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| Cathay Pacific Business Class seat |
Pre-boarding lounge:
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| Cathay Pacific lounge |
There is an array of lounges for your selection, depending on the location of your boarding gate. I used the Wing’s First Class lounge which comes with a help-yourself pantry featuring sandwiches, pies, and cakes; a sit-down dining room that serves cooked-to-order meals as well as all-day wanton noodles, vegetarian ramen and the famed dan dan noodles (as it turned out, the dan dan noodles did not quite live up to its reputation). There is also a Champagne bar to unwind with a trio of Champagne offerings (Veuve Clicquot, Moet Chandon and Barons de Rothschild); the Haven Bar that pours cocktails, wines, spirits, juices, coffee, Jing teas and more Champagnes; as well as shower suites for in-transit passengers to refreshen up with Jurlique amenities.
The seat:
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| Cathay Pacific Business Class seat control panel |
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| Cathay Pacific Business Class seat storage compartment |
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| Cathay Pacific Business Class seat shoe compartment |
The business class cabin offers 55 seats arranged in diagonal 1 by 2 by 1 configuration for maximum privacy. Each seat is neatly designed with a side control panel for movie selection, seat manipulation and lighting control; a pop-open compartment with a built-in mirror for storage of the head phone; a thermo-sensitive touchscreen 15 inch TV screen to the front; a narrow compartment for stowing hand carries (bigger ones have to go on the overhead compartment during take-off and landing); a shoe compartment below the arm rest; and ample leg room for the 21″ wide seat to transform into an 82″-long flat bed at the push of a button. At that point, all you need is a pillow and a duvet, both provided, to keep you snug and comfortable for a restful sleep.
Food & drink:
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| Cathay Pacific Business Class meal |
3 meals – lunch, dinner and snacks (only available upon request) – were served during my 9.15am flight. Recently, Cathay Pacific’s menu has also started including items proffered by a Hyatt Hotel restaurant in the city of departure. During my flight from Hong Kong, lunch featured a 5-course meal served from a trolley including a delicious dish of stir-fried scallop and prawn with basil and black bean sauce, choy sum with steamed Jasmine rice by chef Lin Shu Tim of One Harbour Road (Grand Hyatt HK). It was teamed with a smoked salmon starter, cheese, fruit, dessert and pralines paired with your choice of Champagne Deutz or a rotating roster of wines (on that note, my wine choice from the promotional wine menu was not available). Served mid-way through flight, dinner was a simpler 3-course affair headlined by mains of crusted Mediterranean seabass with roasted vegetables. If you are feeling peckish in between meals, order a snack – there was beef burger, a prawn dumpling soup, scones and clotted cream afternoon tea set for selection during my trip. Wash them down with beverages like oolong tea, coffee or Hong Kong milk tea.
Service:
Generally, the business class crew is well-trained, polite and eager to please without being intrusive. When requested, a staff even spent 10 minutes of her time patiently walking me through all the compartments and gadgets at my seat. Strangely enough for an international airline, New York Times was not available on my long haul flight from Hong Kong to New York.
Entertainment:
With more than 100 movies, 500 TV shows and a 450-strong music album, there is plenty to do if sleeping is not on your agenda. The Studio CX entertainment system navigates easily and offers a collection of Western Cinema, Chinese Cinema, Asian Cinema, Arthousr, Western Classics and Family programmes sorted by language. For children, there are also games (strategy, board, sports and puzzle) to keep them gamefully occupied.
Flight information:
Cathay Pacific flies 4 times daily from Hong Kong to New York’s JFK airport, and once daily from Hong Kong to Newark. For more information, visit cathaypacific.com.
The writer was upgraded to business class courtesy of Cathay Pacific
BIBIK GOURMAND 