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Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class HKG to SFO

Although I’d flown Cathay Pacific long-haul multiple times, this was actually my first time flying them long-haul in business class.

My initial impressions of the cabin were not great. The cabin did not seem to be adequately cleaned before the flight, and some things seemed to be falling apart. Part of the armrest was coming off (and you could see wood underneath), there was a napkin left at my seat, there were stains, etc. It seemed like the plane needed a little love.

a seat in a plane
Business class seat
a man standing in an airplane
Business class mini cabin
a tv on a seat in a plane
Foot space and IFE screen
an electronic device with buttons and buttons
Controls and storage
a close up of a seat
Tape fixes all

I was seated in the mini-cabin right behind first class. This is just two rows of business class, so it feels pretty intimate and private. The bulkhead also has additional foot space since it’s the bulkhead. There was a pillow, blanket, and headphones already at the seat, and the flight attendants came around offering pre-departure beverages.

an airplane with a person in the background
View into first class

In spite of my quibbles about the cleanliness of the cabin, it’s still an awesome hard product. There’s space to put things under the ottoman, there’s a shoe compartment, storage on the side, counter space, etc. The seat goes lie flat and has good privacy, and it feels plenty wide.

a sink with soap dispensers and bottles of liquid
Business class bathroom amenities

This flight was catered as supper, snack on demand, and then breakfast prior to arrival. I’m not sure why they serve breakfast prior to arrival as the flight lands at 8pm. While the more typical lunch and dinner menus often have one vegetarian option, there was very little vegetarian food on this menu, so make sure to order a special meal if you’re a vegetarian on a supper flight.

a menu with black text
Menu
a menu of a restaurant
Menu
a menu of a restaurant
Menu
a menu of wine in a book
Menu
a small black bag on a brown surface
Business class amenity kit

For my supper meal, I had pre-ordered a Jain vegetarian meal. The VJML supper consisted of a cold, spicy chickpea salad, fruit, rice, lentils, okra, and green beans. Pretty decent for a special meal.

a plate of food on a table
VJML supper

After supper, I slept for about five hours. The seat was super comfortable, and the blanket was large and not too hot.

Breakfast was served prior to arrival. I started out with fruit and bread. One thing I noticed was that the VJML fruit plate was different from the fruit plates that other people were getting–not entirely sure why since fruit is obviously vegan.

a plate of fruit on a table
Fruit plate

After fruit and bread, people were offered cereals and yogurt.

a bowl of cereal and nuts
Granola

For my VJML entree, it was a main of Indian breakfast items. I honestly can’t believe it was meant to be served as I received it, since there was very, very little curry in the container. It looked like the curry had spilled out of the container, but there was nothing to replace it, so it was mostly just white carbs.

a plate of food on a table
VJML breakfast

Overall, I was a little bit disappointed by this flight. While Cathay Pacific has a great hard product and can sometimes have amazing service, the service on this flight wasn’t very good. The service felt cold, I wasn’t welcomed on board, I was never addressed by name, etc. Heck, I’ve been addressed by name flying economy class on Qatar (and on Cathay for that matter).

6 Comments

  1. Agree 100%. Flew CX A350 EWR to HKG in J class. Seat and duvet were great for sleeping, but the quality of the meals and level of service left a lot to be desired. Menu listed several items that were not available on board, and entree portions were ridiculously small. Service also felt cold and robotic , except from the cabin manager. CX didn’t provide slippers in J on this flight either.

  2. Thanks for the review. They’ve had recent financial and personnel issues. It sounds like that its reflected in the product. Too bad. I’ve flown CX regional J A330 (BKK-SIN) and in F (SFO-HKG 777-300) 3 years ago. Last year I flew Dragon Air (HKG-KUL) in J. The F and J flights was terrific. Only 2 seated in the F cabin. I found the seat, IFE screen (though not the selection), amenities and space to be great. Love the HK Milk Tea. Very nice 2 person cabin crew to essentially tend to me as the other pax slept nearly the entire 14 hour TPAC flight. I would like to fly CX F again and hope it will be as nice as my first flight.

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