CX 254 London Heathrow - Hong Kong
4 June 2025
Business Class
Tonight, I fly Cathay's last flight of the day to Hong Kong with a night-time 10:15pm departure and dinner-time arrival. Cathay now runs a full pre-pandemic schedule to Heathrow with 5 flights a day, although they haven't returned to Gatwick yet.
Arriving at 8:30pm, there were no lines to check in at the Business Class counter. I didn't bother with the kiosks to print my bag tags and went straight to the manned desk.
Heading upstairs, I went through priority security thanks to my Business Class ticket. I had the place all to myself and was air-side quickly. Similar to Terminal 5, there were incredible crowds here in the big seating pit, so I just browsed through a few shops for some last minute souvenirs before heading out to my gate.
It was a trek through the long corridor to a more airy and newer pier and picked up a free Financial Times along the way. There weren't any other flights departing out of here by now so the huge seating area was more than enough to accommodate just my flight.
Boarding was timely and finished early at 10:05pm. I settled into my window seat as the sun set outside. The announcements included something new - don't put your powerbanks in the overhead bin and not to use it during the flight.
A crew member came with 2 welcome drinks to choose from and I picked the apple juice ... I mean champagne. The menus were already placed at the seat with the amenity kit in the cabinet. Strangely, there was no bottle of water and I ended up asking for one after take-off.
We pushed back slightly early at 10:12pm and took off towards the west 20 minutes later. We looped back right away to continue east towards the continent. I got a good view of a lit-up London along the way
20 minutes later, the amuse bouche arrived and it's time for a late dinner. I actually had dinner before heading to the airport and didn't intend to stuff myself beyond full so I can fall asleep later. Tonight, there are 5 choices for mains with a mix of Asian and Western choices. The Western ones are baked salmon and Scottish prime beef cheeks, while the Asian dishes are fish ball and cuttlefish ball noodle soup and chicken with mushrooms and bamboo shoots in oyster sauce.
The food was decent with a soup and I picked the chicken dish paired with rice. The chicken's presentation wasn't attractive although it tasted fine.
My seat had issues reclining and the crew came by to try to set it manually. She first removed the cushion, which revealed a few buttons. After trying a few times with the settings and unsuccessfully moving it with all her strength, I stepped in to slide the seat down with my butt into a sleeping position with a smile.
I then fell asleep for a good 7 hours, a rare feat as I usually can't sleep long on the plane. The mattress cover, which is a fairly recent addition to Cathay's Business Class experience, evens out the seat's contours when it's in the lie-flat position. I also took advantage of the ear plugs in the amenity kit and managed a very good sleep.
The breakfast selection was also extensive with 5 choices - wellness, light, Chinese, Western, and express. I picked the Chinese menu, which includes a beef and mushroom congee and noodles. The beef slices were a bit dry but I was surprised London catering can make a good congee considering it is an outport.
While I slept for a long part of the flight, I did have time to explore the extensive IFE and fill up the playlist. The advantage of flying Cathay is the abundance of home-grown television programs and movies.
By now, it is late afternoon on this side of the world and I opened my window to check out Guangdong beneath us. With a left window, I hoped to score some beautiful aerial views on final approach.
However, we would land from the west today, looping around just south of the coast for final approach. The decent city views ended up to be Macau and Zhuhai in the distance.
We landed at 5:26pm the next day and took a long taxi to the terminal although we still ended up arriving ahead of schedule (6pm). There is plenty of construction on the airport island despite the 3rd runway having opened already, with a new terminal expecting to come online in the near future.
Typical of the Hong Kong arrival experience, it's quick to get through the immigration kiosk and my luggage shortly spat out onto the belt. Welcome back to the land of efficiency.