I just flew Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to San Francisco in first class and while I’ll share the “normal” details of the flight in my trip report (which I’ll start posting tomorrow), there are a few things I can’t help but mention now:
- The dude in 4A was wearing boxer briefs the entire flight. Fine, so was I, but I was wearing pants/pajamas on top of them.
- There was an attractive couple in row one (upper-20s and looked Brazilian), but they just couldn’t keep their hands off each other. The girl was obviously really excited about flying first class and the guy was trying to play it off cool, but I’m pretty sure some freaky stuff happened. Once the lights were turned off they both shared a single seat, and I saw some up and down motions. This NSFW Next Media Animation video comes to mind.
- Cathay Pacific’s in-flight entertainment censorship is ridiculous. Not only are the words they censor over the top, but the voice overs are so cheesy that it’s almost funny. For example, Jesus Christ=Judas Priest, (another word for semen)=gum, holy $hit=holy spit. Thanks for keeping our ears safe, Cathay Pacific!
- I LOVE GLOBAL ENTRY. After I went to the kiosk I had to see the immigration agent in the crew line. There were two Korean Air pilots in line to see the immigration officer, and they assumed they would be next since they got there first. When the immigration officer was ready the captain automatically walked up to him, though the officer said “you need to wait, Global Entry first.” It’s not often you get to cut even the crew!
- I called my mom after landing from Hong Kong, as I usually do when I’m back in the States. She has become quite proficient with the internet as of late, and has even started reading my blog. Uh oh. I guess that’s nice on one hand, but I can’t say I felt that way when she said “Benji, I see you went out in Bangkok. What did you mean about the ping pong balls and body parts, I don’t get it?” (in reference to this post). I was of course just watching the Thai Olympic ping pong team training… duh!
It’s good to be back home… kind of.
As I said yesterday, you have the most bizarre experiences. Maybe the guy in 4A was just trying to get the party started. I'm sure he was trying to seduce you just like sweater guy.
@ Jorge -- It did, as I was in Hong Kong for less than 24 hours.
Ben, that award on AA: Did it cover Bangkok-Hong Kong-SFO? I thought AA did not allow stopovers.
@ Jason -- I believe they have LAX based crews, though I'm not sure which frequencies are operated by LA crews and which are operated by HK crews.
WHOA! I have Global Entry too but I didn't know we can take precedence over the crew! I thought it was cool enough we get to use the same exit line as the crew after picking up our luggage! Very cool!
what about ex-LAX crews? are they usually us or hk based service?
Wearing only boxer-briefs in First is allowed, but only for Calvin Klein models. Everyone else should stick to pajamas.
Your mom knows exactly what you were talking about in that post. She was teasing you.
I can see possibilities for a very entertaining (and useful) book-"Lucky in First Class."
@Sam - yes, the SFO based crews on CX aren't that great. Much better service with the HKG crews, who are fantastic in my view.
I did a combo oneways F flying CX F JFK-SIN and EY F DEL-JFK. Etihad was as good as Cathay.
You have the best stories. I need to start flying first class.
I was on the afternooon flight in 3A back in August with SF based crew. It was the best flight ever. 10x better than SQ F.
@Rich - When South Park came out I went to see it in the theater. In line in front of me, buying tickets for the same movie, was a woman with two young kids who couldn't have been more than 10. Yikes!
Ping pong and beer is a great combo. Or if you're Prince Harry, it's ping pong and pool.
@ Joshua Pickles -- ROFL!
@ Sam -- The US based crews are definitely not as good as the HK based crews on the whole, and have kind of adopted the US service mentality. Right now the daytime flights between SFO and HKG are operated by US based crews, while the nighttime flights are operated by HK based crews. Though that's subject to change, of course.
Lucky, curious on your experience.. In the past 6 months I have flown sfo-hkg return f twice, and both times the experience has been sub par. Ie attendants sitting in the galley the whole time, had to ask for pjs, no refill on champagne or wine without asking. I have heard this is common with us based crew, your experience?
Next Media!
Many years ago I was returning from Heathrow and due to flight issues ended up on Virgin. One of the movies was South Park ( tells you how long ago this was) where almost every line include f***. They did not censor any of it. If it was an US airline there would not have been any dialogue left.
@MrPickles - LOL!
I would bet the guy who wanted to buy your sweater at the Intercontinental bought the pants off of the guy in boxer briefs.
Panasonic can't touch that :).
They may censor the in-flight movie, but they obviously didn't censor ALL of the in-flight entertainment! :)
@ AdamH -- Yep, American one-way award for 67,500 miles. Cathay Pacific first class is awesome!
Was this an American award or something else? I think some combination of Cathay and others will be my next aspirational redemption.