V-Flyer

Well this was a trip I'd been waiting for for quite some time, an HK/Shanghai triangle trip. Seeing that upgrades (and cheap prices in general) were like gold dust on the HK flights we booked Y going out and PE (sale fare) heading back.



I did the trick of watching like a hawk for Gs and lo and behold a single G appeared. Having done a quick rough calculation of the upgrade cost in my head I rang up and got a nice gent from Swansea who confirmed that I was almost spot on in my calculation. I decided not to do anything however as there were two of us so I decided to wait it out. Amazingly, 2 hours later another G appeared and like lightning I was back on the phone to FC. Got a nice Swansea lady although she struggled to work the cost out and eventually decided to call the Fares department. After waiting 10 minutes listening to the muzak she came back with a price well over £100/head more than I'd been quoted originally. Despite having made my case she informed me that Fares had added the quote to my booking so as to record the fact and that they are the only ones guaranteed to calculate the price correctly, I was then gently given the boot from her and I put the phone down crest fallen. Sitting back I decided to re-work the calculations out myself and could not understand it so called back once again. Luckily I ended up with a different person although she couldn't work the fare out either and transferred me to someone else saying I'd come through to the wrong department. The new person was very nice but he also said he couldn't deal with it but hang on and he'd transfer me to the Premier Line. Well, what a transformation, within a minute she'd worked the cost out to be the same as the original quote! I did mention the note on the booking and she had a look and responded with something to the effect of "well I don't know how they worked that out but I prefer my numbers to those, do you agree?". She added seat requests for 10/11A to our bookings and all done ... Phew!



The next game to play was to keep checking the seating layout to see if I could get further forward and amazingly, a week before the flight 2 seats 4/5K became available and were quickly snagged!



Come the day of the flight itself we arrived at T3 to find a busy Zone A. Heading to UC checkin it was busy and with no queueing system nor staff; passengers were roughly milling arround side by side. The desks quickly came free however and bags were dropped. The greeting was efficient and formal though I personally prefer a little more chat. Up to the UC wing and we ended up behind 5 other PAX at security. This being my first flight with an iPad I didn't realise it counted as a computer and got told to remove it though interestingly my Kindle was not treated the same. Anyway, past security and we had passports checked for the first time I ever remember before ending up in the shop.



Heading to the lounge, the dragon greeted us warmly and we managed to snag our favourite seats by the window. We also managed to get hair cut appointments one after the other. In the meantime we grabbed the inflight menu and ordered a bit of Clubhouse food - here's a picture of the Chicken Katsu Curry which was very nice.



For the haircut I'd say the gent was brilliant in his chat though I did feel it was all a little rushed (my wife confirmed this when she later noticed her haircut had some distinctly average alignments). I did mention I'd been on the lookout for a shower (they'd been busy earlier) and he escorted me straight to one. A steam shower was duly ordered from the keypad - here's a pic for those interested in the layout (there's a seat in the shower). One thing that sightly irritated was the steam spills out into the rest of the room.



With boarding announced my wife was on the way like a shot. I tried the Michael Winner approach but to no avail. She was convinced that we were on the verge of missing the flight and began an olympic walk pace to the Gate. Arriving at the gate confirmed my approach as while boarding cards were processed the lady was on the walkie talkie "the first wave of Upper Class are now arriving". The gate lounge was empty and we were down through 1L into an empty UC being warmly greeted by the FSM. The crew practically fell over themselves in getting us drinks in fact we must've been asked 3/4 times by different staff and it was almost becomming annoying.



The plane was G-VWEB (Surfer Girl) and suite 4A was in excellent condition. With doors closed I spotted a celeb over in 6A so began fawn watch. I have to say the crew were excellent and the only real fawning was by other PAX nearby. I did try and think of a reason to speak to him and concluded that any attempt would result in me being considered a male chicken.



After takeoff orders were taken for drinks and then dinner. This was the first time I'd seen the new crockery and the crisp holder was much better than the old purple plate. I hadn't even bothered looking at the menu having already chosen in the Clubhouse what I'd be having. Here's a pic of it:





The guy in front of me ordered the chicken (what? why? went through my head) and got a similar result from the crew member "sir, the only meat choices are beef". He then produced the menu and it was indeed different from that in the Clubhouse and obviously the crew had been briefed using the one I'd seen. To resolve this a gap in orders happened while they physically checked what had been loaded. The onboard menus were correct, it was fillet of beef or stir fired chicken.


Electing to sit together we received two of everything, cutlery-fine, butter-fine and salt and pepper-why?. The food was excellent, I chose the carrot and lentil soup which had an lovely zingy flavour. At this time I had deja vu when choosing wine as again the onboard wine was different to the menu from the Clubhouse. The SA Shiraz went down very easily. For mains I had a lovely fillet of beef (I'd prefer it a bit pink but no harm done):






Having eaten non-stop for hours I passed on desert and cheese and settled back to enjoy the flight. Deciding to try sleeping the opposite way around I avoided the famous blood rush though it did take quite a while to fall asleep, waking up naturally around 30 mins before breakfast. The way breakfast orders are taken is a little annoying as the crew worked from the back of the cabin to the front. Given I was in 4K it took quite a while as each person is asked one at a time and their order is then got before moving on to the next. As I'd awoken before most it would've been better for me to be one of the early recipients. I had a reasonably soggy Weetabix and a delicious croissant. BTW VPort seemingly worked perfectly during my waking hours.



After deplaning you take a little train towards immigration which is about 2 stories lower than the arrivals. You then have to rise up 2 stories after getting off. The immigration hall was heaving for foreigners (no queue for locals/perminent residents) and it took us about an hour to clear it. I know the UK can be like this too but standing in tensabarrier queues for an hour really annoys me, especially as a large number of desks were closed. Sure enough, by the time we got through the luggage had been pulled off and was on the floor.



Heading onto the Airport Express train we found ourselves within 5 rows of the same celeb and he even got off at the same station as us (Kowloon). I was beginning to wonder if he thought we were stalking him! My wife was impressed that he hadn't got a limo pickup and even pulled his own luggage! At Kowloon, Airport Express tickets include coaches to a myriad of hotels except it seems ours (Langham Place). We trundled over to the taxi rank and got one straight away though looking at the queuing system it must be a nightmare at busy times. Anyway it was a quick journey over to the hotel and I've included a few shots of it below:





FYI the breakfast buffet was excellent and one lovely touch was on my birthday we returned to find a birthday cake in the room!



After spending a lovely few days we would be heading on to Shanghai ...

Thanks for the TR Good work on the upgrade - sounds like a a great result

FSM and rest of the crew made sure your flight was a good one - just as it should be

Very interesting TR, I loved your tenacity in getting the upgrade

Great TR Mcmaddog and love the Langhm Place whenever in HKG

McMaddog

Top Notch on grabbing not only the mileage upgrades but also persevering with getting the right price

Apart from the breakfast service, looks like VS ticked all the boxes on this one.

Some day mrs Buns and i will make it to Hong Kong, a place I have always wanted to go to - and now I don't even need a new suit

Thanks for a great TR and the pics Look forward to the next segment

buns

Thank you for the great TR and pics.

Thanks for the TR McMaddog. Sounds like an excellent flight.

I'm on it in a weeks time and I have been through the same book, wait and see challenge as you. But as you found out, good things come to those who wait and there are (plenty of) Gs out there - even on the LHR-HKG route if you bide your time. The only dangerous thing I did was to end up at one point with me in UC and my wife in PE - - but the final G came available eventually. As did 4K and 5K - I hope you left them in a good state

The menu is a bit confusing. If I read it correctly from your picture it says fillet of beef or stir fried beef or pumpkin risotto - no mention of chicken

When you say you slept the opposite way round - do you mean with your head on the ottoman end? Is that supposed to be better? I might try it out as I often have trouble sleeping. I suspect however that is more to do with the volume of drink in the CH and on board and finishing with a plate cheese and port

Brilliant TR thanks for sharing. Greeted warmly by the dragon ... hmm perhaps we shouldn't use dragon unless she was actually breathing flames at you! As for on board you felt it annoying to be asked four times if you'd like a drink - just say "yes" four times!

I too sometimes think about sleeping the opposite way around, but then fear some clumsy passenger bashing my head ...

Look forward to the next leg!

slinky09 wrote: Greeted warmly by the dragon ... hmm perhaps we shouldn't use dragon unless she was actually breathing flames at you!

We dragons are not always fierce . Sounds like a great trip.
DL

Thank you all for your replies. I guess it's clear I loved this flight and I also like putting together pictorial TRs! Sorry about the beef photo but I'm no pro when it comes to photography.

Martin wrote:The menu is a bit confusing. If I read it correctly from your picture it says fillet of beef or stir fried beef or pumpkin risotto - no mention of chicken

Yes that's what I was trying to make clear - the on board menu was a little different, the photograph was taken in the Clubhouse.

Martin wrote:When you say you slept the opposite way round - do you mean with your head on the ottoman end? Is that supposed to be better? I might try it out as I often have trouble sleeping. I suspect however that is more to do with the volume of drink in the CH and on board and finishing with a plate cheese and port

There is a theory that because the seat is absolutely flat you get a blood rush to your head since the natural angle of the plane in flight is a little nose up. Sleeping the other way around is more akin to a normal bed with a raised pillow. It is also a little cooler. Downsides are potentially being banged by passing traffic and it's a bit of a squeeze on the shoulders.