Hello from Hong Kong, as I’m now well intomy review trip, and completed the highlight of this journey. I just flew Cathay Pacific’s brand new Boeing 777-300ER Aria Suite business class, on the 11hr50min flight from London (LHR) to Hong Kong (HKG).
Continue reading: Cathay Pacific 777 Aria Suite Business Class: Great Seat, Stellar Tech!
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
One thing I love about CX would be their little touches they add to the experience such as
My questions would be:
Does Aria have live TV? I know they do on the neos as well as the A350, but I'm not sure with the 777 and A330s.
What kind of Wi-Fi speeds were you getting? And how do the neo, 777 and A350 compare?
This would be just a matter of opinion and personal taste, but how do you like the new colours compared to the previous champagne and jade green?
And how's the garlic bread?!
This might be a personal preference on my part, but I kind of like the white table cloth better.
And I hope you didn't forget the crisp cameras!
Loos great but unfortunately there is up to a 40-60% fare markup on this flight compared to the other LHR flights and award availability is nonexistent unless booking within a few days.
Will wait until there are more planes with the new product!
Asian Airlines once again showing how it’s done.
Meanwhile in the decaying west……
In your full review I would like to know the reason why the foot space felt large enough given that there is no design change. It is very important for many people
I would be keen to hear your opinion comparing the Aria interpretation of the Collins Elements seats vs Starlux’s? Did you feel the footwell in the Starlux version better than the Cathay version (noted the design looks slightly smaller compared to Starlux one with extra small ledge on the side of the footwell?). Was the seat more spacious or just the same compared to the Starlux one? Which one do you think is better and more soacious?
Pardon the random comment but which one world airlines are still not bookable on AA.com (and you need to call about availability)?
I feel like I never see Cathay as an option on the website
Not sure how big the screens are on Starlux but I felt they were too big considering how close you sit to the screen.
These next-generation business classes like Aria and Allegris are very nice indeed. It’s amazing what you can do when you’re not in skyteam
I was just in Hong Kong earlier this week flying from LAX on the old school F product from LAX. It was a standout flight in all respects (n.b., I cut my teeth flying AA MD80s in the last row with no window next to the engine, so I'm no doubt easily impressed). The flight attendants Emory and Beatrice could not contain their excitement for what is (allegedly) coming to the First cabin in 2026. Look forward to your review when it launches.
Clearly, you have not tried the new Air France business class suite. Your statement is dogmatic.
So glad to hear that you had a good experience with Cathay! Having flown with them regularly in J long haul over the past year, I'd say that their service is what falters - every head purser I've had has been incredible, while other staff can miss the small details that QR or EK does so well ("would you like still or sparkling with your main course", or correctly recalling drink choices as ordered at the beginning of the flight). The rest of their product is great: food continues to get better and better (the wellness breakfast is outstanding), Bamford's products are stellar, the seats are well maintained (95% of the time) across their fleet, and the attention to brand detailing (like signature boarding music, for eg) is always impressive. Very excited to see this product roll out across more of the fleet, and to hopefully fly it soon.
The first airlines to roll out a new product typically absorb much of the development costs. Cost-conscious buyers will delay cabin updates but eventually do. I'm confident that most long-haul airlines will adopt similar products over the next few years and we will all be the better for it. Be happy.
True, I have not tried it, but I am sure it is up there and a very good product indeed. I do miss a mattress pad/sheet which the others offer. Also, I don't really want to transfer through Charles de Gulag
CDG is actually quite easy to transfer if you’re with AF and partners in 2E/F. It’s amazing how people who transited once 20 years ago ( I’m not referring to E39)believe it’s the same now. Amsterdam on the other hand, is the opposite, having been a stellar terminal to an absolute nightmare when there is bad weather, which is every week nowadays.
Very well written! The new amenity kits look so much better than the one I had last time. Can't wait to try the ARIA.
"Allegris is great"
The funniest thing I've seen this year so far.
Yeah, it's so great that it took the airline to fall down in all other ways.
Shouldn't have spent so much to if they didn't want to become the most SkyTeam airline of Star Alliance.
Thank you for this report.
But you forgot to mention the most important element on a flight 😉
Which Champagne do they serve?
I had the mediocre Piper-Heidsieck in 2020 (with a very poor catering including from HKG), which made me Blacklist CX.
Cannot wait for their next gen Halo Suites in F if their Aria Suites already impress!
No offense, but I always take everything you say with a grain of salt. If only because of the praise you heap upon Cathay’s laughable “first class,” which is basically business class by today’s standards.
Is it though? Consider everything, not just that it's a reverse herringbone ish seat which is common in business class
I flew it recently also. I kinda disagree on several things. Let’s go over the good things first. Great tech yes. I love the IFE and all the bells and whistles.
The bad things I noticed that I’m surprised Ben wasn’t too critical of.
1) the door was really rough, very hard to slide around.
2) footwell area was not as good as the previous version as cx’s “current” business class’s tv screen can retract so u have unlimited vertical space. This new one feels like Hawaiian 787 and Qatar’s 787 to me. Also similar to many reverse herring bone seats such as BA and AC. I don’t like the footrest. It is too tight. Maybe Ben is a shorter guy? I dunno. I’m 6’1. But I don’t have issues with CX’s current seat.
3) food was meh. Wasn’t bad but also wasn’t outstanding.
Well we don’t have to agree on everything. But I’m just surprised for once Ben has quite a different opinion from Mine.
TL;DR: Hong Kong finally has a winner amidst the recent dominance of Japan, Taiwan and Singapore!
I’m a massive fan of CX’s highly Westernised brand, and it’s such a breath of fresh air after outstanding but severely English-challenged airlines in Northeast Asia like EVA and JAL. CX’s Aria Suite is the one product review I was looking forward to the most from NE Asia, especially with CX’s phenomenal entertainment selection. Of course JAL’s A350-1000’s 43” display cannot be beat, but the poor entertainment selection is the only thing marring the otherwise stellar experience.
The only cause for concern with the Aria Suite, and CX in general, was the service, since I’ve noticed the fall in service standards from Ben’s December 2023 A350-1000 report to Singapore. But I think those concerns have been brushed aside, and all-in-all CX remains one of my all-around favourite airlines out there, ahead of SQ in so many areas.
With the beyond extensive experience you have flying I'm dumbfounded as to why you would order shrimp on any flight. I fly a lot and know just to be cautious one should never eat seafood on a flight specially a long one where if you get food poisoning you will suffer for hours and hours but you do you. I always order the least stomach offensive choice and its almost always pasta.
I'm wondering why all these dishes are considered "creative", that shrimp starter looked mid as hell tbh.
Imo JAL or EVA have better meal options.
I'm curious to hear more about the Chinese wines. I'm totally ignorant on this subject and didn't think there was enough quality production to be deemed suitable for Cathay. Can you provide some more info or will that be in a different, more in-depth review?
The best thing about living in HK was Cathay Pacific.Delighted to hear they have built on their excellent product. I don’t miss living in HK, but I do miss Cathay and the lounges.
Cathay, imo, leads the world at hard product/design. I find some of the ME3 to be a bit gaudish; by contrast, CX achieves with its seats (and lounges, especially, look at The Pier!) what even SQ can't. As someone who loves design, I really appreciate that.
OTOH the soft product hasn't always 100% recovered from pre-COVID
There is no way Cathay’s current F product being comparable to business class. Yes it’s aged, but the seat is still amongst the comfy in the industry. Besides, which airline provides 1-1-1 seating layout in business class on 777s, let alone first class?
Am I the only one who hates reverse herringbone because there's no way to interact with a travelling companion while flying?
I just flew in the Aria Suite on CX 250 LHR-HKG. It is very nice. The video screen is massive & crisp. The seat was comfortable. Good service, nice food choices. The only thing missing is the cashew nuts with drink service. But they still have garlic bread with dinner! I'm doing HKG-JFK in 2 weeks. Let's see how that goes.
Bluetooth on this suite works fairly well. When connected sound quality and volume. was good. Connection remained stable for watching films, and was great not to have to wear the supplied cans. Only issue I found was when I took my ear pods out and wanted to use them again later they had to be re paired. Minor inconvenience, may even be by design to forget devices once switched off.
I’m genuinely surprised by this review. I’ve now flown aria long haul twice and found it to be a deeply flawed product. At 193cm and 92kg it’s woefully tight with much less room than the a350. The new amenity kit has removed the facial mist and is a smaller less appealing case. The tv is enormous and just too big. The glare from other seats is noticeable. I find cathay food increasingly lacks a decent international option and the new policy of announcements in English, Cantonese and now mandarin means they’re endless. Cathay’s not what it was.
Yep. Highly recommend economy class; you'll have plenty of people to say hello to...
This blog's search function is pretty broken. Looking for the keyword "Cathay" returns articles from 5 years ago. I could only find this one by searching Google.