Hong Kong Airlines – Club Classic review
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Service - Staff - Cabin:
Seats are good for sitting, not that good for sleepingCompany : Hong Kong Airlines Plane: Airbus A330-200 Class: Club Classic Seat: 10H Flight number: HX876 From London Gatwick (LGW) to Hong Kong (HKG) Flight Time : 12 hours 45 minutes Date: 04 June 2012 At the airport (London Gatwick) there were 4 desks with very friendly lady’s to check in the passengers, 2 desks […]
Company : Hong Kong Airlines
Plane: Airbus A330-200
Class: Club Classic
Seat: 10H
Flight number: HX876
From London Gatwick (LGW) to Hong Kong (HKG)
Flight Time : 12 hours 45 minutes
Date: 04 June 2012
At the airport (London Gatwick) there were 4 desks with very friendly lady’s to check in the passengers, 2 desks for the Club Classis and 2 desks for the Club Premier. The departures area was very quiet, and there was no queue at any of the desks. At the check-in our luggage was labeled with the priority labels, and of we went to the Gatwick Premium Security area. This is a service that should be serviced everywhere. The people over there take the time, are friendly and helpful.
Hong Kong Airlines Club passengers can stay in the No1 lounge, which is a great lounge to wait for your plane. There’s a gaming area, small kids play room, a cinema, a spa etc. People traveling with Hong Kong Airlines can order everything for free just by showing there boarding pass. Even the a-la-carte food and champagne are for free. In the lounge there is a variety of beverages, food, newspapers and magazines available. For the spa Hong Kong Airlines passengers get a discount on the regular price. There is also a business room with several workspaces, with or without computers. Trough out the lounge there is Wi-Fi internet. The internet bandwidth is not that great, good enough for sending an email, but viewing a Youtube film on a normal resolution will take some time.
Priority boarding is a little different in an all Business Class configuration. At first the Club Premier passengers were invited to go onboard, followed by the Club Classic passengers. Because the plane has fewer seats than a regular configuration the boarding takes less time. This is a great advantage compared to regular configuration flights. The very friendly and polite crew, welcomes you on board, guides you to your seat and offers you a small drink. We were offered a choice of apple juice, water or orange juice, and some slippers as well as headphones. After take off we were also brought a large Bulgari amenity bag.
After takeoff the dinner is being served. It’s official a 3-course meal, but we got at least a 5-course meal with lots of choices. For each course there were at least 2 choices and with the main course there were 3. I experienced it as to much to eat it all. There is a choice of two red wines, two white wines or (and) champagne. During the flight there is a bar at the end of the plane for the Club Classic passengers were you can get snacks, drinks, newspapers and magazines. You can also ask a Flight attendant to bring it.
Club Classic, I asked myself why the name Classic? Is it because the seats are from the old business class configuration? There are 82 seats with a seating configuration of 2-2-2. In the back of the plane the configuration is 1-2-1. The seatplan is shown below. The seats are good, but not that width and do not fully recline. This makes it good seats to sit in, but it’s hard to find a comfortable position to get a good sleep. In the seat there is a console which you can use for the games, but also the lighting and calling the cabin crew. The console is placed in the seating area. A big person sitting next to me had some problems with it. He accidentally pushed the buttons when he changed from sitting position, which turned the light on and off and called the flight attendant several times.
Inflight entertainment is good. The touch screen TV, placed in the armrest, is a good size (10.5in). They’re loaded with the usual array of movies, TV shows, music and games. There is also a kids section to entertain the youngest travelers. Besides the inflight entertainment you can check-out the flight information.
On the plane you have wifi internet. It worked without a problem, though is only useful for light use (Skype worked, but with a delay!). The On Air wifi comes on a scratch card. Club Classic passengers get a 10MB card.
2.5 hours before landing the lights went on again and it was time for breakfast. Breakfast was fresh fruit, cereal and yoghurt, Belgium waffles, many different types of breads etc. After a hard landing we arrived at the airport on-time. When we arrived at the terminal the bags were already on the carousel.
Hong Kong Airlines Club Classic is rated as Very Good.
A round trip ticket in june is costing about $2,950.00
Contact: hongkongairlines.com
