Cathay Pacific Airways Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

First experience of CX PE class and it exceeded my expectations. Flight was Frankfurt to Hong Kong. Seat comfortable and food good. Service was its usual patchy standard. While the aircraft was the ageing 747, the refit of the PE cabin had been done well and was comfortable. It is a new product delivered well. I look forward to comparing an upcoming V Australia flight between Sydney and LAX.

SYD-HKG on 30/10/2012. Flight due to take off at 10.30, left 5 minutes early. Seat was relatively comfortable for Economy Class, only drama with the seat is that if the passenger in front of you reclines it does reduce your leg room and makes the screen harder to view. Food was good and was served promptly. Flight was an overnight flight so I did not expect much from the crew. What I was surprised about was how clean the toilets were, spotless, and appeared to be roomier than other airlines. Entertainment system very good, but staff could have turned it on earlier into the flight. Flight was smooth and landed close to an hour early at 4.30 am, which caused problems for me as I had planned to take the Airport express to Hong Kong, but this did not open until 5.30.

Seats in economy do not recline. For a 9-13 hour flight, this is simply unacceptable. Fine for HKG to BKK, but not for YVR to HKG. Certain plane configurations have a limited number of 2x2 seats. I booked these deliberately, but on one leg found that there was no such configuration and I was seated across the aisle from my traveling companion who was seated in the middle of a 3-seat configuration. No attention to seating companions together: unacceptable. With nearly a decade living in Asia, Cathay had been my favourite airline - admittedly I traveled mostly business. However, I did find on occasional economy flights that the food quality and service remained good and the seats not noticeably uncomfortable. Something has happened in the last few years and I can no longer recommend Cathay without concern that the experience may not live up to expectations.

FRA-HKG-SYD-HKG-FRA in 747/330. Old-style herringbone and new seating. Both fine, staff service excellent, staff addressed my husband and myself by name, extremely polite, friendly and efficient. Seats comfortable in both cabins but new business class is excellent. A flat bed seat is a definite advantage on a long flight, as is aisle access from every seat. Will fly with Cathay again.

AMS-HKG-AMS. Shell seats that do not recline and that will give everybody taller than the average of their home base an unpleasant flight. Unacceptable. Food and drinks very mediocre. However the entertainment offerings are very good, but to me the least important of all. Not worthy of 5-star airline.

Osaka - Hong Kong. Check in was very quick despite the queues and what seem to be 3 different flights to handle. Very friendly check in and efficient agent. Cabin crew seems to be in a big rush on the 3.5 hours flight serving a cocktail, lunch then pre-landing drinks. I believe they serve too many things leaving passengers not much time to rest! Hong Kong - London, very inefficient check in agent and not particularly polite. Lounge was busy and their lounge staff speak very loudly! Once on board, it was another full flight. Cabin crew very friendly and chatty despite the early hours of the morning though seemed to be less efficient. Nevertheless they were very attentive during the night. Later learnt that they were not the usual crew but crew based in London. Agreed with previous comments that the new business class is truly top of the class and worth flying with.

SYD-HKG-DXB-JEDDAH on business class. A330s on all sectors and crews were pleasant and helpful. Aircraft cleanliness HKG-DXB was poor and the seats were noticeably grubbier. Toilets were poorly maintained - so it seems Cathay are using older aircraft on this sector. Ground service at Dubai was appalling. Aircraft broke down on arrival in Dubai and we were offloaded, told to gather at the gate, sent away, called back and finally told flight was cancelled. No offer of lounge access for business class nor any assistance regarding onward flights. Finally after some complaining and multiple visits to the service desk, offered an economy seat on Saudia - or wait 12 hours for the Emirates flight. When I pointed out that I could see business class seats available on the Saudia website, told I did not know what I was talking about. Eventually boarded the Saudia flight. Cathay ground staff nowhere to be seen.

Flew Bangkok to HKG and then Toronto. Fabulous. Really a step up from any other I've experienced. New business class long haul pods are comfortable and well designed. Loved the duvet with fresh linen. Personable service.

SYD-HKG. New business class seat. The best business class seat I've been in, very comfortable, great tv, good storage. Food excellent, service generally efficient, prompt and friendly. One hostess didn't know how to smile but otherwise it was upbeat service. I was a bit disappointed in the IFE movie choices, but I think it was more the poor movies going around at the moment. Sadly enormously let down by the service - I was supposed to be on an onward flight to NYC but due to the hurricane it was cancelled - they were stupid enough to check me through to Hong Kong despite the onward flight already being cancelled. When I got to Hong Kong, there was no assistance offered whatsoever. I was very disappointed and sadly I will think twice before flying Cathay again, despite it's excellent business class.

Decided to take CX on a family holiday to Hong Kong. A party of 5 (2 adults, 3 children aged 12, 7 and 4) departing MNL at 11am. Check in queues at MNL were expectedly long, but since we availed of online check in, we were able to jump the usual queue. Ground staff pretty friendly and gave my daughter (who was celebrating her birthday that day) a bag of goodies as a gift. MNL-HKG leg was an A330 with a 2-4-2 configuration. Width was pretty good but when the passenger seated in front reclines his seat, you find your face close to the seatback screen! Two out of 5 screens did not work in our booking. Being a lunchtime flight, I was expecting something substantial to be served onboard. I guess the rumours of going hungry on CX are absolutely true. A meagre pastry and single drink was all on offer. Return flight was not much better except for the seat pitch as the plane used for the HKG-MNL leg was a B777-200. Same poor food. Flight staff was friendly enough, though. Disappointed with the quality of the economy product of CX.

Had heard rumours about going hungry on Cathay Pacific long haul flights, and they are 100% correct. SYD- HKG and HKG-SYD return, Food quantity completely inadequate for breakfast and lunch meals, tiny peanut snack provided left our stomachs rumbling on a 9.5 hour flight. Food quality was far superior from SYD end. Ran out of western style food options on HKG-SYD leg with 30 plus passengers still to be served. Luckily my travel companions had brought own snacks with them. Inflight entertainment was great but hated the maps, confusing and interspersed with far too many advertisements.

Perth-HKG-Perth on an A320 Premium Economy. We also flew on to Osaka and back in Standard Economy. Check in at Perth very efficient, PE only half full, seats and IFE very good but food only OK and service quite stand offish. HKG - Osaka packed and seats felt tight but this was a quick flight with a very strong tail wind. Return flight had many empty seats. HKG to Perth in PE was only 30% full and food was much better than outwards. Economy was packed and our FA was rushed off her feet. Toilet in economy a bit of an issue but over all we booked for bigger wider seats and were not disappointed. Centre row front bulkhead had a lot of leg room. I'm 6 ft and was at least 30 cm from touching the bulkhead with my feet. Overall we were very happy with the PE seating and hope Cathay continue despite the light PE loadings both ways.

HKG-KIX-HKG in near-full 777-300/777-200 aircraft, respectively. Seat pitch and general comfort was good for a 3.5 hour flight. The food was generous and tasty, service attentive and the StudioCX entertainment system had a good range of programs and seemed more responsive and easier to use than any we've used in the last few years. Orderly boarding and reasonably prompt luggage delivery rounded out enjoyably stress-free flights.

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