I know. I’m always late to the game, and this Cathay Pacific 777-300ER business class review is something that I should’ve done years ago.
Long story short, it’s every bit as good as you’ve heard. The food is excellent, the cabin crews are phenomenal, and the seats aren’t half bad either. The only issue I had was setting my expectations a bit too high. I mean, it was good. But not that good.
CX865
New York (JFK) – Vancouver, BC (YVR)
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Aircraft: 777-367ER
Registration: B-KPC
Duration: 5 hours 42 minutes
Seat: 18K (business class)
Cathay Pacific 777-300ER side view illustration by Norebbo.comOur route from JFK to YVR this evening as CX865.
My full review of Cathay Pacific 777-300ER business class (New York to Vancouver)
Can you believe that I successfully managed to put together a Cathay Pacific business class review video that came in less than 14 minutes?
Depending on who you ask, this is easily one of the best airlines in the world. Surely I’d be able to put together a 3-hour documentary of my experience, right? Yeah, I could have. But I also know that more than 14 minutes of SANspotter content (in one sitting) is a bit too much to handle for most people.
FYI, Cathay Pacific uses terminal 8 at JFK
Can I just say how nice Terminal 8 is here at JFK? This is the first time I’ve ever been in here, and it was so nice that it was also the first time I’ve *ever* had to tell myself to chill out on getting pics and video footage even before clearing security.
Curbside, Terminal 8 JFK. Remember when this airport used to be a total dump? I do, and quite frankly, I’m still trying to erase those experiences from my memory.The Cathay Pacific ticketing counter. Hmmmmm. Either I’m waaay early, or I’m going to be the only person on this flight tonight.My wrinkled brow is a solid indication of my realization that I showed up a wee too early.No Cathay Pacific business class review is complete without a pic of the premium check in lanes, right? Too bad I’m way too early and I can’t show you any of the exciting action (of people standing in line waiting to check in).This is the American Airlines side of the ticketing hall. Equally impressive.
Terminal 8 is nice. So much so that I think I shot like 10 gigabytes of pics and video of the ticketing hall alone! And since this is supposed to be a Cathay Pacific business class review (and not a silly review of T8), I’ll spare you the agony of scrolling through an endless stream of pics showing every little detail. Time to move on…
FYI, I was able to book this flight for only 35,000 American AAdvantage points, so if you wanna do this before it ends, there are some fantastic award redemptions available right now that you’d be a fool not to take…AAdvantage…of. See what I did there?
Traversing my way through Terminal 8 here at JFK, camera in hand, recording all the gory details of my trek to the American Airlines Flagship Lounge.The American Airlines Flagship lounge located here in Terminal 8 at JFK. It’s only a perk of Cathay Pacific business class if you don’t mind dealing with large crowds (the kind that stare at you when you take pics).
I’d have to say that I quite liked the Flagship lounge. It was a bit small though, and I had to keep moving around trying to find a quiet spot to get some work done. The food was good, plentiful, and I left feeling fat. All of the most important qualities of an airline lounge experience, right?
The boarding process for Cathay Pacific 865 to Vancouver
This is it! My first ever Cathay Pacific experience is just moments away. Can you believe it’s taken me this long to fly what is arguably one of the best airlines in the world? I’m so ready for this.
Heading downstairs, just so I can go back upstairs (to the satellite terminal) just 1000ft from now.Gate 47. And it looks like I’m early again.Boarding was delayed by about 25 minutes due to late arrival of the crew, which was odd considering that this crew had likely flown in on another CX flight from HKG or YVR a day prior. This didn’t stop any of us from standing in line though.
FYI, it seems that gate 47 is the only one in all of Terminal 8 where there are no views of the aircraft parked outside. I couldn’t even a see a winglet.
Despite being a grown man with all the responsibilities that come with being an adult, I can’t say that I didn’t feel like pushing through this line to make it move a little faster. I’m feeling excited, ok?
My first look at Cathay Pacific 777-300ER business class
Seat 18K is the one I chose for this flight over to Vancouver tonight, and from what I could tell it looked to be a fine choice.
Through the boarding door now, and making my way to seat 18K. What’s the deal with the baby **** yellow lighting on these 777-300ER’s? The British Airways 777-300ER I was on recently featured the same “ambiance”.The Cathay Pacific 777-300ER business class seat. Very similar to the first class seats on the American Airlines A321T’s – as well as their 777-300/ER.“Snazzy” is not a big enough word to describe these seats. I could totally rock one of these on a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong!I’m not a big fan of how open these seats are to the aisle, but they’re plenty comfortable and very spacious.Who am I kidding? Even if the leg room was terrible, it’s not like I’d refuse to sit here and downgrade myself to economy or anything. Yup. This’ll do.I can almost hear mom saying “DON’T. TOUCH. ANYTHING.”Mom’s not here though, so it’s game on. Neener neener!The amenity kit. It’s been so long since I’ve flown business class that I forgot that they *actually* give you free stuff for sitting in a ridiculously spacious and comfortable seat.
Since there aren’t many other situations in life where I’m gonna get treated this well, it felt awfully special pulling stuff out of that little amenity kit as we waited to push off the gate.
Amenity kit numero dos: the blanket, mattress, and pillow. Let’s just hope they don’t expect me to get it all back in this bag after the flight.Complimentary water to quench my thirst as I scramble to get pre-departure footage. It should be noted that they were offering orange juice and champagne as well, but…this is a SANspotter review after all and you should know by now that I never do anything exciting.Besides – how much of this safety card information would I have been able to absorb if I was drunk on champagne (or fighting heartburn from the orange juice)? There’s a method to my madness!One of the nice things about these high walls is that nobody can see me acting like a total dork taking pictures of my seat from every angle.Also, it’s a little embarrassing taking pictures of myself enjoying the pre-departure drink.Just so you know, I was dead serious when I said that I was taking pictures of the seat from every angle possible. This is gonna be the best Cathay Pacific business class review ever!
And yes, we got hot towels too. I think that I need to fly business class more often.
So what’s the verdict so far? To be honest, nothing has stood out to me as being especially remarkable, though it indeed felt like a legitimate long haul business class experience so far.
Considering all the time I’ve spent in economy class over the past few months, it kinda felt like I won the lottery just mere moments after being crowned king of the world. This is nice!Safety first! At least I won’t have to worry about a water landing on this flight. Then again, we will be flying over the Great Lakes…Rolling out to the runway for departure. Figures. One of the rare times I get a window seat, and it’s too dark to see outside anyway. #firstworldproblems
The pre-meal cabin service
It was a relatively uneventful takeoff out of JFK this evening, but I do recommend checking out my video of this flight if you want to hear those big GE90’s propel us west out of New York.
I must’ve looked awfully impatient as I poked my head into the aisle just after takeoff.FYI, it doesn’t qualify as being business class until you put on the slippers.
Being a relatively short five and a half hour flight over to Vancouver this evening, the cabin crew started the service within minutes of our departure. Here are some of the highlights:
Ah yes. Studio CX. I’ve heard so many good things about Cathay Pacific’s in flight entertainment product over the years, and I was really looking forward to experiencing it for myself. Only problem was that there were FAR too many good movies to watch. How the heck am I supposed to choose between Pulp Fiction and the Minions?!
The entertainment system was a little slow, but the movie catalog was seriously impressive. There was so much that I wanted to watch, which hardly ever happens on an airplane. I usually end up watching movies or TV shows I don’t have much interest in to begin with, and I can’t stay focused.
At least I had warm salt and pepper nuts to nibble on while trying to decide what I wanted to watch.
The meal service
You know, I’ve seen enough videos on YouTube to know that Cathay Pacific is a little better than the rest when it comes to the little details. That still didn’t prepare me for feeling as cheerfully amused as I did by this menu (which resembled a newspaper).
I don’t rate airlines on point scales or anything, but what the heck. I’m giving Cathay Pacific 75 points for a super-creative menu.I reckon that this may be the single most important pic in this entire Cathay Pacific business class review. Study it well.Smoked salmon carpaccio with avocado tartar. Quite a big step up for the “chicken or beef” options I’ve been served on airplanes for the last six months or so.
This was phenomenal by the way, and every part of it (even the bread) was prepared to absolute perfection.
Oh – And before you think I’m going all hoity toity on you, you do need to be aware that I chose the Minions movie as my choice of entertainment for the evening.The main course. Seared chicken breast with rosemary, creamy polenta, and grilled zucchini and peppers.
Again, this was cooked and prepared to absolute perfection – to the point where I actually think that this meal was *better* than what I was served in Qatar Airways business class earlier this year.
“How come chicken never tastes this good when I make it?”Okay. I wasn’t going to gorge myself on dessert, but then I thought: what would Rory do? I had a feeling he wouldn’t skip it if this was *his* video, so here we go with even more unnecessary calories.Dang it Rory. You’re gonna get me fat trying to keep up with you! Maybe business class isn’t such a good thing after all…Looks like we were about to fly directly over top of my sister’s house in Minnesota (just as I was feeling my fattest). Hey sis!
After dinner: rest and relaxation (while feeling fat)
You know how I’m always trying to make my loo reviews exciting? And what usually happens is that it’s usually the stupidest part of the entire review? Well my friends, this time it’s different. Why? Check this out:
I present to you…an ashtray. On an airplane. In 2019.Speaking of the lavatory, it was big enough to contain you and…two of your closest smoking buddies.
Remember what I said earlier about something embarrassing happening with the mattress and duvet? Well, I’m an idiot and I didn’t realize at the time which was which, and I proceeded to use the mattress as my blanket.
In my defense, using the mattress as a blanket was actually quite comfortable! I was thinking that it was awfully small to be a blanket though.
At the very least, all I can hope for is that I gave the flight attendants a funny story to tell. And, who’s to say that they weren’t hovering over me giggling and taking pics while I was sleeping? I guess I’ll never know. Unless I show up all over Instagram as part of a silly “Cathay Business Class review” meme or something.
Two things I never fly without: water, and…A plug adapter with enough ports to charge all my devices at once. I wonder if there was a warning light up in the cockpit flashing a “the ***hole in seat 18K is using up all the juice” message or something?
The descent into YVR (and final thoughts)
We began the descent into Vancouver just shortly before 11pm local time, and I’m happy to report that I had a pretty good nap in these lie flat seats. I dreamt about airplanes (as usual). lol
A pre-landing drink for every business class passenger. Yup. I decided to go wild and crazy this time.
As you might expect with a flight time of only 5 and a half hours, it felt much shorter than that thanks to the comfy seat and all that good food earlier on.
However, the cabin crew was just so so in my opinion. Of course they were nice, but at no point did I feel as spoiled as I did in, say, Qatar Airways business class. That’s not to that I was disappointed or anything.
As a matter of fact, this business class experience was right on par with what I was expecting, primarily since I’ve been hearing so many mixed reviews about Cathay Pacific lately. It was good. Not great, but…good.
Nice to see deep blue mood lighting overpowering the baby **** yellow overhead lights that were on during the boarding process.
In comparison, I found this service to be slightly better than my Philippine Airlines 777-300ER business class experience between Vancouver and New York last fall. That was another 5th freedom route between these two city pairs that recently ended, and I’m happy that I got to experience it while I could. The same can be said for this CX flight, since it is scheduled to end next spring (after nearly 20 years of service).
Time to YVR: 00:11. Time until you reach the end of this Cathay Pacific business class review: exactly 33 seconds (depending on how fast you read).Um…can someone please knock on the cockpit door and inform the pilots that we’re slightly off-center? Sheesh. I suck at Flight Simulator, but even I can line it up better than that. Most of the time at least.Speaking of misalignment, misaligned nosecones wreck havoc on my OCD.Nope. Not any better from this angle either. #grr
I hope this Cathay Pacific business class review was helpful! Although this particular route won’t be flown for very much longer, this should give you a pretty good idea what to expect on long haul routes to and from Hong Kong.
And for anyone curious about what it’s like to connect to other flights in Vancouver, it’s pretty easy actually. Just follow the signs, and you’ll be on your way in less time than you might expect. Yes, a 1 hour layover is enough time in Vancouver (most of the time).
Not gonna lie, a 3-hour SANSpotter documentary about Cathay Pacific business class would be pretty cool!
By the way, the remark about deciding on the length of the video had we wondering, is it “better” to have too much or too little footage for a video review?
The sad thing is that the glory days of Cathay Pacific may be behind us. 🙁 Anyway, too much footage is what you should be aiming for! You don’t have to use it all, but it makes the editing process so much easier.
Yeah, I’ve heard that CX isn’t doing too well.
I agree that too much footage is better. As you said, it’s easier to edit, plus I suppose that the experience is better documented.
Lawson
I’ll be on the exact same flight in February! First time flying Cathay Pacific and Biz so I’m quite excited.
I was smart and paid my university tuition with my Alaska card and got the bonus points so naturally I had to put them to good use.
SANspotter
That’s an excellent use of miles – I wish I was that smart when I was in school. Haha! Anyway, enjoy the flight – it’s a very (very) good experience.
Ty James
Good stuff as always Scott. Can’t wait for a Sanspotter review of Cathay First whenever you get the chance to fly it!
SANspotter
Thanks Ty! I can’t wait either. 🙂
TSov
Hey bro! *waves from MN* Going to tell mom you touched the things…
SANspotter
Haha, I’m gonna stop waving if you tell mom!! lol
SDRSpotter
Not gonna lie, a 3-hour SANSpotter documentary about Cathay Pacific business class would be pretty cool!
By the way, the remark about deciding on the length of the video had we wondering, is it “better” to have too much or too little footage for a video review?
Scott (SANspotter)
The sad thing is that the glory days of Cathay Pacific may be behind us. 🙁 Anyway, too much footage is what you should be aiming for! You don’t have to use it all, but it makes the editing process so much easier.
SDRSpotter
Yeah, I’ve heard that CX isn’t doing too well.
I agree that too much footage is better. As you said, it’s easier to edit, plus I suppose that the experience is better documented.