As I neared the final leg of my trip I still had to make one last long-haul flight back from Newark to Hong Kong. I was still hungover just how amazing my previous trip was. I’ll be flying in the Cathay Pacific Business Class Product once again. As I’ve mentioned before, Cathay is one of my go-to airlines as their business class is very much a classic.
Here’s a list of all the legs for this trip:
Manila to Hong Kong: Cathay Pacific Business Class Review
Hong Kong to Milan: Cathay Pacific First Class Review
Milan to Frankfurt: Lufthansa Inter-Europe Business Class Review
Frankfurt to Newark: Lufthansa First Class Review
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Review
Newark to Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Business Class Review
Cathay Pacific The Wing First Class Lounge Review
Cathay Pacific The Pier Business Lounge Review
TL; DR
This flight was basically the hyper remover as it’s immediately after my Lufthansa First Class flight from Frankfurt. I was still ecstatic on how amazing the flight was, so this flight was filled with moments of me calming myself from being too excited from before.
PROS: The aircraft was relatively new and seemed to have a better version of my favorite business class seat, the reverse herringbone seat. Very Impressive meal service.
CONS: There would be better choices for lounges than the Galleries Club Lounge. Slighly Mediocre movie selection
Booking
My flights from Newark to Hong Kong to Manila cost me 85,000 Asia miles in total. For two flights in business class, this was well worth it, especially since both were in business class and that Cathay has always provided a great service no matter how long or how short the flight is.
Check-In
Lounge
Since Cathay doesn’t have a dedicated lounge at Newark Airport, oneworld members and business class passengers are allowed to stay in British Airways’ Galleries Lounge.
The façade of the lounge was plain and somewhat too bland. The sign was rather lacking, but the real value for the lounge is found inside.
The inside of the lounge was quite nice. There were a number of chairs and sofas that also had a large fluffy pillow with them.
There were several seats in the lounge that was relatively large.
Further in was the buffet selection. Bear in mind that the Galleries Lounge had a buffet selection and a sit-down restaurant, reserved for first class passengers of British Airways. Even if I was flying British, The First-Class Dining restaurant was closed during the time that I was there.
There was a mini bar that had relatively nice selection, though not really that impressive.
Here’s the cafeteria-esque portion of the lounge that was near the buffet selection.
The First Class Dining area was a lot more like a restaurant.
On the other side of the lounge, there was a self-service coffee station and a deli bar for the passengers to enjoy.
Lastly, they also had a small workstation with four computers and a printer/copy machine at the end.
All-in-all, the British Airways Galleries Lounge doesn’t pass the quality and comfort that is usually found in every Cathay Pacific Lounge.
Boarding
About 15 minutes before boarding, I left the lounge and headed for the gates. By the time I got to the boarding area, we were just about to start boarding. Being a business class passenger, we asked to board first.
Seat Cabin and Amenities
Cathay Pacific’s Business Class product has one of the most elegant cabins—especially when the mood lighting is on. It’s laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration. I never get tired of this sight. One thing to note is that this plane was one of the newer aircraft that Cathay Pacific recently acquired. It still had that new plane feel to it.
With a 21-inch wide seat that has around 82 inches of legroom, the reverse herringbone seat will always be one of the better business class seats out there. These updated seats feel a bit larger than the old 777 with reverse herringbone seats.
The IFE screen is placed by the foot cubby. It can be pulled away from its place so that it aligns perfectly to the seat.
The seat console has a small area which houses the IFE Remote, the reading light, and seat controls can be found. As I browsed, I didn’t really find any good films to watch, so I hung back and settled with the series there.
Right below the console is a small storage area.
The storage compartment itself is rather small, but it should be enough for a small bag or so.
The pull-out table can be found on the seat console.
On the seat console was another storage compartment. The amenity kit, headphones, a bottle of water, and the menu were all neatly placed right here for the waiting passengers.
It’s interesting because without the partition between seats, both passengers can see what each other was watching. Though when passengers are settled onto their seats, this won’t be much of a problem anymore.
Cathay Pacific’s Amenity Bag is exclusively designed by Seventy Eight Percent.
These in turn had Jurlique products. The Amenities include an eye mask, socks, a dental kit, and ear buds.
The noise cancelling headphones provided are not exactly comfortable, but are really good at keeping the noise at bay.
Menu
Service
As I entered the plane and went to my seat, I was immediately offered a welcome drink. Afterwards, I settled onto my seat and set up my area. Around 15 minutes after boarding, the seatbelt sign was turned on and we began our taxi.
Around 30 minutes after take-off, I went and got a cheese plate. As it was rather late at night and I just want a light meal before I slept.
Unfortunately, the cheese plate wasn’t enough to satisfy me, so I went ahead and got this Prawn and Fish balls with Rice Vermicelli noodles in Laksa broth. It was basically a prawn noodle soup which tasted fantastic. I didn’t finish it, however, since I was going to bed shortly.
They didn’t offer turndown service in business class, so I did my best to make my bed, I’d say I did a pretty good job. With that, I got to sleep for almost six hours.
For breakfast I went for the continental breakfast. It was a bit lacking when It was served but the pastries and the granola were pretty good, and I found that I couldn’t finish it all up. It was very tasty.
Overall Impression
The Cathay Pacific Business Class Product is one of the most classic airline seats in the sky. The reverse herringbone seat is arguably one of the most comfortable business class seats. Complement that with the service that Cathay provides, and you’ll be provided a great experience!
This is always a good option to use your miles on, especially on long haul flights to the U.S.
Check in was quick and it was only a short walk to the British Airways Galleries Lounge.
The lounge was decent. There were a lot of seats to relax on when I arrived. There were also a few interesting facets such as the coffee station and the deli bar. The mini bar was okay, but not impressive, especially after seeing the gargantuan selection found in the Lufthansa First Class Terminal.
The seat itself was great and the flight was especially comfortable.
Take note, However, that this aircraft does not offer any first-class seat. If you want to experience Cathay Pacific in first Class, you will find those flights from JFK.
