Cathay Pacific Airways

Return flight form HKG to LAX. I have no issues with the seats and food but the service is very poor. When I got to my seat I requested one of the cabin stewardess to help me store my cabin bag. The answer I got from her was shocking she said she would do it later together with me! I can understand that she might not be strong or tall enough to (like myself) but she could either ask for another stewardess or a steward to help. Even budget airlines help with the cabin bags.

After paying to go premium Economy we did not get any extra service. We had to use the economy toilets quite away back in the plane. We have always flown with Qantas before and the cabin crew pay a lot of attention to you even though you are Premium Economy. They came round with water and snacks. We only saw the cabin crew when we first got on the 4 planes (Heathrow to Hong Kong-Hong Kong to Brisbane and returning again) and other than for meals.

Round trip First class New York (JFK) to Hong Kong (HKG) via Vancouver (YVR). In general service is as not as polished as before. Beverage options are still good. Catering is deteriorating. Compared to the same flights I took a couple of months a go Cathay cuts back significantly including: 1) Studio CX magazine a entertainment supplement for First and Business passengers. 2) They also downgrade First class amenity kit from Zegna to Aesop. The design of amenity kit is boring and the color scheme is unimpressed. 3) Cathay also cut down amuse-bouche between JFK and YVR. 4) No welcome drink departing from JFK. On the flight to HK the purser warned me that HK headquarter changed the new menu this month. They used to cater lobster and prime ribs steaks as entrée but they were replaced by fish and chicken. I tried both chicken and fish and sadly to report both are not great. CX switches crew in Vancouver. In general HK-based crew were more polished and tip-top though can be more formal. Vancouver-based are more casual laid-back and chatty which I actually prefer. Sometimes they are too casual and forget some details including refilling Champagne leading First class passengers to their seats and placing welcome card etc..… CX also fails to deplane first class passengers first and let them wait after business class passengers. Having said that the seat is spacious and comfortable.

Travelled on CX358 from Manchester to Singapore via Hong Kong that should have left on the 29th. The airport experienced some delays due to snow and was closed for a while. I have no problems with the delay as you can't help what the weather brings however we were boarded onto the plane where we sat for 6 hours going nowhere. Cathay have their own infrastructure in Manchester airport supplied by Airline Services who simply couldn't cope with the amount of planes that needed to be de-iced. Cathay did little to keep us informed and when the flight was subsequently cancelled we got off and put up in a Hotel in Manchester for the night. The following day we did eventually leave but the knock on effect of the delay was now felt by the flight when we arrived in Hong Kong there were no connecting flights and the ground staff were overwhelmed with trying to get us all sorted out so spent another day in HK airport. Yes the planes are comfortable the food was quite good as were the facilities but their being able to work under pressure was very disappointing and frustrating also they do not accept the fact they could have done better.

AKL-HKG and BOM-HKG-LAX. A340 from Auckland to Hong Kong has old coffin class seats. Still comfortable enough. A330 from Mumbai and B777 to LAX. Seats are very comfortable and easy to get some sleep. Crew were excellent on all sectors. The IFE selection was not as good as American B773. Overall great product and very consistent.

MNL-HGK-BAH. Experienced Business Class this time. 5 stars from A-Z. Cabin Crew service was spot on as usual. Excellent line up for their inflight entertainment. Seat is superb. Food was great. Overall I am a very satisfied passenger.

Sydney to Paris via Hong Kong premium economy return. I found the seats to be quite comfortable (I'm short and fat) and had little trouble in sleeping. Inflight entertainment was adequate with a wide choice of so-so titles. Service was really quite bad with two "forgotten" drink requests and one missing meal over four sectors. Staff were polite but incompetent and always flustered. Food was simply bad. There were times when I though the PE fare not worth the money but walking into economy and then into business put that that right. Premium economy is just what you'd expect: it's not business and not economy it's a half-way house. In summary the good: seating ground staff priority check in and boarding the bad: inflight service food transfer gate distances. Overall OK not uncomfortable.

CX 879 SFO-HKG on 1/19/2014 in Business. This was a very poor business class service to HKG. The SFO lounge is a disgrace no First section a $12 bottle of champagne served and even that was not chilled and hence not available as they had received the shipment only in the morning. Seat 22A is in the 2nd small section of the business class cabin (3 class - no First on this service) and it is not at all private or inviting (and the crew made no attempts to make anyone feel welcome) main boarding is from this cabin so very rushed and feels like an extension of premium economy rather than a premium cabin (on a 5 star airline). No introduction or goodbye from the cabin service director (even on AA they do that) no welcome drink offered no news papers or magazines (sorry none loaded sir). Constant loud noise from the galley and the 2 main closets being opened and closed in this business section. Meal service very mediocre. Wines on the Chilean Promotion not loaded no other alternative. 2 Wines to choose from and the champagne was served across the entire cabin from one bottle (had to wait for it to be transferred back and forth and it was not chilled). Lights dimmed after 3 hrs only to be jarringly switched on full throttle 6 hrs into the flight while one is sleeping for dinner service. We had 8 more hrs to go why does pre-arrival dinner need to be served when all we are trying to do is sleep? Average food and not appetizing in presentation. Crew did dim the lights as I wanted to sleep but in general were not bothered one of the lav doors was always wide open and let out bright lights in the cabin and I stood up to close the door 4 times and the crew did nothing. No coffee water etc offered prior to arrival as galley was closed (1.5 hrs out of HK?). Even the new business class seat layout seems cramped even AA have better spacing (on the exact same seats on their 777-ER) and that is saying something. I'm sorry Cathay you missed the mark completely - both hard and soft product on this service. Yes they have good HK lounges but on board this product miserably failed to deliver. Maybe my expectations are that of Qatar business and this CX business is way way sub par.

Flight CX561 KIX (Osaka)-HKG. Another excellent flight by Cathay Pacific. On time departure and arrival. Very smooth flight. Very good staff services seat arrangement and inflight entertainment. Food was good as well.

Consistency on the "soft product" seems to be the biggest problem with CX. I flew CX Business Class on 12/26 then CX First Class on the return flight on 12/31. On the outbound flight the crew was pretty good. No matter how hard I try I just can't get used to the "ignore you unless you push the call button" service approach. Having said that I thought the attendants in biz made a few passes through the cabin to see if passengers needed anything. On the return flight in first there was one attendant that was great! The other was somewhere between "meh" and annoying. She was determined to get my meal order right away despite the fact I told her a few times that I wasn't quite ready to eat. It wasn't just an unobtrusive "ready to order yet?" It was "I need to get this meal prepared!" (presumably so she could then relax). I think she came back 4 or 5 times and pushed for the order! Finally I just gave in! Anyway overall CX is pretty good. My problem is that with their reputation comes high expectations and it's almost impossible for them not to disappoint in some way. Really the food and drinks are a cut above almost any other airline and the hard product - the seat - is outstanding.