Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class London to Hong Kong

Heading home to visit Australia, I decided to take Cathay Pacific as they were offering a decent fare out of Stockholm in business class. Having sampled the product before on the Vancouver to New York route, I was eager to try it on a longer sector.

After switching terminals at London Heathrow, I relaxed in the excellent Cathay Pacific business class lounge in Terminal 3. Eventually, it was time to head off on the long walk to the gate to board.

CX254 – London Heathrow to Hong Kong (LHR-HKG)
11 November 2019
Boeing 777-300ER – B-KPV
Seat: Business Class 11A
Departure: 22:05 Arrival: 18:05+1

After a short wait in line, boarding was announced and I was soon on board. Seat 11A is in a mini-cabin, right behind first class and contains just two rows of seats.

Cathay Pacific’s Business Class Seat

The seats are quite spacious and are set up and ready for you once you arrive. The menu and breakfast card is at your seat, with the amenity kit, Evian water and headphones in the convenient locker beside you.

New bedding has been introduced, consisting of a seat topper and a thick duvet. These are in a fabric bag located in the foot well. In addition, slippers are provided as well. Crew pass by with welcome drinks while boarding is underway. As usual I chose a Champagne, which is Billecart-Salmon and one I find quite tasty. While relaxing I noted Wi-Fi is available on board, at what I thought was a reasonable price. While I didn’t use the Internet service on this flight, I did use it on the return and found it quite speedy. All in all, it looked like I was in for a good flight!

Pre-Order Your Breakfast

Breakfast cards are included with the menu and are hotel style. You tick the boxes for things you want, write in anything additional and then hang it for the crew to collect.

Soon enough, everyone was on board and the safety demonstration took place. Sometime around here we also received the hot towel service and I switched the screen to the outside camera to watch the take-off. While the camera view is far from high definition, it is always kind fun to watch take-off from that angle. By now we were in the air and it was time for supper.

Supper Service

There were six choices for the meal, comprising Wok fried cod with supreme soy sauce, Braised Scottish prime beef cheeks with horseradish dumpling, broccolini and potato mousseline, Shrimp wonton with egg noodles in soup or a Beef burger. Lighter options were a pea soup or Pumpkin quinoa with grilled eggplant involtini and tomato sauce. I selected the cod.

For dessert, I had the Lemon curd, almond crumble, merinque as opposed to the other options of a Cheese plate, Ice cream or Fresh fruit. Overall, I found the meal to be very good quality and just the right amount of food. It was really my second dinner as I had also had some Dan Dan noodles in the lounge and dinner on the British Airways Stockholm to London service. Full of food, I watched a movie, then prepared to sleep.

Bed Time

Putting the seat topper on is very simple as it has a part at one end designed to slide over the top of the seat. From there, you just put the seat into bed mode and spread it out. A no brainer really!

Since Cathay Pacific only offer pyjamas for first class passengers, I brought along a set from Qatar Airways. As I had changed into these straight after take-off, I was nice and relaxed and ready to rest. Popping the arm rest into the up position, I pulled the quilt over me and got some shut eye.

A Pit Stop

The Cathay Pacific business class toilets are located behind the mini-cabin, as it’s just not done to go forward through first class. These are a decent size and I liked using the baby change table for my clothes when swapping in and out of my pyjamas.

Good crews keep the facilities clean throughout the flight and I found that to be the case here. Full marks for keeping what are often well used toilets in tip top shape!

Breakfast Before Landing

Two hours before landing is when the mood lighting approximates dawn and people are encouraged to wake up. Breakfast service begins shortly enough, and I had chosen the Chinese breakfast, comprising of Salted chicken and mushroom congee, pan fried turnip cake with XO sauce and fruit. Other options are Western, Continental and Express, which is just pastries.

I always find the Congee to be excellent and this was the case here. While Hong Kong style Milk Tea is not on the tick menu, there is a space to request other items and I always choose to have this as I quite like it. Prior to arrival, I asked to sample the red and white wine and this was brought with a smile. Also, I received a survey which I completed on board and returned to the friendly crew. We then landed in Hong Kong without incident and I headed to the lounge to relax before my onward connection to Sydney.

Overall Thoughts

Cathay Pacific business class is an excellent way to travel. I appreciated the lighter supper meal after take-off, rather than having a multi-course feast that late at night. My only minor gripe was how warm the cabin was when it was time to sleep. It became cooler later on, which is far more conducive to sleep.

The entertainment options are great, with a wide selection of things to watch. I checked out the film Easy Rider as I had heard about it but never seen it. There literally is something for everyone in the StudioCX system.

When it comes to the bedding, I found the seat topper made the seat less firm and more comfortable, while the duvet and big pillow were perfect. An interesting thing to note is the bin for the hot towels is located just ahead of the seat, so seeing the crew dumping trays full into there for wash and re-use was unexpected yet interesting.

From the food to the service, it was pretty much a flawless flight, with a seasoned cabin crew who knew what they were doing. I was very impressed! Have you flown Cathay Pacific business class before? What did you think? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via Cathay Pacific