This is a travel-vlog style YouTube video by Kara and Nate Buchanan documenting a business-class trip from Vietnam to New York via Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific. They review the Wing business class lounge (noodle bar, massages, showers), show the in-flight business-class product (window seats, amenity kit, leg-flat seats, meals) on a roughly 16-hour flight, and cover arrival logistics in New York including a long overnight layover and use of public transit to reach a hotel. The video highlights reasons for the trip (cheap business tickets under $700, earning OneWorld Sapphire status) and contrasts lounge classes and airport experiences.
Questions this video answers
July 26, 2019
Less than $700 (vs an expected $5,000–$10,000)
About 16 hours
Three hours
Fourteen hours
Chapters
See what's in here. There's a zip tie on here.
Got it.
Remember not too long ago when we flew from Vietnam to New York on those really cheap business class tickets.
To Hong Kong.
Well, this morning we are back at the airport to do it all over again.
We have just enough time in the lounge for a coffee and a massage.
So last time we did this flight we ended up making some new friends and we did a lot more hanging out with them and a lot less filming than we intended to. It was a lot of fun. But we're going to do a better job of capturing the business class experience this time.
Our first light is going then to Hong Kong.
Thank you.
Here in the front and in the back, your senior poster is Jason Lee. And the rest of the capital would like to welcome Auburn for this Cafe Dragonfly towards Hong Kong.
We skipped the main meal on this flight to save room for the food in the business bus lounge.
And now we have a three hour landover at one of our favorite airports in the world. You may be wondering why we are paying to fly all the way back to the other side of the world in business class when we basically just got back to this side of the world.
So there are a few reasons, but the first and main reason is that we got an incredible deal on these tickets. They should have cost between 5 and $10,000, but instead we paid less than 700.
And we had a couple important life events back home that we really wanted to attend. The first one being my cousin Amy's wedding back in Michigan. And the second one is Nate's grandparents 60th wedding anniversary celebration which is kind of turned into a big family reunion. And that's where we're going now.
So obviously it wasn't necessary for us to fly back to Vietnam between these two trip trips considering that they were less than three weeks apart. However, with these two flights being in business class, we're going to earn One World Sapphire status in less than a month.
That status will give us priority check in, extra baggage, priority boarding, and most importantly, access to One World business class lounges, which are pretty nice.
Cheers. We are currently in the Wing business class lounge which is kind of a downtown way because we used to have access to the first class lounge. But we are super grateful to be here because this is the first time we've had status in two years. Plus there's a noodle bar here and espresso.
Martinez.
Can I get 1 dandan noodles 1 han noodles 2.
And this is what I. We did not eat on the plane. Although it was very tempting, we knew it would be worth the wait. So we just ordered chicken steamed dumplings, which is one of my personal favorites. Wonton soup and dandan noodles. I'm convinced that Hong Kong has the best buns in the world. That might be because Hong Kong is where we had our very first steamed bun.
It's called a bunch. How do we eat this thing?
We eat it with our hands.
After being in the lounge for a couple of hours, we noticed a few key differences between the business and the first class lounge.
We realized how spoiled this sounds.
The first thing we noticed was how many people were in there. It was really hard to find two seats together. The second thing is the showers. They don't have the big beautiful cabanas with the tub and the shower like.
Your own private room.
It's just regular showers.
But we didn't shower, so that didn't really matter.
And third, instead of like a sit down beautiful restaurant where they bring in your food, you have to get up and go order your food and bring it back to the table by yourself.
But to be fair, the food and the drinks were just as good. Also, you get the same beautiful view that you get in the first class lounge. So all in all, it was great.
It was great. We're very happy.
Three hours was definitely not long enough. But how can you be too sad when you're about to board a 16 hour business class?
And this is home for the next 16 hours.
Quick.
Before we take off, we both have window seats for the first time. I love this space. It's very private. It faces the window. We have a very nice quilt, pillow, water bottle, amenity kit and headphones. Lots of buttons. Leg flat seats. A menu.
Oh, yeah.
Socks with slippy eye mask. Mouthwash.
Mmm.
Lotion, hand cream, lip balm, toothbrush and toothpast.
Airpods.
And a cute bag.
And now we're taking off.
This is my first ever burger on an airplane.
Pasta breakfast.
Down at 9pm in the evening. And this embarking the aircraft shortly thereafter. Five minutes past nine.
United States Immigration and Customs Authority.
Five hours of sleep and an entire season of Game of Thrones later, we have made it to New York.
That is one of my favorite flights we have ever been on because the flight attendants were the best. Maverick. Rachel and Alexandra, I'll always remember you and I hope that we get to fly together again soon. And they gave me Cathay Pacific, playing.
Cards, making friends everywhere you go. Missed you.
I missed you too. They gave me so much chocolate.
All right, now we have a 14 hour overnight layover here in New York. And to make things even more convenient, we fly out of Newark airport in the morning, which is an hour across.
The City and $150 Uber ride, which.
Gave us a little bit of sticker shock considering we just came from Vietnam, where we paid $1.50 to get to the airport.
But thankfully we ran into somebody who watches our videos who lives here, and he helped us navigate the public trans system.
So we bought a Metro Pass train ticket. We'll buy another train ticket and then at some point tonight we'll get to our hotel.
The whole thing should take almost two hours, but it was half the price.
We'll see if it's all worth it.
Okay, we have eight minutes to catch our next train. Otherwise we have to wait till midnight.
We made it. We're on the train. We're paying like 10 extra dollars to buy our tick on the train because we didn't have time to buy them in the machine.
Still cheaper than Uber. Still better than going to buy a ticket somewhere else on a nice train.
It was. It was going to be another 30.
We wouldn't have had time for sure.
I'm glad we got on. We're almost there.
It feels weird being in America and doing this.
I know. I was like wandering my way through the train station trying to figure out what to do. And I was like, everybody speaks English. I can just ask somebody.
It was weird.
So I did and I really scared of God. I don't think a lot of people talk to each other in New York. I was like, excuse me.
Should we?
Thanks.
All right. Buying one more ticket. I think this is our fifth ticket.
I have so many receipts and pieces of paper.
I booked the wrong hotel.
What do you mean?
It's 20 minutes away. I didn't book the one at the airport.
Oh, no.
I don't know.
This is a long process. I still don't know how it's going to turn out, but the gallon phone is going to stream it up. I think it's going to happen. I think they're changing for me.
Okay, that's perfect.
This is gonna be a Visa. Let's go.
Okay, so after all that, the last free shuttle to the hotel just left. So we're either gonna have to go ahead and spend money on an Uber, which we should have just done in the first place.
I don't even think we can get an Uber. I don't even know where we go to get a car.
So that celebration didn't last.
Bye. Sitting in a shuttle bus, which is great. She said 15 or 20 minutes. We're gonna get there eventually.
Thank you.
Lovely.
I'm convinced that Hong Kong has the best food.
I don't want to eat that. It's so crazy to me to think that there was a time in my life when I didn't know what a bun was.
Beautiful.
And this is home for the next 16 hours.
Photo shoot.
Baggage handlers and loading has been delayed. The good news is I've been advised all passengers are on board now. We are just finishing the last of the fueling, so I hope to be pushing back in the next 10 to 15 minutes. For the weather today, we are expecting.
