After a short night at the Hilton Beijing Capital Airport, it was time to fly back to Hong Kong, before continuing to Boston. I’m going to keep this review relatively brief, because I reviewed Cathay Dragon’s A330 first class from Shanghai to Hong Kong in mid-2018.
Booking My Cathay Dragon First Class Flight
The return portion of this trip was booked using Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. I redeemed 125,000 miles and paid $141 in taxes, fees, and carrier imposed surcharges, for the following itinerary:
12/11 KA937 Beijing to Hong Kong departing 7:30AM arriving 11:15AM [First]
12/11 CX812 Hong Kong to Boston departing 6:05PM arriving 8:50PM [First]
The reason I booked through Asia Miles is because nowadays it’s the only program that has access to Cathay Pacific first class award availability last minute. See this post for everything you need to know about redeeming miles for Cathay Pacific first class.
As a reminder, Asia Miles is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou, and Capital One.
Cathay Dragon First Class A330 Review
I got to the airport at around 5:30AM for my 7:30AM departure to Hong Kong. Cathay Dragon operates out of Terminal 3 at PEK. Upon arriving at the airport I took the train to the international concourse, and then cleared immigration and security, which took nearly 30 minutes.
It sure felt to me like the airport didn’t have heat, because it was freezing in the terminal. I spent a bit of time in the Cathay Pacific Lounge working — I reviewed the lounge back in 2015, and while that’s a long time ago, not a lot has changed, so I won’t be reviewing it again.
The lounge is unremarkable, with bleh furniture and a disappointing food selection. This pales in comparison to Cathay Pacific’s new style lounges.
The flight was scheduled to board at gate E25 at 6:50AM, so I headed there about 15 minutes before that.
Cathay Dragon departure gate in Beijing
The plane was already at the gate, though the crew wasn’t onboard yet.
Cathay Dragon A330 in Beijing
The crew boarded around 7AM, and at 7:10AM boarding started, with first class and oneworld Emerald members being invited to board first.
Cathay Dragon departure gate in Beijing
Cathay Dragon 937
Beijing (PEK) – Hong Kong (HKG)
Wednesday, December 11
Depart: 7:30AM
Arrive: 11:15AM
Duration: 3hr45min
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Seat: 2A (First Class)
At the forward door I was greeted by the service manager and one of the first class flight attendants, and escorted to my seat. Cathay Dragon has eight first class seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration.
These are reverse herringbone seats, so they’re similar to what you’d find in Cathay Pacific’s long haul business class (Cathay Dragon primarily operates short haul flights, which is why they have different products).
Cathay Dragon A330 first class seat
Cathay Dragon A330 first class seat
The footwell was a decent size, and overall the cabin was well maintained.
Cathay Dragon first class seat A330
There was a console next to the seat with entertainment controllers, a reading light, seat controls, a power outlet, and a small storage compartment with headphones.
Cathay Dragon first class seat controls & storage
Then the tray table swung over from the side of the seat.
Cathay Dragon first class seat tray table
Much like in business class, there were no individual air nozzles at each seat.
Cathay Dragon first class seat overhead console
Waiting at each seat upon boarding was a pillow, and then I was offered a blanket shortly after sitting down. The bedding wasn’t exactly great, but was fine for a fairly short daytime flight.
Cathay Dragon first class pillow & blanket
On this flight five of the eight first class seats were taken — there were three passengers and then two pilots in uniform who were deadheading.
Cathay Dragon first class cabin
A few minutes after settling in I was offered the menu for the flight (on a cool wooden display, as you’ll find in Cathay Pacific first class).
Cathay Dragon first class menu
I was also offered a pre-departure drink of choice, and ordered a cup of coffee.
Cathay Dragon first class pre-departure drink
Moments later I was offered a warm towel.
Cathay Dragon first class warm towel
At around 7:20AM the captain made his welcome aboard announcement, informing us of our flight time of 3hr10min. He said we should be pushing back on time, but that we should expect about 30 minutes on the ground once we started our taxi due to the takeoff queue.
At 7:25AM the door closed, at which point the safety video was screened. Five minutes after that we began our pushback, and five minutes after that we began our taxi.
As we started taxiing the service manager came by to introduce herself, and to take my breakfast order.
Our taxi was faster than predicted, as we were airborne from runway 36R by 7:50AM.
Taxiing out in Beijing
Taking off from Beijing
Beijing Capital Airport is so massive, which is especially evident after takeoff when you see just how high up you are before you’re no longer over the airport.
View after takeoff from Beijing
Look at all of those parked Hainan planes!
View after takeoff from Beijing
View after takeoff from Beijing
The seatbelt sign was turned off about five minutes after takeoff.
View after takeoff from Beijing
A few minutes after that I went to the lavatory, of which there are two at the front of the cabin. As I used it I noticed the door opening (even though it was locked), though I was quick and managed to lock it before the door opened.
Once I was back at my seat the flight attendant came by to apologize profusely. Clearly she was confused — I’m guessing they lock the doors for takeoff, and she assumed it was still locked from that, though that wasn’t the case.
Speaking of the bathrooms, the crew was very professional, but I noticed that repeatedly people came from business class to use the first class lavatory. I guess they can’t necessarily easily see the lavatory from the galley, though usually that’s something that’s strictly enforced on Asian airlines.
In particular, one guy came up to use the first class lavatory five times throughout the flight. I’m not sure if he was sick, or what…
Cathay Dragon A330 lavatory
The meal service began quickly after takeoff. The menu read as follows:
The drink list read as follows (there was no wine list, presumably because it was a morning flight?):
Just 15 minutes after takeoff the tablecloth and starter were brought out. To start I had a tasty fruit plate.
Cathay Dragon first class breakfast
I was also offered either a cranberry muffin, croissant, or chocolate pastry to go along with that.
Cathay Dragon first class breakfast
A few minutes later I was offered cereal or muesli, and I selected the bircher muesli, which was also very good.
Cathay Dragon first class breakfast
For the main course I selected the dim sum. I was delighted to for once see an airline offering dim sum without pork, which is almost unheard of. The dim sum included pan fried vegetable and mushroom bun, beef siu mai, yam and sweet potato dumpling, turnip cake, and cordyceps flower har gow.
Cathay Dragon first class breakfast
The meal was excellent, and completed just over 30 minutes after takeoff (I’m a fast eater). At the conclusion of the meal I was offered a warm towel.
Cathay Dragon first class warm towel
There were two flight attendants working the small first class cabin, and they were attentive and addressed me by name at every interaction. As is often the case on Cathay Pacific at least, the crew stayed out of the cabin, but they always quickly responded to call buttons.
After the meal I had a look at the entertainment selection, and watched a couple of sitcoms. Much like on the previous flight, the selection was good, but the screen was really low definition.
Cathay Dragon entertainment selection
I worked a bit on my laptop, and at around 10:30AM the captain announced that we’d be landing in 30 minutes. Shortly thereafter the crew began preparing the cabin for landing.
Map enroute to Hong Kong
The views on approach to Hong Kong were probably the most beautiful I’ve ever had on approach to the airport.
View approaching Hong Kong
WOW… hello Victoria Harbour!
View approaching Hong Kong
View approaching Hong Kong
We ended up landing in Hong Kong at 10:55AM, and from there had a short five minute taxi to our arrival gate.
Final approach to Hong Kong
Taxiing Hong Kong Airport
I headed towards transit immigration, and then had a nice half day layover before continuing to Boston in the evening.
Cathay Dragon First Class Bottom Line
First class is no doubt unnecessary on such a short flight, though ultimately it’s still significantly better than Cathay Dragon’s regional business class. The breakfast was excellent and service was personalized.
Flying first class over business class cost me nothing extra on this award, since my long haul was in first class. I think the ideal sweet spot here is to book a flight in Cathay Pacific’s long haul business class on the route, as you get virtually the same seat, the service just isn’t quite as attentive.
All around I’m a fan of Cathay Dragon.
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.