Category: Travel

Review: EVA Air A330 Business Class Hong Kong to Taipei

~ Alvin ~ 1 Comment

Introduction: 5 Stars ForEVA
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge Hong Kong Airport
EVA Air A330 Business Class Hong Kong to Taipei
EVA Air The Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge Taipei Airport
EVA Air 787 Business Class Taipei to Hong Kong

As I mentioned in the last installment, I paid a visit to the Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge at Hong Kong Airport, followed by the United Club. From the United Club I was able to see the EVA Air A330 that would be taking me to Taipei, as it pulled into gate 62 at around 12:35 PM.

While 12:35 PM was still a good 30 minutes before our boarding time, it was well beyond the scheduled arrival time of 12:10 PM, so it was no surprise when the ground staff announced a boarding delay of 5 minutes.

EVA Air Airbus A330 Hong Kong Airport

Sure enough, at 1:10 PM boarding was called. While I wasn’t first in line, I managed to be first onboard in the business class cabin, as everyone in front of me was an EVA Air elite.

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Review: Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge Hong Kong Airport

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

Introduction: 5 Stars ForEVA
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge Hong Kong Airport
EVA Air A330 Business Class Hong Kong to Taipei
EVA Air The Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge Taipei Airport
EVA Air 787 Business Class Taipei to Hong Kong

My flight was leaving Hong Kong Airport at 1:35 PM, so I initially figured I’d get to the airport at around 12 PM. However, in the morning I found myself unproductive and needing a change of atmosphere, and I figured the SilverKris lounge would be crowded by 12 PM in anticipation of the Singapore Airlines flight departing around that time. Wanting to check the lounge out (since I haven’t reviewed the SilverKris lounge since 2015), I made my way to the airport at 9:30 AM, where I made a beeline to the SilverKris lounge.

You have access to the SilverKris lounge if you’re a Star Alliance Gold member on a Star Alliance ticket, or if you’re a premium passenger on a Star Alliance airline. In this case I was travelling on EVA Air in business class, so my mobile boarding pass granted me lounge access without issue. The SilverKris lounge is located across gate 15, a short walk from immigration.

Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge Hong Kong Entrance

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Introduction: 5 Stars ForEVA

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

Introduction: 5 Stars ForEVA
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge Hong Kong Airport
EVA Air A330 Business Class Hong Kong to Taipei
EVA Air The Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge Taipei Airport
EVA Air 787 Business Class Taipei to Hong Kong

Yeah, I get it, punny title, har har, jokes, it’s lame. Moving on…

Over the past years I’ve had the opportunity to fly Singapore Airlines partners countless times. I’ve flown the airline, I’ve flown a bunch of Star Alliance carriers to/from Europe, and I’ve also flown Virgin Atlantic, a Singapore Airlines partner, countless times. Over the years I managed to rack up 60,000 KrisFlyer miles, which is pretty impressive, considering I haven’t transferred any points over, I didn’t have an account until 2016, I don’t have a Singapore Airlines credit card (or any credit card), etc..

I realised there’d be a period of time where I’d be on the ground, but relatively freer. I figured I’d do a power trip using my miles, so I started looking at options. Ultimately I decided to head over to Taipei so I could test out EVA’s 787 product, which I was intrigued in.

EVA Air Boeing 787 Business Class

Continue reading “Introduction: 5 Stars ForEVA” →

I Flew Cathay Pacific’s New Narrower Economy Seat…and Hated It

~ Jason ~ 2 Comments

TL/DR: Although I can’t blame Cathay Pacific for their new 10-abreast Economy seats, I had an awful experience, and I will be avoiding them like I do with all my school deadlines.

Hello from Hong Kong! I just came back from a short trip to Tokyo and had a fantastic time. This trip was especially noteworthy since it was my very first time flying on Cathay Pacific’s newly retrofitted regional Boeing 777-300 aircraft. In a bid to drive up profits, Cathay has begun rapidly retrofitting it’s Boeing 777 fleet with new “densified” Economy cabins, which squeeze in an extra seat per row. I wanted to book this flight to experience the new cabins myself to see if Cathay delivered on their promise to “ease the pain” of the reduced seat width in the new seats.

img_5635Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 Hong Kong Airport

So, I finally flew the flight last Wednesday – and yeah, the experience wasn’t the best. Here are my first impressions:

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RANKED: The Best Business Class Seats In 2018

~ Alvin ~ 2 Comments

As I’m incredibly busy over the next few days and am also doing some spring cleaning with the blog and my YouTube channel, I’d like to re-post some of the guides I’ve written for your viewing pleasure, as well as post some new ones that I’ve had lined up. I’ll be back next week with some new aviation content, but for now, enjoy!

Over the course of the last few years I’ve had the opportunity to sample every single “generic” business class configurations there is out there. By “generic”, I’m talking about business class configurations that a number of airlines operate. I’m effectively ruling out specific custom-made configurations, such as Qatar Airways’ QSuites, Delta’s Delta One Suites, British Airways’ weird forwards-backwards configuration, etc.. I plan to try those out soon, though for now I thought it would be fun to visit a quick ranking of all the business class seats we’ve flown here at YTHK so far.

(For the record, based on reviews alone I’d predict that QSuites and Delta One Suites are both ahead of the competition compared to all of the products listed below. Here’s to hoping I can prove that sometime soon.)

While economy class is all about the price these days, there is lots of competition for the best business class seat out there

I figured I’d start from the worst and move on up. So here we go:

Continue reading “RANKED: The Best Business Class Seats In 2018” →

A Great Way To Spend Your KrisFlyer Miles

~ Alvin ~ 1 Comment

Last week I booked an itinerary for myself that gave me a direct turn to Taipei for 40,000 KrisFlyer miles. Now, I know that that’s not a good deal, but it seemed like a good chance to try the EVA 787. After reevaluating I decided I was an idiot, and I probably should’ve flown Singapore Airlines to Singapore as a direct turn, so I’d be getting more value for each mile I was spending. Turns out it gets worse. 😉

You can fly from Hong Kong to Perth for 65,000 miles, and on the way you’d get to try out Singapore Airlines’ 787 business class, new A380 business class, and old 777 business class with reasonable layovers each way.

Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Hong Kong Airport

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Review: Royal Brunei A320neo Economy Class Hong Kong to Brunei

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

In November 2018 I had commitments in Bandar Seri Begawan, and also headed off to a jungle resort in Ulu Temburong National Park, a national park in Brunei. This was booked as part of my fourth and final trip with school – you can check out my reports in previous years of my trips to Myanmar, Fujian, and Yunnan here. Once again, my parents funded this trip, and I’ll reiterate once again that my goal in life is to be able to use the tactics I learn in this industry to give my parents such experiences in the future, for pennies on the dollar.

Royal Brunei Airbus A320neo Brunei Airport

With that in mind, I was booked a HK$3,800 roundtrip economy class ticket on Royal Brunei, which operates the only nonstop flight between Hong Kong and Bandar Seri Begawan. I was thrilled to see that I’d be flying their new A320neo, which I was excited to review – I quickly did a little research, and found out that Royal Brunei had installed PTVs on their A320neos, which isn’t usually the case in economy class on narrowbody aircraft in Southeast Asia. For your reference, business class starts selling from HK$6,900 roundtrip on this route.

Here’s my review of the product, which will work a little differently from the other reviews I’ve written in the past.

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Review: The Opposite House Beijing Studio 70 Room

~ Jason ~ Leave a comment

In June, I travelled to Beijing in order to position for a cheap Premium Economy fare to New York. I had the good fortune of staying at The Opposite House, a member of Swire Hotel’s “House Collective” brand through a one-night free offer by booking through Visa Luxury Hotels and Citibank. We booked in a Studio 70 room, which is an upgraded room which normally retails for around CNY 3,000 a night. All in all, we paid around CNY 1,500 each night for our stay. 

We arrived at the hotel at around 10PM after arriving in Beijing on a heavily-delayed Cathay Dragon flight. We had taken a cab to Sanlitun, which was a 20-minute drive from the airport. This area of Beijing is most-known for its nightlife, which is especially popular with expats. The hotel is specifically located as part of Taikoo Li – a large shopping complex where you’ll find many major regional and international designer brands.

The hotel’s exterior is decked out in blue and green glass tiles, which I personally thought looked really cool and simple. I’ll note here that most of the pictures of the hotel interior were taken the night that I arrived when I was really tired and groggy, so I apologise in advance for the crappy quality.

IMG_5920The Opposite House Beijing Exterior

The hotel’s entrance doors are designed in the traditional Northern Chinese style, which was one of many local design touches sprinkled throughout the hotel. We were welcomed by two bellmen who were dressed in grey wool waistcoats, jeans and black t-shirts. They were dressed so casually that at times that we thought they were just random people on the street.

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EVA Air’s NEW 787 Business Class Seat — WOW!!

~ Ethan Yang | Aviation and Travel ~ Leave a comment

Greetings from Taipei! Last Saturday, I flew to Hong Kong and right back onboard EVA Air’s brand new 787. EVA hasn’t been flying their 787 for long, and I was actually flying them on the third day they operated the plane. While I was seated in economy, I had the chance to check out EVA’s brand new business class product.

EVA Air Boeing 787 Business Class Cabin

I booked these flights so I could check out the new products onboard EVA’s newest flagship plane, and I’m proud to say that I found the new seats to be both stunning and beautifully designed.

What is the brand new business class onboard EVA Air’s 787 like? Watch the video and read below to find out!

Continue reading “EVA Air’s NEW 787 Business Class Seat — WOW!!” →

Royal Brunei A320neo Economy Class: Better Than What You’d Expect

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

Hello from Bandar Seri Begawan! Today I had the opportunity to fly from Hong Kong to Bandar Seri Begawan on Royal Brunei. The flight was operated by one of the airline’s brand new A320neos. I was especially excited about this flight because I hadn’t heard much about Royal Brunei’s A320neos prior to booking myself onto the flight, but was intrigued by the cabin photos that I searched up.

Royal Brunei Airbus A320neo Hong Kong Airport

After searching up the cabin photos, my expectations of Royal Brunei’s A320 heightened. I’m glad to say that those heightened expectations were met. While Royal Brunei doesn’t have the world’s most luxurious narrowbody products, this is a great way to spend 3-4 hours.

Continue reading “Royal Brunei A320neo Economy Class: Better Than What You’d Expect” →