Author: Alvin

I'm an 18-year-old university student who flies and reviews around 20 flights per year. When I’m not writing up blog posts or working on my Mechanical Engineering degree, I’m a worship band pianist and an amateur cook. My goal is to make people happy so I’d love to do so by maximising your travel experience and helping you make your optimal travel decisions.

Review: Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge London Heathrow

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Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge London Heathrow
Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge London Heathrow
Qantas Lounge London Heathrow
Cathay Pacific 777 First Class London to Hong Kong
British Airways 777 Premium Economy Hong Kong to London

Recently I had the chance to fly in Cathay Pacific first class between London and Hong Kong. I’ll provide the full details of my booking in my review of Cathay Pacific’s first class, but long story short the flight was motivated by expiring Asia Miles in my mother’s account. I also flew back to London after my holiday in British Airways premium economy, which I’ll also be reviewing in this trip report series.

My flight from Heathrow’s Terminal 3 was leaving at 5:50 PM, though I wanted to be at Cathay Pacific’s first class lounge for lunch. Since London is an outstation destination check-in only opens three hours prior to each flight, so check-in was closed between 11 AM and 1:50 PM due to how Cathay’s flights out of London are timed. Thus, I dropped my bag at 10 AM, then headed past fast track security to get to Cathay Pacific’s Heathrow lounge, located at Lounge C in Heathrow’s Terminal 3 lounge area. I was pointed into the first class section of the lounge by a friendly lounge attendant – access to Cathay’s First Class lounge at Heathrow is permitted for First Class passengers, Marco Polo Diamond members and oneworld Emerald members.

Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge London Heathrow

Continue reading “Review: Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge London Heathrow” →

British Airways’ Impressive World Traveller Plus

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Hello from London! I’ve flown back to university after a short trip home, and did so in British Airways’ premium economy. While I’ve always wanted to try British Airways’ premium economy in order to try all premium economy products flying between Hong Kong and London, in this case I didn’t really have a choice, due to the limited award space availability between Hong Kong and London during the new year. This is also the reason I flew British Airways’ 777 over their A380, as I personally would’ve preferred the latter.

British Airways Boeing 777 Hong Kong Airport

My predictions for the premium economy products flying between Hong Kong and London was that British Airways would come rock bottom, though I came off this flight very impressed. British Airways is a strong contender for having the best premium economy product between Hong Kong and London. Since I’m a bit behind on trip report writing, I figured I’d briefly share the things I was impressed by, though expect a full report to follow within the coming month.

Continue reading “British Airways’ Impressive World Traveller Plus” →

What Is Cathay Pacific’s First Class Like?

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Hello from Hong Kong! I’m glad to spend Christmas back in Hong Kong, and I’m glad my family and friends have been well despite the state the city has been in. I’m also sorry for the lack of content on the blog over the past few months, since university has hit quite hard. I will have to scale back content over the upcoming years, though will continue to post regularly, and definitely will do something to increase my posting frequency from the past three months.

Last week I flew Cathay Pacific first class from London to Hong Kong. I was planning to roll out my report straight away, though I do need to write a couple of lounge reports on top of the actual flight review. Two weeks is plenty of time, though straight away I got hit by influenza, and barely recovered before Christmas started, and…

So I’m going to cover my first impressions in this post, and hope to post the full review by the beginning of next year.

Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 First Class 

I’ll go over why I booked this first class ticket in a future post, but for now I’ll focus on my initial impressions from the flight. I do have to note here that this was my first “true” first class experience, so I have nothing to compare it to.

Continue reading “What Is Cathay Pacific’s First Class Like?” →

Hong Kong Airlines’ Concerning Financial Situation: My Thoughts On Their Next Steps

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I’ve had quite a close relationship with Hong Kong Airlines, and have always been fond of their well-constructed shorthaul network. I’ve been fortunate enough to fly their A330 between Hong Kong and Osaka, and have also been invited to tour their newest A350, which I’ve found to be a very nice aircraft, both inside and out.

Hong Kong Airlines Airbus A350 Hong Kong Airport

Unfortunately Hong Kong’s dismal financial situation brought some of the shortcomings out of Hong Kong Airlines, including their somewhat confusing longhaul network, and some of their internal financial instabilities. I’m finally off university exam period, and figured I’d share some of my thoughts, as I really do wish the airline well.

Continue reading “Hong Kong Airlines’ Concerning Financial Situation: My Thoughts On Their Next Steps” →

Help Me Get To Italy This Summer

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My parents have always wanted to go on a cruise, and we’ve decided that this summer is probably the time to finally do so. I live in London now – though as luck would have it, I need to be in Hong Kong near the end of June, whereas the cruise occurs during the second part of July. I’m finally trying Cathay Pacific’s A350 premium economy from Gatwick to Hong Kong in June 2020, which I’m really excited about – stay tuned for that. Since I’m trying British Airways’ premium economy in January, I’ll have tried all three airlines’ premium economy products that fly direct between Hong Kong and London by then, which I’ve vowed to do for the longest time.

Cathay Pacific Airbus A350 Premium Economy

Right, back to Italy. Now, I’ve checked award space on American AAdvantage and Cathay Pacific, and have had no luck in either direction (Etihad has award space for two, but I don’t have enough miles for four passengers, and they don’t fly from Venice). The four of us need to fly into Rome and out of Venice, and I’ve narrowed my options down to the following.

Now, since my dad is travelling, we’re trying our best to get ourselves in a premium cabin with a maximum of one connection each way. Here are the options I’ve found:

Continue reading “Help Me Get To Italy This Summer” →

Oof: Hong Kong Airlines Cuts U.S. Flights, Reduces Service To 10 Destinations

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In 2017, Hong Kong Airlines began flying to the U.S., which was an exciting development. At the time American Airlines hadn’t started flying between Hong Kong and Los Angeles yet, so Cathay Pacific more or less had a monopoly on that route. Cathay Pacific also had a joint venture with Air Canada, so Hong Kong Airlines gave them some competition.

Unfortunately amidst Hong Kong’s deepest recession in a long time, Hong Kong Airlines has announced that they will no longer fly to the U.S. as of February 8, 2020.

Hong Kong Airlines Airbus A350 Hong Kong Airport

Continue reading “Oof: Hong Kong Airlines Cuts U.S. Flights, Reduces Service To 10 Destinations” →

Review: Emirates A380 Business Class Dubai to London

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Emirates Lounge Hong Kong
Emirates 777 Business Class Hong Kong to Dubai
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse C
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse B
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse A
Emirates A380 Business Class Dubai to London

With all the glamour that Emirates’ A380 has boasted over the past decade, I knew I had to try it out at some point. Emirates introduced their A380 in 2008, and it started the innovation of inflight amenities such as onboard showers and bars that we see on quite a few different airlines today. Over time, though, the actual hard product on Emirates’ A380 became slightly less competitive, especially as it competed with newer revolutionary products such as Qatar Airways’ QSuite, so I was curious how it would fare in the grand scheme of things in 2019.

Now, I need to note that my flight experience was hindered by a purser who accused me of taking photos that were against the rules (he had the rules mixed up, and I’m still trying to sort things out with Emirates to see how this never happens to other airline bloggers out there). I’ll obviously mention it in the report below, though I’m going to strive to make this report as objective as possible, as my experience – prior to my interaction with the purser, of course – was stellar.

Anyway, my Emirates A380 experience began at the boarding gate B17, where boarding started at around 2:10 PM. It’s worth mentioning that as a business class passenger I could board this flight through a separate entrance for premium passengers, right outside the lounge – however, boarding starts a few minutes later for the upper deck, so boarding from the main gate area afforded me a couple of extra minutes to photograph Emirates’ beautiful A380 cabin.

Emirates Airbus A380 Dubai Airport

I was one of the first onboard the Emirates A380, and boarded through the lower deck.

Continue reading “Review: Emirates A380 Business Class Dubai to London” →

Review: Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse A

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Emirates Lounge Hong Kong
Emirates 777 Business Class Hong Kong to Dubai
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse C
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse B
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse A
Emirates A380 Business Class Dubai to London

Emirates has multiple lounges in Dubai Airport’s Terminal 3, but going in I knew that their lounge at Concourse A would be the largest by far. I made my way onto the train that connects Concourse B/C and Concourse A, and found myself in the grand atrium where connecting passengers landing at Concourse A are screened.

Concourse A Dubai Airport

The entrance to the lounge is located by where the airtrain lets off, smack in the middle of the concourse.

Continue reading “Review: Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse A” →

Review: Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse B

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Emirates Lounge Hong Kong
Emirates 777 Business Class Hong Kong to Dubai
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse C
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse B
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse A
Emirates A380 Business Class Dubai to London

Emirates has four lounges for business class passengers in Dubai Airport’s Terminal 3 – two massive lounges in Concourse A and B, a smaller one in Concourse C, and a tiny one further into concourse C. After visiting Emirates’ lounge in concourse C, I headed towards Concourse B, where my flight would be departing.

Emirates’ Concourse B lounge is situated near gate B16. It’s one floor above the main deck (and spans the length of half the terminal, with the other half occupied by the first class lounge) though you can board your aircraft from select B-gates, including B17, where our flight would be departing. I was welcomed by a friendly lounge attendant, and told that there wouldn’t be any boarding announcements for my flight.

Since the lounge was recently touched up, the furniture and furnishings were quite modern. Near the entrance was a circular area with lots of seating.

Emirates Business Class Lounge Dubai Concourse B 

Continue reading “Review: Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse B” →

Review: Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse C

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Emirates Lounge Hong Kong
Emirates 777 Business Class Hong Kong to Dubai
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse C
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse B
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse A
Emirates A380 Business Class Dubai to London

Our flight landed at gate C17, which was in Dubai Airport’s Concourse C. Emirates features lounges in all concourses in Terminal 3, so I decided to check out the lounge in Concourse C first, as it was right next to the transfer area.

The lounge is situated near gate C11. Dubai Airport’s Concourse C is relatively quieter than Concourse A and Concourse B, as you have to walk through Concourse B to get there (so it’s not the ideal place for duty free shops).

Dubai Airport Concourse C

The lounge itself is located right across the First Class lounge, and it’s actually quite big. I was visiting the lounge in the middle of the day, and it was really empty. It featured two levels, with the lower level featuring mostly of a food spread and armchair-style seating, and more varieties of seating on the upper deck.

Continue reading “Review: Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse C” →