This way my positioning flight back to the states from Taipei. I choose Cathay Pacific. It was a good choice.
I did not get a chance to visit the Cathay lounge in TPE airport but it was not for the lack of trying. I actually went to the airport early and was amazed at the number of people traveling. The lines for security were the longest I’ve ever seen. It took almost an hour to make my way through security and passport control. Speaking with a Cathay gate agent, he told me that with all the budget Asia airlines these days, the busiest times are early morning and late evening, which are the times these flights depart TPE. So if you are heading out of TPE, give yourself plenty of time to get to the gate.
This plane was a regional 777-300 with 42 business class seats. The cabin was clean. There is something about the seat colors however that made the cabin look dreary to me. Of course this is just an opinion and matters little for the flight experience.
The seats were very comfortable and probably a notch above a typical regional business class seat. A noticeable difference was the footwell under the seat in front of you. This opening made the seat space seem much larger than normal. The footwell could be used for a carry-on or just to stretch out. This seat was better than the old first class seats of 10-15 years ago before lie flat.
This is a 500 mile flight taking a little more than 1 hour 20 minutes. Some US domestic airlines would probably pass on serving a meal. Not Cathay Pacific. It was impressive to see how the flight attendants coordinated serving breakfast to 42 people in less than 15 minutes.
Were aren’t talking 3 star Michelin here, but the meal was simple, healthy (I had the Chinese offering), tasty and satisfying. Higher expectations are not warranted.
This Cathay Pacific 777-300, B-HNQ, was delivered in July of 2006 and is one of twelve 777-300 series configured for Cathay Pacific regional routes.
This was a good flight. What was most impressive about this flight was the boarding. The flight was scheduled to depart at 8:25AM with boarding at 7:55AM. Apparently the inbound was late so they announced boarding would commence at 8:15. At precisely 8:15 they began boarding. This plane holds almost 400 passengers and from what I could tell it was full. They completed boarding at 8:32, in 17 minutes. The door closed at 8:33 and we pushed back at 8:35 arriving in HKG ahead of schedule. Impressive to say the least.
Nice views near Taichung Taiwan and over the Soko Islands.
link to rewardflying blog for this trip
Thanks for sharing! CX serves a good meal in Business for this short hop between TPE and HKG, but not in Economy, sadly. It's kinda weird that on KA's Economy class between Taiwan and HK, a hot meal will usually be served, but on CX, no such meals.
Thanks for sharing!
Interesting the "discount" airline serves a meal. In the states on a 500 mile flight in Y you're lucky to get a bag of peanuts.
Yeah it really is interesting. But I think, with the recent rebranding to Cathay Dragon, Dragonair's service standards will start to get more on par with CX's, which probably is both a good and bad thing! (Typically, I find KA's crew to be slightly more friendly than CX's)