I won’t win any awards for trip report titles, though I hope I can at least get an award for trying. Either way, welcome to my next trip report series, featuring reviews of Emirates A380 premium economy and business class, Cathay Pacific A350 premium economy, Cebu Pacific, HK Express, Greater Bay Airlines, and EVA Air premium economy.
When going back to Hong Kong to visit my family, I wanted to fly an itinerary that would maximise the number of airline review I’d been hoping to write. I’ll post each of these reviews in the coming days, though in this post I wanted to detail what I booked and how. As I just stayed at home during this trip, there won’t be any hotel reviews.
Booking My Journey to Hong Kong
One of the key products I wanted to review was Emirates’ premium economy, which I knew was fairly highly acclaimed. I ended up booking this from London Heathrow to Dubai.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Class
However, Emirates doesn’t operate premium economy between Dubai and Hong Kong, and there wasn’t any award space to upgrade to business class. While I do want to fly longhaul economy class soon at some point, I didn’t want to fly a longhaul economy class segment on a premium economy fare.
Emirates does operate one of their four flights from Dubai to Singapore with premium economy, though the timing didn’t work for me. However, I found that another flight from Dubai to Singapore had award space in business class. So, in a slightly roundabout way, I booked a one-way Emirates premium economy itinerary from London to Dubai to Singapore, with the Dubai to Singapore leg being in economy, then upgraded that latter leg to business class. I was happy with this, as I hadn’t flown Emirates’ A380 business class in over five years, and wanted to see how the product was holding up.
The ticket cost £1160.49 (HK$12,036), and the upgrade cost 40,560 Skywards miles, which I transferred from AmEx Membership Rewards. My itinerary was as follows:
05/08 Emirates 6 London Heathrow – Dubai dep. 22:15 arr. 08:05+1 [Premium Economy Class]
06/08 Emirates 352 Dubai – Singapore dep. 10:05 arr. 21:45 [Business Class]
Emirates A380 Business Class
From Singapore, I needed to get to Hong Kong. The Emirates flight landed in Singapore at 9:45 PM – as much as I love Singapore and would’ve wanted to stay a night, I wanted to get home as soon as I could, to maximise time with family. So I decided to book Cathay Pacific’s redeye flight from Singapore to Hong Kong, which was the earliest flight I could catch.
There was award availability in all three cabin classes, though I hadn’t flown Cathay Pacific’s shorthaul premium economy in a while. So I decided to book premium economy on this segment, setting me back 20,000 Asia Miles and HK$380 (£36.64) in taxes. The itinerary was as follows:
07/08 Cathay Pacific 714 Singapore – Hong Kong dep. 01:45 arr. 05:15 [Premium Economy Class]
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Class
For my return leg to London, I spotted a THB 31,615 (HK$7,523/£724) premium economy class fare one-way on EVA Air from Bangkok to London, which worked well for me. I was excited to try another premium economy product between Asia and Europe! The itinerary was as follows:
16/08 EVA Air 67 Bangkok – London Heathrow dep. 12:50 arr. 19:25 [Premium Economy Class]
EVA Air 777 Premium Economy Class
I had a few options to get to Bangkok, though couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try Hong Kong’s newest airline Greater Bay Airlines, which had a conveniently timed flight for me to catch my EVA Air flight. I decided to get a Value Go package in case I needed to take 20 kg of check-in baggage last-minute, which set me back HK$1,460 (£141).
Greater Bay Airlines 737
This was enough new airline products for this trip, and I was ready to call it a day and spend some quality time back home. Or not…
Booking A Low-Cost Airline Day Trip to Manila
As I was flying Greater Bay Airlines, I wanted to scour a way to fly HK Express in the same trip. I ended up finding a decent one-way fare from Manila to Hong Kong, which would set me back PHP 2860 (£39/HK$397).
I figured that I could spend a day doing a review trip in order to fly HK Express, and to my surprise my dad agreed to join me.
HK Express A321 Interior
I had to fly to Manila in order to catch this flight, so decided to make a day trip out of it with my dad. I decided to fly him out in Cathay Pacific business class, though personally went for something more adventurous.
I flew Cebu Pacific’s A330 back in 2017, though didn’t get to review it properly, as I was on a school trip. Cebu Pacific had since replaced their A330s with brand new A330neos, with even more seats (460 as opposed to 436). These are the world’s most densely configured A330s, so I knew I had to try them out. The ticket cost HK$471 (£45.5) for my one-way flight from Hong Kong to Manila.
Cebu Pacific A330neo Interior
The Airline Lounges I’ll Review On This Trip
While I flew seven segments, only one of these came with lounge access. I’ll be re-reviewing the Emirates Concourse A Lounge at Dubai Airport, a gigantic lounge that spans the entire length of the terminal.
Emirates Lounge at Concourse A DXB
I did also visit some other lounges that I’ll be reviewing. The first was the Kyra Lounge Hong Kong, which my dad and I paid a visit to before we flew to Manila. The Kyra Lounge newly opened in July 2024 and is available to Priority Pass members, and serves as an alternative to the Chase Sapphire lounge, which I reviewed last year.
Kyra Lounge Hong Kong
Then in Bangkok I visited the Oman Air Lounge, which is also part of the Priority Pass network. I’ll also be reviewing that lounge.
Oman Air Lounge Bangkok, a Priority Pass lounge
Conclusion
I decided to fly seven flights on six airlines on a roundtrip itinerary between London and Hong Kong, as one does, with a day trip to Manila involved in the process. All airlines were at least pleasant to fly, and there were new airlines that I particularly enjoyed. I can’t wait to share these travels with you guys!
Which flight review are you looking to most?