{"id":14615,"date":"2023-02-14T20:12:10","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T20:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/?p=14615"},"modified":"2023-02-14T20:16:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T20:16:01","slug":"my-review-of-cathay-pacific-a350s-business-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/2023\/02\/14\/my-review-of-cathay-pacific-a350s-business-class\/","title":{"rendered":"My review of Cathay Pacific A350’s business class"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cathay Pacific is probably one of the most renowned airline in the world, and being from China I should have had a lot of chances of flying with them. Strange enough but I haven’t though, and my only experience was with Cathay Dragon<\/em>, a subsidiary through acquisition that mainly focuses on short-haul routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going back home for the first time since 2020, I finally got the opportunity to fly the “real” Cathay by redeeming my Asiamiles. Cathay Pacific is located at Heathrow’s Terminal 3, like most other Oneworld carriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lane is already very long when check-in starts four hours before departure. Fortunately I can use the priority counter which has no queue. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Fast track is available to premium passengers. If you are a frequent Oneworld flyer from T3, you know it is a lounge paradise – there are Cathay Pacific<\/a>, Qantas<\/a>, American Airlines and British Airways to choose from! You can also access the Centurion Lounge<\/a> if you have the Amex Platinum or Centurion card<\/a>, but it can be very busy at peak hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am very familiar with the Cathay Pacific Lounge, and it is my favourite out of the four Oneworld lounges. The days of my BA Gold are numbered, after which I won’t be able to come back for a while…<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

My flight departs from Gate 40, which is farthest in the terminal. I remember being here when I flew Philippine Airlines a few years back (on an error fare).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Cathay’s A350 fleet have both A350-900 and A350-1000 aircrafts. I’m on the latter this time, but I don’t think they differ much in terms of cabin design.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Business class seats are arranged in the herringbone fashion, with a total number of 48. The middle seats:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

As you can imagine, window seats are much more private:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

There is a small storage cupboard next to the control panel, with a socket inside.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

And a much larger storage box below which can fit a pair of shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The amenity bag is nothing to write home about, and the content is minimal. You won’t find earplugs or socks in it.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

IFE:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Surprisingly there are two live TV channels – BBC and CCN. It is a world cup night between England and Wales, and US and Iran. Unfortunately the matches are not being broadcasted.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

And the menu:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Cathay Delight is one of their signature cocktails. However I was told it’s not available so went with their recommendation instead and got a Lemon Tease.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The cauliflower soup is passable:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Followed by the wonton noodles which was a total disaster. I’m not a big fan of Cantonese cuisine, but you can’t blame me for disliking it – the noodles on top are clearly burnt probably due to overheating, and the soup tastes really weird, worse than what you’d expect from instant noodles.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Remember to pick your breakfast choice before going to sleep. The congee is much better, although somehow my shitake mushrooms became ginger slices.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

And the lie-flat bed:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The bed is a tad narrow, but you can lift up a pad on the side to compensate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well I don’t know what more to say. It is certainly not a terrible experience, aside from the really bad wonton noodles, but I can’t really say anything positive about the flight either. I had high expectations – it is an Asian carrier after call – which Cathay failed to meet, and I probably need to try their first class some day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cathay Pacific is probably one of the most renowned airline in the world, and being from China I should have had a lot of chances of flying with them. Strange enough but I haven’t though, and my only experience was with Cathay Dragon, a subsidiary through acquisition that mainly focuses on short-haul routes. Going back … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[136],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14615"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14832,"href":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14615\/revisions\/14832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-test.verylvke.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}