Cathay Pacific

Flew to KL and back a number of times recently, mostly on CX. Whenever possible I now do this trip with Malaysian. Cathay cab is dated, the new cabin is claustrophobic, and their so call “refreshment” is no match for the meals provide by other carriers. To top this off their on time performance is poor and they persist in parking their planes at remote bays in HK. All in all CX seems to be on the way to becoming a lower tier airline that is competing with much stronger players such as SIA, MAS etc.

I fly from HK to Melbourne a bit and flying is uncomfortable no matter who you fly with really. I like flying Cathay because safety is my main priority, not the food, not the type of seat and certainly not the inflight entertainment. They have a good safety record and they have very experienced pilots employed.

In the last 4 years i have travelled 500,000+ miles with Cathay. Recently i have been visiting Singapore with other carriers….It is not until you travel with others that you sincerely apprecaite how good Cathay are as both a regional airline and as a global operator.

We flew Perth- Hong kong return and on the return trip were upgraded to Business Class. First sppearance of the fishbone appearance of the business class cabin cabin were unusual but we soo adjusted to the configuration and enjoyed a good meal and service and then settled down for a VERY comfortable flat bed sleep. I have never slept so long in a plane so the journey and experience was excellent. I don’t think this seating configuration is so good when travelling with a companion though as communicating was quite difficult.

Editors note: Thank you for your informative review Janet. Cathay Pacific are in the process of changing the “fishbone” or “herringbone” cabin layout to a more standard business class cabin which caters better for those travelling together and those travelling alone.

We just missed out on the brilliant new Cathay business class layout on our 2012 flight from Perth to Hong Kong on an A330 and instead got the old herringbone design. The service was wonderful and Cathay has a well-deserved reputation for service. There is no doubt that the seats needed an upgrade, they were slightly narrower than they should be for modern-day expensive business class, but for an overnight flight, the completely lie-flat beds and the very private nature of the layout were actually big bonuses. Overall this was a very pleasant journey.