My trip report on Hong Kong Airlines A350-900 Economy Class

 

HONG KONG AIRLINES

Hong Kong Airlines was established in 2006 as part of the Hainan HNA Group. HNA Group purchased an existing airline called CR Airways which operated a small fleet of CRJs. After HNA Group became the majority owner of CR Aiways, the airline name was changed to Hong Kong Airlines in September 2006. It started with a number of narrow bodies 737s and then acquired wide bodies A330s.

Hong Kong Airlines is a full service airline and the 3rd airline based in Hong Kong after Cathay Pacific and Dragonair (now Cathay Dragon). People often get confused between Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express. In 2006, HNA Group also purchased a majority share of Hong Kong Express making it a sister airline to Hong Kong Airlines. In 2013, Hong Kong Express transformed into a low-cost carrier to differentiate the airline in the market. Although, this often have people confused Hong Kong Airlines as a low-cost carrier as well. Many still have an impression that Hong Kong Airlines have inferior cabin products and service delivery compared to Cathay Pacific. Hopefully with the new A350 and route expansion into North America and Europe, Hong Kong Airlines can break away from this image and create a brand of its own. This makes the A350 even more important for Hong Kong Airlines. It might be the aircraft for them to change the perception of the airline.

Hong Kong Airlines first Airbus A350-900 arrived in Hong Kong on September 2017. It was the 15th airline to fly the A350-900. It will be the first of 21 Airbus A350-900 which will be joining the Hong Kong Airlines’ fleet in the next couple of years. 4 Airbus A350-900 has already joined the fleet when I took this flight in February 2018.

After the initial regional route deployment of the A350, Hong Kong Airlines will mainly utilize their A350s on new international routes such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. My flight was from Hong Kong to Taipei which was only a few regional route remaining that operated the A350. The A350-900 I flown on was B-LGA with MSN 124 which was delivered on September 2017.

What is Passenger Experience

For the usual leisure traveler, the most important part of flying is getting from Point A to Point B safely and on time. However, as airlines get more competitive in pricing and route, the only differentiating factor from one airline from another is her product and service. The product meaning the aircraft, the seat, the in-flight entertainment and the food. With a good product, the cabin crew could provide a service that may win new customers or maintain the airline loyal customer base.

The product coupled with the service on board will create a passenger experience that each and everyone of us should remember after a flight. This memory may serve as a reference point when we are planning our next vacation in deciding between two airlines with a similar fare.

As a full service upstart airline that is competing with long established carriers, Hong Kong Airlines must win passengers by providing a passenger experience that is unique to its own brand. It will be very interesting to see how they brand their product once they expand their network internationally.

It Starts from buying your ticket

The actual passenger experience starts when you buy your ticket from the airline. As with the majority of passengers today, it will be through the airline’s website or their smartphone app. I’ve purchased my ticket by using the Hong Kong Airlines’ smartphone app on my android phone. The process was straight forward and without major issues.

The interface of the app was easy to use. The aircraft type used for each flight was clearly visible which was fantastic because I was specifically looking to fly on the A350. HX252 was utilizing the A350 on this particular day.

The page to enter the passenger details was straight forward. You can choose your seat during the booking process as well for free. Only the extra legroom seats require an extra charge of HKD220.

You can also pick special meals required and purchase extra baggage allowance. The basic fare already includes 20KG checked baggage allowance

There were a number of payment methods available. I have no issues settling the payment online.

After you’ve completed the ticket purchase, there is an option to purchase access to Hong Kong Airlines’ VIP Lounge at Hong Kong International Airport. I have opt for this option to visit and experience the VIP Lounge at Hong Kong Airport.

For HKD350 you can gain access to the Hong Kong Airlines’ VIP Lounge at Hong Kong Airport. The VIP Lounge is called “Club Autus” but this name is not shown on my phone’s application when I purchased the access to the lounge. It just reads “VIP Lounge”. Also, once I’ve entered and submitted my credit card details for the purchase, the screen was stuck at the “Loading, please wait…” screen forever. I needed to close and reload the app.

I only knew my payment was successful after I’ve received a SMS message. The message was received very quickly. There is a link in the SMS to download your lounge voucher. This is a great idea to increase some ancillary revenue to allow passengers to purchase lounge passes during the ticket purchasing process. To have this option alone gives the passenger a choice to visit the lounge which is great.

 

You also receive an email right away which confirms your booking. The email looks a bit simple but contains all the necessary information.

The easier the ticket purchasing process, the more likely a passenger might come back to fly with the airline. The only issue nowadays with airlines is that there are so many different fare types and additional fees which makes it that much more difficult to create an easy to use interface for passengers to buy a ticket. This will be a big challenge for airlines as this complexity in ticket pricing may even get more complex in the future.

Online Check-in Process

I’ve used the Hong Kong Airlines’ android app to check-in online. I did not have a Fortune Club member number when I purchased my ticket on the app;therefore, I needed to enter my ticket number to retrieve my booking. It was very quick and with no issues.

I did not have any check-in baggage so I was able to walk straight to security with the QR Code boarding pass without issues in Hong Kong and Taipei Airport departures. However, there was a slight hiccup during the boarding process which I will get to later.

Check-in Process

Aisle K and part of Aisle J at Terminal 1 of Hong Kong Airport is dedicated for Hong Kong Airlines.

There are a number of self service check-in kiosks provided at the aisle. I did not use it as I’ve already checked-in on my phone and downloaded my boarding pass.

There is a dedicated line for those passengers that made an online check-in or used the self service check-in kiosk. Although, the line was still quite long.

Self service Bag Drop Process

Although I did not have any check-in baggage, I did a walk around of the check-in area and did not find any self-service bag drop counters for Hong Kong Airlines.

Lounge Experience

The Hong Kong Airlines lounge is called “Club Autus”. I am not so sure what “Autus” means so I cannot comment much on the naming of the lounge. It is located on the 2nd floor of the midfield concourse terminal. All of Hong Kong Airlines’ flights depart from the midfield concourse; therefore, the lounge is very close to the departure gates.

The lounge is located in the 2nd floor atrium area;therefore, the ceiling is basically the roof of the terminal. This makes it a gorgeous space to be in.

There were a number of staff at the entrance of the lounge and they approached me proactively to assist me which was great. They scanned my lounge voucher on my phone without any issue.

The interior is well designed and very spacious. There are lots of seating but not sure how it will cater to the peak hours.

It was breakfast time when I arrived so they had a selection of made to order noodles. The selection was Instant Noodle with Satay Beef, Tomato Soup Macaroni and Rice Noodle with Luncheon Meat. They also had scrambled eggs, fried eggs, with spinach, ham, and mushroom.

I am happy to see they had some local Chinese delicacies such as stir-fried rice roll, fried vermicelli noodle with vegetable and steamed bun with condensed milk.

The lounge takes up a large area of the atrium. It is a great open space with one side looking back down at the terminal.

The other side of the lounge offers a great view of the apron. With Hong Kong Airlines as the main airline utilizing the terminal, it is very likely that a Hong Kong Airlines’ aircraft is parked outside the lounge.

There are also shower facilities in the lounge which I did not use. There is a quiet area with loungers for a nap or meditation.

Boarding Process

The midfield concourse is very spacious which makes the boarding process easier to manage for the airlines. The only issue I had was with my QR coded boarding pass on my phone. I was lining up for boarding and when the staff checked my passport and boarding pass on my phone, I was asked to check with the staff at the counter to check-in again. I check-in online so I am not sure why I was required this step which was the same when I took a Hong Kong Express flight. To their credit, after the staff checked me in, I was asked to go through the business class line which meant I do not need to line up again. This kind of a hiccup really should not happen. I should be able to walk from terminal curb side to the aircraft door without see a single airline staff. This is the future of air travel. Although, this issue will only happen if you do not have any check-in baggage which means you have never been in contact with a check-in staff before. The same happened on my return trip from Taipei to Hong Kong. Although, the check-in agent proactively asked passengers on the PA to check-in with the counter agent if you hold a boarding pass on the phone.

The A350 Economy Class Seat

The A350-900 I was on is B-LGA which was the first A350 delivered to Hong Kong Airlines. The first couple of Hong Kong Airlines A350s are leased from a lessor. Subsequently, there may be different seat products on the A350s that are not from the lessors. B-LGA only have 2 classes with Business Class and Economy Class. I understand that Hong Kong Airlines will have A350s that have a Economy Comfort class but I am not sure how that seat will look.

Multiple products is inevitable with airlines flying different fleets but I do find this issue to be particularly annoying to passengers. Even if I know which aircraft type will be flown on a particular route, it will be by chance to know which seat product I will get. It will depend on which exact aircraft is deployed on that particular day.

The seats on B-LGA are the Zodiac Aerospace Z300 series seats.

The seats were comfortable but I do find the Z300 seats a bit slim for being deployed mostly on long haul routes. The armrests are quite narrow for my liking. The seat cushion seems a bit thin as well. Although, it was very comfortable on my one hour flight from Hong Kong to Taipei. I will be interested to experience the seat on a 10 hours long haul route. The seat pitch of 32 inches is similar to those on the Cathay Pacific A350-900.

There is a USB Type B charger port below every Personal TV which is pretty much a standard nowadays on newer aircraft. There are also two conventional universal electric sockets below every group of seats.

The safety cards are in good condition although a bit wrinkled at the top. The reason being is that the safety card cannot be fully stowed inside the seat pocket. It leaves the top exposed meaning it could be knocked in and out by passengers walking in and out of the seats. Also, the safety card is a bit on the soft side meaning it will be susceptible to more wear and tear.

I am not a fan of these split compartment seat back design. The top is where the in-flight magazines are stored and the lower pocket holds the safety card and sick bag.

Once you open  the bi-folding meal tray table, you can see the bottom of the top compartment. The design allows you to fish out items that you accidentally dropped from the top.

In this case, you can see there are 3 in-flight magazines that is shoved inside this small compartment. The bottom of the magazine are all ripped because of this. They barely fit inside this small compartment. There is also a piece of plastic rubbish inside the compartment.

Taking Off

This is my favorite moment in any flight and is especially true in the A350.  The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine is very quiet but at the same time you can feel the 84,000lbs of thrust powering this beauty down the runway. The beautifully engineered wing is creating the lift which pushes the aircraft so gracefully and effortlessly up into the air. The camera on the tail makes it difficult to choose to look out the window or on the personal TV. It is such an experience to be inside a machinery that defies gravity and lifts off into the blue skies.

The Inflight Service

Unfortunately, this was a very short flight. The total flight time was just over an hour. I am surprised to find that the cabin crew was proactively asking where I sit and tried their best to guide me to the seat.

I was only in economy class and having proactive service is very different than reactive. If you are offered something that you did not ask for, then this is really a true thoughtful service.

Every economy class passenger was offered a spam bun. I am not a fan of spam but at least it was hot. There was no choice of beverages offered but only a small container with water. I am sure you can ask for a different type of drink but I did not. I need to reiterate that Hong Kong Airlines is a full service airline which means you do not need to pay for food. This being an extremely short flight, it is difficult for airlines to offer a full meal service to passengers.

The In-flight Entertainment System

As mentioned earlier, Hong Kong Airlines will have 2 different configurations and will most likely have 2 different in-flight entertainment system in their fleet of A350s. This A350 I’ve flown on is B-LGA which is the first A350 in Hong Kong Airlines’ fleet. It is a Panasonic Avionics eX3 system. The Graphics User Interface or GUI in short is quite simple and straight forward. The 9″ PTV on the Economy seats seems a bit small compared to other airlines’ new fleet and seats. Although, there is an large collection of movies, TV Shows and Music albums. You can see a list of the current movies and TV shows showing in-flight on Hong Kong Airlines’ website.

There are 12 major categories: Movies, TV, Music, Games, Kid’s World, Satellite TV, Flight Map, Connecting Gates, Destination Videos, Surveys, About Us and Camera. It is arranged in a carousel format where it is easy to navigate.

For Movies, there are these categories: “Newly Added” / “Hollywood New Releases” / “Hollywood Classics” / “Chinese” / “Others” / “Kids” / “HKA Picks” / “List All” / “Upcoming Trailers”.

For TV Shows, there are these categories: “Chinese TV” / “Drama” / “Documentary” / “Explore” / “Entertainment” / “Family” / “List All”.

For Music, there are these categories: “Newly Added” / “Western Pop” / “Chinese Pop” / “Asian Pop” / “Jazz” / “Instrumental” / “Kids” / “List All”. It is also arranged in a carousel format. The are quite a large number of albums inside each of these major categories.

Airshow

The 3D Airshow developed by Rockwell Collins for Panasonic Avionics systems was nice but not as good as some other ones I’ve seen before.

Outside Camera

The A350 is equipped with 2 outside cameras which can be viewed throughout the flight. There is one of the nose wheel (front view) and there is one on the top of the vertical stabilizer/fin (top view) of the aircraft facing the nose.

Connectivity

Connectivity was offered on this flight but unfortunately it was unserviceable on my flight. I was quite disappointed because I was keen to try out the speed of the connectivity.

This particular A350-900 was equipped with Panasonic eXConnect which utilizes the Ku-Band aeronautical satellite network. The Ku-band aeronautical satellite network typically gives you about 1-2Mbps.

Although, the inflight connectivity wifi welcome page was working fine. There was a 15-min free internet pass on offer. There also was 3 different connectivity plans on offer.

1. A chat pass which is a 20MB pass with no time limit with speeds capped at 64kbps. It was offered at a discounted price of US$4.99.
2. An 1-hour pass with unlimited usage and with speeds up to 300kbps at a discount price of US$9.99.
3. A fight pass with unlimited usage on the flight with speeds up to 300kbps at a discounted price of US$15.99.

I am a bit surprised to see the advertised speed of up to only 300kbps. If this is true, it is comparatively slower than what was on the Cathay Pacific A350-900.

 

 

Live TV

This particular A35o is equipped with Panasonic eXTV which provide live satellite TV channels inflight. Live Satellite TV was free and there were three news channels to choose from: BBC World News, Sport 24 and CNN International.

Live Satellite TV was really good and very smooth. I was watching the Winter Olympics snowboarding and as you can see in the videos, it was in great quality without much lag.

Landing

I wished the flight was longer so I can experience the Hong Kong Airlines long haul cabin service. With such a short flight, it is difficult to gauge the service inflight. Although, the flight departed and arrived on-time which was great.

Final Thoughts

I’ve flown on the A350 a few times now and if I have a choice, I will choose to fly on the A350 every time. The larger windows and flatter sidewall really makes a difference. My whole experience overall from purchasing my ticket to arrival into Taipei was very efficient.

Hong Kong Airlines is exclusively using the new midfield concourse terminal in Hong Kong and the signage at Hong Kong International Airport could be better. Moreover, there is no baggage handling system connecting the midfield concourse terminal to the main terminal where you will collect your baggage when you fly back to Hong Kong. All the passengers’ luggage that arrives into the midfield concourse will have to be unloaded from the aircraft and then truck back to the main terminal which is quite a distance away. I find that there is usually a longer than average wait time for your baggage to arrive at the baggage reclaim carousal because of this when you flight with Hong Kong Airlines.

As Hong Kong Airlines expands its network into North America and Europe, their challenges will be immense. They have already started their operations into Vancouver in 2017 and both San Francisco and Los Angeles in 2018. They will be in direct competition with many long established carriers such as Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong Airlines have already been in directly competition with many carriers in the short haul market, the long haul market is something that they have yet to gain a foothold on.

Cabin service was limited in my one hour flight from Hong Kong to Taipei but it will be an area of scrutiny in a long haul flight when competition is fierce. Other than ticket pricing, cabin product and service is the only differentiating factor in a passenger buying Hong Kong Airlines ticket or not. Although, many would argue that branding of the airline is also an area where airlines try to induce passengers buying their tickets over another.

Other than the in-flight connectivity being unserviceable on my flight, I had a great experience on Hong Kong Airlines A350 and will be looking forward in flying with them again on a long haul flight.https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf54_uxluwq/?taken-by=the_aviationjournal

So my preflight today is having breakfast at the Hong Kong Airlines VIP Lounge. Amazing space. @hkairlines #hkairlines #PaxEx #avgeek pic.twitter.com/DAJkUR3F67

— Calvin (@calvye) February 24, 2018

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Aviation Journal (@the_aviationjournal)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by World Traveler Log (@worldtravelerlog)