CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  28 January 2009 : by C Li   (USA)

JFK-HKG then HKG-YVR-JFK. On the JFK-HKG sector, CX operated the new 777-300ER with new seat configurations. Boarding handled efficiently. Since this was a full flight, the meal service took a little longer than expected. However, the food still arrived on my table hot and tasty. The senior flight purser was especially attentive and introduced herself to every Business Class passenger. AVOD was great with a nice selection of movies. The inflight snacks were tasty, but the portions rather small. The return sector HKG-YVR was an overnight flight on a 777-300ER. The downside of travelling on this flight (CX888) is the fact that if you choose to go to sleep immediately after boarding (flight took off after midnight), you will miss the meal service and if you wake up hungry, FAs will only serve you the midnight snacks from the menu. I was expecting a more substantial meal service in Business Class, but nonetheless, I was happy with the service. On the YVR-JFK sector, the new crew was even more attentive and cheerful. Meals on this service were mediocre, but the AVOD was good enough to keep me busy for the remaining 4 hours to JFK. I did not have any trouble falling asleep in the new herring-bone configured seats. Contrary to the tight narrow feeling that other passengers got from the new seats, I felt that the new configuration provided a cocoon like atmosphere that allowed me to fall asleep easily.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  25 January 2009 : by Kurt Müller   (Germany)

KIX-HKG-DEL. Check-in at Kansai unbelievably fast - no waiting. Luggage labelled and boarding card in hand within 2 minutes - you can't beat that. Gate staff of 12 (!!) handled boarding efficiently. KIX-HKG in B777 in great shape with excellent seats and extremely pleasant, light colour scheme. Great food (choice of chicken or beef) and drinks, with crew eager to please. HKG-DEL in A340 with a tired interior (worn out IFE controls and crackly headset jack). Food at least two grades down as compared with the Japan route, particularly poor starter and heavy on Indian dishes. Crew efficient but not as forthcoming. Baggage took one hour to be delivered on belt. Both flights very punctual. My score would be 10 for the first sector, but 5 for the Delhi leg.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  25 January 2009 : by P Rosamond   (UK)

LHR-HKG-BNE on 2 December. Although seats were old type business seats I didn't find them too bad and I think the attentiveness of FAs than made up for this. They were pleasant and helpful, cleaning the toilets on several occasions. I think the choice of films could have been better. The return flight SYD-HKG-LHR was in the new type configuration with lie flat seats. I was very happy with it but my husband thought the seats were very narrow. Again, the FAs were very attentiveness and helpful.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  21 January 2009 : by Alison Slater-Cotterill   (UK)

LHR-HKG-SYD and PER-HKG-LHR. A reasonably good experience. Cabin layout was not very easy to talk to the rest of my family. On the leg from HKG-SYD I had to go via the galley to speak with my husband, who was is numerically the next seat, but I was in the centre, but my seat opened to the opposite aisle. I found the new Business Class seat very comfortable and found the room adequate. My husband hated it, and felt hemmed in. I hated the regional seating on PER-HKG. A miserable night flight. Food very good. I do not eat meat, and the food was pleasant - but I did get a little bored with pasta and a tomato based sauce for every main meal.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  19 January 2009 : by J Fournier   (Canada)

Vancouver to Hong Kong then to Jakarta and back. Bad seat, How can you sleep in the new seat configuration? I had back problem for 2 days after the flight. On the way back, we had the old configuration and I could rest and enjoy the flight. So beware of the new seats.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  9 January 2009 : by Gary Yiu   (Canada)

YYZ-HKG-YYZ. I was flying the new economy class. Many complained about having back-aches due to its fixed-seatback recline, however, I had no problems. Meals were great and the FAs gave me a second serving! IFE superb but I couldn't get the daily news channel working. Water offered many times during the 14 hour long flight.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  7 January 2009 : by S Habib   (Canada)

YVR-HKG-BKK and BKK-HKG-YVR. Outbound flight to HKG fantastic - new B777-300 aircraft, excellent entertainment system, enthusiastic crew and good meal. HKG-BKK was average, and not too pleased with the breakfast. Crew courteous but more like robots. KK-HKG flight was the same with mediocre meal and less enthusiastic but polite crew. The biggest disappointment was HKG-YVR. CX decided to utilize a shabby A340-300 plane - cramped seats, no AVOD and horrible food. I have read about inconsistency on CX flights and this was my first hand experience and I agree.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  7 January 2009 : by K Chitoor   (Australia)

BOM-HKG-BNE. Horrible ground handling in Bombay made sure that I couldn't make my connection in Hong Kong (it was always going to be tight). Having said that, the customer service agents in Hong Kong walked up to the gate with my boarding pass for the next flight and an accommodation voucher for the airport hotel. Very good in-flight product from BOM to HKG on a refurbished B747. HKG-CNS-BNE was on an A330 with cramped seating. Cabin service is quite good on CX.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  6 January 2009 : by Sahat Pratama   (Indonesia)

CGK-HKG-SIN. CGK-HKG leg delayed for 1.5 hours. This leg uses upgraded A330-300, the new economy class seat was wonderful and comfortable - adding a footrest/net (like the new Qantas A380) would be perfect. Entertainment range were great with AVOD. HKG-SIN used the old B777-200, but the seat still comfortable, entertainment not AVOD and No games. The crews were courteous and charming, the foods were ok. The child kit and meal provided were very nice.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  5 January 2009 : by S Srinivasan   (USA)

DEL-HKG-ADL and SYD-HKG-DEL; SYD-HKG in Business, all others in Economy. Check-in was quick and easy all the way around, even in DEL, cabin service was good, all sectors on-time, and it was nice to hit the jackpot and get upgraded to business in SYD. The ground staff were also waiting to escort us through security at HKG when we had a tight connection getting to ADL. IFE was AVOD and very good in Business; only fair in Economy with PTVs but only a limited selection of shows on a loop. The bad news was that all sectors were on the "old" layout aircraft, so no lie-flat seats in Business, and the Economy seats were quite cramped on the window side thanks to the clunky IFE box. Food quality was also uneven - very good HKG-ADL and SYD-HKG, awful DEL-HKG, and so-so HKG-DEL. Amazingly enough, priority baggage tags worked at both ends, even at the notoriously bad-for-priority-tags DEL.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  5 January 2009 : by Mark Fildron   (Hong Kong)

HKG to LHR on newly fitted B747-400. The entertainment was fantastic, with new AVOD. The crew were kind. The flight back to HK was on the A340, the older model. No AVOD, no games, only personal tv and channel selection. However, I found the older seats more comfortable.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  4 January 2009 : by B Stewart   (Hong Kong)

PER-HKG. Last minute downgrade of equipment to a regional A330 made this overnight flight a nightmare. The only reason I took this flight was because I was assured that CX were upgrading HKG-PER-HKG to long haul aircraft - I simply cannot fathom why they regard this as a regional destination. While the crew did their usual fantastic job, the cradle seats and reduced legroom meant that sleep was impossible. I'll use QF on this sector in the future.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  3 January 2009 : by John Winzer   (Australia)

I travelled with CX in business class in September and found their service patchy, the seat not very comfortable and for the cost not good value. In November my wife and I travelled MEL-HKG-FCO, then FRA-HKG-MEL in economy. The service in economy was patchy, poorly coordinated, food service slow (although food was OK), and even to get a drink of water needed a special request. The first allocated seats we were given had broken entertainment system, so we were moved to very back of the plane. On the next sector the back of the seat was broken - I reported it but no one cared. FRA-HKG, we had one of the new fit-out 747's - the new entertainment system was good, but the new economy seats are no improvement, in fact even worse - they do not recline, the base just slides out a bit - not very comfortable. No improvement in the service.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS review :  2 January 2009 : by B Stewart   (Hong Kong)

HKG/MEL. Only person in First cabin on Christmas Eve. Service was top notch without being intrusive - the crew were intuitive and knew exactly what I needed. Food excellent. Old configuration but still enjoyed several hours of sleep on this daylight service.