Review of Cathay Pacific flight Sydney → Hong Kong in Economy

Flight Details:
Flight No.: CX110
Flight Route: SYD - HKG
Seat No.: 59K
Aircraft Model: A330-300
Aircraft Reg: B-LAP 

Introduction

Well, it's been more than 10 years since I last flew Cathay Pacific. I remember the last time I did was on a Boeing 747-400, which have been all retired now. Cathay Pacific has been always said that its service is slowly deteriorating, let's see how my flight was and it's up to you guys to say.

Check-in

Departing Terminal: Sydney Terminal 1 (International)
As I have a silver tier in Qantas's frequent flyer program, its equivalent to having a ruby status in the Oneworld alliance, which made picking an emergency exit row free on all Cathay Pacific flights.

We arrived at the airport 2.5 hours prior to departure, which by the way, the flight's been rescheduled (rather than the term 'delay' was what Cathay used) to 9:15 am, 45 minutes later than the orginial scheduled departure time.    

Having a ruby status in the Oneworld alliance also means that your checked bag would become a priority baggage, which is tagged with a 'Buiness Priority Baggage' label.  

Boarding

Boarding Gate: 32
Going through customs and security screening at Sydney airport in the early morning is usually quick. As a more detailed version of the terminal's walkthrough has already been mentioned in another flight report - Qantas Upper Deck Economy, I'm gonna save some space and skip right to boarding.

As part of the upgrade and renovation, most gate areas here at Sydney International have a series of charging ports with seats near them, which makes it very convenient when your device is running out of battery or when you're about to fly with an airline that doesn't have charging ports.  

Boarding was through gate 32 today. It is divided into 3 groups: business class (together with Marco Polo silver and diamond cards holders; as well as Oneworld's sapphire and emerald members), premium economy and finally economy.  

Boarding was very quick as it was a small flight. From what I've observed, the load factor of this flight was approximately 70-80%, which made it so spacious even for economy passengers.  

This was my seat, 59K. As mentioned before, it was an emergency exit row. I was worried that the legroom of this seat could be blocked by the compartment of the aircraft door and hence restricting legroom. Fortunately, the bulging of the door compartment wasn't as large as I thought. I had this concern because the door compartment on the Boeing 747-400s are quite large.

Here are the seat features:
A foldable tray table hidden in the armrest, storable PTV, a controller for the PTV and a charging port for your electronic devices.
The seat itself also has an adjustable headrest.  

the flight

Departure Time (ATD): 0914
We departed 1 minute earlier than the scheduled flight time, which was a good start.
As the runway wasn't busy at that time, we were the first in the queue and were cleared for takeoff very soon. The seatbelt sign however remained switched on for quite a long time, due to continuous turbulence during our climb.

After the seatbelt sign was turned off, inflight service commenced. We were first given a flight meal menu and a choice of drink between apple juice, orange juice and water.   

The menu was in 2 languages - Chinese and English
2 meals were served in this flight. The first one was a breakfast, which was a choice between a chicken and mushroom congee or an omlette served with potato, both included a bread, a yogurt and a fruit box. The second meal was a choice between options: pan fried fish, penne and stir-fried pork with jasmine rice; all of them were served with salami and risoni pasta salad and a piece of bread.

My choice was the omelette. It tasted quite okay. What surprised me wasn't the taste of the food, but rather the number of 'plates' that were offered. I usually fly with Qantas, which the meal only includes a main and a dessert, unlike what Cathay Pacific does.

Now lets talk about the IFE, or inflight entertainment system.
Cathay Pacific's IFE has a very well-designed welcoming screen, in which you first choose your language.

After choosing the language, you'll come to the main page, where you can find numerous entertainment options ranging from movies, TV, games, map, music, news and flight information. Here, we will focus on movies.

Below are the categories of movies, which include Asian, Western, Chinese and more…. press the arrow to navigate through the photos.

The lights were dimmed for a few hours after meal service was completed. During the flight, you can ask for snacks and drinks like coffee, tea, water and juices etc..

One thing good about Cathay Pacific that I noticed was their crew were quite attentive. They often come out to the cabin and check whether anyone needed any assistance or had any request. Another thing is, the lavatories were cleaned, wiped and sprayed with air freshener ar least twice per hour, which made them clean and fresh every time you visit the toilet.

The huge varities of movies made it easy for me to kill a considerable amount of time.
 
About 4 hours prior to landing, the second meal (lunch) was served. Firstly, pack of nuts and a cup of drinks were given. 

Then here come the main meal: stir-fried pork with black pepper, vegetables and jasmine rice, followed by a Movenpick icecream

arrival

We then landed in Hong Kong at 15:12, 2 minutes earlier than the scheduled time. We collected our bags at carousell 12, and as my bag was tagged as priority, I got my bag as soon as I got there