After a walk around the Bradley terminal and a look at the duty-free liquor prices (pretty good actually for some of the higher end whiskey), it was time for our flight to Hong Kong in Cathay Pacific First Class. I booked these seats for 145k Asia Miles plus around $200 in fees back in April 2024 when a bunch of space was released on several Cathay flights. The LAX flight worked better for us than the JFK flight because it linked up well with the connection to Bali. Adding the business class connection actually lowered the overall cost per ticket from 163k to 145k.

Cathay Pacific First Class is in two rows at the very front of the aircraft in a 1-1-1 configuration. There’s a wall between the two seats on the left (the A seats) and the two seats in the center (the D seats). The center seats are open on their right and the two seats on the right (the K seats) are open to their left but there’s a wraparound piece of the seat which makes it hard to see anyone else. My wife had 1D and I had 1K so we could still communicate if we wanted to.

We boarded first. Well, we tried to, but a very slow lady who I suppose had pre-boarded was in front of us on the jetway so it took a bit longer. We finally came into the cabin and got to take a look at the seats. You can see how wide the seat is from the picture.

CX881 B777-300ER LAX-HKG
Scheduled: 23:20-07:20 (+2 days)
Actual: 23:17-06:59 (+2 days)

The lovely flight attendant brought us pajamas and an amenity kit and asked for our pre-departure beverage preference. I asked if they were pouring the Krug on the ground and she said yes so I obviously went with that. While it was good, I think I preferred the Taittinger in the Qantas Lounge.

The seat had Bose headphones waiting for us and lots of storage. I was able to put my backpack in the closet behind the video screen and my carry-on suitcase under the footrest.

The Bamford amenity kit was well-stocked.

I decided to put on my PJs while the rest of the passengers were still boarding. They were super comfy.

Our champagne arrived with mixed nuts. There was a refreshing towel and some cold herbal tea as well. We had a nice little note from the flight crew welcoming us by name.

My wife and I toasted our good fortune to be flying such a great route and airline.

The in flight entertainment screen could slide over to face the seat or remain on the other side to allow for a buddy seat diner. There was a handheld remote where you could also display things such as the camera or moving map separately.

As boarding finished up, the Aussie pilot came over the intercom and let us know the flight time would be around 15:07. I had some more champagne as we taxied out to the busy LAX late night runway.

Here’s the menu and wine list for the flight. It didn’t look all that great to me at first.

Effectively, you could have the Chinese or Western meal (or mix and match), but there were only two meat options, a Chinese chicken dish or Western veal dish with no beef or fish option. I suppose they think some people will sleep after takeoff and they focus the menu on the midflight light meal options and breakfast, but for First Class, it looked a bit light to me.

After a 20 minute taxi, we were finally wheels up around 23:40 and headed northwest up the coast of California. Our initial climb-out was smooth.

I had been watching the movie Conclave during our taxi and takeoff. The in-flight entertainment system had lots of options and the touch screen was very responsive. There was also a camera, although almost the entire flight was in darkness, but no live TV which was disappointing as I was hoping to watch some Premier League soccer on Sport24, which several international airlines have access to through their live TV options. We did get free Wi-Fi in First Class and it was fast enough to watch some of the matches on my phone later in the flight.

I decided on the Chinese meal. Service started with an amuse bouche and I tried the chardonnay.

Next up was the caviar service. While I’ve only really had caviar on planes, I do enjoy it as a treat.

I got a refill on my Krug and moved on to the shrimp appetizer which was pretty basic but tasty. Incidentally, I found the Krug tasted better in the air than on the ground for some reason. Sorry about the lighting in the next few pics, but they had put on the evening mood lighting in the cabin.

Next up was supposed to be the pork soup, however, it got a bit turbulent and the flight attendant suggested I have the chicken until the air was a bit smoother. I agreed as I didn’t need hot soup spilling all over me. By this point, my wife had already surrendered to her drowsiness and had the flight attendant make up her bed after the caviar course.

The chicken was excellent. It reminded me a bit of Singapore chicken rice that we had on Singapore Airlines last year (and in Singapore). The chicken was not dry at all and the sauce was delicious. At that point, the turbulence got a bit worse and I decided that being quite full, I would skip the soup altogether and just finish with some fruit. By now, I was watching The Apprentice, which was surprisingly good (whichever side of the aisle you’re on).

At this point, the turbulence got so bad that the flight attendants had to take their seats. I was left with several glasses and at one point, my wine glass fell over. Thankfully, only a bit of wine was left in the glass which spilled on my PJs. I ended up basically balling up everything on my tray table into the tablecloth while I waited out the turbulence. For some reason, we were flying at 25,000 feet which seemed very low for a transpacific flight.

Once we were finally out of the turbulence, we climbed up to our cruising altitude and I was able to visit the restroom and get ready for bed. The flight attendant made up my bed while I was in the restroom. They even left me some pillow spray.

The bed was super comfortable and I managed to sleep about four hours. I woke up a bit hungry so I ordered the pork noodle soup which takes about 20 minutes to prepare. I watched the end of the Arsenal-West Ham match on my phone and enjoyed the West Ham win which helped Liverpool.

I also decided to try the Cathay delight drink which I really enjoyed.

I ended up going back to sleep for a couple of hours and woke up with about four hours left until we landed. My wife finally woke up after about eight hours and said that this was the best airplane bed she’s ever had. I agree with her assessment.

As I waited for breakfast, I watched Juror #2, the recent Clint Eastwood directed movie that was filmed in Georgia. It was decent although a bit far-fetched.

For breakfast, I started with fruit and pastries and another Cathay delight.

I moved on to the yogurt with coconut.

At this point, I wasn’t very hungry for a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. so I went with the frittata instead. It was OK, but I probably should have had at least the freshly scrambled eggs instead. Sorry for the shadow here.

I ordered a latte. It’s always nice when you can get espresso-based drinks in the sky.

As we began our approach into Hong Kong, I watched a couple of episodes of Silo season 2 on my iPad. We touched down at 6:52 on a cloudy Sunday morning in Hong Kong and had a short taxi to our gate.

The First Class arrival process in Hong Kong leaves a lot to be desired. We were just herded into transfer security with everyone else. There was no fast track or premium lane. It took about 1/2 hour to clear security and we then took the train up to the higher numbered gates to visit the Pier First Class Lounge which was closer to our gate. A full review of that will be in the next post.

Overall, I was really glad we got to try Cathay Pacific First Class and would definitely try and fly it again if we were headed to Asia. The food, drinks, service and seat were all excellent and worthy of international first class. The only downside was lack of any ground service at either end.

Up Next: Cathay Pacific The Pier First Class Lounge HKG Review

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