CX 722
Kuala Lumpur - Hong Kong
3 Jan 2025
Economy Class

I had a fairly unpleasant arrival experience into KL a few days earlier that took 90 minutes from doors open to landside. To avoid any more unpleasant surprises, I decided to leave ample time to get to the very far away KLIA1. I arrived at Sentral station 3 hours before my departure time and made my way downstairs to the bus station.

Having read there are frequent departures and I can easily secure a ticket on the spot, I was a bit surprised to find the next departure in 5 minutes at 10:20am was full and I had to wait until 10:40 for the next one. The bus also would go to KLIA2 first before heading to Terminal 1, which would make the entire journey almost 1.5 hours long. That would pretty much erase my safety buffer in case there are lengthy queues for immigration and the buses out to the satellite terminal.

Not taking any chances, I opted for the express train instead, setting back 55 ringgit. A Grab from my hotel to the airport would've costed 70-80 only, which makes this train ridiculously expensive. I wonder how they can even turn a profit?

KL Sentral has not aged well and it looks dark and dingy. The huge waiting area for the trains was quite empty, with no passengers at the check-in counters for Malaysia Airlines. Cathay doesn't offer this service here anymore and I didn't see any signage for other airlines either. However, there was a sizeable crowd waiting at the platform. Trains came every 20 minutes, a decent frequency, and I shared an entire train car with 1 more person. We departed on time for the 38 minute journey to the airport.

I arrived at the airport shortly after 11am and made my way through a bunch of escalators up to the departures level. When KLIA was conceived, they had the smarts to integrate a transit connection much like Hong Kong's new airport. They probably had big hopes in mind but they didn't execute it well in the details. For example, the trains arrive in the basement while when you get off the train at Hong Kong airport, you are level with the departures hall.

The check-in hall was busy but Cathay's aisle was pretty much empty. Staff were on hand to direct me to the kiosk to print my bag tag first, and there was someone patrolling the kiosks as well. At the 2nd step, I went to a manned counter to send the bag away, which required presenting my passport and boarding pass again. Seems using technology hasn't made the customer experience any better or more efficient yet again, taking a page at Air Canada's incompetence.

Terminal 1 is quite a big building with lots of restaurants behind the counters. At the far end through a few strangely empty fast-food restaurants is a large indoor observation deck with plenty of windows. There wasn't too much happening outside though, so I quickly headed downstairs for immigration.

Unlike my arrival experience where the lines were short but processing was excessively slow, I barely had to wait for immigration and was done quickly. Security doesn't take place right after at this airport but our bags were scanned for customs purposes. Soon, I emerged air-side into a recarpeted shopping mall.

To reach the C gates, I had to go downstairs for the buses similar to my arrival a few days earlier. A long time ago, the train took us there but it seems to be under maintenance now. The crowds were small and I was able to get on the bus right away. They don't pack them full and I managed to get a seat with only a few having to stand for the journey to the satellite terminal.

The C gates share the same corridors for both arriving and departing passengers. There are plenty of shops yet again and since everything has run smoothly so far, I had 2 hours to explore and take it easy.

All gates are in segregated zones requiring security screening, so plane spotting is quite difficult except at the central rotunda. There are not that many birds out here but the Iraqi Airways is a good surprise!

Here, I spotted a Moroccan-themed restaurant that seem to have gotten people talking all around the region. In Hong Kong, they set up shop at the prestigious IFC Mall but here in KL, they offer the same pistachio croissants at half the price. I had spotted them already at the Petronas Towers before and found no difference in taste between locations.

Out here, there are still many souvenir shops for your last minute consumerist desires. I was interested in the drug store for some snacks at quite reasonable prices to use up my last ringgit change.

There weren't too many people at the gate when boarding was called and they proceeded with the different zones very quickly, going from special needs to general boarding within a minute.

Today's flight had plenty of empty seats and I got a row to myself out back. Having researched the flight paths for the past few days, I picked a left window hoping to catch a glimpse of KL on departure.

This is a fairly old aircraft although the seat design was quite innovative at the time. There is a tray to put your phone, although today's phones are a lot bigger and probably can't fit. The tray table has a cup holder that you can pull down for your drink without opening the whole thing, saving you some space.

We pushed back right on time at 1:30pm and took off towards the north 20 minutes later.

Off we go ...

Soon, I could see KL's skyscrapers appear. I got the right seat today.

In these tropical regions, clouds build up during the day amidst the heat and humidity, which can unleash quite a downpour to cool down the city by late afternoon. Luckily, the weather stayed quite well throughout my trip and I had plenty of winter blue skies.

Here in Asia, we're spoiled with hot meals even short flights. As we bid farwell to peninsula Malaysia's east coast, lunch arrived. Today is a medium haul at 3.5 hours and the hot meal consisted of chicken with coconut rice, an appetizer, fruit bowl, and a cup of Haagen Daz berries and cream ice cream.

KL flights are typically flown on older A330s. However, the IFE is touch screen with a good amount of TV shows and movies. The interface is not as pretty as the newer A350s but the content is perfectly sufficient.

After dozing off a bit amidst the moderate turbulence, it was almost time to descend into sunset. The approach wouldn't be scenic today as we came in from the south and west so didn't fly over the city.

We landed on the third runway, which meant a long taxi into the terminal.

Hong Kong is a big transit hub and connecting gate information is available in the IFE. I used to start my transpacific journeys in Taiwan for a cheaper fare to take advantage of connecting discounts although KL is a bit far to do this.

We arrived at the gate just ahead of schedule at 5:34pm. As I headed to immigration, I couldn't help but take out my camera again to capture the sun setting just behind the terminal building.

As with Hong Kong's efficiency, I was out the door at the bus stop within half an hour of arriving.

Another solid Cathay flight completed.