Review: Cathay Pacific First Class 777-300ER Chicago To Hong Kong

How difficult would you say it is to find FC SFO-HKG on a regular basis? Couple of months out versus 360 days?

Ben,
I personally like seat 2A over 1A. Knowing you love CX F, have you counted how many times you flew CX F?

Just saying there are a few typos in there.

@Ben, I booked Boston to Hong Kong on Cathay first class seat 1K.
According to the review from seatguru it indicated the light/noise from the galley might be bothersome for this seat, what do you think?

thanks

If someone tells you that the service in Cathay First "sucks" for that reason, they obviously don't follow your blog that closely.

My parents will seated in business class the flight, since I could not get them any in first class.

What do you recommend more on business class? row D&G or G &K?

Thanks

Thanks Lucky for the report. I have a couple of questions. First, have you ever heard of them running out of Krug? Second, do you know why those flights tend to be "bumpy" compared to other routes? I'm thinking of taking that exact route in 2016. TIA

@ Sach -- Can't say I've had them run out of Krug on my previous flights. As far as bumpiness goes, generally speaking transpacific flights are just bumpier. I guess it was less bumpy in this case since we were taking a polar route, but when you're flying eastbound with the jetstream, it's pretty common to get some moderate turbulence around Japan and the middle of the Pacific, at a minimum

@ rick -- I'd either do D & G, or otherwise two seats behind one another by the window. If they're in the center seats they'll be able to talk when leaning forwards, so I'd probably go with those.

@ rick -- It shouldn't be an issue. Cathay flight attendants are great about keeping the curtain between the cabin and galley closed as much as possible.

@ Tiara -- Totally agree, 2A is also my preferred seat. Not sure how often I've flown Cathay first class, but definitely well over a dozen times.

@ JustSaying -- Here's a post about Cathay Pacific award availability trends:
https://onemileatatime.com/cathay-pacific-first-class-award-availability-trends/

In general they release one seat when the booking window opens, and then more seats within a week or so of departure.

I have flown Cathay round trip (in F) twice. The first time, all was perfect. The last time was a week ago and all was great but one thing - my FRA-HKG flight, the seat had a hard ridge in it that made it super uncomfortable for sleeping. It was at the bottom of the top cushion. Fine when sitting, awful for sleeping, and I am not a picky person. The HKG-LAX flight was fantastic though. And I had that same amuse bouche and didn't like it at all. 😉

@Ben would I able to visit my parents in business class since I'm seating in first?

@ rick -- Yep, visiting someone in a "lower" cabin shouldn't be an issue.

Both my spouse and I have lifetime AA Gold so doing the early book in biz 1 and 1 FC 1 and then the free change sounds like a great strategy.......despite all the research I'll probably still send your award service the itinerary as I am sure their insights "somewhere" will more than offset the fee............

@rick @Ben - that reminds me of when I was flying with my grandmother to China and my parents just couldn't get their heads around a 14-year-old flying in paid business class so I flew EgyptAir Y while my grandmother was in C.

About 2 hours into the flight I asked the flight attendant if I could go upfront to speak to my grandmother and she told me that C class was quite empty and that I could spend the flight next to her 😉

But inviting them to dine with you would be a NO? Even if they are in business?

@Abdel Rahim Abdallah wow but that was on Egypt Air? 🙂

Did you get business meals etc?

I have heard Cathay is a little more stricter than this...

@ rick -- They can't come up to a higher cabin.

They ran out of Krug? Unacceptable. Truly. I know I wouldn't have complained since I rarely do, but I would have been really disappointed.

@Katie: did you use the massage function? I had that happened once and it wasn't until I slept poorly for a few hours that I realized it wasn't right. I turned it back on to get the bar back where it shouldn't have been then could sleep.

@rick - There's absolutely no way this could happen on any other carrier. I think this is just a one-off as part of Egyptian generosity.

As for dining, I got the first meal in the economy seat so nothing to change there and the second meal is just some packaged goods (granola bar, chocolate, etc) so I did get the business class one.

The one time I couldn't get our preferred 1A/2A combo, we got the other window side and 2J was open. They were perfectly willing to make that my bed, so I could go back and forth as desired.

Running out of Krug is sad. By the way, I believe the amuse was salmon roe, not salmon tartare. So two types of fish eggs on the service.

I never had Italian caviar, how was it compared to others? I assume pretty good since you had seconds!

They misspelled "dulce de leche" as "dolce". Spanish for "candy of milk". My fav.

Hey Ben,

Glad to hear you enjoyed CX with them. First of all, I'm actually surprised that you ordered all cappuccinos and not try at least one Hong Kong style milk tea! Then again, I can't blame you as they make it with powder rather than the actually thing.

Good to hear that this is the first time that you gave some thumbs up for the food. You really don't give thumbs up on CX food but this seems to be a first. I agree though with the presentation, it could be better especially with the tin foil. Desserts tend to be very good on CX regardless of class.

Nice touch to give the cabin crew chocolates. I did the same for Christmas and New Years. Not just the cabin crew but the pilots as well. And I brought the chocolates from my Costco like store, not the duty free. I've flown with SQ before but the cabin crew on CX tends to be more personal and engaging.

I have an upcoming longhaul F flight with CX and emailed you questions regarding the cabanas so I'm really looking forward to it!

Looking forward to reading more of your upcoming trip reports.

Cheers

I'm guessing that if he met a new friend after a night of drinking in Hong Kong Ben would make good use of the blindfold, sorry I mean the eyeshades, they hand out in the amenity kit. 😉

Tell us more about the convo with the inflight manager and the first officer! Was there a *love* connection? You know we're all rooting for you!

Photos made it look like a Michelin 1 star.......except for the entree of course........

Can I please have the Pye tag to your Cathay pajamas? Would love to have that gift box that they give out in Hong Kong. I accidentally heard the FA tell me to show the "bag" (as opposed to "tag") and threw the tag away when I went to visit the Pye store.

@ Marc -- Unfortunately already gave it away. Sorry. 🙁

@ FClassFlyer -- We shared a love of Hong Kong. Does that count?

@ Mike O. -- Enjoy your trip!

Sadly becoming more common, airlines only loading a bottle or two of the top shelf champagne on long haul, that runs out before mid-flight (particularly disappointing when you are the only revenue pax in the First cabin). Has happened on Qantas enough (only two or three bottles of Comtes de Comtes loaded, in a much larger A380 First cabin).

With the exception of the caviar, CX First catering is lacklustre. I was very disappointed with that menu for a 15 hour plus flight, it looked like a Business menu for a much shorter flight (again, caviar aside).

On the positive side, I think CX have the service methodology right. I find SQ too obtrusive. CX come quickly when called for but otherwise give you privacy - they work to you, not work you in.

Given CX are looking to change their seating soon, it'll be interesting to see which direction CX will go.

@ beachfan -- The caviar was excellent.

@Kieran

You'll see a new F seat (or suite) when the A350-1000's start coming in. The A350-900 that will come in next year will not have F. The new J seats however, will be the same Cirrus seat. Just an enhanced one with much newer finishes and trim and other small odds and ends I assume. Nothing drastic or major.

And Ben, thanks! By the way, why no order of Hong Kong style milk teas?! :p

HKG-LAX not yet available for 2. Meanwhile, would you "placehold" with: CX J HKG-LAX, or CX/JAL F HKG-KIX-LAX or HKG-NRT-LAX, hoping for the NS CX F to open?

@ colleen -- JAL F is *fantastic*, so I'd probably book that with a connection as a placeholder, if I were you.

Thanks. Any +/- KIX vs NRT? NRT is a 777, while KIX is a 787. And then, lounges.

@ colleen -- There's no first class on the 787, so you'd want to do the 777.

Thanks for the catch. BA lists two combos, each with JAL 60 KIX-LAX. One, F is available, and the other is "not operated on this flight". From what you're saying, F availability is only on the HKG-KIX flight and KIX-LA would be J regardless. One of the HKG-KIX is 777, the other (cabin not operated") is an A330.

So I suppose the 777 has F and the A330 doesn't.

Lots of moving parts here. Thanks. NRT it is.

@ colleen -- Yep, indeed. 777 on some routes has F, while no A330s have F.

@Ben CX will not install WiFi. One reason is cost, another reason is utility. Most CX flights need to spend lots time fly over mainland China, where inflight WiFi is not allowed. (Check United's WiFi coverage, China is a big blank.)
Then for rest of flights is usually North Pole or ocean where there isn't great WiFi coverfage.
If one day China issues inflight WiFi permits to foreign airlines, then CX will likely to install WiFi. However, when dealing with Chimese government, there is only one option - waiting ...

Nice report, Ben...but...

"While not substantial, I do think the pre-departure amuse bouche is a nice touch."

Uh... isn't an amuse-bouche NOT substantial by definition? 🙂

@nemme - you know, I never thought to try that. I found if I scooted way up or way down I could find a position tolerable.

Hello, fellow 2 Broke Girls fan! 😉

I've never heard of a person avoiding an airline for offering a great service; Great trip report!

Nice to see JW Blue still served.Hope they didn't run out of it.

"The one slight “protrusion” is above seat 1D, where there’s an indentation in the ceiling due to the pilot rest area."

So the pilot is resting over first class? Interesting.

"I’ve never been impressed by Cathay Pacific’s western main courses"

I think more accurate to say "I used to be impressed...", you used to love their steaks. Have you tried their western seafood mains? Might be better than the meat and pasta dishes.

"For dessert I had the green tea cheesecake"

Cheesecake or tiramisu?

This would have been a perfect time to test our their long hail new business class.

The pictures perfectly capture the food and cabin details. Acknowledging the crew's hard work shows class.

As the expression says:"The devil stands in the details." Calvisius Venise is the cheaper of the caviars sold by that company. The eggs are smaller than the top rated Oscietra. The coffee does not appear to show the balanced layers of espresso, steamed and frothed milk. Looks more like a flat white. Chicken thighs are a cheap substitute to quail or duck. Korean Air serves the same ice cream in the economy cabin. Running out of Krug, priceless. Makes me wonder the rationale to do extensive cost cutting in a premium product.

@ wwk5d -- Good catch regarding cheesecake vs. tiramisu, thanks! And yes, certainly my impression of their food has changed over the past decade. Can't say my taste buds are the same now as they were when I was 15. 😉

Just got off this flight in F the other direction. A few notes:

@Katie, the exact same thing happened to me. The seat had a ridge that was uncomfortable while lying. I debated, but asked the FA. Sure enough, she showed me how to deflate the lumbar support and the bed was PERFECT. So glad I asked.

- I experienced very poor service in Hong Kong. The first class checkin took about 30 minutes as there was some internal problem with my ticket. More than that, the rep never one said "I'm sorry" "thanks for your patience" etc. A few times I said, in an effort to calm my wife down, "Everything will work out, right?" And she only said "We'll see." Never once looking up or explaining the situation. Then long wait in security/immigration with no premium lines. So ground experience was baffling to me. Wing was nice, but nobody was overly friendly in there.

-overall fantastic flight. One all-star flight attendant and one adequate one. For a solid 8 hours of sleep!

@Dave
The lack of fast-track/premium class security and immigration/customs clearance lines is indeed an oddity at Hong Kong International. Generally wait times aren't awful but every now and then you seem to get horrible bottlenecks - which is really off-putting.

It's always disappointing when airports just throw premium classes and economy passengers together (like SIN does for gate screening, etc) into often very long slow moving queues. While every airport doesn't need a premium terminal like Frankfurt, some improvements in premium passenger handling would go a long way.

Thanks for a great review! This is a flight I'll be taking in a couple months with my wife as part of our delayed honeymoon (married in November), although we booked a cash economy fare last year before I discovered earning and using miles. We have enough AAdvantage Miles to book one of the legs in business class, but I was wondering: If we book business fares on the same flight as our economy fare (and check in to both), will we void our economy fares for the rest of the trip?

Thanks for any help anyone can give. I'd like to not have 15.5 hours in an economy seat, but if I have to do that I suppose there's no better airline to do it with than Cathay Pacific.

@ Ben L -- Congrats on the upcoming honeymoon, and welcome to the hobby! Unfortunately if you skip any segment of an itinerary then you'll void the rest of the ticket, and I don't believe you can be checked in for two different cabins on a flight. So that could only really work if you're using miles for the last segment of your itinerary.

@lucky, as harsh as this may sound, I think (and agree) that you suggest that Ben L should just "eat"/use the cash Y ticket and use the aspirational "points" part later. Has to do with "good money after bad".

And I join in your congrats to Ben L and Mrs. Ben L.

"Calvisius Venise is the cheaper of the caviars sold by that company. The eggs are smaller than the top rated Oscietra"

Please. I wouldn't know. I only eat Petrossian Beluga.

Thanks Lucky and Colleen. I figured that was the case, but wanted to run it by some more experienced travelers to be sure. We'll take it as a lesson learned and carry these points forward to a premium flight in 2016. Looking forward to reading the site more until then...it will definitely color where we decide to travel for our next international trip!

@BenL - Having flown CX economy, SFO-HKG-MEL-HKG-SFO, a stopover on the way there, but straight through on the way back (over 19 hours of travel), I can say that they treat you pretty well in economy. The service standards of Cathay are still there, albeit with more passengers, and the entertainment system is fantastic and can keep you entertained for hours. I will admit, the front of the plane is where Cathay shines, but even in the back it is far better than a US based carrier.

Changed today to "placehold" HKG-LAX with a move to F: CX/JL via AA award.

Come to find out, the CX 777 is their regional metal - 2-class service only. What will this mean for HKG lounge access? Will we still be F eligible because of JL tix? Does a CX lounge "guest" need to be CX/OW, or can DL pax be allowed? Sorry, a bit in the weeds here.

Best fish dish ever? You definitely haven't been to the Maldives (albeit having stayed at both the Six Senses and the Park Hyatt).

Broccoli that's turned yellow and souffle served in a tin foil cup. That's first class, is CX joking?

I took 1K on CX and loved it. It felt a little more private than the A side during boarding

Great post, Ben! I just flew Cathay JFK to HK on the 8th. Same seat... 1K. FYI, my Orange soufflé was served without the tin, flipped on to the plate next to the ice cream. I also enjoyed a second serving of caviar since there were leftovers. Ahhhh...

I did know about the call button necessity, but initially I received no acknowledgement when I used it. None!! Until I realized mine was not working! I let the flight attendants know, and they checked it out and confirmed. They remedied the situation by moving me across the aisle to 1D since it was unoccupied. I moved back at the end of the flight, so I could look out the windows. Retried the call button, and it had started working.

This was my fourth time in Cathay first, and it just never ceases to delight me. By the 14th hour, I feel a twinge of sadness that the flight is nearly over!

Ben,

You write an excellent blog. Thank you. Although I fly CX frequently (probably will run into you at some point) from the West Coast to the HK route, I've never tried first class. I have a silly question.

How do you get any privacy changing into your pajamas? I know CX doesn't have a suite like Singapore. So, how did you do it?

After reading your blog, I'm considering flying first class just for the experience.

Just flew first class from hkg to jfk (1A). Ain't gonna lie, it was the best flight I've ever taken and definitely topped JAL's Sky suite 2 outbound. The dining service was top notch, the krug never dried and the there were actually movies I hadn't seen before. Only negative was that I slept for most of the flight so didn't have more time to luxuriate on all the other a la carte the dining options. Cathay first gets all A's!

Agree 100% with your assessment of Cathay Pacific first class. Everything perfect right down to the pajamas. My circadian rhythm was way off and I wound up only eating lunch, but I agree the sea bad was delicious.

Lucky, I have to commend the accuracy of your trip reports, they are spot on! I just took ORD to HKG and then the reverse both in Cathay FC. Having read your experience(s) nothing was a surprise on my trip and yes I even had the sea bass which might be one of the best things I have ever tasted! I haven't had the breadth of FC experience as you have (only Emirates, ANA, Lufthansa, BA and dare I say United in First) but must admit the Cathay bedding and sleeping arrangement is the best by far. You really can sleep well, its amazing I have never felt so refreshed after 15 hour flights both ways. I also got to experience both the Wing and the Pier and again you are right, the day rooms in the Pier are a plane junkies delight. I am soon to experience Air India in FC RT to Delhi from SFO so again your report is a great aid. Thanks again for such truly great reports.

how do you book a flight with miles on the american website, whenever i try to book, it always shows up as american and no other airlines come up

"And at 67,500 American AAdvantage miles for first class travel between the US and Asia, it’s a heck of a deal as well."

You travel for free AND get free air miles too ??

Hi Ben,

You mentioned an Australian Pilot. A good mate of mine is a Pilot with Cathay Pacific. Do you remember his name at all? I'm not sure of the protocol of mentioning Pilot's names on here but his initials are BH. Just wondering. Cheers.

Ben, How many Alaska miles does Cathy pacific First Class cost from new York to Europe?

I mostly travel on such an airline which provides the delicious food services. As i have to eat yummy and a good nap to make my travel distance easy.