May 29

May 29 Cathy Pacific Business Class - Capable

I have fond memories of Cathy Pacific, as it was my first ride across the Pacific Ocean. Cathy Pacific is Hong Kong’s flag carrier, and owned by a hilariously diverse set of sometimes competitors (Swire Group, Air China and Qatar, along with other minority shareholders). It is part of the Oneworld Alliance, which encompasses great carriers like Qatar and JAL, and carriers that could use improvement like American Airlines. Overall, I will give Cathy’s Business class a solid middle of the pack rating, and look forward to trying their first class.

Booking

This review will feature information from two flights, notably one from HKG to TPE in order to capture the lounge access. However, the primary flight information is detailed below:

Flight: CX 198

Departing: Auckland (AKL)

Arriving: Hong Kong (HKG)

Operated by: Airbus A350-1000

Cabin: Business Class

Flights to / from New Zealand were actually surprisingly affordable - this flight was about half the price of my United Polaris flight earlier despite being almost the same length (though airline pricing is never about length of flight lol).

Check In (HKG to TPE)

To make the review a bit more comprehensive, I used the HKG checkin as the example. And wow, was HKG crowded, who says Hong Kong is on its last legs. Business class check in took almost 15 minutes given the sheer number of people there, and didn’t feel premium at all.

Thankfully, HKG must have recognized this, as HKG has quite a few premium lounges like Premium Plaza, Amex Centurion and several Cathy Business and First Class lounges. After consulting with a few travel buddies, it was decided that Alex would venture to Pier Business Class lounge.

Lounge

It’s very tough to make a lounge seem intimate, yet have it physically be large enough to accommodate the horde of business class passengers (looking at you, Qatar). Cathy has managed to done both.

There was also a selection of physical newspapers that could be taken from the lounge - as someone who likes reading from dead trees, I appreciated this small touch.

It also had quite a few shower suites, which meant there was no wait! The water pressure is strong, as were the Bamford amenities they gave.

Not hungry, but still eager, I went to the world famous noodle bar only to be disappointed.

Not to say the noodle bar wasn’t comprehensive, I felt as if they skimped on the meat in the wontons, and the soup felt a bit watery. I’ve heard pre-pandemic they were much better, and alas this seems to be a common theme with Cathy Pacific.

There was also a breakfast buffet for both Asian (think Dim Sum) and Western (think traditional bacon and eggs) breakfast options.

Overall a lovely place, I just think the hype surrounding Cathy made it hard to exceed expectations, though it certainly met them.

Now back to the AKL to HKG flight!

The Cabin

Side note: look at those raccoon eyes on the cockpit! Very cute.

Boarding was extremely efficient, as everyone was pretty well behaved #teamasia. First and Business class had their own set of entrances, although don’t come late otherwise you will have to board with the economy people (the horror /s).

The A-350 1000 has a pretty big cabin, containing 46 business class seats, 32 premium economy and 256 economy class seats.

The cabin felt very “open airy”, and didn’t feel cramped (cough United).

The Seat

The seat was designed by Studio F.A. Porsche, but it reminded my very much of Air Canada’s Signature Class seats, which is good because I like those seats.

Interestingly enough, I have the same seat on my HKG to TPE flight as well, even though that flight was less than 1.5 hours long.

The seat was anchored by a large display, underneath which contained the bedding for this flight. I didn’t use the bedding given it was a daytime flight.

Behind the screen was a cubby and mini desk, with the cubby containing the traditional amenity kit, water bottle and headphones.

Below it was a paper menu, which was made out of thick paper. While the environmentalist in me doesn’t like it, the traditionalist in me appreciates it.

The seat controls were to the right of the seat, and also included an individual reading light. I was a tad confused by the seat functions, and it turns out you don’t push them, you have to move them to the side.

I won’t be doing a separate amenities section, as the only major amenity Cathy offers is the amenity kit by Bamford. That’s right, only pajamas for First Class.

Inside was a nice eyemask, hand lotion, moisturizing spray, lip balm, toothbrush / toothpaste, and hilariously mouthwash in a cup. Standard, but good quality.

The final thing to note about this seat is that given you’re in a mini-pod, your neighbour’s pod takes up some space at the edge of the seat. No big deal, just something not evident from the pictures.

The Food

Cathy’s Business Class menu was quite extensive, and was split into a more extensive lunch and light dinner menu. The meal started out with a classic hot towel.

I didn’t have any lunch on this flight, so I will show you my lunch on the other flight. Also, the food on Cathy is designed for physically smaller people: I had to order another meal, and was still hungry. That being said the main meal of pork ribs on my HKG to TPE flight was fantastic, the rest less so.

I must say the food on Cathy was…disappointing. Two reasons: one was availability, and other was quality. Starting with the Prawn Sambal, the only thing good about this dish was the prawns. Everything else looked and tasted like it came from the supermarket.

*Prawn Sambal with Malaysian Coconut Rice*

I then ordered the roast duck and egg noodle soup, only to be told there wasn’t any. SAD. Instead, I got the Chicken Schnitzel Burger and fries. The burger was just plain bad, the fries were horrible, soggy and tasteless. It also hilariously came with fake ketchup, as it was called tomato sauce.

Given Cathy’s reputation, I wasn’t impressed with the catering. However, what saved the day was Hong Kong style milk tea at just the right amount of sweetness.

I do find it funny that relative to my previous United flight where there was too much salad, the current flight used wayyy to much fruit on it’s plate. Everything should be perfectly balanced, like all things should be.

Quick Bathroom Tour

The bathroom was kept clean throughout the flight, and was fairly standard for a business class flight (but with less amenities).

The Service

Oh boy. When I think of the old Cathy, I remember effortless elegance. This was anything but. There were two flight attendants dedicated to my row. The first one was eager, a bit inexperienced, but overall good at his job. The second one was…pretty bad. She made a snarky remark once, and overall was extremely slow with the asks. Another thing was that the food / service, once ordered took a while, and was even slower than United’s offering. Gasp. Asian carrier make less of a pretense to “know” your customer / be proactive, which is fair, but that should mean good, speedy service when prompted, especially when compared to a US carrier.

The Point

Cathy’s business class offering started out strong, with a good seat and excellent amenities. It was the food, and ultimately the service, that pushed it down below what I thought United’s flight was (gasp!). Given Cathy’s return from the pandemic, some of it can be forgiven: after all, there needs to be time to train up new crew and new processes. That being said, it’s been nearly a year since Cathy restarted proper operations, and so should have had ample amount of time to improve. I look forwards to trying out their First Class to see how that differs from business.