First off, allow me to apologize for the lighting on this one. It’s one of those flights that takes place in complete darkness and the Moon did not come up at all during the flight. Anyway…
I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to do this iconic route out of LAX with this aircraft. I’ve done it before with the Oneworld livery, but not with the standard Cathay Pacific 777-300ER. Finally got around to doing it as the first half of a two-part trip report series from the West Coast to Indonesia.
Server: Solo
Airline: Cathay Pacific
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Origin: Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California (LAX)
Destination: Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong (HKG)
Flight Number: CX883
Route: KLAX-VHHH
Seat: 18A (Business)
Time En Route: 15 Hours 17 Minutes
Nighttime boarding at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Cathay Pacific’s 777-300ERs have been a staple of its LAX operations since 2011 or so, when the tyoe finally replaced the 747-400, which had served the route since its beginning in 1990. Since that time, the CX 777-300ER has been a common sight at LAX, occasionally augmented by the A350-1000, though currently it alone operates the airline’s 3 daily flights between Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
Taxiing by the Midfield Concourse on our way to the runway. We’re taxiing behind a Qantas A380-800 going to Sydney as QF12. Our seat today is in the airline’s much-revered business class section, based around the Safran Cirrus II lie-flat seat. It’s not quite as modern as the new Aria suite, but Cathay Pacific’s newest business class product has yet to make an appearance on the LAX route, so it’s not like we’re missing out on anything.
Sitting on the end of Runway 24L, waiting for QF12’s wake turbulence to clear. Even this late at night, when a vast majority of flights out of LAX are transpacific ones 14 or more hours in duration, Terminals 1 and 2 remain humming with activity, as Southwest, JetBlue, and Delta jets arrive and depart up until almost midnight. Meanwhile, we’re relaxing in our seat, checking the menu for what we’d like to have for dinner.
Taking off from Runway 24R with the West Remote Stands below us. In the background, a Qantas A380-800 is being towed over to the main TBIT to get ready to go to Melbourne as QF94. We’re settling in for a long flight that’ll be done completely in the dark.
Turning west over San Luis Obispo. Dinner service is beginning and we’ve just been given our dinner for this flight. We’ve ordered the lamb shoulder confit with spiced jus, which looks absolutely delicious. Here’s hoping it tastes as good as it looks!
Waking up over the coast of Honshu, near Narita. Even though the Cirrus II seats are not as private or as modern as the new Aria suites, they’re still among, if not outright the best ones of their type in service today. As a result, we slept like a rock across the Pacific after a dinner that somehow turned out to taste even better than it looked.
Final descent into Hong Kong. After just over 14 hours of flying, this stage of our journey is coming to an end.
Pre-dawn arrival on Runway 25C at Chek Lap Kok. Touchdown was classic Cathay Pacific smoothness, gently setting . Even this early in the morning, the passenger terminals are stirring awake for another busy day. Of course, the cargo ramp never sleeps.
Taxiing on the western end of the field on our way to our gate. In the sense of roundabout taxis, HKG is much like LAX if one’s gate is on the opposite side of the field one landed on. We’re even turning onto the southern taxiways by some maintenance hangars.
Deplaned at Terminal 1. Not much to say about this flight other than that Cathay Pacific once again lived up to its impressive reputation. We reckon that when an airline passed a certain point, it’s progressively harder to say that any given flight was exceptionally good, when excellence is the standard. In any case, this is far from our last Cathay Pacific 777-300ER flight from LAX, and we’re headed into town for a 1-day layover here in Hong Kong.