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Trip Report: Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco (HKG to SFO)

CX 872
HKG to SFO
Depart: 12:30am
Arrive: 10:15pm
Duration: 12h 45m
Aircraft: Boeing 77W
Seat: 1A

Just going to warn you that this is going to be a shitty trip report because my pictures aren’t great, but I’ve reviewed Cathay Pacific’s First Class product before (albeit on the 747 instead of the 77W) with better pictures. The differences between the 747 and the 77W are marginal in terms of hard and soft product. To me, the main difference is that there are only 6 seats in the cabin on the 77W instead of 9 on the 747. The cabin has a 1-1-1 layout in first class, with the center seats facing toward the right, so people generally prefer sitting on the left-hand side of the cabin since it feels marginally more private.

The flight was delayed about 20 minutes for operational reasons, which was caused because we were waiting for connecting passengers coming from Guangzhou. Since this flight departs after midnight, I just wanted to get on the plane and pass out.

When I boarded, I was shown to my seat, and I immediately found the flight attendant to be super bubbly. I also noticed that I had definitely flown first class before with another one of the passengers, but I was pretty darn sure that he was a person flying for business and not a miles/points enthusiast (he could be both, but it seemed like he was not flying on miles either time).

Seat 1A
Seat 1A
Super wide seat
Super wide seat
Foot area
Foot area
Seat controls
Seat controls
Fresh orchids
Fresh orchids
IFE screen and storage
IFE screen and storage

Cathay has a great first class seat. It’s not a suite, but it’s spacious, private, and not claustrophobic. The seat is incredibly comfortable, and it’s not too hard or too soft. The IFE is large and responsive, and I appreciate small touches like a fresh flower at every seat.

Decor of first class cabin
Decor of first class cabin

I was offered a pre-departure beverage and an amuse bouche of duck mousse. They also passed out headphones, an amenity kit, and pajamas. I LOVE the PYE pajamas. They are hands down my favorite airline pajamas, and they come with awesome slippers (like I regularly wear a pair of PYE slippers around the house and bring a pair with me on long-haul flights). Sizing seems pretty close to American sizing, so I would go with whatever size you normally wear.

Amuse bouche
Amuse bouche
Former first class Zegna male amenity kit and PYE pajamas
Former first class Zegna male amenity kit and PYE pajamas

I essentially passed out after we took off, but the flight was pretty turbulent, so they turned on the seatbelt sign about once an hour and made an announcement each time. About halfway through the flight, I decided to eat something, so I had the caviar, the hot pot rice, some berries, and the Chinese dessert. This was shortly after they changed from the caviar and balik salmon plate to just caviar, which I didn’t mind. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of smoked salmon (except from Willows Inn), so I liked the new preparation.

Menu
Menu
Menu
Menu
Alcohol
Alcohol
Caviar
Caviar

The hot pot rice was fine. It’s definitely comfort food and not fine dining food like you might find on ANA or JAL first class.

Hot pot rice
Hot pot rice
Berries
Berries
Chinese dessert
Chinese dessert

A couple of hours later and it was time for breakfast. I asked if they had any more caviar and was rewarded with more caviar. Never hurts to ask.

More caviar
More caviar

I then had some croissants, fresh fruit, and scrambled eggs. It’s impressive that they can make eggs to order in first class, and they offer some good quality products like Tasmanian honey.

Bread basket
Bread basket
Scrambled eggs
Scrambled eggs

Cathay Pacific has been reviewed to death in the blogosphere, but it’s a relatively accessible first class redemption and they offer an incredible, solid product. I can’t really find fault in anything that Cathay does as they have a great hard product, amazing service, incredible lounges, and a great hub airport. I happily fly Cathay in all classes of service, and first class always feels like a treat.

23 Comments

  1. Thank you for your great trip report! Caviar dish looks tempting.
    I’m very curious, how can you tell if a passenger are travelling on miles or paid revenue ticket?

  2. Cutejoshflyingjr: if you see someone taking pics of things then hes flying on points. Otherwise, you can tell by the booking code, usually Z.

    Dont we have more than enough CX trip reports? Boardingarea’s bloggers are getting shittier each month.

  3. @ Mike – I’m not sure that someone taking photos in F can be assumed to be flying on points. Rather, it’s likely a newbie who has never been in F before who will be doing that – whether on points or on a paid ticket

  4. per Bert – this post is back on Boardingarea landing page (Aug 25). For some reason keeps re-appearing.

  5. Dear Efficient Asian Man:

    Your posts suck at efficiently not spamming the BoardingArea.com main page over and over and over and over again.

    No love,
    Boarding Area Readers Who Are Tired Of This

  6. Sweet! It’s back again. So glad it’s back since I’ve forgotten the details of this trip report from 3 days ago.

    …please stop spamming this trip report. Hilariously annoying now.

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