Trip Report: Hong Kong and South Africa on Cathay Pacific (CX) First | Part 2
Part 2: Kingston YGK-Toronto YYZ-New York City JFK AC Y
Part 3: New York City JFK-Hong Kong CX F
Part 5: Hong Kong HKG-Johannesburg JNB CX F
Part 7: Going home! JNB-HKG-ORD CX F and ORD-YYZ AA Y
YGK-YYZ
I woke up nice and early to catch my 5:40AM flight from Kingston YGK to Toronto YYZ. I absolutely love the YGK airport: it’s very small, clean, efficient, and their operations just work. The agents were able to through-check my luggage all the way to Hong Kong, even though that flight was on a separate itinerary. Another great feature of the YGK airport (except for the microwave being the centre point of their cafeteria!), is that only a Beechcraft services the airport. The Beechcraft is an old-timey plane, with no cockpit door, a bathroom without a door, and loud-as-hell propellors.
The ride was pretty smooth, and it was really cool looking out of the cockpit the entire flight. I believe the Beechcraft is Air Canada’s only unsecured cockpit.
YYZ-JFK
My time in Toronto was surprisingly easy – my plane parked close to the Terminal F entry. Being Toronto, you have to re-clear security and do US immigrations. Everything was really smooth, especially with my NEXUS card. My partner just got the AMEX Platinum card (this is a referral), which gave us access to the Plaza Premium Lounge. All in all, it was OK, with a decent hot-breakfast offering. It had plenty of light, however is was too small. We stayed there for about 30 minutes.
We then spent the rest of our layover at the Term F Maple Leaf Lounge. It’s a decent lounge, with a fine food selection, amble room and seating, and is bright with nice windows.
Boarding was called soon thereafter. It was a small plane, and was bout 3/4 full. We were seated right behind the J cabin. Honestly, the J seats looked almost like the Y seats, and the only real difference is that J gets a small bite to eat – not worth the extra points for such a shot flight!
