Total Score: 16.5/20

Service 4/5

Food 4/5

Seat 4.5/5

Amenities and IFE 4/5

Flight Number CX 675

Departure from Hong Kong at 01:10 AM

Seat 12A

I have flown Cathay business class many times before, however this was my first time to fly their newest aircraft, the A350 on one of their newer routes from Hong Kong to Tel Aviv. 

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Boarding

I arrived at the gate about two minutes before the scheduled boarding time to find an already long business class line to board the plane. 

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After just a few minutes in line, I hurried down the jetway only to be randomly selected for a secondary security screening along with one of every three passengers.  This was just a momentary delay and I was in my seat a minute or two later.

Cabin and Seat

While Cathay didn’t make any major changes to the business class cabin on this aircraft, it certainly looks fresh and modern compared to their older aircraft.  The A350-1000 has one large business class cabin with a total of 46 reverse herringbone seats across 12 rows. 

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One noticeable difference between this and Cathay’s older cabins was the lack of artwork all older business cabins have at the front and back of the cabin…I’m not sure why Cathay decided to remove them.  Like all reverse herringbone layouts, the window seats are the best for individuals while the middle seats are better for couples.  As expected, the business class cabin was quite full on this flight with only one seat unoccupied. 

The seats themselves are similar to the older Cathay seats with a few noticeably nicer features. 

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While the triangular table, compartment above it, and dining table are all virtually the same, Cathay has an improved IFE system and controls, as well as an additional large storage compartment next to the seat. 

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As with the older Cathay seats, I found this seat to be quite comfortable sitting upright and managed to have a great sleep with the seat in bed mode.  The A350 Cathay business class seat is one of my favorite across the board! 

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My one complaint regarding this seat is with Cathay’s placement of the headphone plug.  It was placed in such a way that many adaptors to allow passengers to use their own headphones won’t fit.  I was thus forced to use Cathay’s inferior headphones rather than the Bose I travel with.  This was not the end of the world, but I was not too pleased and surprisingly never had this issue on another aircraft in any cabin. 

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Food

On this 11 hour overnight flight, we were served two meals, dinner and breakfast.  Since this was a very late departure, Cathay offered a full dinner service as well as an express meal for those who want a small meal and to get to sleep.  I was excited to try the food on offer though almost completely missed the meal service as I dozed off right after takeoff…I guess the seat really was comfortable!

Thankfully I managed to wake up as the meal service was still going on and was able to order some food before going to sleep.  The menu for dinner read as follows:

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The appetizer consisted of crackers and break with some dips as well as a small bowl of berries.  Not the most exciting appetizer, but didn’t taste bad either. 

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I ordered the beef brisket as my main dish which was good enough, though definitely not one of my top business class meals. 

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For dessert there was a cheese plate, though no sweets offered which was surprising, though I was happy to put away my tray table and get some sleep.

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I was woken up for breakfast about two hours before landing. The menu read as follows:

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The meal started with a bowl of fresh fruit, muesli and a selection of breads and pastries.  Surprisingly this was better than the dinner appetizer on the flight! 

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For the main course I ordered the dim sum selection which was actually quite good as was a cappuccino and juice to go with it. 

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While I am usually unimpressed with airplane breakfasts, this one was particularly good and I would have gladly gone for second’s!

Service and Amenities

After being welcomed onto the plane, I was offered a welcome drink, hot towel and amenity kit.  I find the Cathay amenity kits to be a bit underwhelming, though the champagne and hot towel are always a nice way to begin a long flight.

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Left on each seat were a heavenly pillow and blanket which were the best I can recall getting in business class. Each business class passenger receives a pair of decent quality noise canceling headphones as well which were just okay.

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Meal service began immediately after takeoff which was one of the fastest meals I can recall which allowed me to get to sleep as quickly as possible.  The crew were great in making the process quick for everyone trying to get to sleep as soon as possible.  The breakfast service was at a nice slow pace and once again the crew were very friendly and helped me in making my food and drink selections.

While I had limited interaction with the crew being in a full business cabin on an overnight flight, I was left with an overall good impression of the Cathay crew on this flight. 

Bottom Line

Cathay Pacific’s relatively new A350 business class is a great overall product with one of my favorite seats, and good service, amenities and of course food.  This was one of my best business class flights and I’d be happy to fly with them again.    

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