Hong Kong opened its borders to travellers just a few weeks ago. I took advantage of this opportunity and visited this highly populated city again. There were several daily flights from London to Hong Kong, direct or with a stopover. I decided to take a direct flight and thus could choose between British Airways or Cathay Pacific. I decided on Cathay Pacific business class, as this was my first time flying with this airline.
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Flight details
Flight: Cathay Pacific CX250
Departure: Heathrow London (LHR), 18:20 BST
Arrival: Chek Lap Kok Hong Kong (HKG), 13:40 HKT
Flight duration: 11 hours, 54 minutes
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER B-HNR
Distance: 9,641km (5951 mi)
Seat: 22K
Booking
To book a Cathay Pacific flight, you can use their web directly or sites like Google Flights or Kayak where you can compare the prices from different airlines.
Airport experience
Check-in and baggage drop off
Cathay Pacific is located in Terminal 3, along with many other airlines. The terminal has 7 blocks marked with letters of the alphabet from A to G. This information can be found on the many information boards throughout the airport. Cathay Pacific is allocated Block C along with Finnair and Qantas.
Baggage was checked in according to travel class. Cathay Pacific has 4 travel classes: First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy. The airport staff will gladly help you find the correct counter where you can check in or drop off your luggage.
When I arrived, the queue for baggage drop-off was almost non-existent. I gave the employee my passport and placed my luggage on the scale. Once she checked the system, she printed my flight ticket and the ticket to the airport lounge. At the same time, she informed me that I have the right to use Fast Track for security checks. On top of it, she explained can I find the lounge and what time the boarding would start.
Security check
After handing over my luggage, I took the escalator to the upper floor. Everyone must go through the airport’s security checks, where the staff controls hand baggage and a body scanner. Some airports offer Fast Track (expedited security checks). Passengers in business or first class can use this service.
Each passenger must unload all electronics and liquids from their luggage. They will then go through a scanner, where employees will check whether certain things are not dangerous. Heathrow is slowly replacing these old scanners with new ones, eliminating the need to remove items from luggage, which should speed up screening.
Fast Track only has two scanning machines, and people wait in lines for a long time often. This time fewer people were waiting in the queue, and the security checks went smoothly. Subsequently, on the way to the airport lounge, I admired the displays of various shops.
Cathay Pacific lounge at LHR
The full review of Cathay Pacific lounge at Heathrow is in this blog post.
Boarding
Boarding the plane started precisely as intended. When the staff announced that boarding was about to begin, the passengers lined up in four rows according to information tables near the lines for the queues. The burgundy information board was for first-class passengers. Business class passengers used the blue information board. The turquoise information board was for premium economy class, and the green information board was for economy class.
Passengers could enter the plane through two tunnels. The first tunnel marked with burgundy and blue board was for first and business class passengers. Premium economy and economy passengers boarded the plane through the second tunnel marked with turquoise and green boards.
All passengers found their seats reasonably quickly, and we were waiting for permission to depart at 18:30. On the way to the departure runway, the flight attendants started the safety instructions. Soon the captain (first officer) announced that the control tower had permitted us to take off. And on a nice sunny day, we took off without any problems.
Cathay Pacific business class cabin and seat
Boeing 777-300ER B-HNR has 368 seats. Of these, 40 are in business class, 32 in premium economy class and 296 in economy class. Business class was in a 1-2-1 configuration, where one seat was by the windows and two passenger seats were in the middle.
The cabin was decorated in Cathay Pacific’s unique colours, Bangladesh green. This was the first time I heard of such a green shade. While the seats were made of thicker but easy-to-clean fabric, the armrests and footrests were made of leather.
Above each seat was a compartment for hand luggage. In addition, there were several smaller storage areas around the seats. A bottle of water and headphones with active noise cancelling were provided for each passenger and were placed in the small cabinet by the window. Sitting down, I discovered another space for storing my shoes.
In my case, I found all the controls on my right side. A lamp was in the upper corner in case I wanted to read a book. Seat control buttons were right underneath it. Each part of the seat had its own controller (back, seat and legs). In addition, there were buttons for 2 positions: sleep and departure/arrival.
When I was ready to sleep, I pressed the sleep seat control button, and the seat automatically went into a fully horizontal position. I covered it with the bed sheet. The staff did not offer to help passengers prepare seats for sleeping, which surprised me quite a bit. Not every passenger knew how to use the controls and recline the seat.
Two options for charging electrical devices were provided – a universal plug on the panel with control elements and a USB socket in the box with headphones. This way, every passenger had a choice and did not have to stress about not having the correct adapter.
Amenity kit
Disposable flip-flops and a large grey bag were on the footstool. After opening the bag, I found that it contained bed linen.
Many airlines give business and first-class passengers a small travel bag on long flights. Cathay Pacific offers products from the British brand Bamford. I found on the Internet that the bag has several colours. The flight attendant handed us a dark blue bag on this flight. I found her an eye mask, toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, earplugs, lip balm, facial moisturizer and body lotion.
Menu & meals
A few minutes after boarding and settling down, the stewards arrived with a tray with three drinks: water, champagne and Cathay Delight. As we had a long flight ahead, I went for champagne, hoping I would fall asleep faster.
Dinner
This was a flight to Hong Kong, so the menu was in English and Cantonese. Passengers in business class could select from two appetisers (white zucchini soup and antipasti plate with parma ham and buffalo mozzarella) and five main dishes (eggplant rolls, shrimp wonton noodle soup, baked salmon, braised chicken with mushrooms and bamboo shoots, and braised Scottish beef cheeks). A bowl with fresh fruit, chocolate mousse, passion fruit cheesecake, ice cream, pralines and a cheese plate were offered for dessert.
Immediately after take-off, the flight attendants came to the passengers with tablets and asked about drinks and food for dinner. This time I decided to try Cathay Delight. It is a non-alcoholic fruit drink with kiwi and mint. Excellent, I highly recommend it.
I selected prosciutto with buffalo mozzarella as a starter and shrimp wonton soup as the main dish. On top of it, I got two desserts – chocolate mousse and passion fruit cheesecake.
The flight staff prepared a variety of chips, sweets, popcorn, ice cream and fruit that passengers could take at any time during the flight. In addition, if hungry, one could order eggplant rolls, shrimp wonton soup, or a beef burger.
Breakfast
Breakfast is usually served two hours before landing. Each passenger could fill out a card with several options for breakfast before sleeping. I also selected the option not to serve breakfast if I was still sleeping. The breakfast menu consisted of five meals: Wellness breakfast (super healthy superfood bowl with chia seeds and fresh fruit), Lighter breakfast (poached egg with goat cheese and guacamole), Chinese breakfast (beef and mushrooms congee), Western breakfast (aka British breakfast) and Express breakfast (coffee with warm pastries).
Inflight Entertainment, wifi
In the case of long flights like this one, passengers could pass the time by watching movies, listening to music, playing games, or watching various flight data. Thus the business class cabin is fitted with an 18.5-inch monitor.
I found many new movies that came to cinemas recently in the films menu. In addition, there were children’s stories and many films from Asia, whether Chinese, Indian, Korean or Hong Kong. I couldn’t resist and watched several Hong Kong movies.
During the departure, I watched the camera located on the plane’s landing gear and saw how the airport employee navigated the plane and how it left the terminal.
My favourite activity when I was not sleeping was tracking the flight path. The map was interactive, and more details were displayed when I clicked on some capital cities.
Lavatory
An essential part of the plane, as the flight lasted almost 12 hours. Business class passengers on the Cathay Pacific B777-300ER could use four bathrooms that were ahead of my seat. Apart from Bamford’s hand soap and body lotion, I found nothing else there, which was quite disappointing. I expected that there would be toothbrushes and mouthwash, as in many other planes (such as Japan Airlines). They were kept very clean, and there was always enough toilet paper, paper towels and tissues.
Arrival
We arrived in rainy Hong Kong precisely as scheduled. It took us 10 minutes to get from the runway to the terminal building. I didn’t complain, as I could watch the planes parked by the terminal buildings. Surprisingly, many Boeing 747s, my favourite planes, were parked at the airport.
Getting off the plane was the same as boarding – first, business class passengers left the aircraft, followed by the premium economy, and lastly, passengers from the economy class. Upon entering the airport, I saw the information board with the luggage belt.
Our plane landed at a remote terminal. Thus we used a small underground train to get there. It was an autonomous train without a driver. It had about four carriages and ran every 5 minutes between the terminals.
My luggage was already waiting for me when I got to the belt. It hadn’t happened to me for several years that the luggage was there before me. For comparison, luggage waits 45-60 minutes after passing through passport control at London Heathrow.
Last thoughts on Cathay Pacific 777-300ER Business Class
Before the pandemic, all my friends praised Cathay Pacific for their outstanding service. The staff was friendly and attentive when serving food and beverages. However, I wouldn’t call their services excellent. So average, nothing special. It is likely because Hong Kong has only recently opened its borders. Like many other airlines, Cathay Pacific is still training staff, and getting everything back to pre-Covid status will take a while.
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