I usually prefer morning or daytime departures from Hong Kong to Europe, arriving in the early evening, which I can adapt my sleeping patterns to hopefully rid my jet lag quickly. It wasn't crucial to sleep during a daytime flight, and I could enjoy some nice views and work on my laptop. Today (Sep 8), Cathay had 3 daytime flights to choose from.
With a little time left before boarding starts, I headed to a special stall from Tai On Coffee and Tea Shop air-side. They've produced some plush toys and memorabilia, cashing in on the Jellycat and local heritage craze of late.
My flight would depart from gate 3, which was packed. Boarding now is based on zones, and I felt a little bit of an Air Canada chaos in the air. With limited space and construction, the lines went everywhere. The premium class line went in the opposite direction from the Economy line, which wasn't easily visible in the glob of people and the single sign.
There were staff on hand to call the zones for boarding, but since the line for zones 2 and 3 were grouped together, it became confusing as staff tried to separate the big group into 2 lines so the Business Class group 2 would stream steadily to board while the Premium Economy group 3 gets stopped by staff and have to wait on the side.
Thumbs down to Cathay for making boarding so stressful through this silly arrangement.
This is my first time on the refurbished 777 featuring new seat designs. Here in Premium Economy's bulkhead, I had a lot of legroom and a wide seat with storage compartments to my right where I could place small things such as my phone with the armrest protecting them from others' view. The tray table is stored under the left armrest and looked the same size as Economy Class.
We also got a good noise-cancelling headset just like in Business Class but no slippers. The blanket was thin but very soft, super comfortable, and surprisingly warm.
The PTV was noticeably bigger with good resolution. I would be in for a treat with the camera views.
Boarding was completed late and we pushed back at 1:45. The captain announced a flight time of 13.5 hours and we got airborne at 1:59pm, taking off towards the west and looping around the city to continue north.
Half an hour after take-off, we were served a drink and snack. Lunch followed another half hour later.
I picked the fish, which had a very strong smell to it when I peeled back the lid but it tasted fine with some bell peppers, fancy small carrot, and a thin layer of mashed potatoes. The appetizer was a chicken and asparagus cold dish with a lot of garlic! There was a chocolate on the side and the crew came by with a big tub of ice-cream after.
As we flew over China's empty northwestern regions, the turbulence picked up and the seat belt sign came on and off, then the crew were instructed to sit down. Luckily, I was done lunch by then and enjoyed a movie in the meantime.
Strangely, the 2nd meal was served half way through the flight with just under 6 hours to go. This time, I picked the Asian option with chicken and rice.
However, while the chicken was warm, the rice was cold. There was also sliced ginger on the side, but not the type we usually use for a stir-fry. It is pickled ginger you typically get with Japanese sushi, a cold dish. It seemed like an odd combination, and the cold rice really put me off. How can Cathay get a Chinese dish wrong?
The fruit bowl, on the other hand, was really good. It consisted of papaya with a lime juice pairing, which gives it a very fresh kick. I've noticed on other Cathay flights, they pair lime with fruits as well, which tasted delicious.
As the seatbelt sign was still on, the crew wasn't able to serve me a hot tea so I got a cold drink instead. However, after the sign went off, she came back with the tea, specifically remembering I had ordered it!
The Premium Economy cabin was curtained off from the Economy section with 2 exclusive lavatories for our few rows. Inside, there was soap, hand sanitizer, and lotion. The wash basin and toilets are touch-free and activated by sensor.
After the last bout of turbulence over the Caspian Sea, things calmed down and I slept for a little bit as we made our way through eastern Europe. Everything seemed on track for a timely arrival into London and I started enjoying the Devil Wears Prada 2 when the captain made an announcement.
Apparently, there was a system issue in the UK and we won't be able to make it into London. We are diverting to Milan. This came as a total surprise, so I grabbed my phone and started browsing the news websites to see what was going on.
This was when I found out there was a massive air traffic control outage in London and departures were badly delayed, and because the airports were full of planes, they couldn't take in arrivals anymore as they've run out of space to put them. The caveat was things were starting to recover so it wasn't a complete indefinite shutdown, but it still seemed like a very nasty situation at Heathrow. How can the country's biggest airport and all its nearby British back-ups be crippled at the same time?
We made a sharp left before Frankfurt and looped around in the airspace between Zurich and Munich. The flight time to reach Milan kept sticking to about 40 minutes as we slowly made our way to the diversion airport.
We landed in Milan at 9:20pm and taxied to a distant part of the airport away from the terminal. The captain had told us a few other planes also diverted here earlier, such as a Saudia flight. He also mentioned the ground staff would take it from here, which was a hint we would be here for a while.
About an hour and 20 minutes after landing, I saw a bus pull up next to the aircraft. Then the announcement came that we would be getting off the plane in stages, and I managed to get onto the first bus with the other Business Class passengers.
I checked the news again and got an update that Heathrow won't accept any arrivals for the rest of the day.
Being among the first ones off the plane, I reached an empty immigration hall, where the kiosk rejected my entry. I was then sent to the manual line, which had only a short wait to a staffed counter for a face photo and fingerprinting. This EES experience wasn't so bad!
By the time I reached the baggage hall, my bag was already out and placed next to the belt. This was quite impressive given I got through immigration very quickly! There was a staff wearing a Cathay vest asking us to gather around once we have our bags and she would lead us outside once there is a sizeable group.
With about 10 of us, I was in the first group led out to the arrivals lounge land-side, where a staff registered us and placed a numbered sticker on my passport.
We then rested in the lounge, which had bottles of water available. It didn't take long before we were gathered up for the big coach to the hotel. She mentioned because we were the first ones out, we got the closest hotel from the airport.
I was impressed the ground staff handled this quite well given the circumstances and hundreds of others were also here on diverted flights. I wasn't expecting they would be able to secure hotel rooms for everyone so quickly.
I was settled at the ibis near the airport. The check-in staff looked tired but kept his composure, indicating breakfast was included, how to access wifi, and he would call us once he knows when the flight would leave and be ready for airport pick-up with 30 minutes notice. He would try to give more but couldn't commit.
The next part will feature the following day's adventures in Milan.
