CX 253 Hong Kong - London Heathrow (part 1)
8 Sep 2026
Premium Economy

I usually prefer morning or daytime departures from Hong Kong to Europe, arriving in the early evening, which I can adapt my sleeping patterns to hopefully rid my jet lag quickly. It wasn't crucial to sleep during a daytime flight, and I could enjoy some nice views and work on my laptop. Today, Cathay had 3 daytime flights to choose from.

Security was reasonably quick in the new scanners and I was air-side in no time. Today's gate is #3, which is only a short walk away, passing through a big duty-free section.

@ Hong Kong Airport

With a little time left before boarding starts, I headed to a special stall from Tai On Coffee and Tea Shop, an institution in Yau Ma Tei. They've produced some plush toys and memorabilia, cashing in on the Jellycat and local heritage craze of late.

The official duty-free shop also is trying to cash in on the plush toys for adults phenomenon. They've had a dim sum series on sale for quite some time already.

Prices range from HKD$58-98 each, so are cheaper than Jellycats of similar size. I've noticed these Jellycat twins are generally priced less, although the themes differ significantly despite everyone carrying a decent smile.

There was some construction around gate 3 and the area was packed with people. Boarding now is based on zones, and I felt a little bit of an Air Canada chaos in the air. With limited space, the lines went everywhere. The premium class line went in the opposite direction from the Economy line, which wasn't easily visible in the glob of people and the single sign.

There were staff on hand to call the zones for boarding, but since the line for zones 2 and 3 were grouped together, it became confusing as staff tried to separate the big group into 2 lines so the Business Class group 2 would stream steadily to board while the Premium Economy group 3 gets stopped by staff and have to wait on the side.

In the old days, the different classes had their own individual lines and things were far more seamless and efficient.

Thumbs down to Cathay for making boarding so stressful through this silly arrangement.

The atmosphere turned a lot calmer by the time I got on the jet bridge.

On Board

This is my first time on the refurbished 777 featuring new seat designs. Here in Premium Economy's bulkhead, I had a lot of legroom and a wide seat with storage compartments to my right where I could place small things such as my phone with the armrest protecting them from others' view. The tray table is stored under the left armrest and looked the same size as Economy Class.

We also got a good noise-cancelling headset just like in Business Class but no slippers. The blanket was thin but very soft, super comfortable, and surprisingly warm.

After take-off, we would be served lunch with 3 choices. The 2nd meal would be dinner with 2 choices. In between meals, they also offer egg tarts and cup noodles. Sure, it's not Business Class, but what's on offer looks noticeably fancier than Economy.

The PTV was noticeably bigger with good resolution. I would be in for a treat with the camera views.

Staff came around to serve a hot towel and a welcome drink in paper cups.

Boarding was completed late and we pushed back at 1:45. The captain announced a flight time of 13.5 hours and we got airborne at 1:59pm, taking off towards the west and looping around the city to continue north.

Despite an aisle seat, I had just as good views outside from the plane's on-board cameras as we flew over Chai Wan, Tseung Kwan O, and Ma On Shan.

Half an hour after take-off, we were served a drink and snack. Lunch followed another half hour later.

I picked the fish, which had a very strong smell to it when I peeled back the lid but it tasted fine with some bell peppers, fancy small carrot, and a thin layer of mashed potatoes. The appetizer was a chicken and asparagus cold dish with a lot of garlic! There was a chocolate on the side and the crew came by with a big tub of ice-cream after.

Being a regular flying Business Class on this route, I noticed a few subtle differences in Premium Economy. Similar to Business Class, we were given metal cutlery, but in Premium Economy, they were wrapped in a paper towel instead of cloth but it had an additional wet wipe.

As we flew over China's empty northwestern regions, the turbulence picked up and the seat belt sign came on and off, then the crew were instructed to sit down. Luckily, I was done lunch by then and enjoyed a movie in the meantime.

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Strangely, the 2nd meal was served half way through the flight with just under 6 hours to go. This time, I picked the Asian option with chicken and rice.

However, while the chicken was warm, the rice was cold. There was also sliced ginger on the side, but not the type we usually use for a stir-fry. It is pickled ginger you typically get with Japanese sushi, a cold dish. It seemed like an odd combination, and the cold rice really put me off. How can Cathay get a Chinese dish wrong?

The fruit bowl, on the other hand, was really good. It consisted of papaya with a lime juice pairing, which gives it a very fresh kick. I've noticed on other Cathay flights, they pair lime with fruits as well, which tasted delicious.

The dessert was a weird sesame creme brulee.

As the seatbelt sign was still on, the crew wasn't able to serve me a hot tea so I got a cold drink instead. However, after the sign went off, she came back with the tea, specifically remembering I had ordered it!

Meanwhile, I noticed the lights in Business Class ahead of me were still off while we were eating. Perhaps they stagger the meals between cabins to save manpower. The folks up front would eat shortly before arrival instead.

With an early dinner, I got hungry a few hours later and ended up ordering an egg tart, which came warm and fairly quickly.

The Premium Economy cabin was curtained off from the Economy section with 2 exclusive lavatories for our few rows. Inside, there was soap, hand sanitizer, and lotion. The wash basin and toilets are touch-free and activated by sensor.

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After the last bout of turbulence over the Caspian Sea, things calmed down and I slept for a little bit as we made our way through eastern Europe. Everything seemed on track for a timely arrival into London and I started enjoying the Devil Wears Prada 2 when the captain made an announcement.

Apparently, there was a system issue in the UK and we won't be able to make it into London. We are diverting to Milan. This came as a total surprise, so I grabbed my phone and started browsing the news websites to see what was going on.

Back when we boarded, the crew made an announcement that the plane's wifi wouldn't work on today's journey. However, I was curious to try it a few hours into the flight and it worked perfectly with my seat number and name combination. My Asia Miles membership was attached to the booking and Premium Economy members get free internet. This is a little different than Business Class, where all passengers get free access.

This was when I found out there was a massive air traffic control outage in London and departures were badly delayed, and because the airports were full of planes, they couldn't take in arrivals anymore as they've run out of space to put them. The caveat was things were starting to recover so it wasn't a complete indefinite shutdown, but it still seemed like a very nasty situation at Heathrow. How can the country's biggest airport and all its nearby British back-ups be crippled at the same time?

We made a sharp left before Frankfurt and looped around in the airspace between Zurich and Munich. The flight time to reach Milan kept sticking to about 40 minutes as we slowly made our way to the diversion airport.

Bewildered, I was hopeful this won't be a long stay in Milan before we can continue back to London. Could we possibly make it back tonight?

An unexpected stop in Milan

We landed in Milan at 9:20pm and taxied to a distant part of the airport away from the terminal. The captain had told us a few other planes also diverted here earlier, such as a Saudia flight. He also mentioned the ground staff would take it from here, which was a hint we would be here for a while.

About an hour and 20 minutes after landing, I saw a bus pull up next to the aircraft. Then the announcement came that we would be getting off the plane in stages, and I managed to get onto the first bus with the other Business Class passengers.

I checked the news again and got an update that Heathrow won't accept any arrivals for the rest of the day.

Being among the first ones off the plane, I reached an empty immigration hall, where the kiosk rejected my entry. I was then sent to the manual line, which had only a short wait to a staffed counter for a face photo and fingerprinting. This EES experience wasn't so bad!

By the time I reached the baggage hall, my bag was already out and placed next to the belt. This was quite impressive given I got through immigration very quickly! There was a staff wearing a Cathay vest asking us to gather around once we have our bags and she would lead us outside once there is a sizeable group.

With about 10 of us, I was in the first group led out to the arrivals lounge land-side, where a staff registered us and placed a numbered sticker on my passport.

We then rested in the lounge, which had bottles of water available. It didn't take long before we were gathered up for the big coach to the hotel. She mentioned because we were the first ones out, we got the closest hotel from the airport.

I was impressed the ground staff handled this quite well given the circumstances and hundreds of others were also here on diverted flights. I wasn't expecting they would be able to secure hotel rooms for everyone so quickly.

However, the captain did warn before we got off the plane that if you don't have a visa to enter Europe, it might be possible to get an exemption but it is up to the immigration agent to grant this. The worst case is to sleep at the airport I suppose.

With a Hong Kong passport, entering Europe wasn't an issue and I was on the coach ready to go to the hotel by 11:30pm, less than an hour after disembarking. I also found out during the wait the earlier Hong Kong - London flight that departed 2 hours before us ended up diverting to Brussels.

I was settled at the ibis near the airport. The check-in staff looked tired but kept his composure, indicating breakfast was included, how to access wifi, and he would call us once he knows when the flight would leave and be ready for airport pick-up with 30 minutes notice. He would try to give more but couldn't commit.

He also asked us to inform him if we get a message about the flight update so he can arrange pick-up just in case he doesn't get that notification, and he would be on duty until the next morning.

Understandably, I didn't have too good a sleep that night worrying a message would come to leave quickly early in the morning. Nevertheless, the ground staff did a remarkable job settling us for the night. I was very impressed.

Let's continue with the next day's adventures in part 2.