If you had to pick any place to kill some time, Hong Kong International Airport ain’t a bad choice. It’s a beautiful piece of architecture, it offers great runway views, and it has a lounge scene that’s arguably second to none. Most of its best known lounges belong to hometown juggernaut Cathay Pacific, which sets a pretty high bar for excellence in the ground experience at HKG.
Enter player two: Hong Kong Airlines. Their inflight product was a joy to fly on their A350s — you can read that review here. During our brief time on the ground in Hong Kong, we made sure to drop by the airline’s brand-new “Club Autus” Lounge at the HKG midfield concourse, where most of the airline’s long-haul flights depart. The lounge delivers all the necessities plus some bonus creature comforts, and does it with style — if sometimes a very quirky style. But after a few hours getting watered and fed, taking a shower, and enjoying some stellar runway views, we’d give Club Autus two enthusiastic thumbs up.
Read on for more photos and details about the new player on HKG’s lounge circuit.
Hong Kong is a dazzling city. With a dazzling international airport. And some great hometown airlines. Though not the oldest or largest among them, Hong Kong Airlines has arguably been the most exciting over the past year, launching new long-haul routes to North America on the wings of its small new fleet of Airbus A350s. With that unique aircraft’s help, the airline launched service to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Vancouver over the past year.
We have a blast reviewing airlines for the first time, and we got to do exactly that with Hong Kong Airlines on a flight to its Hong Kong (HKG) hub from San Francisco (SFO), barely a month after the route launched. From the fresh and roomy business class seats to the impressive dining experience, we found a lot to get excited about. Plus there’s the AvGeek joy of flying on the relatively new A350!
Read on for plenty of photos, videos, and thoughts on Hong Kong Airlines’ A350 inflight experience.
T4-TBIT connector at LAX: Overlooking the ramp between TBIT and T4 at LAX
A couple of weeks ago, I was one of the first to report on the opening of the new Connector facility between Terminal 4 (T4) and the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). While this is exciting news in my world, I will admit that sometimes I forget that not everyone is a frequent-flying fanatic or even an #AvGeek. So here I am, to make the case to the everyday person on the street on just why the new T4 Connector is so monumental to the improvement to the passenger experience at LAX.
A bit overly dramatic? You be the judge…
An American Airlines 777-300ER (77W) taxis at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Update 6:55PM PT: American Airlines has put out a press release on the addition of the LAX-HKG flight starting September 9. The schedule information and flight times are:
- Departs LAX at 1:55am, and arrives at HKG at 8:10am the next day (subject to regulatory approval)
- Departs HKG at 8:20pm, and arrives at LAX at 6:40pm
Furthermore, the flight will be operated as part of the joint business venture with Japan Airlines.
Original story appears below:
An eagle-eyed frequent flyer spotted an update to a page on American Airlines’ website, which indicated that the highly-anticipated service from Los Angeles (LAX) to Hong Kong (HKG) will commence on September 7 using the carrier’s flagship Boeing 777-300ER (77W). AirlineReporter confirmed that the webpage had indeed been updated to include the information on HKG, and tweeted out a screenshot of the page in the wee hours:
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The red carpet at American’s “Best in LAX” announcement event on January 20
On January 20, American Airlines hosted a “Best in LAX” themed event at the Hollywood Bowl, highlighted by a large expansion of nonstop domestic flights from Los Angeles International Airport. However, what was remarkable was what wasn’t announced…