According to Kayak.co.uk the three cheapest airlines for a one-way flight to Beijing were Emirates, Aeroflot and Cathay Pacific. Emirates looked quite promising but I’m still wary of Aeroflot who last time I flew with them tried to kill me by landing on a runway that was still having the ice cleared by three bulldozers coming in the opposite direction. For a few pounds more I thought I’d finally try Cathay Pacific, which always seems to be in contention for Airline of the Year or Asia carrier of the year.
Sadly my experience of them was somewhat underwhelming. After booking a ticket I was told I couldn’t pick a seat unless I joined their loyalty program, Asia Miles. I duly joined then was told I couldn’t pick a seat more than 48 hours ahead unless I joined their premium loyalty program The Marco Polo Club, for which they wanted $50. I duly declined and crossed my fingers that all the aisle and window seats wouldn’t get taken.
Exactly 48 hours before the flight I checked in and as feared found all the window and aisle seats were taken. The only seat not squashed in-between two people was in the back row, next to the toilets. I picked this as at least I’d be able to nip to the loo in the middle of the night on the 12 hour flight, and just hoped that it wouldn’t get too smelly.
Quick plug for ExclusiveAirports.com – for a door-to-door service all the way across London they didn’t cost much more than taking the Heathrow Express after lugging your bags to Paddington.
At the airport the Cathay Pacific self-check in kiosks weren’t reading passports properly and Cathay employees were sat behind their desks ignoring the line of confused passengers. Fortunately an Emirates steward wandered over and rebooted them so we could get our boarding passes and drop off our luggage.
Both seatguru.com and the Cathay Pacific website showed that the Cathay planes were all equipped with power sockets under the seats but it was necessary to buy an EnPower adaptor. These turned out to be £85 in the duty free Dixons so I decided to see whether my laptops claim of a 9 hour battery life were in any way true.
Also in Dixons I bumped into my housemate from Costa Rica, who having got back from South America a just week earlier was flying straight back as he’d loved it so much.
On the plane the plugs were standard UK sockets, so I would have been somewhat put out had I actually bought the EnPower adaptor. Strangely they were positioned in the back of the seat in front, over the tray table, right where a laptop screen sits, so effectively unusable unless the person next to you doesn’t mind you using their socket.
Whilst on the subject of tables those on the back row were six inches to the left of the actual seat, so I would be eating my lunch off the person next to me’s lap.
Despite all the seats being full during the online check-in process I could see whole empty rows all around. As the cabin doors closed the crew wandered round moving people to empty double seats, me included. It was noticeable at the end of the flight those same people were the ones given the satisfaction questionnaires.
I have no real recollection of the twelve hours on the plane. For the first time in ages I didn’t watch much TV and instead settled into a good book after dinner. When I looked up next we were only a couple of hours from Hong Kong. All those seventeen to twenty four hour bus rides in Argentina seemed to have conditioned me to zoning out for hours at a time.
Hong Kong seemed like a decent airport and the transfer to the next departure gate was quick and easy. As usual, as soon as I was out of the UK every airport has free public Wi-Fi, so I called ahead on Skype and arranged to be picked up in Beijing.
A bit more reading made the three hour leg from Hong Kong to Beijing pass by rapidly. The only oddity on the flight was the meals. Rather than the usual chicken or beef we were offered either beef with rice or beef with noodles, which was a tasty if odd combination of beef in gravy with tagliatelle. That shirt was going to be washed anyway.
At the Baggage Reclaim lounge I could see the flight landing just five minutes after mine was an Air China flight direct from London. Checking online I could see this had only taken 11 hours and cost 10% less than my 15 hour odyssey. I guess the only reason it didn’t come up on any of the flight searches was that if was full on that day, although the day after seemed fine, and the seats showed as being a whole inch wider and with 2.5 inches more legroom. Annoyed isn’t the word I’d use at that moment…
