My first Cathay Pacific business class flight, and I wasn’t disappointed

I recently flew through Hong Kong to Boston as part of a trip from Australia to east coast USA. Finding award flights using Qantas or Velocity points direct to mainland USA is pretty difficult. So going through Asia when you’re going to the east coast doesn’t take that much longer. And, you get to avoid LAX – winning!

This particular flight was the first leg from Melbourne to Hong Kong on the Cathay Pacific A350-900. The entire trip cost me 85,000 Asia Miles (better than the 139,000 Qantas points it would have cost me on the Qantas website). Taxes were the same (2144 HKD, which was AUD $385.96). I used my ANZ Travel Rewards VISA card to avoid international transaction fees, and I know I get a much better exchange rate.

The Cathay Manage booking portal had a refresh towards the end of 2018, making it much more user friendly. It makes it much more exciting to look forward to your trip! From here you can see details on your flight, add passport info (makes check-in quicker), and select special meals and seats.

Check-in

There was only self check-in machines available for economy and premium economy guests. Business class guests had a couple of check-in desks open though. There was no queue so I could go straight to a desk and was on my way within a few minutes. Because my end destination was the US, they did check that I had my ESTA.

The Lounge(s)

Being a Oneworld partner, you can choose from either the Cathay Pacific lounge or the Qantas business lounge in Melbourne. Of course if you’re a platinum or platinum Qantas frequent flyer – you can use the Qantas first lounge.

Boarding

The boarding area was very busy when I arrived, about 10 minutes before the scheduled boarding time. Including about 40 high school aged kids. I took a seat and about 15 minutes later they started their pre-recorded boarding announcements – then finally business class was called.

We pushed back bang on time at 7:30am, and it looked like we’d get in to Hong Kong early. But as we lined up on the runway, we seemed to start going forward and then quickly abort the take off. We drove down the runway and headed back towards the terminal – to find out there was a technical issue. We were told we’d be back on the way shortly, and indeed within 20 mins more we were back on our way. We just had to join the 20 minute queue for the runway.

Cathay Pacific Business Class Cabin and Seats on the A350-900

The business class cabin on the Cathay Pacific A359 is split into 2 cabins. A forward cabin with rows 11-19 (with row 13 skipped, normal for an Asian airline). And then a smaller cabin with rows 20 & 21 which is just in front of premium economy.

My usual go-to seat for long haul business class is the 2nd A seat back from the front galley. But on this aircraft, Seatguru says that the 2nd and 3rd seats back from the front galley (14A and 15A) have misaligned windows. And since this was a day flight, I wanted to have optimum window views – so I chose 16A. As it turned out, 14A and 15A would have been fine – the window position wasn’t noticeably different to 16A.

The seats to absolutely avoid though are 11D and 11G. They are the front middle seats, which have both bathrooms opening right onto them. They were free for this flight, and I’d be interested to know how often they do fill them. They would be rife with complaints.

Food and Drinks

Before takeoff I was offered the choice of water, pineapple juice or orange juice. I decided that I preferred a champagne – so asked for one. I actually asked for a sparkling wine (habit, flying Australian domestic business class!), but she quickly corrected me to say “Champagne”? Which she returned with about 2 minutes later – a glass of Deutz.

Breakfast orders were also taken before departure, and I opted for the western breakfast of an omelette and accompaniments.

And I have to say that it was one of the best omelettes that I’ve had in the sky. Most likely because I usually have them at the later end of the flight, when they wouldn’t be so fresh.

Shortly after clearing my breakfast tray, cabin crew took lunch orders, including wine. I was really tempted to try the soup, but I asked if the pork belly was fatty – and she said that it was. So instead I went for the stir fried beef .

Entree

Entree was a shredded chicken salad with sesame dressing and glass noodles. The sesame dressing tasted very nutty, and although it would have been luxurious for them to put the dressing on instead of in a container, putting it on myself meant I didn’t put too much on.

Main

My beef stir fry was very tender, but the flavour was quite bland. I was expecting a darker, richer sauce, but it was a bit light and runny. A lady in the seat across the aisle had the barramundi, and it looked absolutely fantastic. I had total food envy.

Cheese after Lunch

As my plate was cleared the cabin crew offered cheese, fruit, or dessert. And I decided to go with the cheese plate and some fruit – which was a lovely way to finish off the meal. Cabin crew came around just as I was finishing the cheese offering individual chocolates from a tray – which made it an even better finish to the meal service.

The meal service was all very efficient, but a bit quick. On a 9 hour flight there is no rush, and I prefer a lunch service to take an hour or so. This was all over within about 45 minutes.

The drinks list has a good mix of premium wines, beers, and spirits. As well as soft options and juices.

In Flight Entertainment

The HD screen folds out from the side, which gives you a little more space and room to move for settling in or packing up your things.

Whenever I start on an IFE, first thing I look for is the comedy category, but unfortunately I couldn’t find one! I still managed to find plenty to entertain me though.

The only frustration is the 7 minutes of ads that I have to skip through, before each movie.

WiFi

There was a choice of either 1 hour for USD $9.95, or whole flight for USD $19.95. I usually take the shorter and cheaper option just to check some socials and emails, but since I actually planned on getting some work on over the 9 hours, I paid the higher price.

It took about 15 minutes for the actual WiFi login pages to load and get connected. During the process it told me my signup failed, then my credit card was declined. Retrying both a second time got it to work. WiFi speed was absolutely woeful for the first few hours of the flight. Web pages weren’t loading, the only way I knew I was actually connected was that messages were coming through.

It did improve during the flight, speeds were tolerable.

Other

Windows in aircraft bathrooms are one of my favourite things. It takes it from an awful cupboard like space, to more of a normal feeling bathroom. Each time I visited it was clean and fresh. With Jurlique products; a lotion and a cleanser.

Amenity kits weren’t over the top, but had enough – including the most important thing. Earplugs! Socks had grip pads underneath the front half of the foot; I never usually walk around in socks, but I did with these grips.

Summary of Cathay Pacific Business Class

Was it better than Virgin Australia to Hong Kong? Thinking about food, beverage, service and hard aircraft product – I have to say Virgin Australia is better. If I think about the flexibility of flights and lounge options on both ends, then Cathay Pacific wins.

Cathay is upgrading its meal services from the more traditional trolley to individually plated up meals, that are served at your table. In my mind there is still a little way to go until it’s at the Etihad or Virgin Australia standard.

No pyjamas or mattresses, but the amenity kits are suffice for this daytime flight. If you’re looking to use Qantas points to get yourself to Asia or onwards to Europe or the US, then it’s definitely a good option.