Cathay Pacific A321neo Business Class: Lovely, With A Weird Seat

Yeah it doesn't seem competitive for a narrowbody business class product imo.

The standard for Asia is CI/JX/KE style 2-2 lieflat. But I'm hoping we'll start seeing the more premium 1-1 style cabins that B6/IB/EL have as well. I know the ME carriers are looking into it

Do they actually fly these on overnight routes?

Remember, the neos were destined for Dragon before they eventually got absorbed by CX, so the aircraft, along with the seats and other finishings, was procured way in advance.

It's too bad that you didn't snag a seat on the right-hand side of the a/c as you would've had some great views of downtown and possibly a parallel departure.

Between the neo and Aria, I'm sure the colours and finishes are a bit nuanced?!

E39 -- Not many now, but I imagine that as the fleet continues to grow, they'll operate more intra-Asia redeyes, just like the rest of the fleet. After all, Cathay Pacific has several redeyes with regional wide bodies that don't have flat beds.

@ Mike O. -- True that they were bound for Cathay Dragon, though in fairness, Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon long had the same regional interiors, so I'm not convinced Cathay Pacific would've necessarily chosen different interiors. I'm curious what new flat bed regional business class Cathay Pacific comes up with, as that's reportedly being worked on.

And yeah, regarding the takeoff, I chose the last available window seat, which was on the left side.

Ben, could one sleep in these planes or would you just slide off of it when reclined? thats kinda what it looks like... 🙂

Ben! I'm GERMAN and live in US! I am flying to Germany this summer through Chicago and Frankfurt!

@ John -- I'm not even sure one would slide, as it's not angled flat, or anything. It's a bit like being in a dentist's chair, so imagine sleeping in that, in terms of comfort (though hopefully minus the cavity anxiety).

Unfortunately, COVID screwed things up for the industry, so who knows how CX would look today if it were not for COVID? I doubt CX would've even operated narrow-bodies. As Dragon was a regional subsidiary a la SilkAir, I would say that a simple recliner would've been appropriate. Ditto with Thai/Thai Smile.

Maybe for their next refurb if they're intent on keeping the narrow-bodies long-term, beds would be in order.

But yes, fortunately CX will be going with a lie-flat seat for their upcoming A330s, both ceo and neo. And since they plan on having one product across the board, I would like to think they'll be going for all aisle access. And if they really want to be consistent, they can go for another reverse herringbone product, albeit a more compact/dense version sans door.

You also have to remember, the said carriers are full-service carriers. Even though CX is a full-service carriers, Dragon was a regional subsidiary at the time. So Dragon's competition would probably be the likes of Thai Smile, Bangkok Airways, etc.

Really don't like these regional seats. I usually just opt for an exit row seat, which has even more legroom, if it's being served by these seats. I'd only opt for J if it's longer than 2 hours and on a lie flat (not so much for the lie flat, but for more leg room).

Sure, except now Cathay Dragon doesn't even exist and this is considered a mainline aircraft for Cathay.

Cathay does very much do directly compete w/ the ones I mentioned, especially so with CI/JX on TPE-HKG, the single busiest international route in the world.

Some time ago, I’m going to guess 15 years or so, Cathy used this concept in economy. It was a massive failure - extremely uncomfotable and very unkind to your back.
They retired those seats very quickly.
I hope the design and seat technology has changed since

2006, so about 19 years or so.

https://crankyflier.com/2006/09/28/cathay-pacifics-new-coach-seats/

The difference with those seats and current regional recliners would be that only the seat cushion on the seat back and seat pan "slides" for lack of a better word. With the current recliners, the entire seat reclines within the shell.

ANA still has said seats. And I would say JAL's domestic first and premium economy classes and Air France's premium economy are shell-based designs. I would assume they're popular or there are no complaints since they keep using them.

I have flown the 321 Neo configuration 8 times. I usually get on the old lay down from BKK to HK. From there, off to Taiwan on the Neo. It’s fine if you fly with a partner. I prefer the window seat, but you will be asking your seatmate to get up if you need to use the loo. It’s good for daytime flights. If you are in an aisle seat, items will be passed over you. I will fly the Neo again from HK to Taiwan mid March. It’s not my favorite. You can schedule the lay down from BKK to HK but the Neo is it for Taiwan. Their “free” wifi doesn’t exist. I have had it twice in 8 flights. You will definitely not have wifi on the old lay down Boeing. Your only chance at wifi in business is in the 321 regional. It’s 2025. Singapore Air wifi is free for all classes in all flights. You get high status points and 6000-7000 miles on the short hop regional though.

this product isn't the worst but compared to Aria Suite it is disappointing. probably will stick to widebodies on intra-Asia

The hard product seems a bit like the old AF PE seat. Instead of reclining, it sort of just straightens out inside the hard shell. Super uncomfortable.

Did you try to use the Bluetooth? Did it work well?

I don't think those seats are competitive - with SQ offering lie-flat seats on their 737Max, and others also offering flat...
I personally hate shell seats - they are torture for tall people as there is no room for your legs when you try to recline.
I make an effort to avoid those seats, in any cabin class...

Cathay Dragon, or Dragonair before that, is also a full-service Carrier, even if it was a regional subsidiary.

Our understanding at the time of the neo order was that this was to be the new group regional seat. So it wasn't as such a "Dragon" product. By the end Dragon's hard product was closely aligned with CX.

The blanket looks filthy. Poor choice of colour. Looks like a soiled baby blanket.

Pretty much every time I fly in / to / from Asia, it makes me sad that US-based airlines are so, so much worse. Even random economy-class short-haul on Singapore or Thai is on par (service, often food) with my best domestic experiences in the US.

It seems roughly comparable to their existing regional business class on A330, which I never found very comfortable.

Exactly, Dragonair also had first class on their A330.

While CI runs some of their TPE-HKG frequencies using A321neo with flat seats, there's also a number of frequencies running B738 with standard recliners. BR uses a mix B78X with flatbeds and A321 with standard recliners. For HKG-ICN, KE/OZ also runs some of their frequencies with angled flat A333s.

So I do agree that while in the long term (and on longer overnight routes that used to be run with KA A333s) this product might not be competitive, but in the current market, it seems...fine?

I guess in East Asia you're really spoiled for choice and you can easily select the frequency with the product you prefer (especially on a route like HKG-TPE that has hourly departures).

Can you confirm that these are Collins Aerospace Air Rest seats customized by JPA Design?

BTW, it would be great if you could include seat manufacturer information in your OUTSTANDING reviews!

Full-service carrier, but optimized for regional operations.

I would say that they were competitive, if not the best, considering who they were up against in the region; you really can't beat a full meal and an extensive IFE selection on a daytime flight! Add in CXs own operation, where you would get a 744, A340, or 77W.

They should've at least gone with an angled lie-flat seat similar to what you would get on, say, SQ a decade or two ago.

The only redeye flights I can think of were their flights to India and the late-night flight to Haneda, which was definitely brutal without a bed. IIRC, there was no competition on the 2 Indian flights while the late Haneda flight was competing with LCCs.

CX run tons of their high density regional configured 777s and A330s with recliners.

Obviously, TPE-HKG is a very short route and I can't say it's "necessary", but it's still true that CX runs more seats without flatbeds on this route than JX/BR/CI.

Every time I see Ben's on-board meal reviews I wonder, does he actually eat all that food? It looks like alot but he's still lean so I guess his metabolism hasn't changed.

"When you’re flying a narrow body on a short haul flight within Asia, you can’t help but think to yourself “why can’t we have nice things like this in the United States?”"

Because you are comparing international flights within Asia versus domestic flights within the US. Better to compare domestic flights within the US to domestic flights within other countries, like Australia, Canada, China, etc. Even then, you do get served more (and in some cases better) food than on US domestic flights.