Cathay Pacific Unveils New First & Business Class Soft Product

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: November 15, 2019

34 comments

Cathay Pacific has been working on refining both their first and business class products over the past several months. This has been a process, as they have already rolled out new dining in business class, and now they’ll be rolling out more changes. While some of these improvements have already quietly been introduced, the airline has today officially unveiled the changes.

Cathay Pacific describes these as an array of thoughtfully chosen enhancements to their soft product, including an improved dining experience and better amenities for resting.

Admittedly based on the press release it can be tough to figure out how much of an improvement this all represents, because the descriptions of everything is a bit hippy-dippy. For example:

These enrichments are designed to offer passengers a more holistic, sensory experience that begins from the moment they begin their journey.

A large part of this elevated product is due to Cathay Pacific’s new collaboration with luxury UK lifestyle brand Bamford, which has delivered a range of new amenities, including new travel kits and plush bedding.

So, what should we expect?

In this post:

Cathay Pacific’s New First Class Service

Cathay Pacific says that they’re relaxing the mind, body, and spirit with their first class changes, to give customers a complete, personalized journey as lavish as the experience they would enjoy on the ground.

Among the changes to Cathay Pacific first class:

There will be a new “service moment” upon boarding in the form of a welcome reception tray, including a personalized welcome note, a hot towel, and a glass of refreshing sparkling jasmine silver needle tea from JING
Wellness extends to the menus, which will include lighter options for the main and breakfast meals, including healthier options like superfood bowls, lighter protein side dishes, cold pressed juices, and more
There will be new tableware, including china from Noritake, cutlery from Robert Welch, and full-size wine glasses from Riedel
There will be refreshed amenities and bedding from Bamford, including a 600 thread count mattress and duvet, a soft full-size pillow, and branded male and female amenity kits
There will be Botanic Pillow Mist from Bamford with the turndown service

Some of this is pretty minor, like pillow mist, but I am very excited to see them refreshing their meal service in first class, which I feel otherwise hasn’t changed in about a decade.

Cathay Pacific’s New Business Class Service

Cathay Pacific says that their new business class product is a “complete sensory experience.” Among the changes to Cathay Pacific business class:

There will be a new range of bedding developed by Bamford, including a soft mattress topper along with a larger, plusher sleeping pillow, and premium quality slippers
There will be a new 400 thread count pillowcase and a two piece duvet
In regional business class, there will be a new day blanket and plush pillow
There will be new amenity kits, which will be unisex and will be available in four colors that rotate throughout the year
This complements the refreshed long haul business class dining concept that completed its roll out earlier this year

These all sound like great changes. I’ve heard pretty good things about the new dining concept, so when you combine that with better bedding and wifi being rolled out throughout their fleet, Cathay Pacific’s business class is looking better than ever before.

Improved Inflight Entertainment

Cathay Pacific has also recently unveiled a huge inflight entertainment expansion, which is available in all cabins.

Bottom Line

While there’s no doubt that at least part of this is marketing, this all sounds pretty good to me. Cathay Pacific has already rolled out a (long overdue) new dining concept in business class. Now we’ll also see new bedding and amenity kits in first & business class, as well as an improved dining concept in first class.

I’m excited to be flying Cathay Pacific’s A350-1000 business class from Hong Kong to Toronto soon, so that I can review these new services. This also makes me want to fly Cathay Pacific first class again, to see what has changed.

What do you make of these Cathay Pacific service changes? Has anyone flown with them recently, and if so, did you notice any changes?

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Lucas Guest

December 3, 2019, 6:18 pm

Flew HKG-BOS Sunday, great flight. The service first of all was great, but let’s get to the upgrades Bedding- my god this was great. The mattress pad was so soft and heavenly, duvet was great as well as the pillow. The pillow mist was nice, but really didn’t add much. Amenity Kit- Guess I’m the odd man out but i prefer the new amenity kit. Better design and contents were the same as the Aesop one just made by a different company. The scent was a bit strong but not close to being a decision factor. Food- oddly enough we had the same board type menu and nothing updated, but the food was delicious. Didn’t really note the tableware as letting that even change your mood is dumb unless you payed full revenue, which i doubt anyone here does. HKG is also so safe. It was my first time and i spent two hours walking around and taking picutres. Overall fantastic experience.

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Mattt Member

November 17, 2019, 10:48 am

Flew jfk-yvr yesterday on the mistake fare. Didn’t continue onto HK, which was a bit of a mess but they ultimately let me off the plane, so it worked as planned. Waiting to see how the miles credit. The new bedding is excellent. I was a big fan of the old stuff but the pillow was weak. This one is better than the one i have at home (hopefully they keep these refreshed so they don’t break down over time). I actually like the new amenities, but I’m not a huge Aesop fan, so maybe I’m weird. Since I started flying first, face mist has become a part of my routine so I appreciate it. The food... I thought the old stuff was just meh and I think this is more of the same. The wines and champagne are pretty good. Dessert was the best part of the meal. Obvi this was the overnight short flight so probably not the best showing but still, meh selection. Overall, good experience especially for the price I paid and Bc I wasn’t planning on using the return so the transcon made for a nice weekend trip to hopefully put me over 200k EQMs this year.

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OT Guest

November 16, 2019, 8:42 am

Flew HKG-JFK in J last week, and liked both the new menu and the new bedding. The amenity kit still had Jurlique products. Don't know Bamford but dropping Aesop from F does feel like a downgrade, although, as of last week, Aesop hand soap and lotion were still offered in the lounge. I totally understand people wanting to avoid visiting HK these days (although the hotel bargains are pretty incredible, and the city is still much, much safer than most in the world). But avoiding CX and HKG is just silly; save for one day it's been business as usual, except for added security at the entrance to the terminal (which does not affect transfer traffic). There are far more air travel disruptions from weather in the US or strikes in Europe.

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The nice Paul Diamond

November 16, 2019, 8:16 am

@ M. Brody I thought mules whinnied/ brayed rather than whining? Anyway, I’m not objecting to anyone using cheapo cutlery. What I’m objecting to is Cathay using cheapo cutlery but *claiming* it’s some sort of luxury item, as if we should feel mightily impressed. But cutlery isn’t just about brand snobbery: have a think about concepts like weighting in the hand, or how these metal objects feel when coming into contact with some of the most sensitive bits of the human anatomy (that’s your lips and tongue, before you go getting any crude ideas). A master cutler produces flatware that you probably won’t even notice you’re using. But Robert Welch will likely produce unbalanced flatware that may look fashionable but will feel clunky or behave in ways you may not expect (often falling off a plate because of the balance issues). Is it the deciding factor? Hell, no. But I’m not generally a fan of airlines that pee up my leg then try to persuade me it’s raining. @ Pauline Quite right: you focus on the bits of the experience that you think are important (though it’s a bit egocentric to then claim that your favourite bits are “core” while everyone else’s are, presumably, peripheral). I’m curious, though, that you call me out for raising the quality of their brand choice here, while ignoring everyone else arguing the toss about the branding of products in the amenity kit. Double standard, no?

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DaisyO Guest

November 16, 2019, 7:19 am

I flew LAX-HKG F last week and am impressed with the changes. I especially like the new bedding. I slept for 8 hours straight on the new mattress pad, something I’ve never done in years flying F. I like the Bamford amenity kit as well, the case is easier to shove into a suitcase than the boxy Aesop one. They still have comfy PYE pajamas. Kudos to CX!

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