Meals: Cathay Pacific short-haul flights

And more wrap than chicken from my experience. But the bag it’s served in is cute!

Hello tomyam42 –

“I understand that flying Doha-Hong Kong (a nine hour flight) they have recently cancelled any hot food in J!”

There are two daily flights on this route. One is operated by CX, the other by QR. Flight time with CX is 8hrs 45mins and the CX flight departs Doha at 0055 to reach Hong Kong at 1440.

Could you really see any full service airline not serving cold food to business class passengers on a flight of this length and especially one which operates in conjunction with QR, another “five star airline ?”

Where full service airlines are making catering cutbacks is on the shorter regional flights like Hong Kong to Manila/Taipei. The cutbacks chiefly apply to economy class passengers and are aimed at cutting costs so that the likes of CX can be more competitive (on price) with the LCCs.

When LCCs first appeared in Europe some 20 years ago it was thought that no-frills flying wouldn’t be accepted by passengers within Asia because the locals, as SIA told me at the time, “prefer their comfort.”

But SIA and the other LCC critics have been proven wrong.

So, as we are seeing in Europe, one can expect Asian carriers to make similar catering cuts on shorter flights both now and in the years ahead.

Yes I know that passengers often have to travel hours to/from an airport. But as in N America or Europe, economy passengers are learning to eat on the ground either before or after the flight.

AMcWhirter – 02/08/2015 16:09 BST : Could you really see any full service airline not serving cold food to business class passengers on a flight of this length and especially one which operates in conjunction with QR, another “five star airline ?”

Alex, did you mean “hot” food?

In any case, the answer to your question is “yes” – how about the British Airways Club World Sleeper Service? Not just no hot food, no meal at all (save for what even BA describe as a “quick breakfast”)

Indeed Anthony. Although this review would suggest that food is available, and if you want to eat in the lounge get there early or you will miss out all ends up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd7t8b5Eb8E

Hello Ian

You are correct. I did mean to say “hot” rather than “cold.”

Maybe I am mistaken but I would have thought that based on these timings there would have been at least one hot meal onboard, i.e. such as breakfast served towards the end of the flight.

Alex, my sources are impeccable. Fruit, yogurt and a muffin but NO HOT FOOD, they said. I also would have expected a hot breakfast, say dim sum, to be on offer.

As for eating before the flight, imagine one is connecting from a city in Europe like many of the CX code share flights, and that there is only a 60 or 90 minute connection time, most of which is spent trooping around Doha’s vast airport. In that case one may have last eaten several hours before the HK flight.

CX crew and J seats are wonderful but the whole catering offering is third rate at best.

Then again, have you ever had a meal in Business Class – even on CX – that you wouldn’t send back if served in a good restaurant on the ground? Cold appetizers tend to be okay, but normal meat-and-potato-and overcooked veggi main courses are almost always disappointing (however appealing they may be described on the menu). I wish airlines would serve more simple pasta dishes, which tend to re-heat better than the normal entrees.

When the meal trolly rolls down the aisle, I always feel like an animal in a zoo at feeding time. Totally captive, dependent, and grateful for anything that will fill my stomach.