Three A350s and a Dreamliner: Regional Flights in Asia with SQ, TG and CX

[yflyer]

The CX Lounge in Bangkok had a manned, full service bar...





The wine, beer and spirits on offer...



...and also non alcoholic beverages...



A selection of breakfast pastries were laid out on the bar counter...



There was buffet table and casual (stand-up) dining area...



...with a beautiful continental breakfast spread...



...which included salads, cheese and cold cuts...



...as well as breakfast cereal...



Coffee and tea...



Yogurt, soft drinks in a fridge...as well as beer (A legit breakfast beverage in some parts of the world...)

[yflyer]

I was also very pleasantly surprised to find that there was a noodle bar...



...and sit-down dining area...



A very tempting range of noodles, rice and dim sum on the menu, all prepared to order...



...along with a full selection of condiments...



I could not resist ordering a bowl of rice porridge with grains...



This looked absolutely beautiful, and tasted great as well...

[yflyer]

The lounge also had a work area...



...and attached restroom (No showers)...





Overall, I found this to be a very impressive outstation lounge, done to a very high standard, and very distinctively CX. Thumbs up.

[yflyer]

I headed to the gate for CX616 BKK-HKG...



This flight was operated by an A330...



There was a section of the gate seating, closest to the aerobridge, cordoned off for First, Business and frequent flyers. A great idea.



Boarding commenced on time...



A selection of newspapers on the aerobridge...



At that time, the demonstrations in Hong Kong were already in the news, but the protests had not yet reached the airport, which was still operating normally...

[yflyer]

This was a two-class A330, with Cirrus fully flat Business Class seats laid out in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone format...



This was essentially a long haul J product, similar to J on the A350...

[yflyer]

The Y cabin was laid out 2-4-2, which was pretty much standard for A330's...

Bulkhead window seats...



Middle bank of 4 seats...



The seats were comfortable: well padded, with good recline...



The emex row seats...



Widescreen touchscreen IFE...



The StudioCX AVOD system on this A330 was one generation behind the very latest version on the A350, but was still a very modern and user-friendly system.



There was a great selection of Movies, TV and music...



USB connector under the screen...



A/C power under the seats...



Bathrooms with mottled grey counter tops...

[yflyer]

Pushback...



...and a long taxi past a large terminal still under construction...



Take-off into the morning sky, with great views of the city, and Bang Krachao, visible out the right hand side windows...



...and later on, the morning sun glinting over the rice paddies...



...as we turned and set course for HKG...

[yflyer]

Very good cabin ambience on this flight, with the A330's 2-4-2 cabin layout being preferable, in some ways, to the 3-3-3 on the A350...



Breakfast was served...



There was an international and an Asian selection on offer. I opted for the Asian noodles...



The noodles were very tasty...



...with great noodle texture...



Based on on food labels on the water and yogurt, this looked to have been catered out of the BKK wonderful flight kitchens.

Coffee to finish...

[yflyer]

The flight took us over Laos, Vietnam, Hainan Island, and the port city of Haikou, capital of the province of Hainan...



...with glimpses of the coastline below visible through the clouds...





The weather got increasingly dark and stormy as we approached Hong Kong...



...with very dark clouds at low level as we approached HKG...





Landing on Runway 25L...with a long queue of planes waiting to take-off on 25R...



It was amazing how quickly the weather turned from bright sunshine over Indochina to such dark, stormy conditions over Hong Kong...



At the gate in HKG...



As I got off the plane, I received a stream of messages from my colleague in Hong Kong...

Bad news...there was a tropical warning in force, and offices were closed that afternoon...my meeting that day was not going to happen...



Mother nature had done what the protests had not been able to do: my meeting had now been cancelled...

"You should try to change to an earlier flight to KL," my colleague texted.

So on this visit to Hong Kong, fate had determined that I would not even leave Chek Lap Kok airport. Fresh off CX616 from Bangkok, rather than clear immigration and head into Hong Kong, I did a U-turn and headed back through transit security to the airside departure area to catch a flight out to Kuala Lumpur...

[yflyer]

My next stop: CX Lounge "The Bridge"...



...where the CX counter staff helped me with flight arrangements for my onward flight to KUL...



But the next CX/KA flight to Kuala Lumpur was full. Overbooked in fact...

My original flight out to KL was confirmed that evening, but the weather was getting worse by the minute, with the cyclone warning soon to be upgraded to No.8...

Would I be able to catch an earlier flight? If the weather got worse, would any flights depart at all?

To be continued!

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

At the reception at Cathay Pacific's Lounge, "The Bridge", the customer service agents there were very helpful.

"I am confirmed on the evening flight to Kuala Lumpur, can I change to an earlier flight, please?" I asked.

There were several Cathay Dragon flights (KA metal, with CX code share flight numbers) to Kuala Lumpur later that day.

"I can confirm you on the 4.10pm flight. The next flight at 12.45pm is overbooked, and we are looking for volunteers to go on the next MH flight to Kuala Lumpur. We can only put you on the 12.45pm flight if enough passengers switch to the MH flight. Please come back at eleven forty five to check if there are seats available...", the agent replied.

"Can I pay to upgrade to Business Class?"

"No, business class is completely full as well..."

"Can you move me to the MH flight?", I asked hopefully. I would be quite happy flying to KUL on MH.

The agent looked surprised and smiled, "Sorry sir, we can only move passengers to MH who had confirmed bookings on the CX flight..."

Well, it was worth a try...

Still, a confirmed seat at 4.10pm, and a hint of a possibility of an even earlier 12.45pm departure was probably as good an outcome I could have gotten, given the circumstances.

My original travel plans were now out the window, and there was a possible storm brewing, but then again, spending time in one (or more...) of Cathay Pacific's wonderful lounges in HKG was no great hardship. On the contrary, this was now a great opportunity to check out what was new in the CX Lounge situation.

It was now 10.35am. I would spend the next hour or so in "The Bridge" while waiting to see if an empty seat would appear on KA725...

[yflyer]

"The Bridge" was one of several of CX Lounges spread out over the Chek Lap Kok Terminal 1 airside area. Each lounge was different, and excellent in its own way. Which you visited depended partly on where you were in the terminal, but if you had enough time on your hands, it was definitely worth heading to a specific favourite lounge, if you had one.

Since I was already at "The Bridge", I began there. This was not my first time in this particular lounge, but it would be worthwhile to revisit it to see if anything had changed.

From the central reception, you could either turn left or right to different sections of the lounge. I turned right, to first check out this section of the facility, which was usually busier than the left side.



By then...it was raining quite heavily over the airport...



From the lounge, I saw one of Cathay Dragon's A330s, in the new KA red livery, arriving at the gate...



The lounge was busy, but not overly so...



There were several different seating zones...



A few of Cathay's signature rounded work pods...



I headed first to the Long Bar in the lounge...



A beautiful array of bar snacks were arranged at one end of the bar...





The lounge beverage and wine list...



Ice cream and coffee were also available...

[yflyer]

A glass of GH Mumm to take the edge off the events of this morning...



Not the worst possible way to wait out a travel disruption...

[yflyer]

A glass of bubbles later, I headed to the dining room...



Unlike some of the other CX Lounges in HKG and elsewhere, "The Bridge" did not have a noodle bar, but what it did have was an impressive buffet dining selection, comprising oriental and international selections...



Soy milk, fruit juices and infused water...



Fruit and salads...



Pizza...





Beef siu mai...



Steamed vegetable and pork buns...



An impressive selection of both Asian and Western soups...





Bread rolls...

[yflyer]

The hot selections on offer included Moroccan Chicken Stew, with Cous Cous...



...and tortellini in cream, and sweet potatoes with mushrooms...



Desserts included bread pudding...



Taro coconut milk with sago...



Egg tarts and chocolate pudding...



Soft drinks on tap, cans of beer, and water were also available in the dining room.