Review: Hong Kong Airlines Business Class A350 Hong Kong To Los Angeles

@Lucky - Just wondering, why did you take this down earlier?

So were you asked first before Breakfast service as promised?

I absolutely love the menu with all the colorful graphics showcasing the best of HK culture!

@Lucky would you still take CX business over HX business?

@ W -- Somehow I accidentally scheduled the last installment to be published first. I'm not sure how it happened, but since it was out of order, figured it made sense to post the other installment first, so things would remain in order.

@ Henning -- I was indeed, best I could tell.

Lucky, would you mind correcting your future spelling of the words "all right" instead of "alright"? I hate to say it, but it makes me think less of you.

Aside from that, good review.

@ Nicky -- That's a toughie. I think as of now I'd probably rank it CX A350 J > HX A350 J > CX 777 J, but as all Cathay planes start to get Google 2Ku, my ranking may change.

I know one place on most current aircraft they still nearly always provide an air nozzle. One of your photos shows one...

It's good to have more options to cross the Pacific.

"She also explained that next time I could pre-order my meal, which I wasn’t was an option."

I think you meant to say "which I wasn't aware was an option".

Also:

"Nick Jonas’ role in the movie didn’t make up for how awful the movie was"

I think the fact that Nick Jonas was in the movie to begin with should have been an indication that the movie was going to be awful...

Good review.

"Really my biggest complaint is the lack of air nozzles". Another reader a few weeks back suggested you purchase a small fan with USB. I just received mine and its excellent. I suggest you heed his advice and pick one up so that you can stop complaining about lack of air nozzles 😉

BUT, it is good that you point it out so others can prepare accordingly.

I have kind of a random question, but where do you go when youre back in the states? do you have like an apartment in LA or something? With how much you travel id imagine it doesnt make sense to pay rent, do you just stay at friends houses since your parents live in florida, or do you stay at a hotel? Im just curious haha nonetheless great review!

Great review. I prefer that seating arrangement over a fishbone setup anytime.

I might try HK Air out of SFO at some point. Speaking of which, I thought you were planning to review the UA Polaris lounge there?

Flew HX A330 yesterday CNS-HKG. My expectations weren't high given the highly competitive pricing, perhaps less than half the price of the CX equivalent. QF not even in the running since they do not do any direct flights into Asia from CNS anymore thus necessitating a backtrack to BNE or SYD and hefty fare.

HX served two substantial meals in a 7 hour flight. Both were enjoyable. The Australian red cabernet was very drinkable.

The service was very professional and attentive.

Extraordinary value for the price paid (AUD2000 return, or AUD1200 one-way) and credits / points bookable to Virgin Australia's Velocity: business class at premium economy pricing.

Used 53,000 Virgin Australia points one way business class (no carrier charges just airport taxes levied).

Note that the sister airline, Hainan, also flies into CNS from Shenzhen (just not of HKG) and unfortunately HX is pulling the CNS flights later in the year.

Flying home on CX given it is direct (HX flies HKG-OOL-CNS-HKG).

Lucky, how would you compare the seats to the ANA B788 (NOT 789) staggered seats? I flew them a couple of weeks ago NRT-MEX and thought they were super-spacious, possibly the best business class seats I have ever flown (and for my money, better than Q Suites due to the additional storage space).

A concasse is a sauce. You don’t need to say sauce after concasse. Just like one doesn’t say tea after chai.

Not impressed with either the meals offered or the wine list. CX far superior.

Hard product looks good. Competition is VERY welcome.

It's hilarious how many people come here to be the grammar police. And lol to the guy who thinks less of Lucky because he spells alright incorrectly....wow.

Glad we got a review of HX longhaul! Bravo. Hopefully you'll go again on their reverse herringbone config.

Thoughts on whether there is a market long-term? With United/Cathay already serving all three of those markets Hong Kong is in, that's a lot of capacity. How can Hong Kong Airlines compete without an alliance?

@ John -- That's a fantastic question, and I've been wondering the same thing. Transpacific fares are as low as they've ever been, and I question Hong Kong Airlines' ability to get the lucrative contracts that make this kind of flying worthwhile, given that they don't have the global reach of Cathay Pacific in Asia, or the reach of United in the US. They need partnerships to even have a shot of making this work, but I'm not sure what airlines they could even partner with.

My first thought with US airline partnerships is always Alaska, but they partner with Cathay Pacific, so I suspect there's some sort of non-compete clause in their agreement. I doubt we'll see a partnership with American (due to Cathay), Delta (because they're very focused on their joint venture partners), and with United (because they compete head-to-head). So I guess that leaves them with JetBlue, and they're not all that helpful on the West Coast.

The business model is a bit of a mystery to me, but given the ownership structure and Hainan connection, who really knows...

@ Marco -- Hoping to review it in July!

Hey lucky. Why is it that you don’t eat ham? I’ve noticed from all different flight reviews that yiull never take a dish with ham

This looks very solid and well worth considering, particularly given the reasonable fares. I’ve always just skipped past , assuming ( incorrectly it seems) that this would be vastly inferior product. In fact it looks great.
For future reference: ham omelet will always have the pieces of ham inside, never on the side. I don’t eat ham or any other pieces taken from those smart and lovely beasts. It would make me vomit.

The food presentation leaves a LOT to be desired. Sauces shouldn’t be served in takeaway plastic containers in international business class.

The LAX approach over Malibu is simply the best.

The presentation on that bean and rosti dish is awful, but it looks like something I would love to eat.

United doesnt have a direct LAX_HKG flight. CX/AA has a monopoly on this non-stop. AA is not even worth mentioning. Customers flying out of Asia absolutely detest the service standards on US carriers. There is a tremendous amount of mainland/Macau demand for the direct HKG-West Coast route. So HK Airlines can and will likely be profitable on this route when CX is charging USD 6-8K on average for a business class seat and still selling out.

Hard to see much input from Gabriel Choy in the menu. All round, your description of the food made it sound offputting and the wine list looked poor. For me there is very little in this review to suggest a good soft product.

Wow! Thanks for writing this trip report. I’ve been curious about them for a while. With their low-cost branding I wasn’t sure if they were going to be more of a JetBlue or a Spirit. Sounds like they’re taking the JetBlue approach, which is great.

I also love how their look and feel, from the slightly garish red seats to the menu covers, seems to celebrate the vibrancy of modern Hong Kong. I want to love Cathay, but in many ways they seem still stuck in the colonial era.

It also seems like they’ve imitated some of the best things about Cathay – especially the premium service – while improving on a lot of Cathay’s shortcomings.

I hope they start flying to NYC soon!

Thanks for this. Without an alliance connection it is unlikely I will ever fly them. I don't part with cash easily. However, it certainly is a great option if an alliance ever picks them up.

I had taken Hong Kong Airlines business class in April, the same starter and main course on your menu (but no soup, because of short route), I ordered the ling fish, it tastes good

Shoulder harnesses have replaced seat belts on HK business class? Good idea. How about airbags?

Best idea: parachutes...a bit cumbersome, but we can't be too safe in this day and age...

:-/

Do you know how to select seats on the HKA website? I can't find a place to type in the PNR

@YOW I can't find seat selection either. I'm on hold, listening to music hold to ask.

@YOW & @AlliW --- Go to the live chat portion of HKA's website. Hold times yesterday were horrible, I gave up after 2 hours, but this morning I only had to wait 10 minutes and was able to make seat selections, no problem.

Hi
I’ll be flying on Hong Kong airlines to Bali with a stopover in Hong Kong from 5:30 pm until 12:30 pm the next day. Will I be able to go to lounge (flying business class) the night I get there? Do they offer discount rate on hotel possibly d/t overnight lay over? Thanks for any responses!

I found the knee room to be very restrictive in bed mode due to the fixed tv screen directly above. I ended up sleeping slightly elevated until my knees were past the front edge of the TV. I am only 5'10"

Otherwise a great product. The new reverse herring bone on the outbound were much better though.

Glad we went before they started swapping out aircraft!

Ben,
If you find yourself dining at my flat in Seattle, I promise you, not only will you not see any ham, any guest will be forbidden to mention the word!

Thanks for all the pics; it helps to differentiate one airline's products from another.