Surabaya Juanda

I had booked a Toyota Camry with driver using the car service of Bluebird-Group which I mostly use for the drive from and to the airport in Indonesia, especially if arriving from a long haul or departing or arriving early or late.
During the night, I had followed the flight on flightaware, flighradar24 and Cathay Pacific. The flight departed Hong Kong at 03:45 and was on its way to Surabaya. It seems that I would not expect another huge delay on the journey back to Hong Kong.

Surabaya has a small airport, but is served by a number of Asian airlines. It was built as a naval air base in 1964 but with a civil use as an option on a later stage. Civil operations did not start earlier than 1985 replacing the old airport in Morokrembangan. In 1990, Juanda Airport gained the status of an international airport after the opening of the international terminal. Jaunda has two terminals, terminal 1 and terminal 2. Terminal 1, located at the north side of the airport and served for domestic flights with the exception of Garuda and Air Asia, and Terminal 2 in the south served for international flights as well as Garuda and Air Asia flights. Both terminals are quite new, with terminal 1 opened in November 2006 and terminal 2 replacing the old terminal opened in February 2014. The airport currently can operate up to 12.5 million passengers a year, but with the announced plans for a second and even a third runway and better connection to public transportation. It is worth to mention, that the domestic route from Surabaya to Jakarta is the busiest route in Asia with over 750 weekly flights.

Given that it was Sunday Morning, I arrived at the airport early. Unlike in Jakarta or Bali during my last visits, there was no need to pass an x-ray machine while entering the terminal. I headed to the Cathay Pacific Counters, which had already a very long line at the Economy Class Counter. There were two separate counters for Business Class end elites witch were blocked by retractable queuing posts, but people were queuing there nevertheless. It seems that these counters were assisting the regular Economy Class Counters. As soon as I was arriving at the line I was approached by an agent who opened the barrier and asked me to queue. He also took my passport and BA Executive Club Card and prepared everything on a vacant desk; later he did it also for other passengers waiting at the Business Class Counters.

The wait was not long and while the passenger in front of me had received her boarding pass, she decided to repack her hand luggage blocking the counters. She was friendly asked by the service agent to move aside and let other passengers use the counter. As expected everything was already prepared and my luggage was labelled and checked to Hong Kong, where I had scheduled an overnight transfer. I received my boarding pass and an invitation to the lounge and was given direction how to reach it. Overall a very quick and smooth process and I was served in less than three minutes.
I took the escalator up and walked towards the security checkpoint, which I passed quickly, despite a line of approximately 10 persons ahead of me. There was a fast track, but this was not in use and only passengers traveling on Garuda and its Skyteam partners seems to be eligible. But there was at this time no need for a fast track.

As I approached immigration, a second counters was opened, which saved me queuing and I passed it without wait at all.

After passing the inevitable duty free shops, I walked to the lounge, which was built as glass cubicle in the terminal. I was greeted at the entrance and my invitation was taken. The offerings in the lounge, which was not very busy, consisted of rolls, pastries, a soup, and fried noodles. Only non alcoholic beverages were available though. Despite the basic appearance of the lounge in general, the offerings were superior to every Lufthansa FTL Lounge. But in general and especially compared to other lounge in Asia, it was “nothing to write home about”.

A few minutes ahead of boarding time, I left the lounge and approached the check in desk, where a short line has already formed at the Economy Class side while Business Class was blocked by a belt from queuing posts.

What than happened would have been worth to tape: One of the gate agent took the microphone and after the first two words nearly everybody sitting on the seats close to gate jumped up and hurried to the queue and in less than ten seconds there was a queue close to 50 meters. The agent was embarrassed and took down his microphone, looked as his also surprised and bewildered co-workers and continued his speech that boarding would start in 10 minutes. A few passengers in the Business Class watched this “stampede” speechless and with amusement.

Most but not all of the passengers in the Economy Class Queue returned to their seat after the agent repeated, that boarding would not start now but in ten minutes.

I noticed that a few passengers upgraded themselves to Business Class at the gate; not sure if by cash or by Asia Miles.

More or less exactly ten minutes later at 08:05, our boarding passes were checked against our passports and passengers in Business Class could board after families with children and a passenger in a wheelchair had boarded the plane.

16 August 2015
SUB – HKG
[Surabaya Juanda – Hong Kong International]
CX 780 (Cathay Pacific); Airbus A330-300 (B-LBD)
Gate 7
08:35 – 14:20 [effective 08:31 – 14:12]
Business Class
Seat 15 K

I was greeted at the door to the plane and given directions to my seat. I stored my carry on and was soon later offered a pre-departure drink. The champagne which was not available on this flight was exchanged against a guava juice, which was my choice of pre departure drink.

Pre-Departure Drink

Guava Juice

Soon later as all passengers in Business Class had boarded a hot towel was offered. Business Class was not full and I did not head count but I would say many passengers had a free seat next to them if not travelling with a travel companion. The captain welcomed us on board and informed us about out flight, which would take us over Borneo and the South Chinese Sea towards Hong Kong. He expected a flight time of 4:15 but would give us an update before our arrival in Hong Kong.

We were pushed back slightly ahead of time at 08:31 and taxied for runway 10 in Surabaya. After a plane ahead of us took off, the captain powered the two engines and wheels were up at 08:42.

Round about seven minutes after takeoff the crew went to their stations, the curtain between Economy Class and Business Class was closed. We also received the printed menu on this flight, which did not include a wine list for this flight.

The seat belt sign remained on, as the flight was quite bumpy at this time, which is not unusual for this region.
I had a look at the menu (click on icon, opens new window).

First Course

Fresh seasonal fruit
muffin
Guava Juice & coffee

Main Course

Honey prawns, mixed vegetables, stir fried egg noodles and chilli sauce

Espresso

The meal service soon started and this time the beverage cart appeared first, before the table was laid with linen. This was a slightly different approach than on similar flights. The first course was offered shortly thereafter from the cart by the flight attendant. The service was done in a U-turn starting in the one aisle towards the back and the other aisle back towards the front of the other aisle. Sitting in 15 K, this meant I was served latest but I had no difficulties to get my choice. Later the cart with yoghurt and muesli appeared, but again I decided to skip this offering.

The main course was brought individually by the flight attendant to those passengers who had finished the first course and / or the yoghurt or muesli. All available dishes were brought and shown to me. I had chosen the prawns as I read the menu and looking at the dished stayed with my choice.

The food was of good quality and especially the prawn tasted quite good, though the portion more of the small size, but okay for me. The quality was very constant and I was quite pleased about the food offered by Cathay Pacific on the Intra-Asian flights on this trip.

Trays were cleared individually by the flight attendant passing the aisle and I started my laptop for the rest of the flight to keep up my reports of this trip.

Our plane for the flight today was another Airbus A 330-343 in the fleet of Cathay Pacific. Equipped with 42 seats in the new Regional Business Class and 265 seats in Economy Class, the plane was delivered on March 21, 2014 after it made its maiden flight on February 25, 2014 in Toulouse with the registration F-WWTY. Powered by the same Rolls Royce Trent 772B-60 engines than the other Airbus A 330 I flew on this trip.

The crew did a beverage round offering water during the flight but of course brought also coffee and tea if asked by the passengers, using either the call button, asking a passing by flight attendant or going to the front galley themselves. Interestingly the Asian Passengers used the call button while the Western Passengers seems to prefer the two later options. This must be a cultural thing me thinks.

As usual, 40 Minutes ahead of arrival in Hong Kong the captain gave us an update of the weather situation in Hong Kong. We could expect a direct approach and would touch down a bit ahead of schedule in HKG. But only 15 minutes later – instead of the usual 20 – he asked the crew to prepare the cabin for the arrival and I shut my laptop down and stored it, while the crew collected the remaining items.

After some turns during our descend we approached Hong Kong and touched down at 14:00 on runway 25 R and taxied to our gate 33, where we arrived 12 minutes later at 14:12, eight minutes ahead of schedule.

We disembarked quickly using the front door and Economy Class Passengers where hold back. I walked toward immigration, while the most passengers in Business Class seem to have connecting flights and used the transfer checkpoint at gate 27.

I could make use of the e-channel, which saved me queuing at the long lines which had formed at immigration and even before my carry on appeared on belt 33. But priority tags worked and my checked luggage appeared third on the belt and twenty minutes after touch down I was on the way towards the airport express for my ride to Kowloon.

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