Cathay Pacific review by Colin 2014-09-01

CX174 Adelaide to Hong Kong, A333 First experience flying with Cathay Pacific, and I have to say I was impressed. Check in at ADL took about 20 minutes from entering the queue to be presented with boarding passes. Only down side is that ADL hasnt woken up to the fact that the pax for this flight have to be through customs by 0515, and none of the cafe's open until 0500. Boarding is down by rows, and I was impressed by the fact that people trying to board before their row was called were told to step aside. The A333 plane was clean and warm, loads of leg room for economy seating and we left on time. Breakfast service commenced almost straight away (they obviously know no cafe's are open on the ground!), food was nice. Coffee hot. Crew on board were pleasant and seemed genuinely happy to be there. After breakfast I settled in to watch some TV shows on the IFE - which is impressive in that it has completed seasons, not just 3 or 4 episodes. So if you had missed any Games of Thrones, all of season four was there. My IFE had a mind of its own and would suddenly advance the program forward or back, change language. I asked a crew member if it could be reset and this was done in minutes and he came back to check if it was fixed. One bonus, there is no large IFE box under the seats, so lots of extra leg room. Lunch service commenced about 90 minutes before arrival into Hong Kong, with the offer of a pre-lunch drink. Would I fly with CX again - sure, with CX, MH, D7, NZ and EK now all flying directly out of Adelaide, I feel I have loads of choice and dont have to going via Melbourne or Sydney. Cathay Pacific impressed me, I hope to get the chance to try their PE or Business Class service the next trip to HK or beyond.