Review of Cathay Pacific flight Hong Kong Taipei in Business

Airline Cathay Pacific
Flight CX494
Class Business
Seat 14A
Aircraft Airbus A350-900
Flight time 00:45
Take-off 27 Dec 16, 10:30
Arrival at 27 Dec 16, 11:15
CX   #2 out of 95 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 509 reviews
Rewardflying
Published on 26th March 2017
photo cx494 cover

Hello again, the trek continues with this self-imposed itinerary to fly some different aircraft and carriers on the way to Taipei.

With JL735 from Narita getting in after midnight completing 18 hours of travel, I settled into a suite upgrade at the Marriott SkyCity hotel located three minutes by bus outside Hong Kong International on Chek Lap Kok island. With my Cathay Pacific flight leaving in the morning to Taipei, for a fleeting moment I considered changing my flight to one leaving later in the day. Then sensibility cut through the jet lag brain fog.

Hey dummy, you're flying tomorrow on a Cathay Pacific A350.

After a quick 6 hour nap, breakfast was served.

photo cx494 hotel 1

With a nice view of HKG.

photo cx494 hotel 2

For layovers the Marriott is a very nice hotel, with a great buffet breakfast, and in my case a nice upgrade. I'll be back…

No, this is not the Marriott Hotel lobby, this is the airport.

photo cx494 hkg airport

Hong Kong airport is huge but easy to navigate once familiar. Cathay Pacific has multiple lounges; The Wing, The Cabin, The Bridge and The Pier. Today's flight was out of gate 41 next to The Bridge. A quick tram ride after checking in and I was at the lounge.

photo cx494 hkg map

Greeted at entry you can turn left.

photo cx494 lounge left composite

Or right.

photo cx494 lounge right composite

If you go right the dining area is The Bakery.

photo cx494 lounge bakery composite

Or if you turn left the dining area is The Bistro.

photo cx494 lounge bistro composite

Considering just the names; Bistro and Bakery, what time of day was I at this lounge?

They had the same food.

On the left side is the shower area which an attendant allowed me to enter and take a photo.

photo cx494 lounge shower room

The Bridge has tarmac views, is richly appointed with interesting art work as well.



When this reservation was made CX hadn't taken delivery of an A350 nor had any on their schedule. I was originally booked on an A330 with the Cirrus business class seats. Then Cathay put the 350's on their schedule for the summer but not the winter. I checked everyday to see if an A350 would appear on the day of my flight. Then one day there it was. An immediate call to AA and here I was:

photo cx494 plane compositephoto cx494 plane tail

A tweet to celebrate the occassion.

photo cx494 tweet

Underwhelmed.

photo cx494 cabin 1

Don't get me wrong, it is nice but compared to SQ, QR and the next day CI my reaction is, underwhelmed.

photo cx494 cabin 2

Come on you have 16 million color variations to use.

photo cx494 cabin 3

Green and beige.

photo cx494 cabin 4

At least my luggage blended with the decor.

photo cx494 cabin 6

Heading into the lav with a view. Those red lines are on the pavement, not the window.

photo cx494 cabin lav composite

No air nozzle.

photo cx494 cabin vent

The "enhanced" Cirrus business class seat dressed in forest green.

photo cx494 seat 1

These are comfortable seats. I do not have a reference as to the enhancements from prior versions.

photo cx494 seat 2

Even with the monitor extended, this view of leg room reveals plenty of space for a business class suite.

photo cx494 seat 3

There isn't much room under the ottoman for storage other than your shoes.

photo cx494 seat footwell

Big A350 windows. Cathay Pacific installed pull down shades. Mine needed WD40.

photo cx494 seat 4

Privacey is not an issue in these pods.

photo cx494 seat 5

Unless you have a center seat. There are no privacy dividers. On the otherhand, speaking with someone in this seats would be awkward as well.

photo cx494 seats center 1

A look at the bed extender, which I believe is an enhancement as well as the green "locked" for landing light.

photo cx494 seat 6

You have to like the clean panel holding the audio controller, light and seat controls.

photo cx494 seat acc 1

The compartment that holds your headphones as well as electronics.

photo cx494 seat acc store 1photo cx494 seat acc store 2

But the door must flap in the wind when something is plugged in.

photo cx494 seat acc 2

At bed level is another storage compartment.

photo cx494 seat acc store 3

That has a 3kg limit. Whatever that is.

photo cx494 seat acc store 4

Built in coat hanger on the back of the pod in front of you.

photo cx494 seat acc 3

Aisle side armrests must be in the down position for take-off and landing. Nifty water bottle holder, I guess for a short flight it wasn't worthy of being occupied.

photo cx494 seat acc arm rest 1

A closer look at the bed width extender.

photo cx494 seat arm rest 2

The fold out tray is plenty large for work and dining.

photo cx494 seat tray 1photo cx494 seat tray 2

Business class window seats have 2 windows allocated per pod. The problem is, not every row has two full windows.

Row 12

photo cx494 cabin window 12

Row 14 (there is no Row 13, aren't we past that superstition?)

photo cx494 cabin window 15

Row 15.

photo cx494 cabin window 16

Row 19 also had a partially blocked window. So choose 12,16, 17,18 if you can. I was not able to get back in the two row mini cabin as we boarded from the front.

photo cx494 cabin window map

For views like this.

photo cx494 view

Offered before departure, The Cathay Delight. Kiwifruit, coconut milk and a touch of mint. Delicious.

photo cx494 food 1

It's morning, another Cathay Delight for me.

photo cx494 menu bev composite

I can get accustomed to this on a one hour flight. Are you listening United? American? Delta? Nah.

photo cx494 menu food composite

I chose the wok fried Kurobuta pork that was very good.

photo cx494 food 2

Just a touch of spice.

photo cx494 food 3

And a light meringue marshmellow for dessert.

photo cx494 food 4

The IFE monitors were pretty good in the day light. Just a little glare.

photo cx494 ife 1

Another enhancement is being able to have the monitor extended on takeoff and landing.

photo cx494 ife composite

Safety card.

photo cx494 safety card

The flight crew did their job. Sam was the head flight attendant. After all the passengers had boarded but with the door still open as well as the cockpit door open, I wanted to get a photo. Sam was standing in the galley with his head down reading something. I approached and said this word,

"Would"

Before I could say anything else he said no, without looking up. So he is either a mind reader or just didn't care. At the end of the flight I spoke with him before deplaning. He seemed nice enough but the prior incident was in poor taste.

While the aircraft is incredible, this Airbus A350-900 also had that jet fuel smell when the engines started. It's brief but apparently they all do it. 

photo cx494 flight path

Link to reward flying website report
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Verdict

Cathay Pacific

6.9/10
Cabin7.0
Cabin crew6.5
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Meal/catering6.5

Cathay Pacific The Wing - Business Class Section

7.8/10
Comfort8.0
Meal/catering7.5
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Services8.0

Hong Kong - HKG

7.5/10
Efficiency7.5
Access7.5
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5

Taipei - TPE

7.5/10
Efficiency7.5
Access7.5
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5

Conclusion

A perfectly fine 1 hour flight on a brand new aircraft. As Arnold said many years ago, I'll be back.

Information on the route Hong Kong (HKG) Taipei (TPE)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 60 avis concernant 5 compagnies sur la ligne Hong Kong (HKG) → Taipei (TPE).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Cathay Pacific avec 8.4/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 38 minutes.

  More information

2 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 391393 by
    Razza_Pr 215 Comments
    Hello, rewardflying, and thank you for this FR.

    It seems that Cathay's many lounges at Hong Kong Airport are more well-appointed than even their new J-class cabin. Though as a friendly reminder, it's the same airline that spent 18 months doing a brand refresh, incorporating a new livery, and came up with.. well, that. I mean no disrespect for the design team responsible for it, but I just think that their previous livery was already timeless. And to be fair one doesn't choose an airline purely based on livery, does one?

    "The fold out tray is plenty large for work and dining."
    -Fit for a laptop computer, too. Good thing Hong Kong-originated flights aren't affected by the new protectionism measures.. Sorry, I mean electronics ban.

    "I chose the wok fried Kurobuta pork that was very good."
    -The bread looks (somewhat?) stale. Perhaps next time you better pack some of the breads from the lounge's buffet :P

    "He seemed nice enough but the prior incident was in poor taste."
    -Poor taste indeed. But perhaps it's because of the short turnaround time before the aircraft has to return to Hong Kong? Leaving no time for leisurely activities such as dealing with a passenger who wanted to take photo of the A350 cockpit.

    Well, as usual, thank you for publishing your weekly FR. Cheers!
  • Comment 391409 by
    Rewardflying AUTHOR 493 Comments
    Hi Razza_PR, Yes, weekly report. Well for a couple more then I'm on leave for a while!

    Good point about a comparison of their lounges and cabins. I also felt that the 777 first class cabin was nondescript as well. 18 months to change a color, nice work if you can get it I'd say.

    Yes, laptop too. Not to get political as that's not my point, but the news isn't reporting the reasons for this ban, they are going with their typical racist rant. What they aren't mentioning is a leader of the opposition party here in the states fully agreed with this ban once he was briefed on the intelligence and the reasons for implementing the ban. So who knows the real reason behind it. It's tough to get the truth these days.
    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/key-house-democrat-supports-electronics-ban-on-flights-from-eight-muslim-majority-nations-2017-03-21

    So I have 2 more CX A350's scheduled this year. I'll be sure to bring my own bread! Thanks for your comments as always!

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