Review: Cathay Dragon First Class A330 Shanghai To Hong Kong

lucky, if traveling with a companion on a daytime flight, what would you prefer to fly given a choice between the J and F configurations on this plane?

Borscht is an odd offering lol thank god you didn’t spill any 🙂 I love HK airport. It’s so easy to use and my arrivals and departures experience has always been good. The Regal is also very comfortable
If you have a few hours it’s nice to take the train into the city for dinner

Borscht (Luo Song Tang in Chinese) is a quite popular Western-style soup among Chinese. I'm actually surprised that I didn't saw it being offered more frequently on Chinese airlines...

I flew KA F on the hkg-pek flight. Service was exactly what I’d expect from CX. I was insanely jet lagged after the flight from bos so I told the FAs I was just going to sleep and to please wake me in time for some coffee. Sure enough, they woke me up, brought me coffee, and offered the breakfast that they made “just in case you wanted.”

Looks like BA first class

I get why they don't do a full F class on KA, from a value proposition, miles-wise it does seem kind of skewed as you can often get the same seats on short-haul CX flights in J, especially those on more popular routes like HKG-BKK or HKG -SIN. The J seats on KA look perfectly comfortable for even the longest KA flight. I'd probably only book this if I were connecting from a longhaul F flight where I would already be paying the F price regardless of whether the shorthaul was in J.

That meal looks delicious!

I had a flight in KA First for this route, but was downgraded to Business at check-in due to an equipment swap. Very disappointing.

Cathay Dragon first class pre-departure champagne & amuse bouche Picture may be incorrect.

Sorry—I read further down. Might be correct picture further along the article. Just a repeated caption about amuse bouche at the top and a repeated cabin picture.

@ Pauls98 -- Whoops, thanks for the correction. Fixed now.

@ Jim -- That is disappointing. What kind of compensation did they offer you?

@ Brandon -- That's a toughie. I'd probably go with business class if I cared about being able to talk to my companion, especially if you're saving money or miles. If it's the same cost (because you're connecting off a longhaul first class award, or something), then I'd probably take first class just because.

Lucky.i am booked on Cathay Dragon to Chengdu and saw they will offer the plane with the first class seats but only sell business. The 8F seats are blocked. Any idea how I can get those seats, as I dont have any status with OW. Wait until the check-in opens 24hrs before? Thx in advance

I really wish KA would assign these first class planes to the HKG-BLR service. It's the longest flight in the KA network which is blocked at 5.5 to 6 hours with a red-eye return. Sigh.

"Marc says:
June 17, 2018 at 6:00 pm

Lucky.i am booked on Cathay Dragon to Chengdu and saw they will offer the plane with the first class seats but only sell business. The 8F seats are blocked. Any idea how I can get those seats, as I dont have any status with OW. Wait until the check-in opens 24hrs before? Thx in advance "

KA will very very very likely keep that cabin closed. I've tried multiple ways to get seated as a oneworld Emerald. No luck.

Thank you for mentioning HKG-PEK first class . I would love to fly CX first class HKG-PEK for 32,500 AA miles and experience the Pier lounge in Hong Kong. Why would anyone prefer to fly KA First class HKG-PEK on an A330 over CX First class on a 777? I see CX has only one flight daily and KA has several.

Lucky: where did you hear that CX brought back the amuse bouche to first class? not on my flight last week LAX-HKG! very mediocre mixed nuts was all that they served with the pre-flight beverage.

Lucky, which would you say is the better choice overall...first on this, or business on Cathay if they also offer reverse herringbone seats, and not their regional business class seats? (Assuming they still offer reverse herringbone on regional/short haul flights)

@ Aaron -- Assuming all else is equal, I'd say first on this is better, as the soft product is far superior. However, it also comes down to the cost, so depends what the cash/mileage difference is.

@ OT -- It looks like they're just testing returning this on some routes. See here:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cathay-pacific-marco-polo-club/1912601-limited-reintroduction-amuse-bouche-champagne-updates-fcl.html

@ D3KingAmerican -- I actually think Cathay Dragon's service in shorthaul first class is better than Cathay Pacific's service on equivalent shorthaul flights. Of course the seat can't compete, though.

I think first class on such a short route is a bit obstentacious. Why not fly business and give some money or miles to charity.

@ Montgomery Curruthers -- Because part of my job is reviewing airlines, and Cathay Dragon has one of only three first class products in the world I hadn't tried. I also place an exact value to miles, and while I'm happy to donate cash to charity, I simply won't donate miles. At most airlines give one cent of value to charities when you donate miles, and that's less than I value the miles at.

Well technically China wouldn’t have considered this to be an international flight.

Those CX long haul business/ KA first class seats can be moved straight forward ( without recline) from the original take off position so that you can talk to you companion on the other side without leaning forward to see each others' faces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_6gl0AF0-Y

I've flown Cathay Pacific and liked them a lot. Lots of food is always a good thing. And the quality wasn't bad.
The seats look really nice. I prefer the color scheme of these seats as the Business in Cathay Pacific long haul flights. I feel like the beige will show signs of wear quicker.
The dessert looked really good.