[Anonymous]

[scott66]

CX 252 LHR -> HKG

After last year’s challenge from a Hong Kong contributor to compare Cathay’s Business to BA’s Club World here’s the result, slightly delayed as the text had been left in the back of the laptop.

I was met at Cathay’s checkin by wonderful warm and friendly agent who confirmed my seats through to my final destination, arranging to have a special piece of luggage hand carried to the plane, and reassuring me that I could check the piece was on the plane for my onward leg of the journey. As point of greeting the checkin agent was a superb introduction to Cathay. I should note there is no extra charge for reserving a seat on booking for non status passengers.

Miracles and good fortune continued, at security there was one person in front, again the staff were pleasant and helpful. Having negocciated the maze of duty free, the Cathay lounge in area C was easy to find. There is an entrance lobby from which a lift takes one up a floor to the lounge reception, again I was warmly welcomed and directed past the wash rooms to the business lounge on the right. Inside it was comfortable with a good view of the south runway. There was a good selection of pastries, fresh fruit, cooked english in addition to the by now well publicised noodle bar. Drinks ranged from a coffee machine, fruit juices, a selection of still wines (how nice to see a muscadet) sparklers were Prosecco and a really good Tourraine. The lounge, although tiny compared to Galleries felt spacious and really was an oasis of calm. A great place to relax, tie up some loose ends and prepare for the journey.

The departure gate was a ten minute walk from the lounge, premium passengers can board at any time once called. On boarding, again I was met with a warm smile and directed to my seat upstairs, at the top of the stairs, I was welcomed aboard and shown to my seat, once comfortable my jacket was taken away and hung up.

So, the seat….. the 12.30 flight is the only Cathay flight from Heathrow still served by ‘The Queen Of The Skies’, the rack seat. I don’t doubt this seat has been done to death, I can attest to the fact that the average bear would have difficulty fitting into this seat. It’s horses for courses, if it’s reclined privacy and isle access you want this is your seat. Me, it’s a little too tight. I’ve just bought a new 17″ MacBook (has any one else notice that one’s eyesight gets worse as the grey hairs start appearing), there really is only just enough room to work on it. With the seat in the upright position, eye contact and conversation with other passengers is possible. If you recline the seat it does get wider at the shoulders.

Once settled into my rack, I was offered a drink, champagne, Billecart Salmon – a favourite of my wine guru, I have to say I’m warming to it, smooth, not too sharp and nicely balanced. The other notable point on the seat is the 3 point seat belt, not entirely obvious, the shoulder strap comes out of the cushion of the seat, over your fore shoulder to clip into the lap strap, the crew are very aware this is a unique arrangement and check everyone before take offOn this occasion we were beaten to the end of the runway by the Thai flight, but take off was pretty much on time. Taking off into the prevailing wind, we swung right over Herts and Essex, lunch service began over the dutch coast. The generous distribution of the Billecart continued.

Starters:

Whiskey Smoked Loch Fyne Salmon, apple celeriac. Delicious.

The Mains:

A little note; some of us may be familiar with the practice of browsing the menu and making a selection, here we were given a beautifully presented menu, but were able to make a choice from the trolley. Back to the menu.

Seared herb beef fillet with horseraddish parsely sauce, celeriac (that word again – is it trending on twitter?) mash.

Deep fried prawn with Szechuanese chilli sauce, steamed rice and pak choy etc.

Pan seared corn fed chicken with new potatoes

Wild mushroom ravioli with sun blushed tomato and mascarpone sauce.

For the sake of fair comparison, I opted for the beef. To remind you how it works, the trolley with a selection of dishes is wheeled up the front of the cabin (if you want first dibs, sit at the front). the options on the trolley were refreshed as and when required. Ten minutes later, I’m offer my go on the selection, the beef, it was seared, as I cut into it it was evenly pink – perfect. We, Brits, do bread the best beef cattle in the world, but Cathay do the best airline steak. I need to mention the prawns smelt delicious as they went past.

The wine choice, again I’m getting drawn in with a little twist here, Whites – a Cote Chalonnaise or a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Reds – haut Medoc Cru Bourgeois (Ch. Hanteillan), a Barossa Shiraz 2008 or their featured wine from the Rhone Valley. I choose the Claret, unimpressive initially, but it improved greatly with time. Rather than using short steam thimbles, the wine was pored into something similar to Reidel stemless glasses.

Cheese and port followed, I stuck with the ever improving Claret, finally tea, coffee, or chinese tea was offered. I opted for the chinese, a refreshing way to round off lunch, completed just west of Riga

During lunch the cabin crew were engaging and friendly there appeared to be a senior member leading the service and two others assisting, but all working well together.

There was a huge selection of films on the IFE, alas, nothing I could find of interest, although I did notice the screen was larger than other carriers, for those seeking that final layer of privacy, the screen is the visual ‘door closed’.

Reclining the seat flat provided a much improved feeling of openess and space around the head and shoulders, the bed is plenty long enough. Now would be a good time to mention the duvet. The genuine article, not a blanket but a real duvet, soft, warm and very, very long. Despite the comfort, sleep evaded me, I went in search of Cathay’s signature mocktail – an Oriental Breeze, a refreshing blend of sour plum tea and cranberry juice, aside from the mystical health benefits of cranberry juice, I’d go as far as to recommend this as a must.

Through out the journey the staff were attentive and busy, on the look out for passengers that might need something, but not intrusive.

When breakfast came around, it did not disappoint, selection of tropical fruit to start, I missed out the cereals and yoghurt, followed by a spectacular main course – Asparagus and mushroom frittata with back bacon, Lyonnaise potatoes, sauteed mushrooms and Roma tomato. Again the breakfast choice was from the trolley, Cathay are so good at understanding the visual aspect of food, other options were apple and raison pancakes with kassler ham or Congee with chicken and black mushrooms. The sad thing about all of this is breakfast on a plane is never going to be the same again.

Once breakfast had been cleared we began our descent into Hong Kong, looping around the Island and approaching from the east, landing was ‘magic carpet’ smooth arriving 20 mins early, allowing plenty of time to navigate to my onward connection.

In summary I’d find it hard to fault the experience, the much criticised rack seat comes into it’s own on a night flight, it’s primarily a bed that folds up to a seat.

It’s easy to put this experience down to a premium price product, however this booking beat my preferred Far Eastern carrier, Thai by £100 and the two direct carriers to my final destination by £1200. I’ve taken the challenge I have to admit it’s great experience.Given the choice again would I fly Cathay or BA. Next time I’m out this way, I’d love it to be Cathay

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