The flight
I flew Business Class on a Cathay Pacific 777-300 ER on April 19, 2025. The flight number was CX52.
The check-in
I arrived at Terminal Three two-and-a-half hours before departure. I had downloaded the airline’s app but as I knew I had a “space available upgrade” message on my booking I headed to the airline’s ‘Assistance Desk’ in Zone C.
There was one other customer ahead of me, deep in conversation about the excess baggage fee he was being asked to pay for his multiple suitcases, and after a few minutes I was ushered to a second desk where I was processed quickly.
My bag was booked through to Sydney, I was given a lounge pass and was told the upgrade might happen at the gate.
Boarding
I passed though Security in seven minutes. Unlike a flight I had taken from the same terminal a fortnight earlier, I was asked to take my was laptop out of my bag and place into a separate tray (strange there seems no consistency with this).
A short walk from Security, the Cathay Pacific business lounge is an expansive facility.
It was relatively quiet, with most patrons respectful of others by not engaging in protracted conversations on their phone.
There were sofa-style chairs that looked out onto the runway, functional tables and cubicle-style seating.
Food options included a good range of the usual cooked breakfast items, smoothies, yoghurt and several nut, seed and berry toppings.
Being Easter Saturday, there was an Easter-themed table, with egg tarts, hot-cross buns, “cracked egg muffins” and a bowl of chocolate eggs of various sizes.
There was also a chef’s station cooking a range of Asian and noodle dishes, including a mixed Dim Sum Basket with vegetable dumplings and Thai Coconut and vegetable soup.
I opted for the latter. It was cooked to order, I took it back to my seat – and flipped the tray, tipping the soup all over my shirt and trousers.
A lounge assistant took pity on me and directed me to the shower area, where I did my best to wipe clean the extensive stains with a wet towel.
I did a decent job but anticipated I might be smelling of coconut and coriander for the next 20 hours to Sydney.
Back in my seat I was approached by the lounge host, who said she had heard about my “unfortunate incident” and hoped she could improve my mood by offering me a new ticket in a Business Class seat.
An announcement told us it was time to board, and we walked the short distance to Gate 5.
The seat
Cathay is rolling out its new Aria Suite in Business Class, with new features designed to give passengers more of a private “suite experience”.
However, the 777-300 I flew on featured the existing, older product.
I was welcome onboard by name and shown to my seat, 22D, an aisle seat in a 1-2-1 configuration, that was in a mini-business section of just two rows (eight seats). Further down the cabin was another section of 11 more business rows.
The seat was angled, facing inwards, away from the aisle,
I was welcomed with a drink – water, Taittinger Champagne or orange juice – and my jacket was hung in the storage area.
Waiting in my seat area were a blanket, slippers – which I changed into – and an amenity bag with Bamford (a UK company) toiletries.
The seat felt “wide”, the aisle armrest retracted, there was plenty of legroom and various storage areas of different sizes.
This included a “mini-cupboard”, which stored effective noise-cancelling oversized headphones and a bottle of water and a mirror.
A large console table – comfortably big enough for a laptop – slid seamlessly in and out of its slot and underneath was another sizeable storage area, where I placed my shoes, and a substantial foot cubby.
The PC power points, including a slot for British plugs and USB ports, were easy to find and the seat controls were simple to work.
The IFE was operated by a slow-loading touchscreen or a bulky handset, which dated the product somewhat.
The service
The lunch menu was very appetising, with a mix of international and Asian options.
There were three starters, six main courses and three desserts, including a cheese board.
After being served a salmon tartare amuse bouche, I went for poached prawns with spiced horseradish and tomato sauce, baby gem lettuce, sieved egg and avocado, followed by a main of fish ball and shrimp ball noodle soup with cabbage and choy sum (a dish that was available on request throughout the flight, along with a beef burger, pizza slices and a mini-tub of Haagen Dazs ice cream).
To complete dinner, a member of the crew offered me a selection from a box of pralines.
After lunch I laid my seat into a flat-bed position and put in my air pods to drown out the heavy snoring of the passenger opposite.
Free for Business and Premium passengers, the onboard WIFI was easy to connect to, and was extremely efficient with little buffering.
I spent much of the flight sending WhatsApp messages or checking emails and, being a Saturday afternoon, I was able to enjoy switching between watching a live YouTube streaming of the cricket from Hove and a football commentary on Talksport radio.
The IFE, with a catch-release flip-out screen, featured a good range of recent movies such as Wicked, The Brutalist, Baby Girl, the cartoonish Robbie Williams tribute, Better Man, and the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown.
The line-up of TV series box sets included The White Lotus, Yellowstone and Adolescence.
Passengers were able to keep watching the screen during both the take-off and landing.
I was pleased to see the airline still has an inflight magazine, Cathay, which carries destination features and hotel reviews as well as the usual Shopping section.
The thin Bamford mattress (easy to attach to the seat) and light duvet with a cover were both of a high quality and extremely comfortable.
When I put the seat into lie-flat mode and settled down for a few hours’ sleep it felt like I was nestling into a good-quality bed.
The verdict
Despite several periods of turbulence, this was a very enjoyable flight and as comfortable as you could want on an 11-hour-30-minute flight.
The staff were helpful and attentive, with plenty of smiles. At one point early on, there was a conflab between two attendants who seemed concerned I had not been provided with a pillow – until I told them it was down by my feet.
The temperature in the cabin was perfect and added to the comfort factor – I didn’t once need to use my blanket or peel off my hoodie.
I arrived in Hong Kong feeling refreshed and ready for the next, much longer leg (almost 10 hours) to Sydney.
cathaypacific.com
