V-Flyer

For 'them' that recall, this was the mid leg of my RTW as a result of beastly work scheduling an event in Agra just before a planned holiday to California ...

So, after Jet Airways to Delhi, it was Cathay Pacific from there to Los Angeles ... the choice really boiled down to Singapore or Cathay - CX was marginally less time and the addition of BA miles and tier points means I'll now be BA Exec Club Au very soon, to add to VS Au and Emirates Au ... oh enough bragging! Also, I was keen to try CX's new business class product.

The work event was in Agra, famed for the Taj Mahal and I can say it is totally worth doing it ... despite the journey from Delhi which is either cab-train-cab or plane or car ... I opted for the car which was ghastly. It's only 190km but can take anything from 4 to 6 hours [:0]. We had a sunrise tour of the Taj Mahal itself and it is truly beautiful - there's also a lot more to see and do than the mausoleum itself.

CX752 DEL-HKG 4 May 2008
Airbus A330-300
scheduled departure 0330 actual departure 0348
scheduled arrival 1130 actual arrival 1142

So, to the return: Girded up for the drive to Delhi International where I was due for a 0230 flight CX752 to Hong Kong, my car departed the hotel at 7 pm ... traffic wasn't terrible but it was still after midnight when we pulled up at DEL. The international terminal is under major renovation and I was expecting mayhem and queues like India only does. In the event, apart from the car ramp itself, getting into the airport and checking in was a relative breeze. The check in area is vastly improved and even in the early hours very busy ... getting through immigration (why do they not call it emigration?) was tediously slow, and the pre-security lounge CX uses nothing more than spectacularly awful. In one of those great travelling vignettes I found myself sat next to a British diplomat, camp as a row of tents, with whom I shared a couple of hours of laughs recalling the scrapes we'd both got into by virtue of drinking to much and inappropriate beh
aviour in cities far from home [:I].

3 am came and so through security and on board one of Cathay's A333s in what it calls 'regional' format for the 5 hr 30 mins flight to Hong Kong. Older, bucket style seats greeted me, a very friendly and efficient crew, and a bang on time departure. Excellent. I settled down into 12K which is the very first row, window, business seat on the right of course though why row 12 I do not know. Thankfully the seat next to me was empty so loads of room to spread about. Quickly after take off the bar was opened and champagne in hand, book, flight map and ipod I was quite comfy.

The flight was smooth, a breakfast was served (omelette and stuff), a couple of hours sleep observed and before you could shake a lamb's tale we were descending into HKG. Absolutely nothing to see apart from a few islands and lots of ships though. Never mind, will do Hong Kong again someday soon.

So to Hong Kong airport - it's very long and very shiny isn't it. I thought that apart from the walk to say gate 70 or so it was fabulous, airy, clean, spacious and so on.

We disembarked, headed upstairs and through a very quick security channel and into the airport itself at around gate 27. Now, I thought, should I go to the Wing or to the Pier, as CX call their lounges. A check of the next flight, scheduled for 130pm from gate 34 as the screens informed me, and I thought it's the Pier for me, less of a walk you see.

At Hong Kong Airport

The Pier lounge ... it's OK, no comparison to the Clubhouse at LHR though and the bar doesn't open until 1 pm !!!! OMG !!!!. So I sat there staring at planes landing and reading a local paper, drinking Sprite. I ask you, Sprite!

Showers were lovely though, a bit scrimping on the towels so I asked for more but really welcome. What did we do on stopovers before this luxury?

CX884 HKG-LAX 4 May 2008
Airbus 747-400
scheduled departure 1330 actual departure 1521
scheduled arrival 1125 actual arrival 1239

There was a technical issue with the first 747 so it was towed away and a substitute found - I wish they'd given us one with the old seats but unfortunately the replacement also had CX's mini suites ... I'll summarize this 13 hour flight upstairs on the 747 in 89A briefly:

- crew were great - always greeted by name, not many of them though
- food was good, much better than VS
- drinks served in tiny glasses and a poor wine choice, pretty much akin to VS although at least Virgin give you a decent sized glass in UC
- seats / suites are narrow and hard
- liked the reclining facility though - I am still stuck between preferring this and VS's option of limited recline plus flip over bed
- cabin is hot and stuffy, no cool air vents either, air circulation when sleeping is really poor contributing to feeling hot and sweaty
- the suite design / quality - well mine was already looking poor and it can't have been more than a year old
- the TV is good quality, IFE very good but the arm on which it sits is wobbly, does not go back very far and is clunky - VS's design is leap years ahead as I find you can get the laptop open and push the screen back and fit a glass of wine on the table, no chance on CX and no chance of exiting the seat with the table up either
- no in seat power, apparently the product manager for this feature got fired but a year after launching the new configuration this is still not fixed, that said, the seat and 'cubicle' is so narrow that trying to put a mouse next to your laptop is very hard
- you get a duvet but no pj's - it was so hot I slept on top of the duvet and I wished I had remembered to bring some sleeping clothes on board
- amenity kit is fully loaded (GJ?) branded Anya Hindmarsh but full of different products
- lavatories spotless

For those interested in the nosh, here's the menu:

Lunch

Starters
Prosciutto with Parmesan cheese and Ligurian olives
Seasonal mixed salad with artichoke and marinated peppers

Main course
Stewed pork belly with preserved vegetables, steamed rice and mixed vegetables
Grilled sea bass fillet with basil tomato concasse, shallot mustard potatoes, carrots and asparagus
Szechuanese yu shang chilli chicken, with steamed rice and Chinese steamed mixed vegetables
Field mushroom and garlic agnolotti with ratatouille and saut_ed chanterelle mushrooms

Cheese
Shropshire Blue, Tilsit Royalp and Camembert

Desert
Baked pear tart served with raspberry coulis

Snacks

Sandwiches
Turkey and smoked salmon with Wasabi cream cheese

Pasties
Beef and vegetable

Noodles
Chicken and black mushroom in noodle soup
Shrimp wontons in noodle soup

Refreshment (aka breakfast)

Starters
Apple or orange juice
Mango and passion fruit smoothie
Fresh seasonal fruit
Fruit yoghurt
Assorted cereals

Main course
Cheddar and caramelized red onion frittata, veal sausage, potato cake and stir-fried asparagus
Assorted Chinese dim sum served with chilli sauce
Dried bonito and peanut congee served with baked barbequed pork pie

Drinks

Champagne
Deutz nv

White
Anjoux Vire Clesse 2006
Ravenswood Vintners Blend Californian Chardonnay 2006

Red

Luigi Bosca Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Argentina 2005
Domaine Faveley Mercurey Domaine de la Croix Jacquelet 2003


With a late take off lunch was served pretty quickly. I had both starters (mediocre) then the pork belly (lovely) - then threw the crew as usual by asking for cheese before pudding. The wines were so so. The sandwiches and pasties nice but I didn't and wouldn't try a 'congee' - whatever that is!

Post lunch I tried to work but the aesthetics of the suite and table did not help so I canned it. Good thing there is no power, working is uncomfortable.

My recollection is that the flight went reasonably quickly, I did sleep for several hours, watched some US dramas on the IFE but it was not memorable. At a cost of $6,000 one way from DEL-LAX it was not cheap either.

Overall I was distinctly unimpressed by the CX business offering. My flight from DEL-HKG was better, more comfortable, better crew but older product. The suite was narrow, badly fitted and didn't suit me and the lounges in Hong Kong were dull.

We landed to one of the weird remote stands at TBIT at LAX ... you get an airbridge then walk down to coaches to be bussed to the terminal then through a pokey loading bay door into immigration. Most bizarre and most unwelcome - by the time my bus left we were crammed behind economy passengers who therefore got the benefit of faster immigration. But the bags were quickish and I was out to find my greeter from The Peninsula and to be whisked away to luxury.


One aspect of this journey I found most strange, was that with leaving Agra at 7pm on a Saturday and arriving into LA at 1230 pm on the Sunday, and a travel time of about 25 hrs door to door, there were two night times. I landed feeling very uncertain about where when what.

As for Cathay Pacific, I won't be rushing back. As with other posts my overall assessment of the three airlines on this journey was:

1. Virgin
2. Jet
3. Cathay Pacific

Great TR - Thanks