BOARDING
Welcome to Hong Kong! Today I’ll be flying to Tokyo Narita on Cathay Pacific's A350-1000 in their Business Class cabin. I just arrived in from Singapore and since I had a really tight connection I had to proceed straight to the gate and was unable to check out the lounges.
This was a real shame since I recently got OW Emerald status with BA (probably won't get it next year with all the changes in requirements) and was looking forward to trying out the First Class lounge at HKG. I was however able to board in group 1 and take some photos of the cabin while it was empty.
Boarding began a few minutes behind schedule but was really efficient. Today's aircraft was a 6 year old A350-1000XWB, B-LXD.
The business class cabin has 46 seats layed out in a 1-2-1 configuration across a single cabin.
I chose seat 22K to get a good view of the wing and Trent XWB engine.
The seats are layed out in a reverse herringbone configuration, which allows for easy aisle access.
All the seats are pretty private but nothing compared to their new Aria suites on the 77Ws with closing doors.
Waiting for me at the seat was a pillow and a light blanket.
I was offered a drink and a hot towel.
There were a lot of thunderstorms in the area which caused a delayed pushback of around 20 minutes. The flight time this morning was 4 hours 13 minutes.
CRUISE
Soon after the seatbelt sign turned off and I took look at the menu which had 2 options for main courses. There was only 1 meal served on this short hop to Tokyo right after takeoff.
I decided to go with the halibut which was delicious. They even provide a sachet of chili sauce and a pair of chopsticks.
There were a lot of storage spaces in the seat, which would be really helpful on a longer flight. The unit beside the seat contained a pair of noise cancelling headphones and a bottle of water.
After my meal I decided to get a bit of sleep since it was a short red eye and I had a long day ahead of me (flying to Osaka on JAL's 767 then travelling to Kyoto).
I reclined the seat into a flatbed and got some rest. I really wish the blanket was a bit better, airlines like SQ and Thai used really good blankets on short haul flights as well. I flew Thai the week after from BKK-CGK which was a 3 hour flight and they even provided mattress!
I checked out the IFE which had a good selection of Movies and TV shows and the screen itself was modern and responsive. My favorite part was the external cameras!
I managed to get a couple hours of sleep before I was awoken as it was time to descend into Tokyo. Cathay uses 2 types of seats on regional flights, this is one of them and the other is a 2-2-2 or 2-3-2 recliner on their A330s and 777-300s respectively, which I took from SIN-HKG before connecting onto this flight. I would recommend checking the seat map before you book to make sure you know what you're getting.
We landed into Tokyo Narita around 15 minutes late and since we were one of the first international arrivals of the day, there wasn't too much of a crowd at immigration (I was second in line). My bag came out quick and I was out of the airport in less than 20 minutes.
