Cathay Pacific Airways

✅ Verified Review | London to Hong Kong. A great flight exceeding my expectation. It offers virtual first class meal service. You choose courses a-la-carte, and the menu includes Western, Asian, and quick meal choices. The snacks to accompany the pre-dinner drink include caviar, and Wangu beef, lobster tail, and abalone are also on offer. You can choose your preferred meal time. They also have a mattress to make a bed. These are all pleasant surprises, but I learn later that this is a pilot project currently only for my flight from LGW, and Cathay collects customer feedback to decide if they should implement the new service. If this will become regular, I have no hesitation to fly CX on all my flights, now that I also fly BA (BA seats are less spacious, only they offer cheaper fare). As arrival is early, I used the Arrivals Lounge till decent hour to travel to town for my hotel check-in. Like also the new A350.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Beijing to Hong Kong. Good flight, on time, good lounge service in Beijing (they now serve noodle cooked to order). It is good to fly Cathay Pacific in that, on this flight, the plane is of long haul configuration with flat bed seats, and as such is useful for a morning nap. Interesting that some airlines do not use long haul crafts (including KA) for the 3 hr flight, but experience is that I always get this on a CX flight in J, so it is good to choose Cathay, which generally offer good service.

✅ Verified Review | Hong Kong to London. Good flight, good service, and arrived on time. Good to use the Arrivals Lounge at Heathrow T3 to breakfast (again), relax, shower, use internet, and kill off time before a hotel allows check in, the flight having arrived at 5:30am. For such a flight, the Arrivals facilities are most useful and this is provided well. Dinner and breakfast was good with Western and Chinese choices, the latter unavailable from other airlines. The seat is also more spacious than on BA.

✅ Verified Review | New York to Ha Noi via Hong Kong. I had a very bad experience at the Check In counter. They refused to board me because I didn't have a transit visa in Vancouver (my final destination was Ha Noi, I just transit in Vancouver), which they should have warned me about. When I asked why didn't you warn us that we need a transit visa, the lady working at the Check In counter said this: "I blame you for not knowing this piece of information". But who would have known we (me and my friend) would need a visa just to transit in Vancouver for 2 hours? Apparently we are not the only ones who were refused to board because of this reason. As a result, we had to pay 200$ each person to go on a different plane. They put us a "Wait list" because all the flights were over-booked for 2 weeks. So we had to stay and sleep at the airport and luckily they let us board after 18 hours. Other than that, the food was good.

✅ Verified Review | CX 410, Hong Kong to Incheon on a B777-300, very punctual. Disliked the shell seat with no recline, but otherwise the flight was pleasant. Great entertainment choices and attentive staff. Breakfast was acceptable but not outstanding. CX 419 returning to HKG on a newer A330-300 with better seat which could recline. Same entertainment system. Food was not as good as expected. Some crew members were indifferent which was below the standard of normal CX crew, but the inflight service manager was very friendly and helpful. Overall CX has still been rather consistent with satisfactory services.

✅ Verified Review | I thought flying Cathay Pacific economy on an ultra long haul flight 3 weeks after returning from a similar distance in J would be a huge disappointment, but life (and CX) holds numerous surprises. Being a Marco Polo Club member allowed me to check in my entire family using the priority lanes on both outbound and return. The advantage was seen in the Manila to Hong Kong route where the check in queues at NAIA 3 seemed to snake around forever. Staff in MNL were courteous enough. Departing MNL through gate 111 was extremely chaotic. I would suggest that one hang around one of the pay-in lounges or in one of the (few) coffee shops outside the gate until the last minute. The MNL-HKG leg was the usual, rushed ultra short flight with absolutely no catering worth mentioning consisting of an overheated pastry, ANZAC cookie and boxed juice drink. PAL serves hot meals on their MNL-HKG flights even in economy, I wonder why a carrier such as CX still continues to think that this budget airline move is worthy of a 5-star airline? Same experience on the return HKG-MNL leg. The long haul product proved to be a pleasant surprise. The seats were more comfortable than expected and the 3-3-3 configuration does a lot for the perception of space in the back cabin. Catering is not CX's strong point, but the meals served were actually edible. The snack option of cup noodles were very tasty and the galley snack tray was always full. In-flight staff were pretty good with ready smiles and service. Good and frequent drink runs were made throughout the 16 hour journey both ways. I would say that it was a pleasant surprise through the long haul leg. I am on the fence regarding the IFE choices, but the hardware is pretty good if you bring your own earphones (the one provided by CX is rubbish). Touch screen was quite sensitive so there is little chance of bothering the passenger seated in front.

✅ Verified Review | Hong Kong to London. Tried checking in several times online, in the end it asked us to check in at the airport, so we did. A couple on our honeymoon were separated on the flight, the rude assistants at the check in desk couldn't do anything about it as it was a full flight and we had to wait until the flight was boarding to see if we could sit together. After a huge debacle, we got seated together at the very back of the plane with NO apology whatsoever. I will never fly them again. Bad food, bad service, old planes.

✅ Verified Review | Bangkok to Vancouver via Hong Kong. Similar to my previous review, I was supposed to be flying Premium Economy. However, while boarding both flights, I was upgraded to Business Class. Bangkok to Hong Kong on a brand new A350. Though the seat itself wasn't different from the ones on the Boeing 777-300ERs, the refreshed IFE, alongside with the retouches of the storage space made the hard product a solid one. The flight attendants were professional. Hong Kong to Vancouver on a 9-year old 777-300ER. I would say the thing that stood out to me most on this flight was the cabin crew, who were proactive. Catering was a big improvement from my previous trip, with meals served in appropriate portions and tasted amazing! Both flights departed and arrived punctually. Bags were quick to arrive and I was out of the airport within 20 minutes of arriving, which is rare when flying into Vancouver.

✅ Verified Review | Ho Chi Minh City to Los Angeles via Hong Kong. First time flying with Cathay and I love this airline. The seat is really comfortable for a long flight. Good food, good movies for entertainment. Cabin crew are nice and friendly. For my inbound flight from LAX to SGN, I cannot self check-in due to some technical issue and their staffs are willing to help. Only one thing I want to complain about this flight is the crying children around me. I know no one can control crying children but I think cabin crew should do something so other passengers don't feel annoyed.

✅ Verified Review | Vancouver to Bangkok via Hong Kong. At Vancouver check-in the lady who checked me in was cheerful and funny, contrary to my previous experiences while checking in in Vancouver. I was initially supposed to fly in Premium Economy Class for the entire itinerary until I was notified of a seat change on my flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong. An upgrade to Business Class was definitely a true blessing on a transpacific flight and I couldn't be more impressed with the service I received. The Cathay Pacific lounge in Vancouver provides such a serenade prior to a long-haul flights, where the staff were so accommodating. The crew were prompt to respond to requests and made me feel welcome and comfortable. The seat didn't feel too different from the regular Premium Economy seat in terms of width, however, when turned into a flat bed, provided one of the best sleeps I've had among other Business Class I have experienced. I appreciated the details put into the seat, adequate storage and the mirror in one of the compartments, and light at one of the storage areas. Despite all the positives, I felt indifferent towards the catering. Though the main courses and drinks were great, there were components of the meals that left me underwhelmed. Arrived Hong Kong on schedule and made my way to The Wing lounge. Staff were enthusiastic to help. Hong Kong to Bangkok in a bulkhead seat in Premium Economy Class. Despite my love towards the bulkhead seat on Cathay's Economy, I was at fault for selecting this bulkhead in Premium Economy. The fact that the personal screen couldn't be used during take-off and landing made for a very boring flight for me, again, not at all the airline's fault. Since it was a regional flight, meal service was similar to that of Economy Class, and it was a standard breakfast meal which satisfied me. Crew service on this short flight left a bit to be desired, but since it was a rather early morning flight, the cabin itself seemed dry. Bags were among the first ones out in Bangkok and I was out of the airport within 30 minutes of arriving. On-time departure and arrival on both flights. Overall, though there were things that could be improved, this has been my best journey so far and I look forward to use their service again very soon.