Review: Dragonair A330 Economy Class (HKG-KHH)

After waving my goodbyes to my dear parents, it was time to set eyes aboard to Kaohsiung, which I was really looking forward to.

The ever beautiful Hong Kong Airport terminal

While I didn’t have enough plane pictures to make a whole installment, I did find a few nice little/big airplanes:

ANA Air Japan 767-300

Cathay Pacific 747-400

Soon we were at gate 69, where our bird was waiting for us.

B-HYQ, our bird

The ground crew didn’t really seem very interested at all in checking that our bird didn’t have a single flaw.

Hmmm

Several birds in the distance

Soon enough, of course, we were on our way onto the bird, on time.

Dragonair Flight 432
Monday, May 12th, 2014
Origin: Hong Kong (HKG) Gate: 69 Dep: 08:50 (09:05)
Destination: Kaohsiung (KHH) Gate: 22 Arr: 10:20 (10:35)
Duration: 1 hr 30 min (1 hr 30 min)
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300 Reg: B-HYQ
Seat: 40A (Economy Class)

After anticipating so eagerly for the new Economy seat, it was exasperating to see the old Business seats during the way over to Economy, seeing a glimpse of disappointing red in the distance.

The Economy cabin didn’t have any TVs, which was quite disappointing.

Dragonair A330 economy class

I sat down at the seat that I had partially familiarised from Beijing last June. (This looked a lot more aged, but oh well…)

Legroom

I was surprised to see an entertainment box that dug into my legroom. I’m short so I don’t care, but does a few channels of music really need a huge entertainment box?!

Entertainment box under seat

Cabin upon boarding

My seatmate and I simultaneously opened our tray tables in hope of seeking at least a power plug, in vain.

Nooooooo

There was a lot of hidden wear and tear around the cabin, which is reasonable given there is no possible way this was refurbished anytime after its delivery in 2004.

Before the tray table opened

After fiddling with it

Views from outside were not remarkable, though still interesting enough.

Watching the catering carts and trucks do their job

Overhead consoles

As we pushed back a Dragonair A320 taxied over to the gate, which I think was going to Sanya (I can’t confirm for sure…).

Dragonair A320 behind the wing

We were amused by the process of the drop down screen. The screen dropped, then as the video started playing, the screen went up. Then it went down again, the video started playing again, then it lagged, then the screen went up again. Finally it played, and we pushed back shortly.

Arrrr

We taxied over to ~~Macao~~ the runway, which was a long taxi. The fact that we were number four for takeoff didn’t really help.

Still pushing back

A cargo 747

United 747 (no TVs…quite a long 15 hour flight eh?)

Traffic upon taxiing

1494 (Double 747) Trouble

Views of the cargo terminal

Soon we were lining up for number four behind a Hong Kong Airlines A320, a Bangkok Airways A319 and a Dragonair A320.

Bangkok Airways A319 and Air China A330 in the distance

Views upon lining up

Cathay Pacific jets lining up behind us

Hong Kong Airlines A320

At this point I noticed that the window was partially broken, so I kind of freaked out for a bit. What the f^&*?

Gap between the window and the ledge

Garuda Indonesia A330-300

Cathay Pacific 777-300ER

After what seemed like a long time we lifted at 9:20. It was the first time I’ve seen such amazing views from Hong Kong Airport, but I’m not sure why that is, since I’ve probably been on the exact same runway many times.

Views upon takeoff (HX A330-300)

Amazing views upon takeoff

New Territories in the distance

Views upon takeoff

Views after takeoff

We levelled off shortly, immediately hitting a bit of chop.

Views after takeoff

The screen played Big Bang Theory, which I’m not a fan (mostly because I’m not caught up with it). My seatmate (and friend) kept laughing out loud during the funny parts, which was fine with me, but the woman across the aisle kept staring, which was really awkward.

Adorable (yellowed) A330 windows (…?)

The person in front of me reclined, which generally is a good thing since I can track the legroom. (Remember, I’m short, right?)

Legroom when reclined

Shortly the meal service started. (Fortunately the window hadn’t collapsed…who knew?) There was only one option. Fortunately it was Chinese dim sum, but it was the first time I had eaten crispy siu mai… (The other things on the plate were nothing special but tasted good, and the xiao long bao even had soup in it…top notch, if the skin was less than 2cm thick.)

Not exactly Din Tai Fung (or Xin Dau Ji), but definitely not bad

This was starting to get boring. On flights I usually never get bored, as I take my time with nothing to do to roam around the cabin. This time, however, the seatbelt sign stayed on, and I wasn’t in the mood – especially after only a four hour nap the night before – to read a book. It was also too close to landing to sleep. My seatmate didn’t want the window open since it was too bright, but I resorted to ignoring him and staring out the window until landing.

Yes, I’m that interesting

The views got progressively better as we reached Kaohsiung, and the captain announced final descent immediately.

Swirly clouds

Destination in the distance

Views upon final approach

Damn, this was the third most memorable approach I’ve seen only behind Okinawa and Auckland. (Taichung…well, not so much…)

Views upon final approach

Views upon landing

Views after landing

Kaohsiung skyline in the distance

Views upon taxiing

Cabin upon landing

Kaohsiung Airport had less traffic than expected, but was interesting.

Far Eastern Air Transport MD-82

Beauty of Kaohsiung City

Traffic upon taxiing

We parked next to a Dragonair A321, which, I think, was slated to run KA 453 shortly.

Dragonair A321

Ever cute little windows

Soon enough we deplaned, which was helped by the presence of two doors instead of one (which seems to always be the case at Hong Kong Airport with A330s).

Rear Dragonair A330 business cabin