Review of Cathay Pacific flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong in Business

Hello, everyone! Welcome to Part 1 of the final leg of my Summer 2019 travel series where I'll be covering the return flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong.

First and foremost, and especially to those who have known me in the past, I'd like to sincerely apologise for my lack of uploads, and I know it's been years since I last covered a flight. To cut a long story short, life has gotten in the way. I've been extremely busy over the past several years, but I have recently found time to start writing, and will try my best to increase the frequency of my posts.

For those who are new, I'm rbix. I'm from Hong Kong, currently based in New York City, and I just love to travel!

Nonetheless, do expect frequent reports within the coming month or so. Anyways, let's continue from where we left off!

As stated from my previous trip report (links can be found below), this part of the report consists of my journey back to New York after enjoying my time in both Hong Kong and Bangkok. Once again, this was in 2019. Nonetheless, I hope you guys enjoy reading this blast from the past! 

Pre-flight

Now, coming back to this report. Prior to departure, I woke up at around 8:00 AM so I would be able to enjoy a nice breakfast with my family before we ultimately proceeded to the airport. Since our flight was in the late afternoon, there was a bit of traffic since we were departing almost during the time of peak hour. Nonetheless, we made it to Suvarnabhumi Airport by 2:00 PM.

Suvarnabhumi Airport exterior

BKK Departure Lobby 

Check-in area for CX 

Bumping into Mangkorakarn and Maiyarab again.

As always, the check-in process was smooth, and we were given our boarding passes within five minutes.

Given my previous experience with the long lines and delays with security, I was expecting either the same or similar result with this trip. This time, the lines were slightly better - giving the entire process 10 minutes to complete. As a result, the process did improve compared to the last time.   

Post-security

The famous Samudra Manthan exhibit 

Airside - with a wide variety of shops and restaurants located throughout the airport 

FIDS 

The usual duty-free area 

 The CX lounge at BKK was near Concourse G, which was about a 5 minute walk from the duty-free area 

 Heading towards the CX lounge 

Making the usual sharp left upon going down the escalator, and made our way until seeing the entrance. 

CX Lounge entrance 

Since I've already covered this lounge a couple of times, there's not much to say at this point expect that I have always had a pleasant experience, and I look forward to every visit. In fact, the Cathay Pacific lounge at BKK is spacious with lots of seating arrangements and decent catering choices. 

The famous Noodle Bar 

Buffet selection and light bites 

It wasn't that long before we found some seats and I got something from the Noodle Bar 

 Indicator which notifies you when your dish is ready 

 What I ended up getting: Pad Thai and Coke 

 After about 25 minutes, we proceeded to board the flight 

 Heading towards the gate 

It was quite a long walk, as gate E9 is at the further end of the concourse 

Almost there… 

Ah, here we are! 

 Walking down the ramp to the gate area 

Plane to HKG: B-HLS, an Airbus A330-300 

Heading towards the aerobridge 

Some pre-flight information:
Date: 15 July 2019
Airline: Cathay Pacific
Flight Number: CX 656
Route: Bangkok (BKK) - Hong Kong (HKG)
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Registration: B-HLS
Distance: 1049 miles
Scheduled Departure Time: 4:20 PM
Actual Departure Time: 4:28 PM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 8:30 PM
Actual Arrival Time: 8:03 PM
Flight Time: 3 hrs 10 mins
Departure Gate at BKK: E9
Arrival Gate at HKG: 47

Inflight:

Business Class cabin 

My seat - 17K 

Legroom, which is quite narrow but decent for a short flight like this one 

Pre-departure drink: Orange juice 

View from my seat, with the view of All Nippon Airways (ANA) Boeing 787-9 JA885A, which landed not too long ago from NH847 from NRT 

A sneak preview of Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-900 B-LRV preparing to depart back for HKG as CX712

Flight route

 Hot towel 

Cabin view

From what I can remember, the boarding process was quite short. Before I knew it, the captain made his usual pre-flight announcement and welcome, saying that with the short flight time, we would be landing into Hong Kong ahead of schedule

Settled into my seat!

Menus were then distributed

Pushing back, with a view of sistership Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 B-LBB, which will head back to HKG as CX708 a little later than my flight, in addition to Lufthansa Airbus A340-300 D-AIGV in the Star Alliance livery, which just arrived from FRA not too long ago as LH772

Vietnam Airlines Airbus A320-200 VN-A503 preparing for departure as VN614 to HAN

Bangkok Airways Airbus A320-200 HS-PPK preparing for depart for DAD as PG997

Taxiing to Runway 19L

A good view of BKK

We then took-off from the runway at 4:28 PM

View after takeoff

High above the clouds!

15 minutes after take-off

Overall, I had fun during this weekend getaway in Bangkok!   

StudioCX, which I've reviewed so many times that I really don't need to say anything about it

I ultimately decided to catch up on some Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Cabin view with mood lighting

After 20 minutes, the cabin crew started with the meal service in addition with the usual drink orders

Starting off the flight with some Coke

Table setup including the appetiser and garlic bread

My special Indian Vegetarian meal

Outside views

Seat preview

Ending the meal service off with some ice cream

Galley area

Overall cabin view

I then headed to the bathroom, which is standardly narrow on the Airbus A330-300

I spent the rest of the flight catching up with Brooklyn Nine-Nine until the captain put on the seat belt sign, giving the indication that we had to prepare for landing

Approaching HKG

 Wow, this flight really flew by!

Changes of the mood lighting

Final shots before landing

We landed about half an hour ahead of schedule. The taxi to the gate took a bit of time though

Docking at gate 47, next to Air France Boeing 777-300ER F-GSQJ, which will serve as AF185 back to CDG this evening

Post-flight

Disembarking/Arrival into HKG

Taking the automated people mover as always

As always, we breezed through immigration, and made it to the arrival hall in a minute since we didn't have any checked-in luggage

Arrival hall

Afterwards, we made our way towards one of the parking lots where we met our Uber driver and then went forward from there.