My brother travels Internationally on business and is in the airline industry. He ranks Cathay as one of the World's top airlines and one of his personal favorites.

I may be jaded, but, in my experience, you get better service with non-U.S. carriers than you do with with them (with the notable exception of Air France, which I would never fly again after the worst experience of my life). I have flown Cathay once, Korean Air and Thai multiple times, and always thought I got better service. Then again, I fly a lot of Southwest quick hops here, where service is necessarily limited.

I have never heard that Cathay's seats don't recline, but check out SeatGuru.com to compare the seating options/limitations to be sure.