Category: Updates

Qatar Airways’ QSuite Is As Good As I Hoped It To Be

~ Alvin ~ 1 Comment

WOW! Hello from 34,000 feet somewhere over Iran. I’m currently trying out Qatar Airways’ QSuite between Doha and Amsterdam. I flew to Doha this morning, where I managed to sample QSuites for the first time; I believed that a review of the “world’s best business class product” was long overdue.

Qatar Airways Boeing 777 QSuite Business Class 

Mainly I was looking forward to playing some sort of devil’s advocate, since I’ve heard unanimous praise from various trusted bloggers. It all seemed too good to be true.

It wasn’t. Obviously I’ve tried enough business class products so that I can come up with a couple of (nitpicky) criticisms with regards to the seat, though there’s no question that this business class product blows any other that I’ve flown out of the water.

This is as close to perfection as business class gets.

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Cathay Pacific Retires 777-200s

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

Cathay Pacific has been introducing some new aircraft lately. Last year Cathay Pacific introduced their newest variant of the A350, the A350-1000. The airline took the opportunity to introduce new economy class seats when introducing the A350-1000, and although I was swapped out when booked in their economy class, I did manage to fly their business class on a short flight.

Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-1000 Hong Kong Airport

Obviously, as with any company that has moving parts, the arrival of new planes means it’s time to say goodbye to some old ones. Cathay Pacific is retiring their last 777-200 out of service on August 7, 2019.

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How Good is British Airways’ New Club World and Club Europe Dining?

~ j ~ Leave a comment

In my last post, I talked about my experience with British Airways’ Club World and Club Europe hard product. To my surprise, I found that the seats weren’t quite as bad as most people have made it out to be. With that in mind, I wanted to follow up on that post by sharing some of my thoughts about British Airways’ new Club World and Club Europe soft product offerings, especially considering the recent upgrades that have been made.

IMG_3374.jpgBritish Airways Boeing 777-200ER Club World Cabin

Last year, British Airways rolled out a new service style for their Club World cabins, which was created in collaboration with Do&Co. While the service initially included an elaborate trolley service, this was cut back in favour of a simpler hand-delivered tray service for convenience. In the meantime, British Airways have also rolled out improvements to their Club Europe dining. Having heard quite good things about both of these meal service enhancements, I was excited to give it a go for myself.

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British Airways’ Club World Seat Is NOT THAT BAD!

~ j ~ Leave a comment

British Airways’ “Club” business class cabins are some of the most extensively reviewed products out there, and the consensus seems pretty simple: it’s not that great. The current “dorm-style” Club World cabin has been panned by everyone and their mother and their Club Europe product is little more than an economy seat with a blocked middle seat and free food.

IMG_3374.jpgBritish Airways Boeing 777-200ER Club World Cabin

However, on a recent trip, British Airways offered some really compelling fares to Europe from Bangkok, so I decided to bite the bullet and try the product out for myself to see how the product fared, especially when compared to some more highly regarded competitors such as Cathay Pacific and Finnair.

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ANA’s Stunning New 777 Cabins

~ Alvin ~ 2 Comments

While economy class seats get tighter and tighter, business class seats have gradually gotten more and more luxurious. Qatar Airways revolutionised the industry by introducing their QSuite back in 2017, and since then we’ve seen an increasing number of carriers introduce business class seats with doors.

ANA introduced their last-generation business class products in 2013. I’ve heard good things about their soft product, though honestly their hard product is somewhere near the middle of the pack lately. The seat colours are drab, and I’ve tried similarly configured products (such as EVA Air’s 787), which are nice but can’t compete with the latest and greatest out there.

ANA Boeing 777 Tokyo Haneda Airport

Well, that changed all of a sudden.

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FINALLY: Cathay Pacific Adds Much Needed Long-Haul Business Class Amenities

~ Alvin ~ 2 Comments

Cathay Pacific has a business class product that I find incredibly solid. Now that Cathay Pacific is installing WiFi onto a majority of their fleet, I actually find their premium cabins a very pleasant way to fly. Their A350 business class is currently my favourite business class seat out there – the sleeping surface is maximised, the storage is done right, and reverse herringbone seats are incredibly pleasant to start with.

Cathay Pacific Airbus A350 Business Class Bed

Unfortunately as of now they don’t exactly have the amenities to match. While Cathay Pacific has a decent pillow and blanket on longhaul flights, I find some of the basics to be lacking. One of the most annoying things about Cathay Pacific amenities is that they provide socks…and no slippers. Who wants to be walking towards an airplane bathroom in socks, soaking up all the…nevermind.

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Introduction: Revisiting Tokyo…Twice

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

Introduction: Revisiting Tokyo…Twice
Cathay Pacific The Deck Lounge Hong Kong
Japan Airlines 777-200 Business Class Hong Kong to Tokyo
A Tale Of Two Observation Decks: Tokyo Haneda vs. Narita
Hotel Century Southern Tower Tokyo
Scoot 787 ScootBiz Tokyo to Taipei
Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Business Class Taipei to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific A330 Economy Class Hong Kong to Tokyo
Cathay Pacific 777 Economy Class Tokyo to Hong Kong

Before I start this trip report, I’m fully aware that I never managed to finish my Bangkok trip report. I’ll get back to that, but now that I’m back in somewhat of a trip report writing slump, I wanted to write about something that I like writing about – flying. (While there’s a flight report I’ve yet to write in the Bangkok series, I’d still like to document my time at the Siam Kempinski Bangkok – which takes a while.)

The inspiration for the trip began when I was looking at a short excursion abroad using expiring Asia Miles after my exams. I’m trying to make a switchover to American AAdvantage (which has been a complete PITA, though I’m finding a few workarounds as of late), so I’m trying to use Asia Miles to fly premium products that I otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to. One of the airlines I’ve really wanted to fly is Japan Airlines, so I found some award space between Hong Kong and Tokyo Haneda. I haven’t been to Tokyo since 2010, so it seemed like a good time to revisit a city I remember loving. (They also had award space on a morning flight to Tokyo Narita, which I would’ve otherwise preferred, though flying their reverse herringbone product seemed more exciting than flying their last-generation angled flat product.) This cost 30,000 Asia Miles per person.

Japan Airlines Boeing 777 Business Class

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What Is Cathay Pacific’s 10-Abreast 777 Economy Class Like?

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

Ah, finally. After so many speculative posts, the time had come for me to try out Cathay Pacific’s 10-abreast economy class configuration. Boeing 777s were created so they could fit 9 economy seats across one row, though the norm for airline gradually shifted to cramming in an extra seat in order to maximise capacity. Cathay Pacific decided to jump onto the bandwagon in 2017, while the first aircraft with narrower seats started flying in April 2018.

I’ve been very critical of Cathay Pacific’s decision to switch their comfortable economy seats, which I found one of the world’s best, to these seats. I was convinced that even disregarding width, they wouldn’t be as comfortable. So I was intentional to book myself a flight in these seats on a recent trip to Tokyo, so I could personally see what the seats were like.

Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 Tokyo Narita Airport

Generally I consider myself to predict the quality of a hard product very accurately. I’ve been blogging in the aviation industry for 6+ years, and I’m also an aspiring engineer. The least I could do is accurately predict how comfortable a seat will be, right?

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What Is Cathay Pacific’s A350-1000 Business Class Like?

~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

I’m home for a little bit after a nice trip to Tokyo. My relax time is cut short since I’m flying back to Tokyo to spend some time with a group of friends tomorrow (yes, this is the coveted graduation trip), though I had commitments in the area today.

One of the main reasons I went to Tokyo was to review Japan Airlines’ 777 business class and Scoot’s 787 ScootBiz, though once space opened up I jumped on the opportunity to fly Cathay Pacific’s A350-1000 business class from Taipei to Hong Kong. I used 1,000 Asia Miles to change my flight (from a 777-300), and flew the hourlong flight last night.

Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-1000 Hong Kong Airport

So how was my experience in Cathay Pacific’s A350-1000? Surprisingly, it was excellent, and easily the best out of the three flights I’d taken on this trip.

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What Is ScootBiz Like?

~ Alvin ~ 1 Comment

Hello from Taipei! I’m heading back to Hong Kong again before spending some more time in Tokyo with my friends. This is partly because I want to get a couple more reviews in, since I’ll be trying five new products over the course of ten days, but mostly just because I’m an idiot.

Anyhow, today I flew Scoot’s 787 from Tokyo Narita to Taipei in their ScootBiz cabin. It’s the first time I’ve checked out a low-cost airline’s premium product, so I’m probably best off comparing it to the various premium economy products I’ve flown in the past. I was glad to try it out, but also partly nervous, due to the not-so-rave reviews I’ve heard about ScootBiz in the past.

Scoot Boeing 787 Tokyo Narita Airport

So how was ScootBiz? Honestly, at the price we paid and with my low expectations, I was very impressed.

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