[Flight Report] Toronto - Hong Kong in Premium Economy

CX 829 Toronto - Hong Kong
3 Feb 2023

The longest leg of my round-the-world would be the westbound flight back to Hong Kong from Toronto. When I initially booked this redemption in late October, the flight time was 17 hours to avoid Russian airspace, which prompted me to look for a Premium Economy seat. I just had enough Asia Miles to do this, which unfortunately is already a downgrade as I previously flew this route in Business Class thanks to a cheap American Airlines redemption chart that has since been devalued.

Weeks later, I got an email from Cathay about a schedule change. Without looking at the details initially, I thought it was one of those COVID-related cancellations. With quarantine gone, I was relieved any flight change would not cause a mad scramble to rebook the hotel. Now, I could go straight home after I land.

On closer inspection, the email noted a flight time change with an earlier arrival into Hong Kong. After scanning through the press, I found out they would start using Russian airspace again for East Coast flights, resulting in some time savings.

I arrived at Terminal 3 just after 10pm and there was a sizeable crowd at Cathay's check-in counters. I saw some kiosks with the line then leading to a manned counter. I noticed Premium Economy had a dedicated counter, so I went straight for it, skipping the kiosk entirely. The check-in agent made sure one of the lads in the long Economy line wouldn't stray over to these higher classes.



With my big suitcase sent away fairly quickly, I proceeded to explore the rest of the terminal. There were still a few flights leaving at this late hour, with a sizeable crowd at Caribbean Airlines down the hall. Terminal 3 is used by the non-Star Alliance carriers so there is a good mix of different airlines here. Westjet, the other national carrier, has a large operation out of here.





A newcomer to Terminal 3 is Porter Airlines, previously based at the downtown island airport but they have just opened new routes out of Pearson with Embraer jets. I'm skeptical whether they can replicate the very pleasant airport experience downtown here, but they seem to want to launch longer routes with larger jets that the island airport cannot accommodate.



Luckily, at this late hour, there was no line to get through security and I was airside in no time, with plenty of time before boarding.

Exploring the terminal, I noticed a red vending machine selling colourful sandwiches marked as freshly delivered from New Jersey. It seems business is not so good. There were plenty still available.





Shop prices were way over the roof, and I had no reason to buy any souvenirs here.











While Canada has relaxed laws that now permit using marijuana in casual settings, the same cannot be said for other places. Hong Kong has gone the other way, classifying CBD as a "dangerous drug" along with the likes of heroin and cocaine.



A long time ago, this terminal became an innovation star with tablets at seats. I guess by now, everyone has some sort of electronic device so perhaps this setup will soon be obsolete?





Cathay markers and lines were already set up at the gate with a few agents around. There was a huge crowd and it looked like a full flight tonight. The Economy lines were kept back along the corridors, while the front end of the cabin had lines further up closer to the actual gate.



Boarding was timely and I quickly settled into my Premium Economy window seat. There was enough overhead space for all our hand luggage despite a full cabin. A bottle of water and amenity kit were already in the seat pocket and a blanket placed on my seat.



Despite a full loading out back, we pushed back a few minutes early and took off heading north for the long red-eye to Asia.





Paper menus have returned with 3 choices.



Although I wasn't particularly hungry at this late hour since I had dinner already, I was worried there wouldn't be any food served until just before landing, which will probably be some 13 hours away. So I ended up eating, picking the citrus garlic roasted pork shoulder, which had a thick portion of meat although was not particularly tasty.



We headed northeast and passed through northern Greenland on the way to the North Pole. This route is one of very flew from Cathay that will fly through Russian airspace on the other side of the arctic. When I booked this flight back in late October, the flight time was much longer because it avoided Russia, but subsequently, they decided to resume flying over their airspace, saving a few hours. I suppose Russia is friends with China so wouldn't try to do anything funny to this flight from an enemy country.



I dozed on and off for more than half the flight. Past the half way mark, the crew served cup noodles although I passed and got some snacks from the back galley instead. 2 hours before landing, we got breakfast. I picked the Singapore fried vermicelli.







Since I slept for a large portion of the flight, I didn't use the IFE much although the selection was quite decent. There was live TV from the 2 main international news channels.



Printed magazines are no longer available on board, but there was a vast selection on screen instead.



There was a good selection of Hong Kong TV from other channels, including drama series and travel shows.





We landed ahead of schedule and parked at the gate close to immigration at 4:49am. I actually thought the flight wasn't too bad, probably because I was able to catch some sleep. While it wasn't deep sleep and I was in and out for more than half the flight, I felt more or less refreshed as that was already better than how I typically fare on long-haul red-eyes, even when at the front of the plane.

For a flight of this length, about 15 hours, I can't tough it out in Economy anymore unless I get a whole row all to myself. The 60,000 Asia Miles for a one-way Premium Economy redemption was quite good value for points.



Immigration was quite quick with the kiosk as there were few people so early and my luggage came out shortly after. I was ready to head through customs by 5:05am, which is quite impressive from gate to land-side. The first airport buses and trains to the city have not even started.





More photos on my website : https://www.globalphotos.org/cx829.htm

I, for one, would not want to overfly Russian airspace on ANY airline. I would rather take a detour. An emergency landing in Russian territory is going to open up a whole can of worms.

A few days ago a British Airways 787 en route from Tokyo to Heathrow had to make a medical diversion to Anchorage AK. I can't help but think about the consequences if it was over Russian airspace and had to divert.

S3BL100 發表於 2023-4-12 07:40
I, for one, would not want to overfly Russian airspace on ANY airline. I would rather take a detour. ...

Agree with you.

You would not know what would happen for overflying Russian airspace at this time.

P.S. heard that the US government would soon set rule that flights originating or ending on US soil would not allow to use Russian airspace. (mainly target on UAE airlines) I forsee that Canadian government would follow.

Thanks for the report as usual!  Using Russian airspace does save up a lot of time (my relative flight from JFK was almost 18 hrs. back before they use the polar route again, now only 15.5), however, as the above poster said, one could not imagined what would happened if there is an emergency diversion into Russia, especially for American citizen.
The meal service on CX was worse than before, I can definitely say after flying with them to Japan few times recently, even if PE already has better meal than Y class...

yuenpo 發表於 2023-4-13 15:19
Agree with you.

You would not know what would happen for overflying Russian airspace at this time ...

I was surprised that wasn't in place already, and why they think they could do when going westbound from the US and Canada but not for Europe.

yuenpo 發表於 2023-4-13 15:19
Agree with you.

You would not know what would happen for overflying Russian airspace at this time ...

This Air India emergency landing in Russia might prompt US authorities to take action.

https://www.reuters.com/business ... ace-row-2023-06-07/