I flew 14 hours on one of the best airlines in the world that you've probably never heard of — and even its worst seat put other long-haul flights to shame

For some, riding in business or first class is a must when taking long-haul flights. The lie-flat seats, the Champagne, the three-course meals — ah, the luxury.

For the rest of us mere mortals, low-priced economy seats are the way to go.

Such was the case for a recent trip I took to Hong Kong from San Francisco aboard Hong Kong Airlines, a young carrier based out of Hong Kong that has quickly become one of the best airlines in the world.

The airline is known for its "affordable luxury," which I can certainly vouch for — I purchased a round-trip ticket to Hong Kong from the Bay Area for a mere $500.

Here's what my economy experience was like aboard a Hong Kong Airlines flight:

My trip began at San Francisco International Airport. Always antsy before a flight, I arrived three hours before we were scheduled to take off at 12:30 p.m.

The two largest airlines at the West Coast airport are United and Virgin America, the latter of which merged with Alaska Airlines just this year.

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The newest player on the SFO scene is Hong Kong Airlines, which in its 12 years of operation has become one of the best airlines in the world.

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Its goal of "affordable luxury" has delivered a new dose of competition for Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Airlines' main competitor and Hong Kong's dominant airline.

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And affordable the airline is — I paid only $500 on Kayak in early June for a round-trip ticket between San Francisco and Hong Kong.

Though to be fair, it was the region's typhoon season, which may have also had something to do with the low price. It was hot and rainy every day I was in Hong Kong. Not peak tourist season.

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The young Hong Kong-based carrier recently rolled out a fleet of shiny new Airbus A350-900s for its North American routes. They're part of the airline's 37 passenger-plane count.

The additions made the airline's average fleet age about 5 years old.

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One of these new planes is used on flight HX061 from San Francisco to Hong Kong, the route that would take me there for a long weekend trip.

This wasn't my first time flying economy on a long-haul flight. I recently flew British Airways from Houston, Texas, to Paris. And I had the same spot for that flight too: the very last seat in the cabin in an aisle next to the restrooms.

I also flew from Houston to Rome on United in 2013.

About 48 hours before my flight, I checked in using Hong Kong Airlines' website. I was immediately peeved by the airline's check-in process and website interface — it wasn't intuitive, and it took me a few attempts to realize I had to add "MRS" to the end of my name for it to work.

I should have checked in through the app, which looks easier to navigate. But I was rushed in the days leading up to my trip and didn't think to do that.

On the day of my flight, I strolled up to SFO security with my boarding pass on my phone ...

... only to be directed to a long line to print out my pass. Hong Kong Airlines does not accept mobile boarding passes, only physical ones.

I've used my phone to check in on other flights — and I missed that ease while I was checking in for my Hong Kong Airlines flight.

On the bright side, however, I got to skip long baggage lines. I was able to bring a decent-sized duffle bag as my carry-on for my five-day trip, and I'm still shocked I was able to fit everything neatly.

My friends and I eventually made it to our gate, only to be told that our flight was delayed two hours. We fiddled around the terminal in the meantime.

When it was time to board, there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how we lined up to get on the plane, at least as far as we could tell.

We weren't organized by zones — which, for me, having seat 66G stamped on my ticket, I didn't mind so much. I would have been one of the last to board if front rows had priority.

I made my way past the lie-flat business seats, placed in a 1-2-1 layout, to the very back of the cabin.

And I'm not kidding when I say I was in the very back of the plane.

Hong Kong Airlines doesn't offer first class on any planes, but the price for a business-class ticket aboard the airline usually runs north of $3,000. That's still half of what Cathay Pacific offers for a spot in its business class.

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The plane had striking red seats, with the economy rows arranged in a 3-3-3 format, boasting a seat pitch — the amount of room between two rows of seats — of 31 to 34 inches, based on your row. There was a pillow, a blanket, and an amenity kit placed on each one.

Even at the very last seat in the cabin, I got an amenity kit.

It held your standard items: a sleeping mask, socks, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and earplugs. A flight attendant also came by with complimentary earphones.

After I stowed my bag in an overhead compartment, I scoped out the spot where I'd spend the next 14 hours. There was a USB port in the back-of-the-seat touchscreen to charge my phone, my seat could recline, and I had plenty of legroom — granted, my legs are quite short.

My long-legged friends, on the other hand, were definitely struggling in that department.

I was afforded a nice panoramic view of the cabin, thanks to my back-row seat.

Soon after takeoff, it was time for dinner. The presentation was similar to the meals I had on my transatlantic flight on British Airways ...

... but it tasted way better than any other parcel of airplane food I've ever had. The beef, steamed rice, and veggies were very tasty.

The meals that followed — like this spicy potato salad — were equally appetizing.

I made sure to take advantage of the complimentary alcoholic beverages, but not too much.

Inebriated or unruly passengers aboard Hong Kong Airlines flights may come face-to-face with the airline's kung-fu-trained flight attendants if they cause a scene.

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Hong Kong Airlines trains its crew members in wing chun, an ancient martial art form featuring quick movements for close-range combat. The airline acknowledged it was a publicity stunt, but it also theoretically would come in handy in the tight quarters of a plane cabin.

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I wasn't about to get tipsy and draw attention from the moonlighting martial artists.

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But a glass of wine was warranted for the intimidating 14-hour flight ahead of me ...

... which, I'll tell you right now, was made exponentially better with the top-tier in-flight entertainment system. I can't praise it enough. There's nothing better than shaving off a good slice of flight time with a nine-hour movie marathon.

The 17-inch touchscreens were powered by a Thales' Avant system and featured a nice selection of movies, music, and TV shows, as well as the standard real-time flight map.

Scrolling was simple, and the picture quality was fantastic.

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There was zero need for the excessive screen tapping that inevitably leads to grumpy seat neighbors, which is what I've experienced flying United. Hong Kong Airlines' system was brand new, and it made screens on other flights look like nickelodeons.

Hong Kong Airlines offers WiFi, but a flight attendant announced over the intercom at the beginning of the flight that because of improvements being made to the system, we wouldn't have access.

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But the WiFi was hardly missed, what with the good food, entertainment, and service. There's no such thing as a perfectly pleasant 14-hour economy flight (though the seat reclined, it was nowhere near enough to sleep deeply) but Hong Kong Airlines made it as comfortable as possible.

We landed at Hong Kong International Airport in the late evening.

When it was time to fly back, our return flight, HX062, ended up being delayed a whopping five hours. (It was Labor Day, after all.)

If we had shelled out about $3,000 for a business-class ticket aboard Hong Kong Airlines, we could have passed the time at the airline's lounge at Hong Kong International Airport. But luckily, we were able to hang out in another airport lounge, thanks to my companion's travel rewards.

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In the evening, we boarded our flight that would prove just as smooth as our first, at least as far as the service was concerned. There was considerable turbulence throughout ...

... which we discovered when we landed was most likely caused by Typhoon Jebi, which later slammed into the coast of Japan.

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The typhoon was described as the worst to hit Japan in 25 years, leaving thousands stranded and disrupting travel at the main airport in western Japan.

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Luckily for us, SFO was unaffected, and we landed the next day sufficiently exhausted but safe.

Hong Kong Airlines serves 40 major cities. In addition to San Francisco, it offers nonstop routes to Los Angeles ...

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... and Vancouver, Canada.

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Service to New York is also set to be added this year ...

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... as well as routes to London. For me, the airline I choose to fly depends entirely on how affordable the tickets are — so as long as tickets are priced low, I would absolutely fly with Hong Kong Airlines again.

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I flew 14 hours on one of the best airlines in the world that you've probably never heard of — and even its worst seat put other long-haul flights to shame

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