Review: Cathay Pacific First Class LAX-HKG on the 777-300ER

Introduction

I actually flew this last July 2015 on my way to South Africa, but never got around to posting it just because there’s really not much for me to add that hasn’t been blogged about by other people already.  My travel buddies told me that my angle would be reviewing it as a couple since the majority of the reviews are from single flyers.  So here’s my quick review.

Also, I’m all about perspective.  If this was my first and only First Class experience, then you should read the review with a grain of salt, but now that I’ve tried 7 different First Class products, I feel that’s enough to give this review some credibility.  Here are the ones I’ve tried:

• Cathay Pacific 777-300ER First Class LAX-HKG (this review)
• Etihad A380 First Apartments SYD-AUH
• Etihad A340 First class AUH-NRT
• Emirates 777-300ER First Class CPT-DXB
• Emirates A380 First Class DXB-SFO
• Singapore A380 Suites First Class NRT-LAX
• United First NRT-LAX (so old and terrible that I won’t review – think tape deck for movies)

 

Booking the flight

I had booked this flight nearly 9 months ahead of time.  It was pretty hard finding availability for 2 people back then (I remember only maybe 3 days in June had 2 seat availability.)  It’s apparently much harder now; so good luck.  I had spent 70K Alaska miles per person one-way from LAX-HKG-JNB.  The HKG-JNB portion only had business class seats, which I may review later.

 

Where to sit

I wrote a post already on where you want to sit if you’re flying as a couple.  Read here for it.  By the way, when we flew, all 6 seats were filled.  One female was talking to her companion in first, but she had to go back to business class when we were about to take off.  I wondered how my wife would have felt if there was only 1 seat and I had put her in J.  I try not to think about it.

 

Seat comfort

Out of the 7 First products I’ve tried,  I have to say this one felt the widest.  In the sitting position, it felt the most comfortable.  Then again, I sat in the seating position the longest on this flight since it was a 10AM flight whereas the other flights were night-time flights where I just wanted to get into the bed position ASAP.

When it was in the bed position, I remember it being pretty comfortable as well.  There was a point where my wife and I sat down in it side-by-side.  So because I don’t remember much about it, it must have been fine.

 

Champagne

This was the first time I ever had Krug.  Before that, the most expensive champagne I had was some Veuve, and even then, I didn’t enjoy champagne much due to the bitter Brut taste.  Trust me; Krug IS as delicious as what other bloggers say.  I personally took down 8 glasses and would have had more, but they only stocked 2 bottles on the flight.  They ran out by the time the first meal was over.  I was not a happy camper!

 

Entertainment

I don’t remember too much, but it wasn’t bad.  Oh wait, that’s right.  This was the first time I had seen EDM music (Kaskade’s album) on an airplane, so that was pretty unexpected and cool.  There was no WiFi when I flew it.

 

Meal

I don’t remember much about the actual food, but this was the first time I had caviar, and once again, it’s as awesome as you think it is.  Now, you CAN eat together as a couple.  The tray table folds out or they bring by an extension to let both you and your companion eat together.  I also had the duck noodle soup as a snack; I remember it was okay (which probably says a lot.)

 

Service

I thought the service was good except for the whole running out of champagne part.  The attendants weren’t too pushy (like how I felt with Singapore Suites.)  I also find that when I’m in First or Business, I tend to push the service call more often.  I feel bad in coach, but when I’m up there, if I’m thirsty and there’s no water around me, FLIGHT ATTENDANT CALL BUTTON!

 

Conclusion

If I were to rank all of my First experiences, I’d have to say this one has to be one of my favorites.  While the Emirates shower was awesome and the First Apartments is something that’ll make your friends drool, the overall experience I thought was best on CX.  From having Krug (my favorite) to good food to great pajamas (which I accidentally left on the plane) to solid service, yeah, I think this was my favorite out of all of them.

 

Photos