for 2L. The other two passengers from First had followed suit and the crew wished us our final goodbyes as we were all into the jetbridge quickly.
Although I use JFK Terminal 8 with a decent regularity I was not aware that international flights could park up at the satellite building. I had wrongly assumed the infrastructure was not there and the gates on the main building side were sufficient for all the arriving international flights that needed to stay sterile until immigration and customs. As such I was rather confused when walking down the hallway off the plane that we were directed down a set of stairs towards my wife’s Terminal 8 pet hate…the tunnel! It was a little up hill and down dale until we arrived at immigration but it was completely empty, and we had put some distance between us and the other passengers. Global Entry was the non-event it usually is and then we were at baggage claim. Watching the other two First passengers give us a short wave as they passed us with their carry-ons I felt a bit amateurish with checking a bag. It’s all well and good being off the plane first and enjoying Global Entry but your progress through the airport is only as good as the weakest link, and that weakest link for arrivals is normally baggage claim. The wait for the belt to come into life did give us the time to make contact with our driver for the evening and our brown “Priority First” tagged bag was thankfully one of the first to make an appearance.
Verdict: Cathay Pacific First will ruin all your other flying experiences if you’ve not tried it. Yes, the seat has been around for more than ten years now, but it’s still very competitive, IMO. I’m not a huge fan of closed suites and the seat is private enough and spacious enough to keep most people happy for as long as any 777 could stay aloft. From a service standpoint I’ve never had anything but thoughtful and exceptional service on Cathay Pacific and the food (for the most part) and beverage stands up, as long as you order the right things! On the ground end of things it’s a bit fend for yourself though. At more than $32,000 per person round trip for this flight and with only a handful of passengers it wouldn’t kill to have an escort for the ground parts, or at least a golf cart to/from the lounge given some of the long walks at HKG. Yes, I’m being horribly picky but this is one of the most expensive flights in the world…Otherwise the lounges are legitimately excellent and amongst my favourite in the world, both The Pier and its smaller brother at LHR which I’ve written up in previous reports. Cathay Pacific’s design concept just fits me so spot on. It has this very elegant, upmarket and quality feel without being over the top. In summary, my next Cathay Pacific First flight couldn’t come too soon!
