Hello Everyone, it has been a while since my last blog and I am excited to have the time to produce some exciting content for you all, while I am grounded for a few days before my next trip. Throughout the month of January I traveled a total of 45,000 Elite Qualifying Miles under my airline of choice, American Airlines. It is a new year and I am sure you all are aware that it’s time to fly and rack up yet another 100,000 butt in seat miles for another year of Executive Platinum. Throughout the month of January I had some exciting travels and adventures that I will be covering and sharing with you all on the blog. For now, lets begin the process of this trip report by starting out with some of the highlights from Dallas to Hong Kong from with American Airlines.

American Airlines – Boeing 777-300. Dallas To Hong Kong

First thing first, I have done a trip report on this flight before so I will not be doing a trip report again, instead I will share with you what sparked my attention, some of the overall flight information and what new things have been added into the route that I did not see or got on my last flight to Hong Kong during the month of July in 2014. If you are interested on a very detailed trip report, you can check out this link and it will take you to the report. Also, if you are interested on the menu on board if flying Business Class you can also check the following link for a detailed post on the dish options being offered on the flight. Keep in mind, meals are subject to change but if you end up getting the same options I did, I hope you find it helpful to make your decision on what would you like to eat on your flight.

Lets Begin!

Air Show en route to Hong Kong.

• The flight was clocked in at 16 hours and 50 minutes. Though the final time ended up to be 17 hours and 5 minutes. This flight is LONG, VERY LONG. You can watch all the movies you want, sleep for hours, work and still have a long ride ahead of you. We took a different approach on this flight compared to my last flight. We flew over the North Pole and I found it to be a much better routing, pilots know what they are doing so there must be a reason why they have switched their flight route. The ride was extremely smooth with barely any bumps/chops, just slight chops over Russia but nothing major. I tend to fly transpacific quite often and this was my smoothest transpacific I have ever had. Of course, every flight is different and every flight path is different but from what I’ve seen and heard, this Hong Kong flight is particularly flying over the North Pole every flight.
• We had an on time departure out of Dallas,TX. First Class and Business Class were completely sold out and I was fortunate to have my upgrade clear well in advanced for this flight. Most of those in premium cabins were elites but believe me, there were also high elites in coach in which their upgrades didn’t clear. The route is getting very popular and it comes down to battle field upgrades if yours hasn’t cleared a few days in advanced. The goal is to book this flight months in advanced to have some priority on the upgrade wait list.
• Very brief pilot announcement, shortly after take off and as we leveled to our initial cruising altitude the pilot came on the PA to welcome us on board and letting us know of our flight, estimated time of arrival and a few facts about our flight. They keep things short and straight to the point.

Meals on board & Service

Pre-Lunch snack. Hot Nuts and Ginger Ale (drink of choice).

• As per usual, prior to the meal the cabin crew will walk around the cabin passing out hot towels before the meal service begins.
• Shortly after the crew will begin their service on board by asking you what would you like to drink and giving you the American Airlines signature hot nuts.
• As you enjoy the refreshment and nuts the crew will be walking around the cabin asking you what would you like to eat – I highly recommend pre-selecting your meal before your flight that way your process is taken care of. Incase you do reserve your meal online, they will just stop by to make sure that it is what you want.
• The meal service as always takes a bit of time but the cabin crew are pretty fast what they do and I found the service to be top notch and very attentive. The crew seemed excited and cheerful to serve the passengers with a big smile on their face. It is always refreshing meeting those cabin crew that love what they do and are willing to make your experience on board enjoyable.

New starter and main course

• The starter was simply delicious, quinoa salad with cheese with a seasonal green salad

Starter before lunch – DFW To HKG

• Main Course was also very good. Grilled beef served with a boursin cheese crust, spinach, balsamic grilled tomatoes and whipped potatoes. No complaints on this meal what so ever. Everything was great and tasty. Highly recommend it.

Main Course – DFW To HKG.

• For desserts you get your typical costume made ice cream sundae or cheese plate. However, there was another option I haven’t seen or tried before so I decided to give it a try. I am glad I did because it was also very tasty and not so filling like the ice cream sundaes. Don’t get me wrong, nothing better than adding everything you want on your dessert but at the time, I wasn’t feeling it and decided to order the Four Seasons mousse cake.

Four Seasons Mousse Cake – DFW To HKG.

After the delicious lunch service I decided it was time to catch some sleep because I was tired, hoping I would wake up with just a few short hours before arrival into Hong Kong. Being that it was a pretty good and smooth ride I put my business class seat on the bed position and went on to dreamland. I slept a solid of 8 hours without moving and it was probably one of the best sleeps I’ve had on board towards Asia – I guess I was tired ;).

Snack Time on board American Airlines, Dallas to Hong Kong

With 5 hours to go until arrival I woke up starving, on this route American offers a mid flight snack, and of course you can count on the walk up bar to be fully stoked up with everything you can think of. Though I recommend something from the mid flight snack menu since the options are pretty good. It will take roughly 10 minutes for the meal to be ready and shortly after the flight attendant will bring it to your seat. You can request this anytime throughout the flight, so don’t hesitate to ask if you are feeling hungry mid flight.

In flight snack options

• Pastrami Sandwich with kale and broccoli slaw with orzo feta salad with honey mustard salad and for dessert, fresh fruit.
• Char Siu Duck served with chilled with lo mein noodles.

I went ahead with the pastrami sandwich, which I’ve had before and its pretty tasty and filling.

Mid flight snack – DFW To HKG.

After the snack there was about 3 hours left of the flight and went back to bed. Shortly after another 2 hours of sleep we were one hour and 30 minutes away. The cabin crew started to get things ready for the pre-arrival meal and I decided to pass on them. The options were Quiche or Dim Sums, which both are still the same that were offered when I first took this flight last year during the month of July.

New drinks have been added – Some of this were on my previews flight and some of them weren’t. It is great to see that they add the local Chinese beer along with Hong Kong milk tea and it was quite tasty as well.

Beverages offered – DFW To HKG.

Overall thoughts & bottom line

• The service on board by the crew was fantastic. They were all very attentive, friendly and caring. They made sure you were enjoying the ride and having everything you needed.
• Again, the flight is LONG very LONG. Plan to stretch, drink a lot of water, walk around the cabin and eat when you’re hungry.
• The internet on board is very weak, it did not work a lot of the time as were flying. Spotty and weak service and there was 7 hours of the flight where my internet shut off completely. If you invest in it and does not work. Email T-Mobile service with your purchase info and they will reimburse the money.
• The meals were simply delicious as well. Zero complaints about it and I was very pleased with them.
• It was great to see new things been added into the route that shows the Chinese culture as well.
• Be mindful of your upgrades. This route is turning out to be one of the toughest routes to receive upgrades. It also comes down how far in advanced you booked the flight and your wait list upgrade position. So make sure to invest on Main Cabin Extra if you are a Gold or Platinum member and even for us Executive Platinums it’s tough to get our upgrades from what I saw on my last flight, lots of EP’s were in coach.

Anyway, I hope this blog post has been helpful to some of you taking this flight in the near future and flying premium cabin. It was yet another great flight with my airline of choice – American Airlines. As I prepare to cross the Atlantic in a few days, I wish all of you traveling a great and safe ride.

Best,
John Carter

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