[AndrewinHK]

During the last 2 weeks, I took 6 flights, and 1 train during a 9-day trip to Europe. Overall I was pleasantly surprised, particularly at how efficient the airports were.

Flight 1 – Hong Kong to Frankfurt (Cathay Pacific) Business Class

Hong Kong airport is a delight as always, the facial recognition technology at the security and boarding gate works really well and saves a lot of time and hassle of taking a ticket/passport out of your bag constantly. HK still requires liquids and electronics to be removed from bags, no CT scanners yet. I went to the Pier Business Lounge, it was pleasant, and not too busy, the food selection is unremarkable, but what they do have is palatable. The bar is well stocked, and I enjoyed a few Aperol Spritz. The lounge is very spacious and well-designed, classy and low-lit, which creates a lovely ambiance. I headed to the gate around 40 mins prior to boarding, The Pier’s location can mean a 5-10 minute walk to your gate is frequently needed.

Boarding the A350-1000 was on time, the flight was busy, but not full. I partook in a glass of champagne, they currently serve Tattinger, and settled into the seat. The CX seat is good, I am sure it has been reviewed many times here, but it is slowly being eclipsed by competitors upgrading seats, BA Clubsuite and Qatar Q Suite are much better. The food was well presented, and dinner was a good portion, with some Michelin Star menu items from local restaurant Duddels, breakfast less so, definitely some cost cuts, no yogurt anymore. I slept most of the journey, and landing in Frankfurt was on time.

Flight 2 – Frankfurt to Amsterdam (Lufthansa) Economy

I connected in Frankfurt, and I had around 2 hours, which was more than enough time. After a quick train ride to the immigration check, UK passports cannot use the E Gates, which still seems bizarre to me, in any case, the line for the manned desks was short, and after a quick quizzing about my travel plans, my passport was stamped. My flight departed from A gates, the f&b options are quite impressive, with lots of healthy, good-quality food. The terminal became quite busy, once I reached the boarding gate, agents asked for 4 volunteers to take the next flight in 3 hours as it was overbooked, offering 250 euros in the form of compensation, they didn’t seem to have any problem finding takers. The a320 was clean, the crew were friendly, and the flight was uneventful, and on time.

Arrival in Amsterdam, the airport was busy, the luggage happily only took around 25 minutes to be delivered, and I was on the train to Amsterdam Central soon after. I stayed at The Pulitzer, located on Prisengracht, location is great for business and leisure, close to the Anne Frank Haus, and a 5-minute walk to Dam Square. The hotel is a fairly recent renovation of 25 canal houses, the style is eclectic, with a brushed black stone entrance. The rooms are luxurious and quirky, and the breakfast was hearty.

Flight 3 – Amsterdam to Copenhagen (KLM) Economy

I arrived at Schiphol with 2.5 hours to spare for my 2.20 pm flight, having read of the recent horrors of long lines and congestion, I was pleasantly surprised to find the exact opposite. I had booked a slot via the new virtual queue system but didn’t avail myself of the slot, as all lines were empty. New CT scanners are in use, so electronics and liquids all stay in your bag, making for what has to be the quickest security procedure I have experienced, I was airside within 2 minutes.

I headed to the KLM Crown 25 lounge, a large modern facility, well signposted from the security check. The lounge has ample seating but was busy. The food offered was traditional European fare, which suits me fine. The self-service bar, also suited me, the layout is conducive to work and or resting. The wifi was quick, allowing for streaming. The lounge customer service staff helped me change my seat to an upfront one, and after a while of lazing, I headed to the boarding gate. Self Service boarding gates are in use, and priority boarding was observed, the automatic gate scanners refuse entry to boarding passes not in the called groups, which was somewhat pleasing. Despite its 20+ year age, the KLM 737 was clean, tidy, and full. The small overhead compartments are definitely noticeable, with some larger hand baggage being checked in. What I love about KLM is the staff always seem to be happy, well-presented, and professional, the free sandwich and drink service they offer also sets them apart from competitors and made for an enjoyable hop to Copenhagen. Copenhagen airport from my experience is always fairly slow with luggage delivery, happily less slow than my last visit, but bags still took more than 30 minutes. I stayed at NH Collection, a modern, well-located, large hotel on the river. The rooms are spacious, and the buffet breakfast is fantastic.

Flight 4/5 – Copenhagen to Amsterdam to Geneva (KLM) Business Class

I chose this indirect routing as I wanted to accrue some Flying Blue points, I took advantage of the business class upgrade offer at check-in which cost around 120 euros. I skipped the lounge in Copenhagen. Boarding was on time, the business class on the 737 is just the standard middle seat empty, the main difference is the catering, a meal box is provided, which was tasty, the cabin was almost full, and the arrival in Amsterdam was 20 minutes ahead of schedule. My connection to Geneva was quick and easy, the flight was busy, service from the crew was warm and friendly, on time arrival. Baggage took around 20 minutes to arrive, and soon after I was on the train to Geneva Cornavin, which is a less than 10-minute journey costing just 3 CHF, incredibly cheap for such a good quality service. I stayed at Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues, an amazing hotel, the rooms are sumptuous, the location is lakeside, with lovely views, and enjoyed some lovely strolls alone on the lakeside in the cool air.

I took the train to Zurich, paying the relatively small premium to sit in first class. To enjoy the best views, sit on the right side of the train. The train was a double-decker, and the seats were all empty as I boarded, the train has groups of 4 seats and groups of 2, and I was able to enjoy 2 seats to myself for the approximately 3-hour journey. The train was smooth, clean, and very easy to move luggage on and off. I stayed at Park Hyatt in Zurich, which has a quite spartan concrete/glass facade and lobby, on what was a dreary day in Zurich, the rooms are similar in style to the PH in Paris, with wood paneling on the walls, and a nice color palette. The food offering was enjoyable at the lobby lounge, with healthy options, and a good wine selection.

Flight 6 – Zurich to Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific) Business Class

The final furlong. I reached the airport in plenty of time, as I wanted to enjoy some time at ZRH’s observation deck, which makes ZRH one of my favorite airports. Lines to security were long if you didn’t have priority, and even still it took around 10 minutes to clear. Zurich does not have CT scanners yet, so liquids and electronics need to come out. Cathay uses the Aspire Lounge, of which there are two, one in the main terminal, and one in the E gates area. The main terminal lounge I would give it a miss, it has no view and feels quite dark and dated. The E Gates lounge is very light and airy, it has runway/apron views with which you could see the Cathay A350 at a remote stand. I arrived at the boarding gate around 40 minutes before departure, to be told by a gate agent to go back to the lounge, as the flight was delayed, and they would know more in an hour. After 45 minutes a text message from Cathay announcing the flight was delayed by 1 hour 20 minutes, 2 minutes later another text message saying the flight was delayed 2 hours and 20 minutes. No reason was given, the aircraft had been on the ground in Zurich for 48 hours on an extended layover, (as this flight is not yet back to daily frequency). Eventually, the flight boarded, with a brief ‘aircraft had a technical issue when being brought from the remote stand’ as the reason for the delay. The flight was full in J, nothing much different on the return leg, apart from the crew being quite clumsy, bringing dessert, but hadn’t collected the main meal tray, resulting in some assistance being needed, nothing major, but stood out as normally Cathay is very slick. Arrival in Hong Kong was 2 hours 40 minutes late at the gate, which didn’t really bother me, as I was in no hurry, but many were perturbed due to missed connections. Hong Kong airport again excelled itself, I am not exaggerating when I say I was aircraft to airport express and on my way home (including collecting luggage) within 20 minutes.

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Woodpecker, fqtvgla, LuganoPirate, DavidGrodentz, YorkshireTraveller, AMcWhirter, Johnnyg, K1ngston, AlanOrton1, MartynSinclair, GivingupBA, stevescoots, tomwjsimpson, cwoodward

[LuganoPirate]

[quote quote=1357108]I took advantage of the business class upgrade offer at check-in which cost around 120 euros.[/quote]

Thanks for that report Andrew, it was very informative.

I’ve a quick question that maybe you can answer, as I’ve always wondered, having paid for the upgrade, did you receive the FB points based on Business class, or did you just get the original FB points for that economy section??

Safe travels.

[AndrewinHK]

I was very happy to see you actually get a credit of points for the upgrade. It appears on your flying blue statement as ‘upgrade from economy to business’. I doubt that it equates to the points for a regularly purchased business ticket, but you get something!

1 user thanked author for this post.

LuganoPirate

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