Hello everyone, welcome to the fifth part of the December trip to Asia. This part will cover the flight from Hong Kong to London Heathrow with Cathay Pacific Airways.
1. Part 1 MUC->LHR BA927: Here!
2. Part 2 LHR->HKG CX250: Here!
3. Part 3 HKG->TPE CX464: Here!
4. Part 4 TPE->HKG CX421: Here!
5. Part 5 HKG->LHR CX257: You are here!
6. Part 6 LHR->MUC BA956: Coming soon!
Spending about three weeks in Asia, it was the time for me to return to Germany. I took the morning departed flight so that I could arrive in Germany in the evening on the same day. This was the second time for me to take this CX257 to London Heathrow. On the day of flight, I took a taxi and arrived at the airport at 7:55am. The counters were quite empty and I had my luggage checked in less than 10 minutes. Then I headed straight towards the departing gate.
The gate of my flight was assigned at gate 1, which can be reached very quick after the immigration.
My plane was already parked at the gate. B-KPZ, a Boeing 777-300ER was responsible for my flight to London. This plane was delivered to Cathay Pacific Airways in March 2012 and it has already been reconfigured into the latest new cabin with C40W32Y296. Therefore the experience would be slightly different from the outbound flight.
On a closer look!
At 9:09am, people started queuing up in front of the gate and boarding was called after five minutes. Like the pervious flights, I queued at the premium economy line and boarded after the first /business class and elite members. My seat 39A, located in the first row of economy class. The seats were the same as those in A350 fleet. Pillow and blanket were placed already on the seat.
Monitor hung on the partition.
View out of my seat. Most of the view were blocked by the wing and engine.
Remote control and tray table were stored underneath the armrest.
The remote control of the IFE.
The welcome screen.
Premium economy class section in the front.
At 9:33am, paper menu was distributed. As announced, the flight time would be 12 hours and 16 minutes.
Push-back was commenced at 9:47am. The seat next to me remained empty.
Lining up on runway.
We tookoff at 10:04am from RWY07R.
We were flying towards the east of Hong Kong before heading north into China airspace.
20 minutes after takeoff, drinks were served and I took an orange juice.
The front part of the tray featured a phone/tablet holder.
At 10:45am, breakfast was served. I have chosen the "Mud carp fish and shiitake mushroom congee" option with coffee as the complimentary drink. Besides the congee, there were also the bread, some fruits, a yogurt and a bottle of water.
At 10:53am, I started to watch the first movie of the flight, Berlin Syndrome.
30 minutes later, I visited the lavatory.
At some point, I noticed some scenery outside the window.
With a double check on the flight map, I knew that we were flying over somewhere in Sichuan provinces.
After I finished the first movie, I slept for an hour and woke up at 13:45pm, then I watched another movie, A Bad Moms Christmas
Halfway through the movie, I ordered a cup noodle as I was not sure when the lunch would be served.
As I finished the movie, I checked the flight map again and we were flying over Siberia, south of Novosibirsk.
At 15:50pm, cabin lights were turned on again. Pretzels were distributed and I opted for a sparking water.
Peeping out of the window and seemed that the ground below was covered entirely by snow.
Minutes later, I started watching the third movie of the flight, Ocean's 8.
View of the front economy section as I went to lavatory.
At 16:30, lunch was served. I chose the "Broccoli and capsicum fusilli with Mushroom cream sauce" option which was quite tasty.
Mövenpick ice-cream was then given. I got the strawberry taste.
After lunch, the cabin light went out again and I took another nap for an hour. When I woke up, we were flying somewhere to the north of Moscow in Russia.
After I while, I starting watching the Justice League movie.
As I finished the movie, we were flying over the North Sea, close to Amsterdam.
About 25minutes later, we commenced the descend into Heathrow Airport.
At 14:24pm, we landed on RWY27R, total flight time was 12 hours 14 minutes.
Lastly, we parks at gate 31 of terminal 3.
Thanks for reading!
A good report and seems like a pleasant flight you've had, however I do not understand Cathay's choice to wake up their passengers so far from the destination for the 2nd meal service to turn lights off only a hour later again. Wouldn't it be better to leave them sleeping for those extra few hours and serve like two hours prior to landing? Thanks for your report!
Hi ThomasDutch, Thanks for your comments. I agree with you that it is better to serve the second meal two hours prior to landing.
Hi NGD16, nice report. I'm pleasantly surprised to see 2 positive reports on CX's new Y cabin this week, despite the new 3-4-3 configuration. It was good that you had a bulkhead seat with extra legroom and no one reclining in from of you.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this FR.
IT'd be interesting to know if they increased the pitch à la EK to make up for the 3-4-3 config.
The breakfast entree made of "mud fish" is surprising to say least ^^
Overall the meals seem frequent and tasty, I'm just not sure about the timing of the pre arrival lunch, could be served later.