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jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

I hadn't thought of my annual Hong Kong chutty for this year yet, when a friend suggested we go to for the Sevens. Crazy crowds and out of control public drunkenness are no longer my idea of fun, but once my (totally Chinified) cousin Mariette promised she would sort our some special arrangements to, from and in the stadium, the whole thing sounded much more appealing.

There is no longer a question of which airline to choose when flying to Hong Kong, because - as Karan also just voiced - Jet have transformed themselves from being the preferred option to an equally acceptable alternative to "can't we fly another airline". It doesn't help their cause that they’re competing against Cathay Pacific.

I simply went to cathay.com, punched in my dates and within a few minutes flights were selected, confirmed and paid for. The e-ticket showed up in my email a little later, but I looked at it only the next day. That’s when I realised I had booked the return for the wrong day.

So I called Sharona at Cathay’s Bombay reservations office and before I even hung up the phone, a revised ticket was in my inbox. No chik-pik, no awaaj, no natak, no nakhra. Unlike a certain playground masquerading as an airline service centre.

Fast-forward to a few days before departure. Another friend heard of our plans and wanted to join in. However, Cathay are sold out in business, so he booked on Jet, who seemed to have plenty of availability. Not a big deal, really, to be travelling on different flights.
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jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

Cathay Pacific – Bombay to Hong Kong

We got to the airport two hours before departure. The outside of Sahar was a mess as usual. I do appreciate that there is major construction going on, but everything seems to change every day, as if there is no actual plan on how to manage the ripple effects of the construction. Seems like their only plan is to wing it on a daily basis. Oh well, that's what you get when you combine Maharashtra and infrastructure projects.

Check-in took no time at all and immigration was surprisingly quick. The immigrationwalli clownette insisted on there being a visa on arrival in Hong Kong and demanded to see the return ticket. Why it's her business, is still beyond me.

Next stop : security. The left security section was chock-a-block but the right side was totally empty for some reason. Made no sense, until I looked up and saw the signs that said Economy (for left) and First/Business (for the right). Made sense.

We went off to the right. Turns out it's not so straightforward. There was a full security checkpoint on the right as well, for everyone, including economy passengers. Except that they have now opened an additional security checkpoint for First/Business passengers where the Air India lounge used to be. So the signs were misleading and everyone could go left or right, with premium passengers having the option to go to the premium security area after turning right. Of course, the many airport and CISF people just standing around don't bother to tell anyone this.

Anyway, we were about to go around the corner to the premium security when a bunch of Germans told us not to, because only one machine was working and all the airline crew were happily cutting the queues and the queue was just not moving. Why am I not surprised.

Fortunately, it didn't take too long and we made our way downstairs to find a seat near our gate and await boarding.

We did pass the new(ish) AI lounge, which is now airside. The old one is now the premium security area as I mentioned above.

Just as we were getting up to board the Jet friend called to say he had just cleared security, so we waited to say hi to him. He said he was going to find something to eat and then go to the lounge until boarding. We said bye and that we'd see him at Mari's the next morning.

Onto the boarding bridge and then the left arm for F/J.

Say what you will about newer planes with the latest kit and shiniest gizmos, there's still something magical about ascending these stairs:

The upstairs J cabin on the 744, with the old seats (some pics aren't mine, as is obvious):

My drink – Cathay's singature cocktain

Studio CX:

We landed in Hong Kong a few minutes early and, thanks to the e-channel barcode we both have, were out in no time at all. Just scan the barcode, validate your fingerprint and the electronic gates open. Totally self-service, no queue, no noise, no questions. Total time : under 30 seconds.

I turned on my phone to check for incoming texts before swapping the sim cards to find something amusing from my Jet friend : (a) when he got to Jet's lounge, they were turning people away because they were full. "Go sit in a restaurant sir". Wow. (b) Boarding was by jam-packed bus and the plane was parked as far to the right of the airport as possible. Plus ça change à Jet.

Unfortunately, that's about it for this flight, because I was so tired that I passed out soon after and had to be awoken after landing. The drink made sure there was no way I could fight the sleep.

I had planned on keeping this part of the report short anyway, given it was a late night flight. I will have much more about the return – which didn't turn out as planned!
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jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

Surprise!
We went to The Toy's apartment in the evening. Why he still keeps one I don't know – even if the company pays for it – because he's more or less moved into Mari's place. The view is spectacular though, so maybe that's why. They had a few other people over and that's when they announced that Mari was pregnant!

Excellent news! Felicitations!

Fortunately, they're not bothering about a wedding – not yet anyway – because where to have it is going to be am epic battle that's best avoded at all costs.

The view:

Someone's kid:

The celebratory meal and wine:

The Rugby
The main objective was the rugby. Or, rather, everything going on around the rugby, because no one gave a crap about the football itself. And, as promised, Mari pulled all the stops. We had a car fetch us from home and drive us through the stadium gates to a separate back entrance, where there was a lift that took up straight to the suite level and we just plonked ourselves into the plush air-conditioned splendour of the VIP box, with food, drink, wait staff and private toilets (most important)! They also had an outside section which was regular old seats like everyone else's (but cordoned off).

The suites level:

Sights from the stadium:

Other sights, odds and ends

And, food, of course

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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Hey Jason, don't I love the way this report is coming along? The food pictures of course have me in a trance.
- I have seen the AI lounge (obviously from the outside). Looks fairly inviting, with the lounge dragon literally looking it Razz

Your favourite huge AI Aunty as the mascot. I should not laugh at the size part, since I am quite close. Dec'12 and Jan'13, Sahar.
- Sahar is quite boring. Gone are the occassional tarmac views from the terminal. If GVK can do up T1 so beautifully, why have they done up T2 in such a poor manner?
- The Jet experience seems to get sadder by the day. Turning away people from the lounge...Hmm...
- the football pictures were quite interesting
Thanks, looking forward to more from you, both about this trip, and other ones, too!
Cheers, Sumantra.

ameya · Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 12:49 pm Post subject:

Wow fantastic .. only makes it clear how 9W is going down day by day minute by minute... and we already know Lalaji doesn't travel on 9W any more. I hope EY can put in some life but till then...

Nimish · Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 3:08 pm Post subject:

Congratulations Jason - you're going to be an uncle soon!

Great TR - CX seems nice and easy on the way out, and the contrast with 9W at the same time/ route is very telling.
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PAL@YWG · Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 7:39 am Post subject:

Another excellent TR, Jason. Like all your TRs in the past, you are not alone in your journey, always in good company Very Happy

Food pictures are just too real!
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

So in the midst of the fun and games in Hong Kong, it emerged that we would have to return to Bombay a day earlier than planned. Ironically, the day I had mistakenly booked our return. Mari's excellent assistant was tasked with changing our flights (she seems to have surrounded herself with men who do things for her!).

He soon called back to say that the flight was sold out, but there was a one-stop that had seats available. Oh dear – the Bangkok flight, meaning nasty timings and nastier seats and nastiest crowd. I said no thanks.

He called back again to say that Cathay had promised him the flight had the latest regional J seats. So we figured it wouldn't kill us. It would also be a good chance to try out Cathay's latest hardware. Besides, we were in J and had to be in Bombay anyway, so we asked him to go ahead.

So HKG-BOM on a 744 became HKG-BKK-BOM on a 333.

We got to the airport rather early – about two hours before departure – and were in the departures area in under 15 minutes. That included check-in, immirgation and security.

So we decided to get a nice dinner. After overdosing on Chinese food (which I don't particularly care for anyway) a comforting Italian meal, with far more familiar flavours, was much appreciated!

We took our time, so by the time we were done, it was time to head to the gate, meaning no lounge (I don't usually bother anyway, but I would have liked to take a peek at what improvements Cathay have made to their already excellent lounges). Oh well. Next time.

Boarding at Cathay is always leisurely with seemingly endless space and gates opening long before departure. There was no queue for priority boarding and we walked straight through, turned left, then left again and were greeted and shown to our seats by an Indian CSD, who, I later found out, is originally from Bandra.

The J cabin on the 333 looked great, albeit a little too green. And the hardware was most definitely up there (more on that below). The flight soon filled up and it was chock-a-block, both in front and in the back.

Since we had just eaten and I knew we had a second segment coming up, I didn't bother with drink, food or entertainment, and just passed out in my very comfortable seat all the way to Bangkok.

Bombay passengers were asked to stay on board since it was a quick stop. Turns out nearly everyone deplaned at BKK though – only five passengers remained on board in J (the two of us, a quiet couple in a corner, plus a woman who didn't stop yapping on her phone in Gujarati the whole time) and the back looked pretty empty too. There was no crew change in Bangkok, interestingly.

The cleaning people did their thing most unobtrusively, and the plane was soon filling up. Only three other people joined us in the J cabin – which meant a dismal, but not surprising, load of eight.

I was turned around looking at the people filing into economy, and... Oh. My. God. It was quite possibly the vilest, nastiest crowd I have ever seen on a plane. Mari had told me she refused to take this flight for that reason alone, but seeing really is believing.

Hoardes of fat, dirty, grubby old Marathi men. In pants, untucked (and half unbuttoned) shirt - ganji showing - and chappals, carrying Kala-Niketan thelis in one hand and those leather pouches with wrist straps in the other. Almost every single one of them. I don't think I saw a single woman or child board the plane and I was too scared to venture into economy during the flight to confirm. It seemed like they had all come in the previous day, bought their TVs, got their "massages" and turned right back. Ewwww.

Anyway, boarding was soon done and we were off.

Here's the cabin:

The seats (I snuck a photo of the chatty lady fast asleep and finally slient):

My usual collection of several different beverages:

The magazine, highlighting the rugby:

The Hong Kong team that won the Bombay Sevens earlier:

And the IFE selection of 100+ movies, 500+ TV episodes, 888 CDs, plus radio and games and documentaries and news etc.

The wine list and menu (one per flight):

And the idiotic immigration forms (which, hopefully, will soon be gone) and the even more idiotic abbreviations. FRO and FRRO. Really? Really really?

I was also given a rather tedious comments form:

Then the meal service started. I was full, but decided to get something just to take pictures. I didn't waste though; I returned it to her immediately after taking the picture.

I am not a fan of the tray service, by the way.

The tray table, can be used half, or full:

The starter:

Indian main course (no after mint… yay!):

And vile pumpkin something dessert. Vomit.

Studio CX:

This one's dedicated to Jet Airways:

I didn't feel like watching anything, so I put together a music selection and messed around with the IFE between naps.

Duty Free allowance for India

And Pakistan. No alcohol. How terribly unfortunate. Remind me not to travel there. Ever.

Le Loo

Map

Bombay in Cantonese

We landed on time and Cathay paid for a boarding bridge, even for their version of the slave ship. Guess who else paid for a boarding bridge? Al Yemda, that's who.. That now officially makes Jet worse than Al Yemda.

Fortunately they let us off before releasing the crowds! Immigration didn't take long and we were at baggage claim quickly. It took a few minutes for the bags to show up and priority was maintained and with the small number of J bags, the TVs started showing up on the belt in quick succession.

Oddly, none of the rub-and-tug crowd were around and I wondered where they could be. Then I saw them all at duty free. Jostling to add a Black Label theli to go with the Kala Niketan theli.

Sheeva Sheeva!

We turned and fled. Customswallah asked where we came from and just waved us through and we escaped unscathed.
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The_Goat · Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 4:52 pm Post subject: Re: Hongkong (Bangkok) Bombay

Brilliant Jas, couldn't stop laughing.

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

I'll agree with member The_Goat on both his points:
1. Yet another outstanding part of the trip report. The humour content was terrific, and I'll add this one: so was the description of the food, and the pictures.
2. Yes, how on earth could one tolerate the audio or video of that film?
I'll add my tuppence: I've done this segment on CX's T7 (it was my first T7 ride, and my first ride in a plane with PTVs) in June 2001. The hardware was in tune with the times. There was a crew changeover in BKK, Don Muang. The BKK-BOM crew was as bad as some passengers were. OF course, I was in the Pleibian Economy section, not J. No, it was not Maharashtrians all around, it was more of the nouveau riche Mumbaikars, who could trace their ethnic origins from around the country, primarily, the North. There were TVs, but not a deluge of them - it was 2001, and BKK wasn't quite SIN, which was more on the TV to-buy-from list that time. The food on CX was decent in terms of quantity, but I found some of the Continental part and the Oriental offerings too tasteless for my liking. Whenever on an international segment, I usually opt for a non-Indian offering, if there is such an option. The glutton that I am, I have had more than enough of the above offerings to know what is tasty, and what, not. In my experience of travelling around, one of your favourite airlines - Air India does both of these (Continental, Oriental), much better. Both in terms of quality, as well as quantity.
Cheers, Sumantra.

sukritmunjal · Member Joined: 23 Jan 2013 Posts: 178 Location: FMO

jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 4:10 pm Post subject:

Looked like a classy trip, thanks for sharing.
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Yeah.

Karan69 · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 1334

Jason, that was an entertaining read,

I have always wanted to go fo4 a Rugby game and have thought of HKG Sevens each time , fortunately I got to experience a bit of it from your report,

Congratulations on being a uncle,

Also I would say you were fortunate to experience the new Regional J and the lhaul J product, how would u rate them

I loved your comment about the Kala niketan thelis lol

Karan

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

Very nice - funny and informative .... best part were the food pics.

Great that the CX call center changed the return ticket easily and without any fuss- with the horror stories I hear about other airlines a hassle free call seems to be an oddity.
Usual BOM chaos, at least the immigration lines were good. The city must be dying for the new terminal to open!

Great HKG experience, quick = how it should be.
Such a relatively easy thing to fix in India. How hard is it to have 15 extra check in counters + more immigration/security points? Not like labour is expensive Rolling Eyes

With self check in + in-line baggage etc there's no reason for long queues anywhere.

Hahahahah what a description of the BKK-BOM pax profile Razz

.... poor cabin crew.

Indias duty free allowance is ok, but as usual could be better. Thanks for the TR
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sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Nice report thanks for posting.

I think the India duty allowance of 12,000 INR shown on Cathay is incorrect.

The duty free allowance is INR 35,000 if stayed over three days and INR 15,000 less than three days.

http://www.immihelp.com/travel-to-india/baggage-allowance-rules/indian-residents.html

jbalonso777 · Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2013 6:02 pm Post subject:

This is madness! Absolute madness!
Call me Maybe?! Born this Way?!?!?!
Really?!?!
You have a horrible taste sir Razz

Really nice TR featuring CX's J class, Y class remains a mystery to me Confused

I liked the pictures from the rugby matches too!

Regards
Jish
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