CX 253 Hong Kong - London Heathrow
20 October 2025
Business Class
As usual, I prefer day-time flights to Europe and arrive in the evening, which I can adapt my sleeping patterns to hopefully rid my jet lag quickly. While most flights to London leave in the late evening, arriving in the early morning, Cathay had 2 daytime flights today to choose from, which I hoped wouldn't be as busy.
With a 1:25pm departure time, I had plenty of time to get ready in the morning and enjoy my last harbour views before heading to the airport.
This isn't the first time I've taken CX 253. In fact, I took the same flight just a few months ago back in June.
In the middle part of the check-in hall is a large statue of Labubu, the character that has won international attention and created a blind box craze. There were even fights to buy their mechandise in London earlier. It's so counter-intuitive, because shouldn't customers want to know what they're in for before paying up?
Check-in and security were reasonably quick although I could see the crowds are getting bigger. There is no dedicated screening line for premium cabin passengers but it wasn't too long a wait to get through.
With some time left and my flight leaving from a very good location up front (gate 4), I headed up the Sky Bridge to check out the activity. Hong Kong is a great plane spotting airport with lots of floor-to-ceiling windows and a good variety of airlines.
However, I was up here specifically to look for the cargo plane that crashed earlier in the morning on landing. I couldn't see anything though. The airport was functioning normally and there were no delays.
Although the third runway is now in use, the new Terminal 2 is not yet complete and there is still plenty of construction out there.
Just as I was enjoying the views, I noticed a plane pushing back and it looks like it will cross underneath the bridge soon.
Satisfied, I headed to my gate to see if they're ready to board. Along the way, I noticed another international craze rearing its head. Jellycat from London has caught on worldwide, and a number of offshoots have appeared. Even this airport has its own version of dim sum characters.
Today's gate is at the end of the pier where windows open up on 2 sides. With a Business Class seat, it was an easy entrance to my little piece of paradise for the next many hours.
No Aria Suite again this time. It seems it will take some time for the fleet refurbishment to bring the new configuration to all the flights on this route. Nevertheless, despite being in the middle, it's a comfortable seat with plenty of room for me to stretch out, work on my laptop, and relax in serenity. The neighbouring seat is empty as well today.
Boarding finished at 1:12pm and we departed on time at 1:24pm. With no window, I had to rely on the plane's camera to enjoy the views on take-off 18 minutes later.
It's quite obvious to tell this is an older aircraft. The buttons and plugs on the side have a few things we don't use nowadays, and there isn't a USB charging port. I am looking for the cabin refresh though. The new Aria Suite will even have wireless charging at the seat.
The food and drinks menus were already placed on my seat before boarding. Today's lunch would consist of 5 choices :
shrimp and pork dumpling noodle soup
oven roasted cauliflower with lemon aioli
roasted halibut
roasted chicken thigh
minced pork patty claypot rice
The crew came by to take our orders individually earlier. I picked the halibut option, with fish being a fairly safe choice and my preferred main whenever I fly. The caramelised onion tartelette starter looked like a pie, and wasn't anything memorable. It took quite a long time for the next course to appear though, and the main's presentation looked messy and not premium. Their Jing-brand teas, however, were really nice.
The hawthorn jelly with Chinese yam dessert was a highlight though - not too sweet and very delicious. They also give a good variety of fruit as well, each one neatly-cut.
Meanwhile, I enjoyed some Hong Kong TV shows on the IFE. Cathay's system has an extensive choice and lots of local content.
Despite the disappointing lunch, Business Class is a great place to spend for an almost 14 hour flight to London. Half way through, I ordered a noodle soup from the all-day on request menu.
After a little bit of initial turbulence around Chongqing, it was reasonably smooth so far as we continued along the Silk Road route, an area I had visited just a week ago.
I dozed off a bit even though it is still day-time in Hong Kong and London. A little over an hour before arrival, I started going through the playlist I set up early on as we were served a light dinner.
There are 3 choices this time, and I picked the Chinese one given I had Western for lunch earlier.
- orso pasta with artichokes, feta, and pickled lemon
- Thai red curry of prawns with pineapple
- Hong Kong BBQ pork egg noodles
The BBQ pork had a good amount of fat which is the right way to do it. This is actually a fairly working class dish but it is indeed comfort food in the air. I quite like flying Cathay over other airlines because of the localized dishes.
This meal was far more delicious and premium in presentation. Satisfied, it was time to start getting ready to land.
Flight times continue to be long as we need to avoid Russian airspace. It's a bit odd Cathay does this for Europe flights while they overfly Russia on the polar routes from eastern North America. Mainland Chinese airlines don't abide by this restriction, so many Western carriers have given up flying to China in recent times. BA now only flies once daily to Hong Kong.
We landed uneventfully at 8:26pm for an on-time arrival. Being at the front of the plane, we were the first ones to enter Terminal 3 and immigration was a breeze. Heathrow can be a huge mess at times if using the manned immigration counters but tonight's arrival was luckily very smooth and efficient.
Cathay's hardware is getting old although it's still a very comfortable seat. They've made improvements over the years with a mattress cover added which improved the sleeping position significantly but the biggest letdown was the service on board. Since the pandemic ended, I've noticed a lot of fairly green cabin crew who don't give the old standard of premium service. The food offering looked good on paper but what reached my table did not meet my high expectations. The inconsistency is quite annoying, especially when they still charged top dollar and above their competitors most of the time.
I haven't flown that many other airlines up front to compare but I noticed far better cabin crews on Swiss flying Business in late 2023. The seat was not as good but staff were 5-star - not overly intrusive and talkative but close by when they notice I need help. They stood out as very professional.
Hope as these waves of new hires mature, I can get that pre-pandemic level of good service with Cathay again.