Cathay Pacific Airways

I travelled Manchester - Sydney return on 777-300 ER. The service was mediocre on 3 of the 4 legs with a poor selection of food warm champagne and no single malts. The crew were almost robotic and did not show any real deep customer care. The service was rushed and served without any finesse unlike Singapore and Emirates. The new seat/bed was ok but felt tight and squeezed in. Obviously on this airline they have crammed in as many seats as possible with no space to move around the plane. I am 1.80 in height and slim and getting in and out of my seat 17K unless the seat was completely upright was a struggle. Boarding on all 4 legs as a BC passenger was chaotic and a stress. In Hong Kong it was unbelievable. 14 staff and not one singing off the same hymn sheet. Also in HK no one welcomed us onboard either on entry or when we were seated. The crew manager spent all her time at the front of the plane and never entered to serve or speak with the passengers in any class on the HK to Manchester leg on 18 Feb 2015. She was unapproachable and aloof. The business class lounge at Manchester was a joke and in Hong Kong was nice when inside the staff were distant and robotic. In Sydney we used the Qantas lounge winch was a delight. I would not spend £3700 with this airline again but will travel Singapore or Emirates BC when I travel long haul and wouldn't use Manchester again I'll travel through Heathrow.

This airline came highly recommended by friends and I think they must have flown a different airline to me. I recently had 4 international flights with Cathay all of which were late for take off. Our first flight MEL to Hong Kong (late out of MEL) was pleasant the staff were attentive the service went downhill from there. Honk Kong - New York late for take off which caused problems at the New York end having to pay a waiting fee for car service. London-Hong Kong an unpleasant trip staff tired and grumpy from the start toilets dirty and smelly and again a late take off. Hong Kong-MEL well what can I say late take off again (almost an hour). Staff should find another job if they don't want to do long haul flights unpleasant to the point of being down right rude. Toilets were absolutely disgusting. The only saving grace of this airline was the seats enough room to stretch and get some sleep. My expectation is that flights take off on time and an occasional late take off is acceptable but come Cathay 4 late take offs in one trip really is a bit much.

I used to travel CX regularly in the decade 1984-1994 when I lived in Hong Kong. This was my first time in 20 years traveling round-trip to Melbourne from London. The lounges were generally goodwith decent Chinese food but little or no choice in wines. On board I found the seats comfortable. The service was polite and generally efficient. I didn't see much spontaneity or anticipation: You end up having to ask for what you want. The main disappointment was the food particularly from HK to Melbourne and back. It wasn't terrible but it was worse than I remember it 30 years ago. I'd certainly fly Cathay again but I was surprised not to find it better than BA.

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.