Cathay Way To Taipei

ycp81 · Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:28 pm

19 Apr 2009
Cathay Pacific
CX 710
Singapore (SIN) - Hong Kong (HKG)
B777-300
B-HNF
Economy Class

B-HNF. In transit from Colombo to Hong Kong. The flight was almost 100% full! Who said that the economy is bad.

Another CX plane (A333) at the next gate operating CX690 to HKG too 1 hr later.

Taxiing to takeoff, passing a LH Cargo MD11F. No hot towels on CX, only given antiseptic towelettes.

Takeoff from Rwy20C

Banking over Batam

Overflying Changi Airport

I can see my home!

Cabin View

Omelette with hashbrowns and sausages for breakfast. It was quite nice. The other choice was chicken congee. The warm croissant with chocolate filling was good too!

Somewhere over South China Sea

After meal service

Toilet amenities

CX has forward looking cameras too!!

IFE controls on seat. The old IFE is similar to SQ's Krisworld with no AVOD. However, CX's have no interactive functions on their older aircraft, namely the B772/773s and unretrofitted A333s.

Descending into HKG. Very poor visibility and weather.

Almost touchdown.

Landed and taxi to gate.

SQ's 9V-SYC operating as SQ860 landing behind us. Wonder how's the loads on SQ.

Parked at the gate.

Initial impressions of CX, their service procedures felt just like SQ, only with crew in different uniforms. Even the pilot and landing announcements sounded similar, with the end of the landing announcement being "Thank you for flying Cathay Pacific, a member of Oneworld Alliance", haha. With CX offering cut-throat prices in SIN, they were a much better deal to fly with, even with the transit in HKG.

ycp81 · Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:30 pm

19 Apr 2009
Cathay Pacific
CX 466
Hong Kong (HKG) - Taipei (TPE)
B777-300
B-HNK
Economy Class

CX A333 landing

Boarding gate

B-HNK

Waiting for push back. This flight is choc-a-block 100% full!! Even for such a short flight, headsets were distributed for pax to use the IFE! SQ only gives out headsets on flights longer than 2hrs.

Push back.

9V-SYC on way home.

Takeoff for the short 1hr15min flight to TPE.

Refreshment. Steamed dumplings with cabbage and fruits. Interesting meal and very nice. No other choices though.

Inflight

Cabin service. The crew performed their service very rapidly given the short flight time. Kudos to them for being able to distribute headsets, serve a hot meal, coffee/tea service, duty free shopping and collection of headsets within such a short flight time!

Descending into TPE.

Nosegear down.

Approaching..

Almost touchdown

Landed

"Ladies & gentlemen, welcome to Taipei.... Thank you for flying Cathay Pacific, a member of Oneworld Alliance."

ycp81 · Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:32 pm

23 Apr 2009
Cathay Pacific
CX 467
Taipei (TPE) - Hong Kong (HKG)
B777-300
B-HNI
Economy Class

Taipei Taoyuan Airport Terminal 1

B-HNI. Was initially scheduled to be an A333 but was changed to this B773, probably due to high loads. The flight was about 80% full.

Boarding gate.

Boarding

CX B772 at the gate beside.

Flightpath. Another short flight of 1hr17min.

Taxi to the runway

Takeoff and turning 180 degrees.

Taipei Taoyuan airport below.

Cabin crew in action

Refreshment. Pork with noodles. Just tasted average.

Chinese tea is served after the meal service. The coffee/tea cup is unique.

Inflight

Collection of trays

Aft galley

Descending into HKG. Poor weather as usual.

Nothing but sea till touchdown

Landed and taxi to the gate.

The service on this flight was quite good. Apart from the usual service similar to HKG-TPE, the crew generally interacted more with passengers. When I asked for a pack of playing cards at the galley, the crew actually gave me 6 packs and cheekily told me said "Sssh, don't let the other passengers see". Also when I requested to buy a model B773ER from the duty free, the "leading?" crew (dunno wat CX calls them) told me "Oh, I am not the bar girl today. Come, follow me and let me introduce you to the bar girl" and led me to the rear galley where she introduced me to the cabin crew in charge of duty free on the flight, "This is our bar girl, Vxxxn. Vxxxn, let me introduce you to a handsome guy!" Haha, it was so hilarious and fun!

ycp81 · Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:34 pm

23 Apr 2009
Cathay Pacific
CX 691
Hong Kong (HKG) - Singapore (HKG)
A330-300
B-HLF
Economy Class

Transiting in Cathay land.

Finally not a B773. B-HLF

Boarding. The flight is only about half full.

Waiting for pushback. 2 dragons beside.

Taxi to runway. See how bad the weather is in the background.

A fellow A330 taking off.

Took off into the dusk.

Peanuts and drinks service. Beers were offered in cans.

Watching Yes Man on IFE.

Cabin service

Dinner's coming.

Dinner is served. Beef with pasta or chicken with rice. The beef was ok but only fruits were available as appetizer and the dessert was only a miserly Tim Tam biscuit. Must be cost-cutting in action. No good! I remembered CX used to serve Haagen Daz ice-cream as dessert on HKG-SIN flights. Where's the ice-cream now??
If you notice, on every meal tray, there is a small card of different designs advertising CX. Must be their latest advertising campaign.

Coffee service after meal.

"More drinks for you, Sir?"

Midflight, the Inflight Service Manager went down the aisle and randomly picked a few passengers to fill up a survey form. I was one of those picked by her. The survey form was quite detailed and I rate CX quite highly in all areas except for their dessert, which was downright poor compared to the competition. For completing the form, I was also given a nice CX pen, which looks much nicer even than the ones that SQ offers in First class. Should have asked for more pens and playing cards! :tongue:

Quite empty flight.

IFE screen just after landing.

Back in SIN.

Overall, I would rate CX quite highly, even near the service standards of SQ. However, cost cutting are starting to show, especially in the meals, but for the price of airfares they are offering, it was well worth the money. Hopefully I would be able to try out their new economy seats and IFE in the future, which should be much better than those in the old aircrafts.

SQ772 · Tue Aug 25, 2009 2:39 pm

Quoting Ycp81 (Reply 3):
"Oh, I am not the bar girl today. Come, follow me and let me introduce you to the bar girl" and led me to the rear galley where she introduced me to the cabin crew in charge of duty free on the flight, "This is our bar girl, Vxxxn.

Was this FA Singaporean? The term "Bar Girl" sounds so Singaporean and 60s night club scene...hahaa

ycp81 · Tue Aug 25, 2009 2:50 pm

Quoting SQ772 (Reply 4):
Was this FA Singaporean? The term "Bar Girl" sounds so Singaporean and 60s night club scene...hahaa

I doubt so even though she did sounded a bit S'porean or Malaysian. S'pore based crew only does HKG and CMB turns AFAIK.

SQ772 · Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:51 pm

Quoting Ycp81 (Reply 5):

I doubt so even though she did sounded a bit S'porean or Malaysian. S'pore based crew only does HKG and CMB turns AFAIK.

Sounded a bit Singaporean? She must be Japanese then Yeah sure

ycp81 · Sat Aug 29, 2009 3:40 am

CX refers to their duty free cart as the "bar" and one crew would be solely in charge of the "bar" on each flight, hence the name barboy / bargirl.

a1ring23 · Mon Sep 07, 2009 4:08 pm

Hey nice TR, enjoyed.

Quoting Ycp81 (Thread starter):
CX has forward looking cameras too!!

Still haven't managed to snag a bird with this feature on board yet!

Quoting Ycp81 (Thread starter):
The old IFE is similar to SQ's Krisworld with no AVOD.

I'm sure the nose camera would keep me entertained on a SIN-HKG sector.

Quoting Ycp81 (Thread starter):
Interesting meal and very nice.

Decent stuff, wouldn't expect much from such a short sector, but CX have gone to some lengths to provide a decent meal. I guess HKG-TPE is one of their 'golden' routes though...

Quoting Ycp81 (Thread starter):
When I asked for a pack of playing cards at the galley, the crew actually gave me 6 packs and cheekily told me said "Sssh, don't let the other passengers see". Also when I requested to buy a model B773ER from the duty free, the "leading?" crew (dunno wat CX calls them) told me "Oh, I am not the bar girl today. Come, follow me and let me introduce you to the bar girl" and led me to the rear galley where she introduced me to the cabin crew in charge of duty free on the flight, "This is our bar girl, Vxxxn. Vxxxn, let me introduce you to a handsome guy!" Haha, it was so hilarious and fun!

Nice stuff, haven't received a pack of cards for like 8 or 9 years!!!

How does the A333 compare to the B773 with regards to seating, IFE, cabin ambience, cabin noise etc...

Cheers for the report,
Pete

ycp81 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 5:25 am

Quoting A1ring23 (Reply 8):
How does the A333 compare to the B773 with regards to seating, IFE, cabin ambience, cabin noise etc...

IFE are the same on both planes. Seating wise, seats on A333s felt a bit narrower and pitch a wee tighter. Other than that, both cabin products are quite similar.

Also thanks for your comments. Hope you enjoyed my reports, and the others i posted.

CXtra · Tue Sep 08, 2009 7:40 am

Entertaining report, thanks for that!

Obviously the cabin crew had some kind of thing for you haha Wink

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