Premium Economy was fairly empty tonight with the middle 4 seats mostly empty across all the rows, and not everyone occupying the window seats either. My seatmate had moved so I had the row of 2 to myself, although it didn't help as the armrest is fixed and I couldn't stretch out any more horizontally. Legroom was great though.
The crew came by to offer pre-departure drinks and there was already a blanket and pillow at the seat, as well as a paper menu on the armrest. After take-off, they came to take our dinner orders, with many passengers opting to skip it.
We left the gate on time and took a long taxi to the other end of the airport and took off towards the east, then south.
Browsing through the IFE, there was a good selection of Hong Kong shows, including from the other channel, ViuTV. I was surprised Young Sheldon was not available, but The Simpsons have returned, and there was also live TV.
Despite the late hour, I decided to eat dinner since it would be another 10 hours before the next meal is served.
I picked the chicken dish and it tasted quite good. It looks like Cathay has improved its food presentation. While it's not Business Class quality, it certainly looked much better than typical Economy fare, which was my complaint when I flew on this product before. Although the Haagen Daz ice-cream has been replaced by Movenpick, it's still a very good brand and tasted delicious. The metal cutlery also enhanced the experience.
After dinner, the lights dimmed and I tried to catch some sleep for this 10+ hour flight to the Middle East. The journey was smooth and I had more than enough legroom to sleep in a stretched-out slanted position. However, even with a good recline, the lack of horizontal moving space would render my sleep uncomfortable. But then, I had issues trying to sleep for long periods even in their lie-flat Business Class before, so I'm quite picky.
Breakfast orders were taken over 2 hours before arrival, with the crew coming to individually ask what we would like. No carts were used and we each got our food on the tray one-by-one from the galley, just like dinner.
After breakfast, I peeked out and saw the sun starting to rise. The weather forecast for Tel Aviv would be sunny for the duration of my short visit.
As we neared Israel, I looked for the Dead Sea off on my left. Unfortunately, I only have a night in Israel before continuing to London, so I won't be able to make it out there this time.
I had high hopes my left window seat would offer skyline views on arrival. I was right, although the lighting was not too good yet to see the buildings too clearly. We actually passed by the skyline twice, heading past the airport and out to sea before looping back to land.
Tel Aviv's airport is only a short distance from the city so the flight path for landing from the west skirts quite close to downtown.
We landed just before the sun could peek out of the horizon.
This is my first time in Israel so the sight of many El Al planes is very interesting.
We parked next to the BA jet, which should be the 6:30am flight London.
The airport looked fairly new and bright. While I had expected an interview on why I would be in Israel from reading the tourist literature due to the overall security situation, there were steps along the way which I had not expected and wished there was some signage. The first fumble was a photo booth where I had to scan my passport and get my picture taken. The result is a small ticket that would be needed for the next step. A bit of a walk after the photo booths, 2 staff checked we had that little ticket before we continued down a long corridor to immigration. A few poor souls were turned away here to go back to the booths and they left a bit baffled.
I think they can take a page from Canada, where these photo booths are placed in a very obvious way and you must go through them before getting in line for an immigration officer.
There weren't many people lining up for Immigration so I presume most passengers on the flight were Israelis, who use a different line. Surprisingly, I didn't get an interview and just got a typical question of why I'm there. A quick smile later, I was on my way. Israel doesn't stamp passports so that ticket would be proof of my arrival.
Luggage would take quite some time to come out although at this early hour, I wasn't in a hurry to head to the city. My hotel room probably wouldn't be ready anyway.
Luckily, my big suitcase arrived, which could have been very problematic as I would continue to London the next day on a different PNR. I suppose being a more seasoned traveller and having seen various problems come up on my prior flights, I've grown more wary of what can go wrong. Had my big case been left behind, I wasn't sure whether Cathay would deliver it to me by my next flight since they only fly a few times a week, and not daily. Whether they could send it directly to London is probably going to be an annoying negotiation since my flight with them was only to Tel Aviv, and the next leg was a BA redemption.
I headed out through Customs with no issues and emerged land-side. To the right side, I saw some ATMs and a still shut tourist information desk. I was looking for the transport office to get their smart card as buses no longer take cash fares. I finally spotted a vending machine and popped a 100 bill in to get a day pass costing 23 sheikels. It worked although it spat out a lot of coins, after which the machine went out of service. I guess I was the lucky last customer.
Tel Aviv's airport has its own train station attached, and it is only a 15 minute ride to the first station in the city. Although there are only 2 platforms, I couldn't decipher the local language and had to ask someone on where to go for city-bound trains. I didn't understand why the signage couldn't show some more English though.
The train line actually doesn't go into the most popular tourist parts of the city, skirting east of it along a busy highway. Most desirable hotels are along the Mediterranean coast where there are plenty of beaches. While the train ride was very quick, I would need to transfer to a bus for about half an hour westwards to reach my waterfront hotel near historic Jaffa.
Cathay Pacific has upped its game in Premium Economy, offering a good experience and improved food presentation. Staff are courteous and efficient and the offering looked closer to Business Class than Economy during my last try. Tel Aviv is an interesting redemption, costing only 22k Asia Miles for Economy and 30k for Premium, the same as going to Sydney. For a 10+ hour flight, it's quite good value.
