Background:
This was the first leg of my Australia + Asia Winter Break and New Year’s Trip. Surprisingly, I found business award space for the peak winter season on Cathay Pacific for my parents and I, and ended up using 60,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles for LAX-HKG-AKL, which included a two night stopover in Hong Kong. Some First Class space opened up a few days before departure, and I upgraded my mom to first, which was just an extra 20,000 miles! I spent a LOT of time checking availability, and it was fun to see whole trip being created! Flying Cathay Pacific Business has always been on the top of my list, so I was glad to make it work! I wrote about the process on how I booked these flights on a post yesterday.
Check In:
Check-In was quick at LAX, with dedicated counters for Business and First Class.
Business Class Lounge at LAX:
When flying Cathay Pacific Business Class at LAX, you get access to the Oneworld International Business Class Lounge. I found the lounge to be a bit drab. Dark furnishings and filthy seats. Not my favorite. But, I did enjoy the firepit area! They also had a taco cart which was cool. I’ll review it a bit more in detail in a separate review.
FLIGHT DETAILS:
Cathay Pacific 883
Los Angeles (LAX) to Hong Kong (HKG)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Departure: 10:40 PM
Arrival: 6:15 AM (+2 days)
Duration: 15 hours 55 minutes
Status: On Time
Seat: 11K- Business Mini Cabin
Boarding:
Apparently Tom Bradley was very crowded this Sunday night, so my Cathay Flight was going to depart from a satellite terminal.
We left the lounge around 9:50, and it was a bit less than 10 minutes to walk to the “terminal” where you “board” the shuttle buses. Leaving the bright glitzy shops in the main part of the Tom Bradley terminal, we entered a really crowded “pop up” terminal to board the buses. Not like those hip “pop up shops” you see at the mall, but more of a portable terminal that’s well quite grungy and looks like a Costco lmao. Definitely an expansion of LAX is needed, and your experience if departing from the main Bradley terminal will be significantly different than leaving the satellite “portable terminal”.
Boarding proceeded with special assistance and first/business lines. But they still managed to pack everyone into like 3 shuttles, so there wasn’t really much priority in boarding, as you were sardined into a small bus.
After a 7 minutes of driving down the runaway, you get off the bus then enter a “tunnel” that whisks you up to the typical jetbridge and then you board! I saw a Singapore Airlines A380 at this remote terminal too and I don’t wanna picture how many people they have to shuttle to the jetbridge.
So, we boarded from the second set of doors and since we were in the mini-cabin, we took a left turn. Mom was in First Class, which was actually only two rows in front of me! I was seated in 11K, on the right hand side window.
Mini Cabin:
The mini-cabin is great, with only a total of 8 seats spread out between 2 rows in a 1-2-1 configuration. The main business class cabin is behind the 4 lavatories and galley and features 45 seats. I was happy to be able to choose 11K on the Cathay Pacific website after I got my confirmation number.
Cathay Business Class features the reverse-herringbone layout, where the seats on the sides of the plane face outward toward the windows, and the seats in the middle angle toward each other.
The Flight:
Dropping Mom off at First Class:
Already after boarding, I felt so welcomed on this flight! I toured my mom’s first class seat with her and Vanessa, the head flight attendant for First Class, immediately introduced herself to us and provided my mom and me with champagne and warm nuts even though I told her I was in business class! (More on my mom’s review of Cathay Pacific First soon!)
The Krug was delicious I may add…
A quick note is that Vanessa said they have a policy where you can switch seats between First and Business once during the flight. We didn’t partake in that practice, but interesting to note! I’m curious to see how often that happens…
Now, Back to Flying Cathay Pacific Business Class:
After visiting my mom who was in 1K, I headed back to my seat (11K) shortly before takeoff. Of course, I had to take a mini photoshoot before, and Vanessa helped with that! She said I must have a glass of champagne in my post!
Shortly after seating, the captain informed us that the time in the air would be 14 hours and 32 min. A Crystal Geyser bottle was waiting at my seat and the amenity kit! The kit by the brand Seventy Eight Percent had Jurlique hand cream, day cream and lip balm as well as socks, toothbrush and toothpaste, mouthwash, earplugs and a eye mask. No pajamas like in first class 🙁
The controls for the seat were very easy to use, and there was noise cancelling headsets located inside the storage cubby which worked pretty nicely. Also, there was USB charging which is definitely a nice touch!
Ivonne was the flight attendant for my section of business class and she introduced herself as well.
Dinner:
Takeoff commenced around 11:15pm, and the meal service started shortly before midnight. If you like looking through menus, I attached it in a gallery below.
Meal came in sections, first with the starter then mains on a cart where you could see how it looked then choose it. I opted to take the Kung Pao Chicken.
The Kung Pao Chicken was fine, nothing special. The white rice was great though. Overall, a decent meal but nothing to rave about.
After the meal, there was a hot towel service and I ordered a Chamomile tea so I could catch some shut-eye. The flight attendants also came by with chocolates!
I then put on the eye mask and earplugs, went to sleep at like 1:30, next thing I knew it was 8! Got 6 and a half hours of sleep, which is really hard for me to do!
In front of 11K is a closet of water bottles and it didn’t disrupt my sleep at all. Diagonally in front of 11G is a coat closest for the crew, which wasn’t a bother either. I truly enjoyed the “mini-cabin” and 11K was an amazing seat. I was able to move on my side, and there was lots of space for my feet. Plus, the peace and quiet from the mini-cabin helped me sleep so well!
Judging by the loudness of snoring of the guy next to me when I woke up, I assume he got great asleep as well LOL. The lavatories were clean, and never crowded when I went to use them! Jurlique lotions and soaps were provided.
The Bedding Review:
Okay, so the pillow was quite horrible to be honest, it was small and fuzzy and felt a bit worn out. Even, the Casper bedding on American is soooooo much better. I even prefer the Westin Heavenly Pillow on Delta over this Cathay pillow! The sheets were fine, and the seat itself in the lie-flat position was very comfortable. I really need CX to fix their pillows!
IFE:
After waking up, I decided to watch some movies! The IFE was a bit old and blurry, but still got the job done. No complaints really.
Snacks during flight:
You could request a burger, wonton noodle soup or Häagen-Dazs ice cream anything during the flight, and there was also a basket of snacks at the galley to choose from.
Breakfast Time:
Two and a half hours before landing, the cabin lights turned on and they began the breakfast service.
A cold towel was offered before the fruit serving, with cereal and yogurt shortly after. And of course, I tried the Hong Kong Style Milk Tea which was refreshing.
For breakfast I opted for the sliced beef congee with green onion pancake and it was delicious! I enjoyed it more than my dinner to be honest.
After breakfast, we landed within about an hour. A smooth approach into HKG!
The Verdict:
The service was impeccable and the mini-cabin was so quiet and relaxing. I got the best sleep out of any flight I have been on! While the pillows and food need some improvement, I truly enjoyed my flight and can’t wait to be flying Cathay Pacific Business Class again on the 777 mini-cabin in the future.
Have you flown on the Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 in Business Class? Share your experiences below!
Happy travels,
Ty
Have any questions? Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!
MY 2019 CHRISTMAS/NEW YEARS TRIP REPORT:
Check out the rest of my Asia + South Pacific 2019 Winter Trip here!
Hotel Reviews:
Renaissance Hong Kong Harbor View
AVANI Metropolis Residences Auckland
Hilton Sydney Executive Level
New Years’ at the Grand Hyatt Taipei
Lounge Reviews:
Qantas First Lounge at LAX
Oneworld Los Angeles Business Class Lounge
Plaza Premium Lounge Taipei Terminal 2
Strata Lounge Auckland Airport
Cathay Pacific Business Lounge: The Pier
Cathay Pacific Business Lounge: The Wing
Airline Reviews:
How I Scored Cathay Pacific Business and First Using Alaska Miles
Cathay Pacific 777 Business Class: Los Angeles to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific A350 Business Class: Hong Kong to Auckland
Virgin Australia Economy: Auckland to Sydney
China Airlines A350 Premium Economy: Sydney to Taipei
China Airlines 777 Premium Economy: Taipei to Los Angeles
Since your mom was 1st class, were you not able to join her as a guest in the LAX Qantas first class lounge?
I was! I visited the Qantas First Lounge and then the oneworld Business Lounge afterwards. Thanks for reading!
Not bad, but i prefer the food/bedding on AA. While the FAs on cathay are generally nicer than the ones on AA, i’m asleep for most this flight so i just want the food and be able to sleep comfortably. Lack of wifi is also disappointing for CX.
Yeah having no WiFi was not too fun. Thanks for reading!