Cathay Pacific – a half-decent airline

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    consult717
    Participant

    I have traveled on Cathay Pacific for over 2 years due to my travels throughout Asia from United States. I travel primarily in business class and have traveled on both long haul and short haul routes. I am not really sure why Cathay is considered a top airline when it cannot and does not compete with any top tier airline i.e, singapore, Emirates, Etihad, etc. To give few examples, their inflight service is very rigid, borderline rude, they never offer an upgrade even if it is available, their food is far away from being decent, it comes in those small plates cramped in and soggy, considering other airlines offer a full menu on proper plates, where as cathay only offers 1-2 dishes, their anytime menu only has two items, none vegetarian. In my last flight which I flew a week back, I asked for a meal to be served and was told that I can only get anytime snacks with a condasending face. I almost didn’t want to communicate with the air crew anymore and this is a HKG-JFK flt. Now comes to upgradation, I just called Cathay to ask for a ticket to be upgraded on miles, I was informed that they do not offer tickets or upgrades on qatar even though it is one world. I gave them at least 8-10 dates to check in the range of 8-12 months down the road and was advised that all dates are not available on cathay, american or british airways. So, I am a bit confused, why should one really travel on Cathay when there really isn’t an upside to it and why it should be considered a top airline.


    Kimi_CDG
    Participant

    Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Mine is quite different though.

    The crew members are generally very nice. I may have seen people a bit cold (never rude though) a couple of times but it has never prevented me from enjoying the flight.
    The seats are great (though strange on the 747) and I like spending time in their numerous lounges in HKG. Though I’m demanding when it comes to quantity, I never had to complain about the food served on board (choice, quality, quantity). Maybe because I love Asian cuisine.

    Last but not least: I love my 24-hour connection in Hong Kong, something my travel agent never understood.

    I never had to request any upgrade so cannot comment about their customer service or upgrade policy.

    In my opinion, Cathay Pacific is an excellent airline because it consistently provides a great service. I’m hardly surprised but always satisfied 🙂


    Flightlevel
    Participant

    Unlucky on that flight, usually CX have very good service, and their competition in Asia is mostly LCC’s and some national legacy airlines so they do have limited catering to compete. I like a glass of wine, or two, on almost every flight even short haul! Asia Miles holders are likely to get upgrades because CX doesn’t like empty seats & upgrade full fare or card holders to fill up the back of the aircraft. Suggest you ask to complete a survey form to pass on your views. Generally they and Singapore airlines have the best cabin service, certainly in economy.


    AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    Only a series of snapshots of flying down under on CX last year and my experiences could not have been more different to yours. Polite, attentive cabin crew, excellent flat-beds, the best in-flight catering I have ever enjoyed and the same for the IFE system. I got to chat to several CSDs during my trip and they were unfailingly interested in what I had to say about the experience of flying with CX and were universally charming. And the Wing at HKIA has to be one of the best lounges anywhere in the world. They even phoned me back in response to an interlining query… Try expecting that from quite a lot of other carriers and you’ll be disappointed.

    All-in-all, CX are worthy of their status as a top-class carrier with a five-star rating as far as I can see.


    CathayLoyalist2
    Participant

    A quick point consult717. I see that if I hover my cursor over the highlighted business class at the beginning of the second line we get a pop up for Virgin!- maybe a coincidence I don’t know. Like the others here I do not recognise the CX you are describing here. An odd bad experience, well we all get that, but over 2 years I find that difficult to believe. You don’t say whether you are an MPC member as MPC members get first crack at operational upgrades. Even though CX is part of one world I have found members of a “particular airline” get access to upgrades as the airline in question puts the interests of its own members first , I get that so not an issue. From time to time I have seen on CX’s website for redemption flights BA flights available but not any other airline in one world. As for meals I fly the HKG-JFK route 3/4 times a year. On each one I have my meal at whatever time I requested it so I cannot understand you being offered only that flexibility for ‘anytime snacks’. As for soggy meals never had one not even in economy. Maybe you have been unlucky or very difficult to please. If CX is half way decent the where does that put most USA airlines?. Incidentally last week I flew Ryanair for the first time with an open mind from Alicante into Stansted. Pushed back bang on time, arrived at the gate at STN bang on time, new aircraft, very clean cabin, very good crew. Even that flight I would rate more than halfway decent.


    esselle
    Participant

    I have just returned from a 5 day trip LHR-HKG-SYD-HKG-MAN on CX in J.

    I am hard to please and easy to annoy, but honestly there is nothing about any aspect of this trip that I would have wished to see improved.


    rferguson
    Participant

    Well it’s great to see an airline other than BA getting ALL the bad wrap this week 🙂

    Hey consult717 – I notice in your post you fly CX between HKG and the US. It’s interesting as there was a post started just a few days ago where (among others) ExecPlatAA said he found the service on CX on US-HKG routes very poor also. And reading other blogs/threads/posts/forums it does seem CX does get a disproportionate amount of slagging on their North American routes. I wander why it is? Less competition on those routes so they feel they are able to offer inferior catering etc? Using US based crew who usually aren’t up to the ‘HK’ Cathay standard?

    I guess we all have different needs/wants/desires out of a flight. The most universal usually being sleep on a fully flat bed with direct aisle access. For the rest it’s very much down to the individual. For me, I like them a lot. There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles really, but their consistency (in my experience) has always been second to none and I like that I know exactly what I am going to get on every sector. Yes, some crew have been better/worse than others which can happen with any carrier but on the whole I am always pleased.

    Saying that, I guess what I like probably goes against the ‘norm’. I always really enjoy my longhaul flights on AA also (comment usually greeted with a ‘what is WRONG with you’). Their new seat is super. But even with the older product (which I could only ever do on a day flight) I enjoyed the inflight service. I thought the catering was also very good and far better than their transatlantic sister airline. And I really enjoyed their crew. Very individual but for every one that was downright dismissive there would be one so genuine, so intuitive, cheeky, engage in banter. I like that. Qantas ranks even higher for me for similar reasons but slicker product.

    On the flipside i’m not a fan of the gulf carriers. Admittedly nearly all my premium cabin experience has been on QR – i’ve not flown EK in a long time although would like to experience it again sometime. I flew EY twice and both legs were a disaster. But back to Qatar – yes – their new seats, amazing. But still too many of the older versions floating about and aircraft substitutions taking place. The catering – WOW. Amazing. On par if not better than BA First class’. But I really struggle with the crews. And i’ve flown a lot of sectors on QR (they always offer great sales and earn me BA TP). For me they seem a little like they are some kind of forced labour. I think the term robots is not pleasant but that’s the feeling I get. Like I am being served by someone that is there because they have to be, that is reading from a script, that is unable to or unwilling to or maybe not allowed to have any form of conversation. I am also crew and so maybe I am a little more sensitive and observant (or critical) of these kind of things. I always have a little test when I fly in a premium cabin on a long haul flight – in the middle of the meal service I go to the bathroom passing through the galley and see how many of the crew I can get an acknowledgement out of. Now admittedly, myself when i’m working a flight and inbetween services I can often be found plonked on my behind on the jumpseat reading a magazine (BT of course lol). But I ALWAYS make a point of when someone enters the galley I at the very least stand up, say hi and ask if I can get them anything. Not all of my colleagues do the same. But on the whole I notice the majority will always acknowledge the customer when someone walked into the galley. At Cathay, AA, Qantas i’ve also found this happens at least some of the time (or in terms of QF almost always). With QR – NEVER. That has been my success rate so far. I can almost guarantee that the moment I walk into that galley three or so young ladies will look directly to the floor or ‘busy’ them self with some inane task. For me it’s a major turn off. So for ME I have always been somewhat perplexed as to why QR is considered a ‘five star airline’. But hey – as the saying goes ‘opinions are like bums. Everyone has one’. 🙂


    icenspice
    Participant

    I will give my recent flight in CX First 9.9 points. I would have awarded a full 10 but they couldn’t offer a simple banana smoothie for breakfast. Instead it had to include pineapple and orange.


    consult717
    Participant

    I am not really a picky traveler, on my long haul flights, I just want to sleep as much as I can, I wrote the review after repeatedly facing the issues on multiple sectors. Usually I prefer Asian based airline primarily they have nice service and are very accommodating but when it happened to me few times then it lead me to believe there is a change in service. I thought may be I just had bad luck but then I spoke to few friends of mine who are based out of HK and they are all business frequent travelers and to my surprise they agreed with me. I can ignore food, interaction or rigidness but when I have traveled over 2 years on long haul and short haul flight frequently and have never been offered an upgrade even when seats were available tells me that either they dont have a way of tracking frequent flyers or they are simply ignoring. I have traveled on Etihad, emirates a lot and almost every other flight I was politely asked in the cabin to be accompanied to a higher class. food wise, cathay is no way near Emirates, QR, etihad or singapore. In all the above mentioned airlines, its almost like a full menu served on proper dining plates like instead of small appetizer dishes. For here is a link of how food is served in Etihad

    http://www.etihad.com/en-us/experience-etihad/on-board/fine-dining/

    and here is how cathay’s food is served in terms of presentation and variety.

    http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/travel-information/inflight/food-and-beverages/wine-and-dine.html

    My biggest pick was not being able to use my miles esp when I have a lot of them. When I spoke to a rep yesterday to book an upgrade to a ticket, to my surprise, she pretty much said that I couldn’t book any upgrades from oct to december on CX, American or British airways. it is highly unlikely that in 3 months, there isn’t one business seat available but let’s say there aren’t any seats available, then I asked if I can book a seat all with my miles on business or first class and the answer was no I cannot. Perhaps it is my experience and as much as I would like to give them a break, I can only go by my experience with CX and so far it is deteriorating very quickly.


    consult717
    Participant

    I am not really a picky traveler, on my long haul flights, I just want to sleep as much as I can, I wrote the review after repeatedly facing the issues on multiple sectors. Usually I prefer Asian based airline primarily they have nice service and are very accommodating but when it happened to me few times then it lead me to believe there is a change in service. I thought may be I just had bad luck but then I spoke to few friends of mine who are based out of HK and they are all business frequent travelers and to my surprise they agreed with me. I can ignore food, interaction or rigidness but when I have traveled over 2 years on long haul and short haul flight frequently and have never been offered an upgrade even when seats were available tells me that either they dont have a way of tracking frequent flyers or they are simply ignoring. I have traveled on Etihad, emirates a lot and almost every other flight I was politely asked in the cabin to be accompanied to a higher class. food wise, cathay is no way near Emirates, QR, etihad or singapore. In all the above mentioned airlines, its almost like a full menu served on proper dining plates like instead of small appetizer dishes. For here is a link of how food is served in Etihad

    http://www.etihad.com/en-us/experience-etihad/on-board/fine-dining/

    and here is how cathay’s food is served in terms of presentation and variety.

    http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/travel-information/inflight/food-and-beverages/wine-and-dine.html

    My biggest pick was not being able to use my miles esp when I have a lot of them. When I spoke to a rep yesterday to book an upgrade to a ticket, to my surprise, she pretty much said that I couldn’t book any upgrades from oct to december on CX, American or British airways. it is highly unlikely that in 3 months, there isn’t one business seat available but let’s say there aren’t any seats available, then I asked if I can book a seat all with my miles on business or first class and the answer was no I cannot. Perhaps it is my experience and as much as I would like to give them a break, I can only go by my experience with CX and so far it is deteriorating very quickly.


    simeoncox
    Participant

    I must agree with Flight Level and Anthony Dunn in that Cathay / Dragon and Singapore / Silkair do provide better cabin service than other Asia-hub airlines. I have found that over the same two-year time frame that cabin service and amenities have been pared back a bit but I am offered and recieive my bubbly when I want it. (Snacks are a different issue entirely, and I must concur with Consult717.) I will fly Cathay over QANTAS, Emirates, Malaysian and even Singapore any day of the week, but must rate Cathay beneath Thai. I’ve never asked or been offered an upgrade ever, even though I am full fare card holder.


    CathayLoyalist2
    Participant

    On the question of snacks they are available between the main meal service/s or instead of on all their long haul sectors in all three or four classes. They of course vary depending on whichever class you are in. Having recently flown to/from both New York and London the Bus Class snack was a cheeseburger, and very good it was to together with an Asian dish. Economy snacks are in the galley and comprise biscuits crisps and fruit. As for upgrades, a somewhat contentious point I know, CX I find are generally very good when it comes to operational upgrades i.e. a cabin is full so they upgrade based on membership level first, then length of loyalty and frequency of travel and maybe a FF from another airline, not a CX regular, who they are trying to entice back. I’ve been with CX for 26 years yet I don’t , expect it as a right but it is nice when it happens. I think I have earnt it. Equally the ‘who you know in the airline still works’ but I can live with that. The real benefit is an upgrade from economy or premium economy up to Business as that is welcome. Business to First not that bothered. If you want an airline that is really stingy look at SQ. I have friends who have been Solitaire for years and like you simoencox are waiting their first upgrade. They are not holding their breath !!


    Osmium12
    Participant

    Not my experience – consistently good service – excellent food in economy and business class and if you travel in economy on a gold card they have always put me in an emergency row – get my vote – Emirates is great for much but not the same personal experience


    donkeyasia
    Participant

    consult717, a popup for MetroBank in the Philippines for ‘traveller’, but this will be dictated by where you are at the time of opening. are you sure it was CX you were fling and, not AA, UA or DL

    Simon Cox-i presume you are talking about Thai 380 experience. TG domestic and regional travel is the worst in Asia IMHO

    All other positive VX comments are spot on.

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