Cathay Pacific Airways

✅ Verified Review | I was so excited to be flying Cathay Pacific and in Premium Economy flying from Hong Kong to London. It was a very surprising and disappointing experience, one I won't be repeating. 1) Food - awful - I had gluten free meal and the same exact meal was served twice - once at the beginning and again for breakfast. It was pretty inedible the first time. There is so much great gluten free food out there, poor job Cathay. 2) Entertainment - wow, compared to flying Qantas the leg prior Cathay was again way down the list. Hopeless selection that was hard to sort out. Even the TV screen wasn't easy to use. It just felt all over a cheap airline that skimped. I was so surprised as I'd heard Cathay were good.

✅ Verified Review | Mumbai to San Francisco via Hong Kong in economy and when possible I prefer Cathay Pacific primarily because Hong Kong is probably one of the best connecting airports. The airport is well designed, security checks are fast and reasonable. And if you have a long connection, there is a free visa on arrival, which lets you explore Hong Kong city. On occasion, I book a 12 H transit halt so I can relax in HK for a bit. While the service and amenities aren't the best, especially when compared to airlines like Emirates, it isn't the worst either. The food is fairly good. They carry one Asian, one Western and one veggie (usually pasta) entree. The dessert is almost always haagen-dazs vanilla ice-cream with a mini-chocolate bar. (Although once I did get Mövenpick) As a frequent traveler on the airline - it does get boring to get the same dessert and same choices. You can almost start predicting the menu after a bit. If you are a whiskey person they have Chivas Regal 12 on their carts. They also have a specially developed beer, designed to taste great in a pressurized cabin, called Betsy. Named after Cathay's first airplane - the beer is actually pretty good. The entertainment system is good. They have a very good selection of the latest English and Chinese movies, TV shows and TED talks. I find their short film section to be particularly interesting. I usually listen to classical music on long flights - and in this department their selection excels. There is usually a selection of newspapers like the New York Times and The South China Morning Post apart from leading newspapers in Mandarin just before you board. Their in-flight magazine Discovery makes for a very engaging read. The online booking and web check-in interface is very dated, and occasionally buggy. The interface of their frequent flier program isn't the best either, but on the plus side, they do ship a physical card to your postal address - which is a nice touch. I hope they improve their technology soon. A big sore-point for me personally is the lack on Wifi on the A330 and B777 fleet. The newer planes (A350) supposedly have Wifi - however I have never personally been on those flights. Overall the lavatories are well maintained and I have always found the crew to be standout helpful. While not the best airline to take the skies with, it is certainly far from the worst.

✅ Verified Review | Kuala Lumpur to Vancouver via Hong Kong. Shockingly poor customer service. So many things went wrong and the staff handled everything so poorly. flew Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. Apparently there was a bad storm in HK so we couldn't land. Circled around, landed in Macau, refueled, landed back in HK to be told our connecting flight to Canada had taken off. If our flight couldn't land, how come the other flight could leave? Staff took a horribly long time on the computer offering us new airlines. We were bounced around three different airlines to be told in the end that we couldn't board any of them for a myriad of reasons. Offered us overnight accommodation but couldn't find our baggage. Came to the airport to ask for a letter for delayed baggage claim and was bounced from one department to another, all saying that they couldn't do anything. Things go pear shaped all the time. But the staff that handled it were close to incompetent. Asked for flight alternatives and got yelled at as he couldn't understand simple English. I've flown budget airlines with better trained staff.

✅ Verified Review | Jakarta to Tokyo Haneda via Hong Kong. This is my second time flying with Cathay Pacific. The airline looks sleek, service was great, friendly cabin crew and quite an excellent in-flight entertainment. I love the new Cathay Pacific seat as it gives much comfort than the previous one.

✅ Verified Review | Singapore to Bangkok. I wanted to experience Cathay's new A350 in Business Class, so traveled Bangkok to Sydney via Singapore to take advantage of low business class fares on daily flights from BKK to SIN flown by A350s. What a beautiful experience, both hardware and software. Hot towel and drinks (including champagne) offered after seating. Even though just a 2-hour flight, a full lunch service including steak and two other options for main course, and started with drinks (excellent selection of wines, including a well selected Marlborough Sav Blanc). Seats are herringbone lie-flats in a 1-2-1 row with lots of room and storage spaces, a large flat screen offers a wide range of entertainment options that can be viewed from the minute you sit down - and during takeoff and landing. The seat's design has excellent privacy features, so if you are in one of the center seats, you don't have to see the other center seat occupant, and all seats are shielded from aisle traffic and views of seats from across the aisle. the lavs at the front are large, windowed and perfectly placed (not at the very front which would require navigating through the galley and resting crew members). The A350 features on-board WiFi though didn't use it. The cabin felt roomier and more quiet than other wide-bodys in CX's fleet. The crew were both professional and friendly - very attentive but not overly so. I've flown 507417 in CX on 777-300, A340, and 747 (now all retired) and think the A350 has the others beat. I can see why other travelers are giving the A350 such high marks. Well done, Cathay!

✅ Verified Review | Melbourne to Manila via Hong Kong. Boeing 777-300ER outbound and A350 on the return. For some reason though I prefer the Boeing 777, must be the feeling of such a big spacious cabin, A350-900 equipment was superb as well, One noticeable feature is how quiet the A350 is. Cathay Pacific never ceases to impress on Price or experience.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Cathay Pacific from Zurich to Bangkok via Hong Kong. Quality of the flight was good, the crew were friendly, food was ok (but not outstanding) and the special extra was the noodle soup that could be ordered as a snack anytime. The deciding factor to book this airline, was the 30kg baggage allowance, otherwise only given by by few other airlines (Thai Airways, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines are known to me). The other reason was the price. Booking early meant that we got the cheapest booking class, so the price was low, not lower than other airlines for their cheapest booking class. However the booking class was the biggest caveat. It's this bad, that I will never book this airline again. The problem is like this. When you get one of the the two lowest booking classes, you can't select your seat before check-in. When check-in opens 48 hours before the flight, there is a mouse race for the very last seats that haven't been reserved yet, as all other booking classes can select their seats before check-in. For us this meant that you either can't check-in online at all (as there are no seats to choose anymore), as it happened on the first way. Or you can select only separated seats for a couple travelling together, as it happened on the way back. The seats for the second leg we only got in transit, even the check-in staff at the counter couldn't give us any seats and of course we were not sitting together. So either you get a good price, but then the airline treats you as a second grade passenger, or you miss the good price and then there are better offers.

✅ Verified Review | Bangkok to Singapore. I boarded this beautiful new A350 to a warm welcome from smiling crew and settled into seat 14K. I love the reverse herringbone business class layout on this aircraft. Very private and comfortable seat. Refill of champagne was offered prior to our punctual takeoff. On this short sector the crew did a fantastic job of performing a full lunch service in the limited time frame with a friendly and professional attitude. The food was delicious and I could not fault any aspect of the flight. I can happily recommmend Cathay based on this flight experience.

✅ Verified Review | Boarding for my Hong Kong to Manila flight was delayed by 30 minutes due to inclement weather. Once on the plane, the pilot explained to passengers that we would only be able to take off 1 hour 15 minutes from the gate closing. However, the pilot was patient, and cabin staff served a good sandwich snack (traditional "adobo" Filipino dish) while waiting for pushback. Inflight entertainment options were very good, and I was pleased that the Ed Sheeran album "Divide", a personal favorite of mine, was offered. Pushback commenced and the A330 was able to take off. The flight to Manila offered the high standard of service Cathay Pacific is known for. The seat was comfortable and had good legroom, despite it being the middle seat. Highly recommended and would fly again!

✅ Verified Review | Auckland to London via Hong Kong. At the time of booking their website had glitches that even their call centre staff struggled creating a booking. This was annoying and cumbersome. The call centre staff member that I spoke with was irritable and short in his responses. It became so bad that I asked to speak to his manager and only then did he become moderately professional. Then very to my huge disappointment he had altered my meal request to a special meal not of my choosing. The plane staff exchanged these unfortunate mistakes with only faint annoyance. Their newer aircraft was great. Comfy, spacious and good service. The older Boeing 777 was less comfortable and the staff were much less generous especially in regards to disallowing me to board with a car seat and umbrella stroller. These items were taken from me to be checked as I boarded and were lost for two days after my flight which made an extra two hours at the airport.