Cathay Pacific

[Wesley]

Can anyone tell me anything good or bad about Cathay Pacific flights. Into out of Bkk, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Philippines.

Wes

It's all good. You can't go wrong with CX.

[1PR4BKK]

I am taking my first flight on Cathay Pacific in September 2008 out of JFK. I am anxious about the flight myself. IтАЩve heard good things about CP but I guess I will have the opportunity to judge for myself soon.

[GWMinUS]

I will be very negative here.
I have always hear good thing about Cathy Pacific.
Flew CP from Los Angeles to Hong Kong and then on to Manila in March.

I was not impressed. It was in Coach and packed.
The seats where narrow and they did not recline. Only shifted or slid down, so you really could not get comfortable.
The video at my seat got TV but none of the Movies. The Arab guy in front of me was really pissed. His monitor got nothing but music.
I admitted the Senior Flight Attendant had the Computer rest and offer to move him. But why should that be??
The food was mixed. And the "snacks" between meals where better than what they served.

SO, never again!!!
Take EVA or Singapore and enjoy your flight!!!

George

I've taken it twice and found the service well exceeding Eva. I'm taking CP again in a few weeks.

[1PR4BKK]

I will be very negative here. I was not impressed. It was in Coach and packed. The seats where narrow and they did not recline. Only shifted or slid down, so you really could not get comfortable....SO, never again!!!
Take EVA or Singapore and enjoy your flight!!!
George

OMG...Are you saying that for such very long flights the seats in Coach do not recline? That sounds barbaric. No wonder I only paid $1,068 USD for my upcoming flight in September out of JFK. Too good to be true I guess.

Of course the seats recline, don't listen to him.

Check out the following site for all the stats:

http://www.seatguru.com/charts/intl_economy.php

[Wesley]

If you are planning to fly a lot with them, is it worth getting the Marco polo Benefits, Flyer Miles extra service etc. Its 50 Bucks but it signs you up in Asia FFM plan then at seems to cover almost everything that fly in SE Asia. for Flyer Miles. Comes in handy for extra luggage free flight within SE Asia etc. What do you think.

As to the reclining seats, I think I have had flights with every line that had some bad seats occasionally. I never found that to be true for the whole fleet. I have had some Delta flights that were Horrible then fly back on one with all the comforts of home. I think that is a hit and miss thing with any Airline, Since most of it was positive I am looking at the Marco Polo Club since I will be in and out of SE Asia often. Short.rt Jumps To Thailand I hope are really often. Sounds like Sunee needs the help LOL.

I hear that Sunnee is down, are the rest of the bars doing good, or is it a Sunnee problem with the Police and regulations.

Wes

[1PR4BKK]

Of course the seats recline, don't listen to him.

Check out the following site for all the stats:

http://www.seatguru.com/charts/intl_economy.php

Thanks Mr. Quisp for the great reference resource. I do like that the seats have Power Ports so I can use my laptop and PSP during the long flights.

[gumblebee]

The seats did not recline. Only shifted or slid down, so you really could not get comfortable.


Of course the seats recline, don't listen to him.

I'm afraid George is correct : Cathay Pacific announced their new economy seats do not recline the traditional way, into your rear neighbour's personal space, but let you slide forwards instead. Might depend on the exact airplane.

This is not necessarily a disadvantage, and should alleviate the reclining wars in the economy cabins (reclining would not be such an issue if everybody would recline together, but many people don't like to recline, or don't enjoy having their personal space encroached, or having their knees crushed).

Seatguru is an excellent source of information indeed, you might also like to take a look at the forums on Skytrax (http://http://www.airlinequality.com/main/forum.htm)

I'm afraid George is correct :


I usually am gumblebee, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was that I said in this thread, that I was correct about. :iconbiggrin:


George.

If you are planning to fly a lot with them, is it worth getting the Marco polo Benefits, Flyer Miles extra service etc. Its 50 Bucks but it signs you up in Asia FFM plan then at seems to cover almost everything that fly in SE Asia. for Flyer Miles. Comes in handy for extra luggage free flight within SE Asia etc. What do you think. ...

I settled on Cathay Pacific as my preferred airline a couple of years ago and have the Marco Polo membership. You can join the "Asia Miles" frequent flyer club www.asiamiles.com (http://www.asiamiles.com) free of charge (I think) so you don't really need the Marco Polo Club for miles. There are 2 advantages I get from the MP Club. One is that I get to use the Business Class lines when checking in and boarding so I don't have to wait in line with all the riff-raff. The other advantage I get from flying long haul from San Francisco I get enough miles after 2 trips a year to get bumped into the second tier which gives me free lounge access. And it's pretty nice to be able to take a shower when I get to Hong Kong after a 15 hr flight.
If you're only flying short haul you'll probably never get enough miles or sectors in a year to get a good advantage out of the MP Club. The $50 is only a one time fee, not annual.

As for the seat issue it's a mixed bag for me. When you want to recline the "seat" pad, where you put your butt, scoots out and the back pad scoots down and angles out. It actually does have the same angles as a reclining seat but it sits in a hard shell so the back doesnt go into the space of the person behind you. This is great because you don't end up with some jerk in front of you with his head in your lap when you're trying to eat. You do have to reposition yourself a bit to get comfortable. The downside to the new design is the literature pocket is now under your legs instead of the back of the seat in front and it's very hard to use. Now there's really no easy place to stick all your little papers/menus/customs forms/trash etc. Also they did away with the footrest so you can't put your feet up.
Personally I think the change is more positive than negative. You can go to the Cathay website to see what the seats look like. (Take a look at the Business Class seats!)

The other neat improvement is the video system which is now video on demand so you can watch any show or movie they have at any time and stop, foward, rewind as you wish. But it is a little bit buggy and sometimes freezes up like a computer with too little RAM. An impatient person might try to press the buttons too fast and get frustrated when things don't happen right away. I noticed a lot of people having trouble getting used to it. Instructions were only in English and Chinese and that might be some of the problem.

The long haul jets have been upgraded. Some of the short haul ones have not. My flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong was on an old style jet.

[Wesley]

I do plan to make the trip from the East Coast of the USA to SE Asia once a year, then short jumps to the rest of SE Asia from Manila of Cebu. Once in the area and with a once a year trip I should be able to get a free trip to Thailand Occasionally. At your advice and the showerтАж I was ready to spend the 50 for the club not to mention all the other things that would make a one time fee worth it. You had great information and I made some definite decisions based on your advice. If I join M.P. I am automatically put in the Asia FFP. That is a real Plus for me since I may be flying often from Cebu to Manila. Also often as I can get away from Cebu or Manila to Thailand. The prices there are good and the dollar is maintaining a good stand against the rest of the Asian market. IтАЩm not sure why but it is still up around 40 to 41 in the Philippines. Down from about 50. The rest of Asia fell from 50 to 30 or 31, but in 98 it was 22 so itтАЩs not like we have lost anything there, the dollar most likely corrected itself since it was 22 before the market fall in the late 90's

So, Cathay Pacific and Marco Polo it is,

Thanks again to all of you. You certainly make a newbieтАЩs life easy. The first time you guys helped I had the time of my life in Thailand after I thought gay life was over at 45. This board and PG's board has been a great asset to many people over the years and I have benefited greatly myself.

[GWMinUS]

I am back.
If you go to Seat Guru you will find this...

"Also note that the economy seats do not truly recline; the seats slide forward and the seat backs slide down."

I found this set up very akward. I was difficult to get the seat in a good position to sleep.
But to each their own.
In the future I will pay the extra fare for Upgraded Economy. EVA, Singapore, and supposedly Thai offer this.

AHHHH Time to start thinking about flights in January. MY GOD, I will have to cash in my CD to pay the new fares!!!

Cheers,
The Other George

[Wesley]

The Marco polo Club may help to get the economy upgrade if the fight ti not to full, you never know, depends on what mood their in and who it is doing the bookings at check in. The seats do seem awkward

Wesley