Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok International

I followed the signs for transfer passengers and passed the transfer checkpoint without wait. All four counters were staffed. I noticed that a couple had a discussion with one of the officers about peanut butter in the carry-on baggage and the definition of liquids. I do not know how the discussion ended because I decided to take the escalators upstairs and head over for the “The Bridge” Lounge of Cathay Pacific. It was the newest addition to the lounges of Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong one and I was hoping for a shower.

I decided to walk instead of taking the people mover, as stretching my leg after 10 hours in a metal tube should be healthier than taking the train. It would also help to keep me awake. The airport was like always busy and I noticed some familiar and some not so familiar airlines, which you do not see that often in Europe though well know in the region (like e.g. Hong Kong Airlines, Hong Kong Express Airlines, China Eastern, Orient Thai Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, ...).

I arrived at the “The Bridge” which is located close to gate 35 where the long concourse splits into the South Concourse (gate 40 to gate 50) and North Concourse (gate 60 to gate 71) and where most of the lounges are located. Unlike the lounges of all other airlines, which are one level up, the Bridge is an escalator ride down from the main concourse and consists of two wings with the reception desk centrally located on a bridge connecting both wings.

Each of the wing’s entrance features a sculpture by British artist Charlotte Mayer. I went first to the north wing of the “The Bridge” lounge, which features the shower section, but also a part called “The Bistro” and an area called “IT Zone” which iMacs having installed Windows and Mac OS operating systems. But before I discovered the lounge, I decided to sign up for a shower. I received a pager and was told, the waiting time should not be long. I took a seat on the long bank with small tables at the Coffee Loft and got me a coffee from the bar. After less than ten minutes, the pager flashed and indicated that a shower was available for me.

The shower suites are nice, they have a toilet, sink with a long bank and a shower with hand shower and a ceiling mounted rainforest shower. Razor, toothbrush and comb were provided with a hairdryer. Body Lotion and bath gel and shampoo came in wall mounted bottles. Overall, pretty nice, though a bit dark.

After a shower, I felt refreshed and had a lock at the IT-Zone, which was much like the IT-Zone in the “The Wing” Lounge. “The Bistro” is arranged restaurant style and serves a buffet with hot and warm dishes and has also a good selection of bread. The arrangement of the seating areas is less typical lounge style but more residential and homely styled. There are bookshelves between the parts and the arrangement is in smaller groups. This is on the one hand nice as is somehow warmer, but if one is travelling alone it also offers less privacy.

The south wing, which I visited afterwards, was equally busy than the north wing. The south wing seems also to be a little bit bigger, but this might be not correct, given that I think the shower suites take some space which I did not take into account as this is no visible public space. The restaurant area called “The Bakery” is spacious and offers a large variety of freshly baked bread along with the usual hot and cold items. Later in the day, the ovens are used to bake pizza. There is also a “TV Lounge” with a number of TVs and a long bar with an adjacent seating area. The bar was manned by one, later two, members of staff and I asked for a double espresso and some water and took at seat in the rear part of the lounge. The Espresso – like on the flights, Cathay is using Illy Espresso – tasted good and was really strong and hot. WiFi was available throughout the lounge and the signal was strong, which means it was possible to set up a reliable VPN connection.

A nice feature I noticed, that there are a number of power sockets behind the seating bank.

It is worth to highlight, that “The Bridge” has no First Class section; it is open to Sapphire and Emerald Members and passengers flying First or Business Class. If you want to experience an exclusive First Class Lounge, this lounge is not your favourite lounge.

The time passed and I spend it with reading newspapers and watched TV keeping an eye on two topics, which needed my attention in regard to my travel plans. One was upcoming typhoon Soudelor which would arrive at Taiwan Friday late afternoon / evening and Mt. Raunda on the island of Java.

My gate was not known, as I arrived in the lounge, but a glimpse on the app of the Hong Kong Airport as well as of Cathay Pacific showed, that the gate was now announced. Gate 24 was just opposite the Cabanas Lounge and I decided to walk over and spend the next 45 minutes prior to boarding time there.

After a ten minutes walk through the central concourse, I arrived at the lounge which is also one level down.

I have been to this lounge for the first time in October 2013 flying Cathay Pacific Business Class from Hong Kong to London and the reviews in the internet are mixed. The lounge has also no First Class section and is long and narrow. The IT Zone to the right was not very busy, while the restaurant area on the left side was very busy. But already the bar area, which is next to the restaurant was less busy and the sitting part at the far left end of the lounge was not busy at all and I had not problem to find an armchair. I grabbed two cans of ginger ale from the bar and took a seat.

My personal impression is that the lounge is not that bad at all. It offers nice views on the tarmac and the mountains. I have also the impression, that this lounge is the one, which is the less busy one of the lounges of Cathay Pacific, but given that the Business Class section of the Pier is currently closed for renovation, this currently might be different. I have to admit though, that the restaurant area is usually the busiest part of the lounge and it is quite often difficult to find a free seat. But as I was not hungry at all, I did not care. What I personally like at this lounge is that it offers the best views to one of the runways and the hills ... But this is my personal opinion and others might disagree.

After some work, checking e-mails and researching the internet for necessary changes to my travel plans, I walked over to the gate, where our Boeing 777 had already arrived, but boarding had not started yet. Boarding started a bit later than indicated on the boarding pass. There were two lines, one for Economy Class Passengers and one for oneworld elites and Business Class. While the Economy Class was quite long, the Business Class line has also quite some passengers queuing. Boarding started for elderly people and families travelling with small children, followed by elites and Business Class.

06 August 2015
HKG – TPE
[Hong Kong International – Taipei Taoyuan International]
CX 450 (Cathay Pacific); Boeing 777-300 (B-HNI)
Gate 24
10:00 – 11:50 [effective 10:05 – 12:11]
Business Class
Seat 15 K

Two jet bridges were used and I was greeted at the entrance of the first door of our 777 and shown direction to my seat. I put my carry on in the overhead compartment, while a flight attendant passing the aisle offered to hang my jacket. A pillow was lying on the seat, but blankets had to be requested by the crew.

A Cathay Pacific Delight was my pre-departure drink; other options included champagne and orange juice.

Pre-Departure Dink

Cathay Delight

The airbridge attached to the second door was retrieved prior to the one on the first door, so some later boarding passengers had to use the front door. The plane looked pretty full on this flight to Taipei, which would continue to Tokyo Narita. While still waiting at the gate for cargo to be stored, the captain welcomed us on board as well and mentioned a flight time of 1:20 and announced the weather in Taipei with clouds and thunderstorms in the evening and a temperature of 31°C. In the meantime the crew has distributed the arrival cards for Taiwan.

We were pushed back five minutes delayed at 10:05. During push back, the purser welcomed us on board and announced the safety video, which was shown while we taxied to our runway 25L, which was used now for take-off as the wind has changed directions.

While we taxied to the gate, let me give some information about our Boeing 777-367 with the registration B-HNI. It was delivered as a new plane to Cathay Pacific on March 25, 1999. The Boeing is powered with two Rolls Royce Trent 892 engines offering a thrust of 415 kN or 92,000 lbf.

Cathay Pacific is the first customer of this Boeing 777-300, as the “67” indicates, which is the customer code for Cathay Pacific by Boeing and those does not changed if a plane is sold. The plane was first configured with 45 seats in Business Class and 353 seats in Economy Class. The plane was later re-configured with the new Regional Business Class and had now 42 seats in Business Class and 356 seats in Economy Class.

The new regional business class was introduced in 2012. The new seat is a Recaro Comfort Line 5510 seat with has a weight of only 95kg per two seats. The seats does not go fully flat, which is not necessary for a ‘regional’ product, but offers a recline of 36 inch with independent controls for recline and extendable leg rest. A cosy Z position is available by which the frontend of the cushion is moving slightly upwards while back rest reclines and leg rest extends. The seat comes in a shell, which means they do not recline in the space of the seat behind. Seat pitch is 47 inch and seat width is 21 inch. All seats come with a universal power outlet and a 12.1 inch screen featuring Cathay Pacific’s Studio CX. In addition to the foldable dining table, the seats offer additional space for glasses or smaller items between each seat.

we took offf after an AirAsia Airbus in special livery ...

At 10:26 the captain powered the two powerful engines and we accelerated on the runway and climbed into sky. Right after take-off we made a turn in south-western direction toward the South China Sea. Ten minutes after take-off the purser welcomed each passenger on board and handed out the printed menu.
Time to read the menu (click on icon, opens new window)

Lunch

Fresh seasonal fruit
Roasted corn-fed chicken breast, cherry tomato
Green peas, kipfler potatoes and gravy
Chocolate mousse
brandy cherry and raspberry coulis 

The crew soon followed and laid tray tables with linen. Shortly thereafter the cart with the first course arrived, which included also the beverage service. The tray consisted of the first course as well as cutlery and dessert. A selection of bread was also offered with the first course. The second course arrived soon later and in the same time with the beverage service. The meal & beverage service in the left aisle was performed by one flight attendant while the right aisle was performed by two flight attendants, which speed things up. They had finished the distribution of the first course while the flight attendant in our aisle was only halfway. This leads to the situation, that the flight attendant serving the second course was already right behind her and thus all meals were served more or less together. This was not a problem for me, but again seems to be a little bit of disorganisation, as the flight attendants on the other aisle did not help her colleague but returned to the galley until trays were cleared.

The food was not so good, the meat was very dry and only warm rather than hot, which is a problem due to the way the food was presented and served.

Later coffee and tea were offered, but only the first two rows got a refill offered while the flight attendant returned to the aisle.

In the meantime we had reached the coast of Taiwan, as the captain came 20 minutes prior to our expected arrival over the intercom informing us about a delay and the need to fly waiting patterns as only one runway was in use at Taouyan Airport, which caused a delay. While we circled at the coast close to the cities of Hsinchu and Taichung, we already had begun our descend and after two circles were cleared to land into Taouyan passing Hsinchu, where I would spend two days during my trip to Taiwan.

The flight itself was calm and the typhoon approaching Taiwan had in so far no impact on the flights in and out of Taipei.

We touched down delayed on runway 05 R at 12:07 and unfortunately were further delayed, as we had to let two planes pass, before we could approach our gate B 8 at terminal 1 at 12:11, 21 minutes behind schedule.

This time, immigration was better organised, as there were dedicated counters for tour groups and those were enforced to use them. There was also only one queue for all counters, which also speed things up and I was able to pass immigration in less than five minutes finding my luggage already circling on the belt 1B.
After passing customs, I was on my way to the bus counters.

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