[Anonymous]

[IanFromHKG]

This was a family trip on CX’s 777-300ER from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City – a short-haul flight on a long-haul ‘plane.

CHECK-IN, IMMIGRATION AND SECURITY

In the faint hope that it might result in an op-up, I had checked us in early online. I had also taken advantage of my, and the Memsahib’s, Marco Polo memberships to book exit-row seats for the two of us, with the Offspring booked in a couple of rows behind. We checked in our bags at the First Class check-in, which is always very quick. Since they don’t weigh bags at the desks (they take them behind the scenes) I specifically asked them to check that one of the bags did not exceed 32kg, which they quickly confirmed. We were connecting on to a Vietnam Airlines flight (on a separate booking) and asked if they could through-check, but were informed that we would, unfortunately, have to clear customs and immigration at SGN so they could not through-check. We were issued our boarding passes and lounge invitations. Since it was a distant gate, the Memsahib and I were given buggy vouchers – unfortunately, only for us and not for our accompanying Offspring.

Security was commendably quick, only about five minutes, even though HKG does not have fast track. Now that Junior Offspring is over 11 and has her own ID card, we were all able to use the e-gates at Immigration, so that took only about a minute.

LOUNGE

Although our gate (66) was at the far end of the airport near The Pier, we opted to use The Wing (near immigration) since (a) the F lounge at The Pier is closed for renovation, and (b) The Wing has the best food and we were relying on it for breakfast. The Memsahib had suggested that we didn’t have time to order and should just use the buffet, but I said I would order anyway and hope that it arrived on time, at which point she relented and ordered bacon and/or eggs for all. Just as well, as there is normally bacon on the breakfast buffet but not that day. As it was, by the time I had made toast at the buffet counter the orders were arriving, together with tea and coffee. The Offspring also had pastries, and the Memsahib even had time for another cappuccino before we headed to the gates.

BOARDING AND SEATS

We decided to splash out on another couple of buggy tickets for the Offspring and all went to the gate by buggy, arriving just as Final Call went up on the board, even though it appeared that boarding had only just started. Segregated boarding was in force but again due to our Marco Polo status we were able to use the premium lane, which was almost empty, and were quickly on board.

The Memsahib and I had booked the H and K seats in the exit row, hoping that no-one would choose the middle seat, and happily this is what transpired. As pre-agreed, she gave up her exit row seat in favour of (much taller) Senior Offspring, so she and Junior Offspring were in “ordinary” economy seats a couple of rows behind. For all of us, it was our first time in CX’s Y seats on these new 777-300ERs. They are configured 3-3-3, which gave reasonable width (being in the exit row, my seat was slightly narrower because the tray table is in the armrest, but it was still adequate – and I must add that I would not like to be in one of these aircraft with ten-across seating for any length of time). The seat itself was fairly comfortable, although I did feel it was designed for someone of slightly lesser stature than my own 6’3″ frame. Nonetheless, I was able to stay comfortable throughout the (admittedly relatively short, at 2.5 hours) flight without needing to use the recline, merely adjusting the headrest for height and changing the “wings” on the headrest slightly. Senior Offspring (6′) fell asleep fairly quickly and remained so throughout the flight and did not complain of any discomfort when she awoke.

The IFE monitor for the exit row seats folded down on an arm, but seemed the same (decent) size as those in the other seats. It was high-res, touch-screen, AVOD, and had a wide range of options available. There was also a separate controller stowed in the side of the armrest – I am not sure if the same applied to the other seats or whether this was unique to the exit row – I suspect the latter, since of course the screens need to be stowed away during take-off and landing. The headset was comfortable and of decent quality, although since it wasn’t noise-canceling and we were by the doors and toilets I did need to turn the sound up slightly higher than I would have liked. I did check on the Memsahib and Junior Offspring during the flight and noted that they had very adequate legroom. They also had the advantage of the IFE screen being directly in front of them. There is a little oddments tray beneath the screen, big enough to hold glasses, pens, phone etc in plain view, which I thought was a very neat touch. There is also a cupholder which can be used with the tray stowed away.

The toilets were fairly unexceptional, although I noted that they had hand cream and body lotion, which I was surprised (and pleased) by.

INFLIGHT SERVICE

A senior cabin crew member came round shortly after take-off to introduce himself to me as a Marco Polo Diamond member and handed out bottles of mineral water to me and the rest of the family, a normal perk for Diamond members. A breakfast service was commenced about half an hour into the flight, but having eaten in the lounge we all declined. I was impressed to note that those who declined the full breakfast option were offered an alternative light breakfast option of cut fruit and juice. Sadly, though, tea and coffee weren’t offered with breakfast but came round quite some time later, which seemed rather odd. I declined both, but later used the call-bell to ask for Coke which was delivered very swiftly, as was a refill.

ARRIVAL

We had obtained our Vietnamese visas before departure – expensive and (for the Memsahib) time-consuming, but as it turned out a good investment. It was a long walk from the aircraft to the immigration hall, and when we arrived there was a huge difference in the queues for those of us with visas and those obtaining visas on arrival, who so far as we could tell had to queue twice – once to get the visas, and again to clear immigration. As it was, we were processed very swiftly and were quickly in the baggage hall. Signage here wasn’t excellent – the main board indicated carousel number 1, but the sign at that carousel indicated a TG flight, which was rather confusing. We decided to stay put until bags started arriving, which they did five or ten minutes later, and sure enough they were the bags from our flight. Annoyingly for us (although presumably not for those travelling in J) the bags tagged as business class priority arrived first, with our first class priority tags apparently meriting lesser treatment. Nonetheless, they came through in about ten minutes.

SUMMARY

CX continues to do well by its Diamond members with an excellent F lounge offering at The Wing, buggy vouchers to distant gates at HKG, and personal greetings on board. The routine service offering on board was a little slow, but perhaps my expectations are a bit off since I so rarely travel economy! When the call bell was used it was swiftly answered and requests dealt with very quickly too. The seats were – at least over that distance – comfortable, and the IFE excellent. I am not sure if I would opt for exit rows again, as the normal seats had perfectly adequate legroom, and the advantage of slightly better seat amenities. Altogether, a very pleasant flight.

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