jacob_m

Boarding

The gate was already manned when I arrived around 40 minutes before departure and at the service counter there was a boarding pass waiting with my pre-assigned seat 16K.
They handed me the boarding pass in exchange for my paper ticket and I also asked them to double-check the baggage tag number to make sure they got all the digits right over the phone.

Around 30 minutes before departure boarding was announced with priority boarding for business class as well as passengers travelling with small children.



Just one passenger bridge in use for door 1L, so all passengers had to pass through the business class cabin.
At the door I was warmly welcomed onboard, I was escorted to my seat and the friendly crew offered to help me with my hand luggage.

The Airbus A330 was equipped with the new business class cabin and the new Cathay Pacific herringbone business class seats.
The cabin is certainly very modern and gives a very good first impression. There is also a very nice mood lighting system which is used on evening and night flights.

There were 14 rows of business class, however as you might expect there was no first class cabin on the flight.



A few moments later another FA arrived at my seat, welcomed me onboard and offered me a pre-departure drink.
The nice tray had a choice of champagne, orange juice and water. Easy choice!

International newspapers were also offered as well as a rather nice amenity kit, a nicely designed black bag with “bon voyage” written on it.
The black bag included the standard stuff but also some creams from demalogica.
Finally landing cards for Hong Kong were offered.

Business class ended up being reasonably full, maybe a load of 80%.

Pics
The gate area
Welcome onboard
The business class cabin
The second aisle
A glass of champagne before departure
Amenity kit
The last passengers are boarding

Sydney-Hong Kong, flight CX 100 operated by Cathay Pacific
Departure: 14:15
Arrival: 21:45
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Class: Business Class
Seat: 16K

Boarding was completed quite quickly and the doors were closed a few minutes before scheduled departure time.
The captain welcomed us onboard and announced an expected flight time of 9 hours and 22 minutes to Hong Kong. I believe he was British based on his accent.

A safety video was shown on the monitors in English and Cantonese before we pushed back, actually five minutes ahead of timetable.

Take-off at 2.25 pm from runway 34L, the weather was still grey and rainy so the view turned into clouds almost immediately.

Pics
Safety demonstration video
Lining up for departure, very rainy outside
The inflight service in the cabin has started

The menu

After take-off the very friendly female purser passed through the cabin, addressed each passenger by name, welcomed us onboard once again, and handed out the menu and the wine list for the flight.

During the 9 hours and 22 minutes onboard there would be two meal services, a lunch service straight after departure and a light meal/dinner around two hours before landing in Hong Kong.

Here is the menu and drink list for the flight:

Pics
The business class menu and wine list

The meal service

The menu sounded pretty nice, especially the different main courses. I was also impressed by the rather extensive drink list.

Shortly afterwards a first drink round was made in the cabin and drinks were offered from a rather nice table. I had a look in the drink list and decided to try one of the Cathay Pacific signature drinks and the choice fell on the Pacific Sunrise, a combination of champagne and Drambuie with a zest of orange and lemon.
Pretty tasty, possibly not the right drink for me, but still nice to give it a try anyway.
The drink was also rather nicely decorated! They also served assorted nuts with the drinks.



Hot towels were then offered and the tables were prepared for the meal service with white table cloths.

The starter was basically a seafood platter including salmon, prawn and scallop with dill and caper mayonnaise. Pretty nice and quite filling!

A bowl of mixed salad was also offered as well as a nice selection of bread rolls.

I asked for some red wine to drink, they had two red wines and I chose the Australian RockBare McLaren Vale Shiraz.



There were as many as four choices of main course: lamb, beef, cod or chicken korma.
I went for the lamb which was served with parmesan polenta and vegetables. Not bad!
More drinks were offered as well as refills of the water.



The table was cleared and the crew offered fruits, cheese and crackers.
I asked for some brie cheese and some slices of fresh fruits.

Finally the dessert arrived, the blueberry yoghurt cake. I was not particularly hungry by now but it looked too appetising.
The cake was delicious but very filling and the FA also cut extremely large slices.
Coffee and tea were offered and finally chocolate pralines in a small bag.

I was close to bursting after the meal, so much food!



All-in-all the meal service was pretty nice, the food was very tasty, excellent choices of main course and frequent refills of drinks.

Pics
A Pacific Sunrise cocktail
The drinks trolley passing my seat
Appetiser
Main course
Fresh fruits, cheese and crackers
Coffee and dessert
Chocolate pralines

The seat



The seat onboard was the new Cathay Pacific business class seat.
My first impression when I arrived onboard was very positive, the cabin felt fresh and modern.
My second impression when I finally settled in the seat was not quite the same, the business seat felt claustrophobic!
The seat width is 20”, that’s probably no more no less than many other business class seats, but there are walls dividing the seats and the walls are very high (above a meter in height, and they are wide as well) and eventually they just give a very cramped feeling. I was not at all impressed!
After half an hour in the seat I had got used to it and things were feeling a bit better, but the design will still reduce my rating of the seat.
Interestingly I have tried the Air New Zealand Business Premier seat, which has a similar design, but I found it completely different.

The seat itself was rather nice though and it can be reclined to a fully flat/horizontal 81" bed.



There is a seat panel in the seat located on the wall, in my case on the right side of the seat.
The seat panel included a rather advance seat control, power socket, the inflight entertainment control and the screen. The panel was rather strategically placed and all of the features were easy to reach and use.

The personal screen in business class is widescreen version with a size of 15”. The resolution was excellent and noise-cancelling headphones were provided in business class for proper enjoyment.
However eating and using the screen at the same got a bit cramped.

The seat also has a good reading lamp and decoration lighting along the wall opposite the seat panel.



There are 41 business class seats on the Airbus A330-300 with a 1-1-1 configuration. Business class is divided into a larger cabin (10 rows) and a smaller rear cabin (4 rows).
If you travel alone (or prefer more privacy) it’s best to choose a seat on the right side of the cabin as you will only face a wall and there will obviously be less people using the aisle.

Pics
The business class seat
The business class cabin
The screen, IFE control, power socket and seat controls
Nice lighting along the seat wall

Inflight entertainment system



The Cathay Pacific inflight entertainment system is called Studio CX and is a very nice, very advanced and very extensive AVOD system.
Studio CX includes over 100 movies, 350 TV shows, 888 CDs, 22 radio channels and over 70 video games (no I didn’t count, I just have to trust what’s written in the CX adverts ).

I watched a few episodes of Friends and listened to a few CDs in the audio section including The Best of James Bond and the soundtrack of We Will Rock You.
The selection of audio CDs was most impressive.

Both the picture quality and the sound were excellent onboard!

Pics
The inflight entertainment system
The entertainment menu
Very nice selection of games
Watching an episode of Friends
The best of James Bond
The IFE control

Second meal service...or rather some sleep



Well as much as I enjoyed the flight, the serice, the food and the IFE, eventually the fatigue inevitably caught up with me.
I had already been travelling for a fair number of hours and it would take three more flights and over 24 hours before I would see a hotel bed again.

I reclined the seat a bit to relax and listen to some nice music, but eventually I reclined it properly to a fully flat bed and got the duvet from the storage behind the seat.

I had only planned to get some rest, but I actually fell asleep and also slept through the second meal service, so sorry guys, you won’t see anything more of the second meal service than the menu.

The seat was excellent for sleeping, I found it very comfortable and both the pillow and the duvet were soft and comfortable.

Pics
The cabin darkened
My fully flat bed
The mood lighting in the cabin turned on before the descent

Arrival in Hong Kong



We started our approach to Hong Kong just after 9 pm and the rather nice mood lighting effects were turned on in the cabin.
I raised my seat, got rid of the duvet and went to the lavatory to freshen up a bit before the seat belt sign was turned on.

Cathay Pacific also has a cooperation with one of the main charity organisations (I think the Red Cross) so during the flight they handed out envelopes and asked passengers to donate any remaining currencies they wanted to get rid of.
I still had some French Pacific Francs which I left in the envelope.

We finally landed right on time at 9.45 pm on runway 07L at Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok airport.

Pics
Approaching Hong Kong according to the seat map
Nice blue cabin lighting
Hong Kong airport in the far distance

Verdict

On the whole it was a nice flight.
The FAs were excellent, the inflight service was flawless, well coordinated and no request was too much trouble. There is absolutely nothing to comment about whatsoever!

Both food and drinks were pretty good, nice options of main course and good food quality. Nice drink list as well!

The inflight entertainment was excellent, great resolution on the 15” screen and very good sound through the noise-cancelling earphones.

However, as you probably expect, my only negative comment is about the seat, I found it too narrow and cramped.
I am not a large person by any means, but they should have made the seat/the suite slightly wider and possibly made the walls a bit lower and less wide.
I think the amount of privacy would have been the same, but the seat would have felt less cramped and isolated.
The seat was excellent for sleeping in though, I had no problems to fall asleep onboard.

Other than that a pleasant flight with Cathay Pacific!