Cathay Pacific today announced the completion of their renovations to The Wing First Class Lounge at Hong Kong International Airport. I visited when renovations began in 2010 and offered a review in this post. They’ve certainly spruced things up by the looks of it.

First class, oneworld Emerald and Diamond Marco Polo guests are now greeted upon entry and treated to a drink at The Champagne Bar before heading into the main part of the lounge.

The Wing First Class Lounge Hong Kong

The furniture in the main seating area has been replaced (thankfully from the worn and tired offering when I visited), but do I see limited end tables and other laptop friendly fixtures?

The Wing First Class Lounge Hong Kong Seating

That could, of course, be negated by the generous amount of work desks and a separate business center I used during my visit in 2010, though I tend to enjoy staying put on a comfy chair or sofa. I wonder if power outlets have increased in the more loungy area?

The Haven – a first class buffet and dining area – has doubled in size, a noted improvement from my visit when tables filled to capacity rather quickly. And food options have reportedly improved with a reinvented à la carte menu complemented by recommended wine pairings.

The Haven Dining Area

Most improved by the looks of it is The Cabana – five individual rooms providing a shower, separate bathtub and day bed. I’m not certain if they’ve enclosed them fully as when I visited, the “back porch” where the day beds were previously located sat out on a communal area between the five. There were screens/walls stretching out into the rocky area separating each adjacent cabana (without fully enclosing them) and sound was an issue.

The Cabana at The Wing

Overall, it looks great and definitely more first class than the ANA Suite Lounge at Narita I reviewed yesterday.

Related posts:

Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific’s The Wing First Class Lounge Hong Kong

Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific’s The Pier First Class Lounge Hong Kong

Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific’s The Arrival Lounge Hong Kong

• Southwest Airlines is now a Club Carlson partner. Yeah, I’m a week late to report this news, but I just learned about it last night. Now through March 31, Rapid Rewards members can earn double points in a promotional offer.
• The 2012 United Nations WTO traveler numbers are in and 1.035 billion tourists crossed international borders last year, a 4% increase over 2011. Growth rates this year are projected at 3-4%.
• Popular Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will be stepping down from President Obama’s Cabinet. He served in the position since 2009 and was well-liked across aisles (no pun intended).
• JetBlue took the top spot in an analysis ranking the top 10 U.S. airlines on Twitter, being the most followed airline. But American Airlines proved the “most social” being the carrier most active on Twitter. Kudos to both!
• American Airlines continued a tour of its 737 sporting the new livery. Today’s stop was Chicago O’Hare after yesterday’s event at Dallas-Fort Worth. Next up is Los Angeles on Thursday… why did I move again? And check out the 777-300 in the new colors.
• After a very long remodel, Cathay Pacific will re-open The Wing First Class Lounge in Hong Kong next week. It was definitely in need of a refresh. Here’s what it looked like during my visit in 2011.

Related posts:

Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: January 28, 2013

Quite a few notable events in the airline industry the past couple of days include:

• American Airlines today took delivery of their first Boeing 777-300ER, N717AN. It’s actually airborne as I type on its way to Dallas where it’ll eventually sport American’s new livery. Passenger service is scheduled to begin January 31 from Dallas to Sao Paulo.

• Delta Air Lines has purchased a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, launching a joint venture between the two airlines. This will give the two airlines about 25% of the U.S. to UK market, positioning them as #2 behind the American-British Airways stronghold share of 60%. Once the deal is approved (end of 2013), the ability to earn and burn miles between carriers will exist, as well as reciprocal lounge access for elites and full-fare premium cabin passengers. And I’m sure Delta will be championing them to participate fully in SkyTeam. Whether that actually happens given Virgin’s “one-off” alliance-building history remains to be seen.
• Virgin America will launch flights to Newark beginning April 2013. Three daily nonstops are planned from both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Hopefully we’ll see some good fare wars between VX and United in those markets.
• Lufthansa on Monday swapped out a 747-400 for the 747-8i on the Los Angeles to Frankfurt route. Flight 456 departs Frankfurt daily at 10:00 a.m. arriving at LAX at 12:40 p.m. The return flight, LH 457, departs LAX at 2:50 p.m. with an arrival back in Frankfurt at 10:45 a.m. the following morning. From my experience, this route is pretty difficult to snag a First Class award seat… but I’ll be trying!
• Service on Cathay Pacific might get a bit more… er… U.S. airline-esque as flight attendants are at odds with the carrier over a pay raise. Instead of striking, they’re reportedly considering customer-focused actions. “We will be selective in providing our services,” union general secretary Tsang Kwok-fung told the AFP.  ”This could include not smiling at passengers, not providing certain types of beverages — such as alcohol — or stop serving meals,” he said.

In case you haven’t seen the latest video Cathay Pacific added to their YouTube channel, here it is. Cathay Pacific’s Alex McGowan takes you on a tour of the new Premium Economy cabin on what I think is an Airbus A330 given the 2-3-2 configuration (and overhead bin style). The PE seat maps on their website show a 2-4-2 layout for both the 747s and 777s.

There are some negative comments posted claiming it looks like something out of the 1980s or 1990s, but I actually think it looks pretty darn comfy – especially the bulkhead row with a huge amount of room.

Airport service includes dedicated check-in counters, extra baggage allowance and priority boarding. Onboard amenities include a pre-departure hot towel and beverage service, upgraded meals, bottled water, a small amenity kit and a larger pillow (plus a blanket, I assume, though it isn’t mentioned).

This cradle type of seat actually might be more comfortable to sleep in than Air New Zealand’s fixed back offering in Premium Economy, though some commenters disagree.

What do you think?

Cathay Pacific recently posted a video tour of their new First and Business Class lounge at San Francisco International Airport and it’s a pretty darn good one. The only thing I’ll miss about the British Airways Terraces lounge they used to use is the “back door” boarding directly from the lounge for gate A6. A small price to pay for what looks like a significantly upgraded experience.

In other airline industry news this week…

• United Airlines announced new daily nonstop service from Newark to Istanbul effective July 1, 2012. Initially the route will be flown with United’s current international 767-300ER aircraft with three classes of service, but beginning August 28, the airline will swap in a new configuration that features BusinessFirst, Economy Plus and standard economy. United is planning to convert the current domestic 767-300 fleet typically seen on the Hawaii routes into this new layout.
• Delta Air Lines completed the installation of Wi-Fi on all Delta Shuttle aircraft flying the New York-LaGuardia to Boston, Washington National and Chicago O’Hare flights. According to the carrier’s local Senior Vice President Gail Grimmett, “We are thrilled that Wi-Fi is now available to our Delta Shuttle customers as it’s a perfect complement to other Shuttle amenities including free morning coffee and newspapers.” The carrier expects to have internet service available on more than 800 aircraft by this summer.
• Sticking with Delta for the moment, they announced expanded codeshare agreements with both China Eastern and China Southern Airlines this week. The Civil Aviation Administration of China approved the link-up of codes and flight numbers and once implemented, codeshare service will be seen across 34 cities within the U.S. and China with China Eastern and 18 cities with China Southern.
• American Airlines issued another letter to its employees this week notifying them of the necessity to “re-gauge” their fleet in order to match supply with market demand, particularly from their hub in Chicago. Current contracts with the pilot’s union prevent the carrier from subbing larger regional jets into markets currently flown with larger mainline aircraft, causing an industry-losing position in unit revenue. The letter also states the airline will focus on premium international business traffic once it exits Chapter 11 protection, hoping to grow their share of the lucrative segment.
• US Airways filed a formal objection with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday claiming Philadelphia’s planned airport expansion would “harm its finances and business operations and force it to shift flights elsewhere.” The carrier controls 70% of the market flying to, through or from PHL, and as a result, the airline would take the brunt of the all but likely increases to airport rates and fees charged to fund the expansion. The city, meanwhile, claims the proposed new runway and terminal expansion are essential to sustain further growth.
• Survey results were released this week from Buyology and uSamp (who?) revealing the most desired brand in the United States. Sorry, Apple, top honors went to Southwest Airlines. Buyology CEO Gary Singer thinks Southwest did so well largely due to its no-fee ad campaign and because of what its service represents in the minds of passengers.
• Finally, and hopefully not an omen of things to come at United, Cathay Pacific continues to have issues a week after it converted from an in-house reservations system to GDS provider Amadeus. Passengers with award tickets are still unable to manage their bookings online and the carrier is working through additional “teething issues” (their words) with the system migration. With United’s upcoming switchover, let this be a reminder to passengers to be proactive and have as much detail about their itineraries as possible in print.

I previously posted the maps of Cathay Pacific’s Boeing 747-300 and 747-400 from the 1980s, and here now is their 747-200 for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps. The carrier operated about 20 of this version during its peak.

Seating a total of 363 passengers, First Class offered 35 seats in the then typical 2 x 2 layout, Marco Polo Business Class seated 92 passengers in a 2 x 3 x 2 configuration, and economy class saw the standard 3 x 4 x 3 with 236 seats.

The white ‘x’ appearing on many of the bulkhead walls denote baby bassinet positions and if I were traveling alone, you’d find me in 1A in First Class (hoping there wasn’t a baby across the aisle). I still prefer sitting in the nose of a 747 vs. upstairs and this bird was flying when smoking was allowed where rows four and five are highlighted as smoking seats.

In Business Class, row 16 looks ideal to me being ahead of the wing for optimal gazing out the window. Something I find odd here, though, is that there appears to be only two lavatories for the entire main deck First Class and Business Class cabins. That’s a little punitive, in my opinion.

In economy I’d probably take an aisle seat somewhere around row 37.

Where would you sit?

In other airline and travel industry news last week…

• Southwest Airlines placed a monumental order for 208 Boeing 737 aircraft this week that includes 150 of the manufacturer’s newest Max version, making the carrier the official launch customer. The first delivery to Southwest won’t occur until 2017. At list prices, the order value is $19 billion and $4.7 billion for the aircraft and engines respectively.
• In addition to his new role as CEO of American Airlines, Tom Horton has been elected Chairman of the oneworld alliance this week. He offered to have another of the alliance carriers’ executives take the post, but “the unanimous view was that the alliance would benefit greatly at this time from the continuity in our leadership that Tom represents – while at the same time underlining the commitment of oneworld to American while it undergoes its restructuring.”
• Cathay Pacific opened their new lounge at San Francisco’s International Airport, the first CX-owned facility in the United States. A grand opening reception was held this past Thursday and Loyalty Traveler has a great review of it. The carrier also introduced details of its new Premium Economy Class product that will be rolled out beginning in March next year. The seats will feature 38 inches of pitch, enhanced recline, footrests, in-seat power and much more.
• Hearings for the dispute between Qantas and the pilots union won’t occur until June next year due in part to the complexity of the matter. The carrier has until March 19^th to submit key witness statements and expert evidence to the panel of “workplace umpires,” while the pilots union has to do the same by April 30^th. Other hearings will take place earlier between the carrier and baggage handler and engineer unions.
• The FAA granted certification to the passenger Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental this week, green lighting deliveries to begin early next year. Lufthansa is the launch customer for the passenger version. The FAA also approved extended operations (ETOPS) of Boeing 777s to 330-minutes, up from 240-minutes this week. This will allow carriers to fly more direct routes between airports and reduce carbon emissions.
• On the passenger front, a Frenchman was arrested this week for his excessive pilfering of items from Air France First Class cabins, which he then resold online. Among the items stolen were napkins, glasses, plates and blankets. The article claims he made about 10,000 euros off the sales of the items during the past three years. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t take a glass or two over the years, but I never resell the tiny amount of stuff I’ve taken.
• Speaking of fraud, the Airlines Reporting Corporation has seen a “marked increase” in unauthorized airline tickets issued. Last year, 18 of these incidents were reported, but the figure to-date for 2011 is 113 and those tickets are valued at more than $1 million. Phishing scams are the main culprit where travel agents receive what they think is official communication from trusted GDS companies and click the link to enter their credentials.
• Finally, staying on the GDS front, Travelport will begin charging travel agencies more for services they currently use for free. Beginning January 1^st, the company’s Agility program that allows agents to use certain client databases, PNR search capabilities, fulfillment services, queues and more will come with a $35 fee per terminal per month. Agency incentives for using GDS technology still remain, but new costs such as this are pointing to a changing landscape in the GDS-Agency relationship.

The colorful Cathay Pacific seat maps reader Will sent me have become favorites in my collection. Here’s Cathay’s Boeing 747-300 from 1989 for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps. It seated a total of 422 passengers split between First Class, Marco Polo Business Class and Economy Class.

29 seats were found in the nose and just beyond in the then typical two-seater configuration for First Class, and you’d definitely find me in 1A if I was flying solo or in 2A/B with a traveling companion. Well… maybe not 1A as the white ‘x’ mark at the bulkheads (in each cabin) denote bassinet positions. Smoking seats, by the way, are the ones with a yellowish hue.

In Marco Polo Business Class, I’d likely opt to sit upstairs although it’s tightly packed with 42 seats. These were the days before truly generous pitch was found in the middle cabin. The downstairs section might see more personalized service seating only 21 passengers. A tough selection here, but the extra storage bins alongside the window seats upstairs could be the swaying factor for me. I’ll go for 17A.

In coach flying solo, I generally book an aisle in the center 4-seater section on a 747 since those seats have a greater likelihood of the seat next to it being unoccupied. Also, I always pick the ‘G’ seats near the center back since the computer algorithm generally assigns last minute seats left to right, front to back. Otherwise, those aisle bulkhead seats just behind the exit doors would be incredibly spacious. It’d be a toss up between 30C and say, 49G for me. For a couple, nothing beats those last few rows of two-seaters if you don’t mind being last off the plane. Economy on this version seated 330 passengers.

Where would you sit?

Here’s an absolutely spectacular video showing a Cathay Pacific Airbus A330 performing its “slow flight” capabilities. Part of any pilot’s flight training requires mastery of this maneuver – the point at which an aircraft remains ever so slightly above stall speed and is still able to fly. It’s normally done at very high altitudes to allow a student pilot to get the exact feel of how the manipulation of aircraft controls allows such a flight situation.

I trained on Cessna 172s and loved doing this maneuver. Well… not the first few times when I failed and upchucked breakfast when I stalled the aircraft and spun towards the ground. (Side personal note: I’ve never been able to eat cantaloupe since.) One time, wind conditions were strong enough where I was able to slow the aircraft, pitch the nose and fly backwards when looking at the ground. Pretty cool.

Anyway, here’s the video… the weather conditions in the video appear “safe” enough to attempt what they did so close to the ground, but if I were the PIC – pilot in command – I would never have approved such an attempt.

Special thanks to my BFF Eric for sending me this video.