Everything was expected, nothing stands out. The silly practice of only enabling the inflight Wi-Fi after half an hours after take off and switching off within half an hour of landing is puzzling. Why?? It's like there is no technical common sense within Cathay.
The meat-and-rice combination was a good idea, but the food could use some improvement. The meat looked a bit mushy and almost like ground meat, which wasn’t very appetizing, and the flavor was just average. Other than that, everything else was great.
This review is based on other Asian airlines I used in the past year. Food going to Malaysia was bland and unappealing. Food coming from Malaysia back to the US was much, much better - tastier. Economy seats were not as spacious as the Airbus planes. Coming back from HKG, we were on a new Boeing plane and seats were very narrow, hard and extremely uncomfortable despite the fact we sat in the exit row. No offers for water in between meals though available in the galley. No garbage pickup. Movies were limited. All in all, flying Cathay seemed like flying a budget airline. Crew was pleasant and accommodating.
The staff from beginning to end we're friendly and helpful. The food and beverages were quite good (but see the comment below). I also liked their entertainment options, as we'll as their frequent attention to the airplane restrooms. Here are the reasons this is not a 5-star review: - You have to pay for WiFi on the plane unless you have some level of seat upgrade. - CP sent me a warning that the name I entered to book didn't match my passport. True, but the form for entering my name didn't allow for anything but a middle initial. This lead to a lot of chats, phone calls and stress before finding out at the ticket counter that it didn't matter. CP has modified their notice to now tell you this key bit of info. - After consuming a chicken dinner they offered (Kathmandu to Hong Kong), I developed symptoms entirely consistent with salmonella, beginning about 6 hours later. There were some odd things about the serving of this meal, too. Our row was the last one served, and we were given a tray without the entree on it. About 10 minutes later the stewardess came by and said they only had one chicken meal left. My seat mate and I decided he would have the lamb and I would take the chicken. I think I lost. I suspect that this entree was left over from an earlier flight and they were scrambling to get the last row fed. My seat mate and I were the last two to receive our entrees. I am not accusing CP of giving me a contaminated meal - just that the onset and progress of symptoms closely match those of salmonella poisoning. I opted out of the first meal on the next flight 13 hours later, but was fine after that.
Flight from Hong Kong to LAX was late, the plane was grubby, overcrowded and hot. I recently flew Starlux and that was a MUCH better experience.
The bed was alright in business class. Food variety and quality were not up to the mark compared to the business class airfare.
Great service from crews and delicious dishes, snacks and drinks. Egg tarts and local dimsum are delicious.
It as great, my in flight entertainment was malfunctioning though.
Not impressed with check in desk staff at Vancouver airport. Not a professional mind service and not cared or tried to help. Don’t think I would fly with them again
One of the worst flight in business class by qatar airways and I’m no stranger with qatar airways businesses class, I travelled with the extensively in the past 12 years
