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

The Platinum Pursuit: 3,000 Miles, A Trio of Lounges, and the Hammer Blows of Mahler - Part 2

(This is Part 2 of my SIN-HKG-ICN report on Cathay Pacific Business Class. I'll be repeating the "Introduction" again for the benefit of those who started reading from this part onwards.)

This weekend trip to Seoul was a significant milestone for me.

After a decade as a Qantas Gold member, I am finally qualifying as a Qantas Platinum member in the upcoming membership year. Qantas Platinum also translates to oneworld Emerald membership, which effectively opens the door to oneworld First Class lounges worldwide – From the Qantas First Lounge in Singapore to Japan Airlines’ First Class Lounge in Tokyo.

This wasn't just about the prestige; it was an expedited step toward my ultimate goal: Qantas Lifetime Gold. This requires 14,000 Status Credits (SCs), which usually means re-qualifying for Gold for about 23–24 consecutive years. After a decade of travel, I was still looking at another 10 years to reach the target.

After discussing it with my wife (we travel together, so these perks are shared), we decided the best way to accelerate the process was to hold Qantas Platinum for the next 4–5 years, effectively halving the remaining time to reach our "target."

This milestone was achieved as I completed these two Cathay Pacific flights from Singapore to Incheon via Hong Kong. By the end of this trip, I had accumulated over 1,400 SCs for the year, qualifying for Platinum for the first time!

In This Report…

> Chapter 1: [Previous FR] The Pre-Flight Ritual (Singapore Changi T1)
> Chapter 2: [Previous FR] CX714 SIN-HKG – Always Feels like the “Shortest” Flight to HKG
> Chapter 3: The Hong Kong Transit (A Test of Patience)
> Chapter 4: CX410 HKG-ICN – The "Sofa" in the Sky
> Chapter 5: The Incheon Dash with Mahler at the Finish Line

Chapter 3: The Hong Kong Transit (A Test of Patience)

Touching down in Hong Kong (my 48th time!), I immediately sensed that the airport (particularly the transit crowd) was busier than how it was usually. I am guessing this was likely the ripple effect of the ongoing Middle East aviation disruptions due to the war. While Hong Kong Airport (HKIA) is always busy, I have never waited for 1 full hour to clear transit security until this trip.

I also observed that at least one transit point was under renovation works at that point in time, which has likely contributed to the massive queues at other transit points. At one point, I overheard a passenger asking the airport ground staff “would it be faster to enter Hong Kong first, and then get back in through departure immigration?”, to which she replied “oh yah, maybe you are right”.

Not knowing, however, what was the situation at both arrival and departure immigration queues, I decided not to join in this gamble, and still went ahead with the safe option of joining the transit security queue at 5.35am.

Just look at the line… I am already stressed looking back at the photos while writing this.

10 minutes later, an airport staff suddenly opened up the queue from one side and told everyone to get through and follow her colleague to “another transit point which will be faster”.

The walk itself to the other alternative transit security point took us 5 minutes (5.50am to 5.55am).

It was the first mad dash of the day, as everyone walked quite leisurely, I took the chance to speed up and overtake such large groups of families.

Eventually, was it truly faster? Not really, and I finally cleared transit security only at 6.35am.

This morning, I decided to use The Wing near Gate 2 before my favourite oneworld lounge in HKIA opens at 7.30am.

HKIA is huge, and Cathay Pacific’s lounges are spread at three different corners. As a result, walking to The Wing took another 5 minutes.

I ordered an Iced Americano, found a corner seat, and rested my legs for a bit while enjoying the view of several Cathay Pacific aircrafts under the morning light.

The lounge gradually reached its morning capacity throughout the next hour, and at 7.30am it was time for me to head out towards Gate 6, not for boarding…

But to visit arguably the most peaceful corner of HKIA in its busy early morning peak – The Qantas Hong Kong Lounge.

This lounge gets a little busier only during Japan Airlines and Qantas departures, none of which are scheduled this early in the morning. Regardless, they open at 7.30am daily, presumably with the intention to ease crowds at Cathay lounges(?), but because of its less-than-ideal location (straight after departure immigration and far away from most gates except for Gates 1 to 6), people don’t really use it despite being eligible.

This also means – No queue for shower! Akin to Singapore’s Qantas Lounge, the showers here in Hong Kong are great too. Though not as spacious, this lounge being newer also meant that the shower facilities are in a much better shape than that in Singapore.

Expecting a full meal onboard later, I skipped any foods in the lounge and went straight to “the highlight” of this Qantas Lounge: A whole-fruit juicer. It’s just amazing how they have this machine in the lounge for lounge guests to DIY. Every time I used it, I’d notice other passengers starting to watch curiously, before eventually wandering over to squeeze a glass for themselves.

Shortly after, it’s time to really leave for my boarding gate. And I look forward to be back in this underrated but truly commendable Business Class lounge here at HKIA.

Double checking my flight information at HKIA’s extensive departure flights information board.

Departing from Gate 48 meant that I have to catch a shuttle train. This is good – Because it will skip the long corridor in the middle, reducing the distance I need to walk to reach my gate.

It still however took me a good 12 minutes before reaching Gate 48. Really, HKIA is huge.

Chapter 4: CX410 HKG-ICN – The "Sofa" in the Sky

CX410 that morning was operated by aircraft B-HNU, a 23.5-years-old B777-300 that first flew for Emirates from Sep 2002 to Apr 2018, before joining Cathay Pacific in Dec 2018. Due to COVID-19, the aircraft was stored at Hong Kong and then Alice Springs between Mar 2020 and May 2023.

This was a 100% full flight with a 2-3-2 configuration in Business Class. The passenger mix was diverse, but with a strong Korean presence alongside other nationalities.

Let’s be honest – These “sofa-style” seats feel dated compared to modern Business Class products with doors and full privacy suites. It is quite striking that both extremes exist under the same “Business Class” label in Cathay Pacific’s fleet today.

Menu and water were preset on our seats as usual before boarding.

Since this was an extremely busy flight, our crew member had to work really hard and under high pressure. During pre-departure beverage service, a drink was accidentally spilled on a Korean passenger’s expensive bag. The recovery was quite impressive with the crew member springing into action, providing endless supply of tissue paper and blanket in attempt to dry the bag.

Thankfully, the passenger involved did not seem to pursue the issue further. Shortly after, the Cabin Manager was also observed to be communicating with the passenger using a translation app to ensure the apology was understood. All in all, a good effort in service recovery, I would say.

Anyway, I chose apple juice for my pre-departure drink and was offered a hot towel at the same time by the crew.

On this flight, I chose the aisle seat 17D, with the thinking that either I might get lucky with an empty middle seat beside me, or, if a couple were seated in seats 17E and 17F, they would be less likely to have to get past me in order to head to the washroom. It’s true that I may be overthinking the aisle seat selection, but when decisions like this need to be made, there ought to be some thought process involved, right?

Just as the cabin doors were about to be closed, a Korean gentleman boarded and came over to my row to politely get into his seat: The dreaded 17E! I couldn't help but wonder what it feels like to check in for Business Class only to be informed by the ground staff that you’ve scored a middle seat!

Anyway, while this may be an old aircraft, I found the lavatories maintained in very good and clean conditions, as with most of my other Cathay Pacific flights.

Also, Wi-Fi was available on this aircraft – This retrofit which included addition of Wi-Fi availability shows Cathay’s intention to keep this aircraft in their fleet

As mentioned just now, our crew was really busy and didn’t even manage to finish taking meal orders before take-off – Which is what they usually do.

Our flight pushed back 14 minutes late at 9.34am and took off from HKG at 9.55am. Soon after departing HKG, orders taking resumed and I asked for a peppermint tea as a post-departure drink.

A few minutes later, the same crew member came back to my seat and placed a cup of Japanese Green Tea on my table. I thought, “yeah sure no problem about that because I am okay with Japanese Green as well”. But before I could start drinking the tea, she came back, briefly knelt down by my seat to check the tea bag label, and then apologized to me for getting the order wrong. She then quickly swapped it to Peppermint, and the tea was nice! That’s the kind of detail that turns a "mistake" into "great service." One that reflects attentiveness and ownership.

Interestingly, the same situation happened to the passenger across the aisle as well.

It’s then time for breakfast. I initially wanted the Korean option since my aim for this trip apart from attaining QF Platinum is to eat all things Korean. Unfortunately, it seemed like the Korean option ran out when it was my turn to order.

By default, I fell back to the dim sum option. But changed my mind quickly after the crew member walked pass me again, and she gladly accepted my change of order with a smile.

My reason for changing was really because I remembered that the dim sum served in onboard is actually sometimes quite salty / weird tasting (from my perspective), and hence decided that I will get the omelette instead.

Anyway, meal service started about 1h after take-off. Fruit was served first and every piece on the plate was fresh and sweet.

The crew then came by with a bread basket and I picked a croissant, which was fluffy and paired beautifully with butter. Tempting to have more, but I held back for the main dish.

Soon after came the main dish: The mushroom omelette.

Honestly, it didn’t look like omelette at all, but more akin to scrambled eggs. The main dish was:

• Lightly seasoned
• Paired with well-cooked tomato, mushrooms, and potatoes
• Simple, but satisfying

To end off the meal on a high note, I ordered Cathay’s signature Cloud Nine cocktail.

Let’s just say… I found myself rotating the glass 360° to finish the sugar on the rim – Probably not my finest moment, and not the healthiest thing to do.

After the meal service, I managed to fall asleep again on the “sofa”, likely as an after-effect of downing the glass of cocktail made from vodka.

Despite this being an older product, it was honestly still perfectly adequate for a short daytime regional flight, and I had a pretty good nap before we touched down at Incheon Airport (ICN).

Wheels down for CX410 was at 1.44pm (UTC+9:00) and gate arrival was just 2 minutes after schedule at 1.57pm.

My Flighty app reminded me that this was my 11th time at ICN.

Chapter 5: The Incheon Dash with Mahler at the Finish Line

Arrival at ICN was where the "relaxing" part of the trip ended. All passport holders from countries eligible under South Korea’s Smart Entry Service (SES) scheme are by default directed to the SES registration queue upon arrival at ICN. I was looking forward to getting this done since I have several Korea trips upcoming, but what I expected to be a quick registration turned into a 2-hours ordeal.

When I finally cleared immigration and arrived at the baggage carousel, my bag had already been removed from the belt; a clear sign of how delayed the process had been.

Stepping into the arrival hall more around 2h after arrival, I quickly made my way to the airport metro station.

The time spent in queue completely derailed my original plan for a restful afternoon before watching a planned concert that evening.

Instead of getting an afternoon nap, the day turned into this:

2:00pm – Queue for SES
4:00pm – Cleared immigration and collected luggage
5:20pm – Hotel check-in
5:40pm – Leave hotel
6:40pm – Arrived at Lotte Mall and collected ticket
6:50pm – Quick bibimbap dinner at food court
7:15pm – Head to concert hall
7:30pm – Concert begins

The performance at Lotte Concert Hall of Mahler’s 6th Symphony by Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestro Jaap van Zweden was transcendent. I wouldn’t lie – I was struggling to stay awake after the long day throughout the entire four movements, but those two massive hammer blows in the final movement did the trick! Keeping me fully awake in the final minutes of the symphony.

The concert concluded just after 9.30pm. As I left the hall, I still felt that having this full-scale 2,000+ seat concert hall in a shopping mall is just too surreal.

While not entirely unique globally, this is definitely still a concept that never stops fascinating me.

Flight # 470