Cathay Pacific

Never again . . Been a green card member almost 20 years and never had so much as a trip to the lounge from them . .. Final straw was when they charged me GBP 315 for 8kg (you do the maths) of overweight luggage on a half empty flight in Nov 15. . . (Btw, other airlines ’emirates’ give you 30kg not 20kg) . . It was more the way the staff went about it, like i had been caught shoplifting or something, they were basically all gloating at the thought of charging someone so much (honest i thought they were just spliting it the way they behaved!) . .And get this, the 315 GBP i was charged was billed to DUMMY.. not Cathay Pacific, fishy ? much ? . . unreal huh. .. I gave them back my membership card on the spot (sadly it got returned mid air.) . . My emails of complaint met with the usual rules/regs and hard faced resistance. . oh and they said they did not need to justify their charges. . i even told them it would have cost me less than half their cost to DHL 8kg from Manchester to HK. . . basically, they did not care, and stopped replying. . . Well, i am done with them .. i will never fly them again, and i will go out of my way to persuade others not too aswell . . .

Very disappointing flight with Cathay. We were in premium economy and we could have saved our money and travelled economy. Offered a drink before takeoff then didn’t see hostess again till lunch was served. After lunch the cabin lights were turned off and everyone put shades down so for the next 4 hours we travelled in darkness until the hostess appeared again and another meal was served. It was really a case of neglect – so different to a previous flight in premium economy with Qantas where cabin crew were very helpful and attentive. Not again.

EDITORS COMMENT: We have heard this complaint about staffing in PE before and hope that CX do address this. That aside the food, seat, drink selection and amenities are a significant step up from economy. The window shades down request would have applied in Economy as well. .

Traveling public be warned, I used to believe Cathay was a good airline — not now. On check in at Brisbane having booked Premium Economy because Business was full we were told we had been down graded to economy due to a different plane being sent over. Cash compensation and a upgrade voucher was offered. The flight to Hong Kong was terrible. Now on our return our Dragoon Air flight into Hong Kong was five minutes late. A Dragon Air representative was waiting for us and four others only to tell us that we wont make the connection. We convinced her to try and we ran through the airport to get to the departure gate for our flight back to Brisbane. Arriving with twenty minutes to spare we watched the plane being loaded but they wouldn’t let us on. The Cathay girl at the gate desk had no interest in our request to board and literally walked away — very rude. Asking for a manager we finally spoke to one who arrived after the plane taxied out. Re-booked on a Qantas flight Cathay refused to pay the Business class fare despite us holding a boarding ticket for Business Class with Cathay. No compensation or apology was offered by Cathay. Cathay don’t give a damn, offer no help and are rude.

Cathay is a very good airline.
The only challenge is on time departure.
I have been flying them out of JFK regularly for over ten years and I can count on one hand the number of times the flight has boarded and left on schedule Once onboard and in the air it is terrific. Just be prepared for a long wait in the terminal ~ which at JFK terminal 7 is a long and uncomfortable wait indeed!

Flew Adelaide to Dhaka as an economy booking and first time flying Cathay. Received a complimentary upgrade to premium economy for the first leg ADL to HKG. As a One World Emerald member I fly another OW carrier regularly but have never received any upgrades – maybe it was just my lucky day on this occasion but thanks Cathay for the great flight.

The premium economy additional seat width and legroom is probably good value for money if your willing to pay the extra cost and meal was much improved over typical economy meals. Service and flight in general was on par with a competent full service carrier.