Dragonair

Dragonair really is an OK airline. I flew them for the umpteenth time to Kaohsiung and while the un-entertained seat was bearable (well it was pretty comfortable) the flight was really boring as the seatbelt sign stayed on. Service was good and breakfast was phenomenal (aside from crunchy siu mai). On the return I wonder if StudioKA trades off good food as the food we had was starchy (not too bad but not good). StudioKA is limited without actual movies. Overall pleasant but nothing worth raving about.

Hong Kong - Beijing vv on Airbus 320 as an extension of CX trip from Sydney. Being a sister airline of CX the standard was consistent with CX. On the trip to Beijing the cabin was so hot that passengers keep fanning themselves. Flight attendants spoke English Mandarin and Cantonese. Chose pork inedible. Other options all right. Quantity meagre in meals. Turbulent flights. Timing very unfriendly arrived in Beijing at 01.55 return trip left at 02.50 plane delayed until 03.30. No direct air bridge to aircraft bussed to and from aircraft.

Although I have flown with Dragonair from Dhaka to Hong Kong (return) numerous times before this was the first time that I have done so in Business Class. Overall I was impressed. The service was excellent the food good and the drink selection OK. My only complaint was the seats in that the only storage is in a small pocket in the centre armrest which is not really big enough. Also because the seats only recline to about a 15deg angle (i.e they are not lie flat) with no foot rest to support yourself when trying to sleep you are constantly sliding forward out of the seat really not very comfortable and the seat controls are also a bit difficult to work.

Just did another trip on Dragonair to Busan Korea. HKG-PUS departs at 02.30am with A320. Before the cabin was becoming all dark cabin crew handed out a box of snack including a bun chocolate and some fruits along with a bottle of water. Limited seat pitch on A320 very good 3 hour flight for sleeping. On the way back was departing at 8am Korea time. No PTV on the old A320 but nice yummy breakfast with Korean style Ginseng chicken with rice or scramble egg. Cabin crew were friendly and attentive as always. Hope their A320 will get new seats and PTV sometimes soon!

Hong Kong - Beijing (April 30 2013). Flight crew were very friendly and warm. Food is average but they give Hagen Dazs Ice Cream. Seat is comfortable. Horrible turbulence during take-off but the crew were professional and calm. Captain provided immediate advice and again very professional. Drinks are offered many times. Inflight entertainment is good (good selection of movies ranging from old to new) Will definitely fly them again.

Usual dodgy bus trip to the plane and chaotic boarding. Good seats. Fight full of noisy passengers it is CNY after all. Crew had had time keeping them in seats. Meal ok avoid usual excellent CX style. Asked crew for visa slip she gave me a customs one instead which caused hassle at immigration. Apart from the appalling bus boarding Ryanair style another good flight. Please invest in some airport bridge departures!

KA 380 HKG-FUK on 25/12 and KA 381 FUK-HKG on 1/1. Outbound flight on an A330-300. Flight arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule. Staff service was quite impressive with efficient and friendly crew. Beef stew or curry both tasted good. Christmas chocolate was delightful. Wide selection of in-flight entertainment. Seat was ok but I don't really like the bulky air bag attached on the seat belt. Inbound flight was on an A330-300 as well. Did some research before the trip and knew it was the second oldest plane in Dragonair (21.2 years) but I was instantly surprised by the new cabin. Touchscreen and charger were available and again a wide selection of entertainment. Seat was more comfortable. Cabin crew was as good. The meal tasted better than it looked. Arrived ten minutes earlier as well. A very good experience with Dragonair which meets the standard of her parent company Cathay Pacific Airways.

Flew from Hong Kong to Shanghai Pudong return. Both flights on the 33C aircraft with new economy seats. Dragonair fully deserves its best regional airline title. AVOD is the same as Cathay Pacific long haul aircrafts. Touch- screen monitor very responsive with many movies TV programmes games and music. Meal is very great with menu distributed. Cabin crew is very friendly and attentive. All flights arrive earlier than schedule. Dragonair can further improve in areas such as seat pitch. Cost-cutting is seen in minor areas such as no more drink and peanut distributed before the meal. Overall Dragonair deserves more than a 4 star rating.

Chiang Mai Economy Phuket - HKG business class. Flight out fine seats ok for space no entertainment at all not even a drop down screen. The boarding process was farcical lots of shoving to get onto a bus and driven out for ages onto the runway at a distant place really makes it a a budget experience. Food ok. Return on new business class configuration. Really nice new seats great AVOD and fabulous service as usual. Lovely main dishes and lots of extras. Would consider business class again if guaranteed new configuration.

I travelled economy from Bangalore to Hong Kong on Christmas eve. The flight was an A330-300 departing BLR at 3 am. I found the seats a little uncomfortable especially because I'm above average height. They were really hard to sleep on and I hardly slept a wink throughout the flight. Most of the crew were extremely professional moving quickly and efficiently throughout meal service except a few who seemed a little uptight. The meal was decent. They had pralines as an extra touch for Christmas and I thought this was a nice addition. I also found their IFE system Studio KA (similar to Cathay's Studio CX) to be really good they had a wide range of programmes with recent movies and music. The baggage claim was smooth with no problems. Overall the flight is okay to travel to HKG but it would be convenient if Cathay took over considering it is a night flight of 5 and a half hours.