There are only a handful of airline experiences in this world that are so consistently good that they probably aren’t even worth reviewing.
Cathay Pacific 777-300ER business class is one of them.
I mean, how shocked are you going to be when I tell you that the seats are extremely comfortable (and private)? That the video screens are huge? And that the service from the cabin crew will make you feel cared for in ways that would give your own mother a run for her money?
I probably could’ve skipped this one.
CX903 Hong Kong (HKG) – Manila, Philippines (MNL) Wednesday, July 23, 2025 Aircraft: 777-367ER Registration: B-KPA Duration: 1 hour 49 minutes Seat: 14A (Business Class)
Cathay Pacific 777-300ER side view illustration by NorebboStock.comOur route from Hong Kong to Manila this evening as CX903.
My full review of Cathay Pacific 777-300ER business class from Hong Kong to Manila
Quick note: there are two different versions of CX 777-300ER business class flying around at the moment:
The regional / high density version
The long haul / super comfy version
This is a full review of the newest / fancy pants / ultra comfy / long haul version.
Arrival at Terminal 1 / Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)
I arrived from Seoul in Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class approximately 4 hours before this flight was scheduled to depart for Manila. I spent the majority of that time hanging out in The Pier (Cathay Pacific’s best business class lounge IMHO) – as one does during long layovers at HKG.
“I wonder how it came to be that they named an entire airline after a gal named Cathy?” Welcome to Terminal 1 at HKG!65.903.16:40. This seems more like an IP address than an airline gate. Just sayin.’ I know. This 777-300ER is a lot of airplane for a relatively short flight down to Manila, but that’s what makes this so awesome. Go Cathy!
The boarding process
A last-minute aircraft swap resulted in the boarding process being delayed by eight minutes. That was fine by me considering that the originally scheduled aircraft featured the less fancy / higher density regional business class cabin. Score!
Guess who’s excited about getting stamped by a new-to-him country this evening? He wouldn’t shut up about it actually. It was getting kind of annoying.I know it may not look all that exciting, but this was actually kind of exciting. You had to be there. Here we go! I’m not sure when it’s going to be like to walk through the Pearly Gates when my time comes, but I suspect it’s going to be an awful lot like walking through the forward boarding door of a Cathay Pacific 777-300ER.
Business class seat and cabin overview
Business class on the long haul Cathay Pacific 777-300ER is arranged in a 1-2-1 layout. The seats themselves are fully enclosed suites (what they call “Aria Suites”) with sliding privacy doors. It’s awfully nice.
Seat 14A. I wonder if it’s as happy to see me as I am happy to see it? Probably not. My only criticism so far is that the pillow looks boring AF compared to the one I smothered with my buttocks sat on in EVA Air 787-9 business class. It’s like they didn’t even try.I declare “takes backsies” on my previous comment (at least the part about not trying). The pillows may be boring, but gosh darn it if they didn’t try real hard to make this seat as awesome as possible. Success!Legroom is excellent. However, if Cathy is anything like Karen, I think she’d have a lot to say about how tight the footwell space is. I don’t blame her actually. These videos screens are huge (and I like it!), but I’m not so sure but I’m a fan of everyone laughing at me for trying to adjust the seat myself. Look at me go adjusting the seat all by myself. F what everyone else thinks of me. Speaking of everyone else (at least the ones sitting around me), I can’t speak for them because I can’t see them. Privacy is excellent in these seats.
Amenities
Despite the lack of amenity kits (which were not provided because of how short the flight was going to be), noise canceling headphones, a large pillow, and menus for drinks and food were at the seat upon arrival.
The cabin crew also came through the cabin offering a nice variety of pre-departure drinks (water, juice, champagne) as everyone was getting situated.
The Cathay Pacific Delight (which consists of coconut milk, kiwi, and mint). You didn’t fly Cathay Pacific business class if you didn’t drink one of these things at any time during the flight IMHO. You just didn’t. Yours truly making it official.
The departure
Not only was the boarding process delayed by 8 minutes, our gate departure was 8 minutes behind schedule as well. Isn’t 8 a lucky number in Chinese culture? Maybe this was on purpose!
Detached. Unhooked. Pushing back. Going places. Close enough to being on time too!“His eyes snapped to the window as the 777-300ER lumbered toward the runway, and there it was: something glinting in the distance, so compelling it sent a jolt through him, demanding his full attention.”What he saw was a Cathay Pacific A350-900 (of course). These things are rad.
The taxi over to runway 25L took 22 minutes, and we were in the air at 5:10 PM (which ended up being 20 minutes behind schedule). So much for lucky number eight.
Next stop: Manila. After that? Well, you’re just gonna have to wait and see. One thing at a time!
In-flight entertainment
This aircraft featured the latest version of Studio CX, which is Cathay Pacific’s legendary in-flight entertainment system. Combined with that huge (but ultra reflective) video screen, it reminded me a lot of the amazing (but equally reflective) in-flight entertainment experience in Starlux A350-900 business class.
Dang it. My demonstration of the Cathay Pacific Studio CX main menu has been interrupted by my attempt to figure out how to switch the user interface back to English. It was a feeble attempt indeed.
The selection of content (movies, TV shows, games, music, etc) is very good, but not quite as extensive as what I recently experienced in United 777-300ER Premium Plus. United has them beat unfortunately.
Surely the technology exists for a covering that can be placed over a high-gloss display which reduces glare? On this flight, that technology just might be the pad of butter that will be served with my bread roll in about 15 minutes. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.I like how they think that I (a guy who decided to write about airplanes for a living) would be tempted to strap on a pair of headphones with noise cancellation strong enough to drown out the sound the mighty GE90 right outside my window. I may be a hard-core AvGeek with a thing for the sound of GE90’s, but gosh darn it if the catalog of music in Studio CX isn’t so flippin’ awesome. They got me.Thank goodness for the universal language of icons, ’cause I’m still stuck in Japanese mode even here on the remote control.
Food and drinks
The meal service on this flight was admittedly a bit too ‘fast and furious’ for my liking, but with a flying time of only 1 hour and 49 minutes, the cabin crew had to rush it a bit. They did the best they could with the time they had.
the “Refreshment” menu. Looks more like dinner to me, but what do I know?
There were two main course options offered on this flight (beef or chicken). Both sounded good, but come on. I’m a chicken man through and through.
Ain’t no whining about the wine menu. This looks good (but you know darn well I’m going with a Diet Coke instead).“Braised chicken with spring onion and ginger in Chinese rice wine.” In other words, chicken and MF’n rice.Chicken and rice (with low spice) is nice. It was almost like paradise.Trying really hard to think of another word that rhymes with “nice.”
The quality of the food was pretty good. It was hot, fresh, and quite substantial. I’d rate it a solid 7.5 stars out of 10.
Seat and cabin comfort
These are fully lie flat seats (with a privacy door) that are fairly comfortable in most positions. The padding is a bit firm, but it’s better than being a bit too soft IMHO. That’s what she said…
Disagree with me all you want, but I am 100% certain that the sliding privacy door in business class will go down in history as one of the best inventions since the lightbulb. Social interaction with other human beings is scary. And annoying!The placement of the touchscreen seat control panel is just about perfect IMHO. You’re basically always just one finger flick away from “lay this b*tch down (LTBD)” mode.FYI, LTBD mode is sometimes referred to as RIP mode (because I’m pretty sure this is what I’m going to look like at my own funeral – baseball cap and all).
Warning: these seats are a wee narrow, which might make it slightly uncomfortable when trying to sleep in a fully lie flat position. Especially if you flop around like a dead fish as you try to fall asleep.
In regards to footwell space, all I’m going to say is that it may not be all that comfortable if your feet don’t get along with one another. It’s tight.
The descent and arrival into Manila
A majority of the Philippines was under a typhoon warning at the time of our arrival, which made for a slightly spicier than normal approach and landing.
“Oh look, we’re almost there!” 45 minutes later. As someone who has struggled trying to find airports in Microsoft Flight Simulator his entire life, I so feel this.
Despite all of the drama on the way in, we actually landed on runway 24 one minute ahead of schedule at 6:59 PM. It was a fairly leisurely taxi over to the gate though, and by the time that we got there (7:16 PM), we were 6 minutes late. Not all that bad considering the high winds and poor visibility at the time.
Welcome to the Philippines! As a resident of Southern California who hasn’t seen rain in over 8 months, this pretty much seems like another planet to me.It’s either another planet…or Sydney. There’s no way of telling because of all this rain, but 1). The pilots seemed to have difficulty finding the airport earlier, and 2). That’s an awfully big kangaroo. It’s not all that far fetched to think that this could be Sydney.I don’t care where we are. All I know is that this was a fantastic flight and it was far (far) too short.“Go without me bro – I’m good right here.” Even my bag didn’t want this to end.What you can’t hear is my backpack yelling obscenities at me for yanking him off that seat. It was pretty embarrassing considering that he’s got the vocabulary of a p*ssed off gunnery sergeant…
Pros and cons of Cathay Pacific 777-300ER business class
Remember: Cathay Pacific has several different versions of 777-300ER business class at the moment, so choose wisely when booking your flight. Anything with a 1-2-1 seat map will be good. Avoid the 2-2-2 version if you can.
Pros
It just looks premium. Easily one of the best looking business class cabins of any airline in the world at the moment IMHO.
The video screens are huge. Watching your favorite movie is an experience these seats.
Even without the sliding privacy door (which I very much appreciate), these seats are very cozy and cocoon-like.
Cons
The high-gloss coating on the video screen is maddeningly annoying at times.
RIP to your feet as they get crushed in the tiny footwell.
I wish I could tell you something exciting about the JetBlue A320 Core seats. I really do. The reality is that…
4 Comments
Been reading you ever since I was a 6th grader in 2023 with my friend at school. We love to make liveries using your templates and probably spent most of 8th period in 6th grade reading these! We don’t have any classes together anymore, but still always come back to read these once or twice a month! Great website and keep up the good work!!!!!
Glad that I’ve been able to provide so much value (and entertainment!) over the years. I’m actually surprised that I’ve been able to keep this going for as long as I have lol…
Enjoyed the review, Scott. For comparison, I flew CP for the first time back in July, JNB-HKG, and HKG-LAX. The first flight was an A-359 with a senior crew who kept the business class restrooms absolutely spotless. The second flight was a B773 with the previous generation business seat. This flight had a more junior crew who seemed a bit overwhelmed, and the restrooms were not so clean; disappointing. The food was likewise disappointing. And neither flight offered any salt/pepper in any form with the meals; go figure. So I came away with mixed feelings about CP. With the right aircraft and crew, it can be good; otherwise, meh. Keep traveling…
Thanks Dave! Bummer that there was so much inconsistency between the two flights. That’s not so common (from what I hear), and I too would’ve been disappointed if I didn’t get the “proper” CX experience. Especially on long haul!
Been reading you ever since I was a 6th grader in 2023 with my friend at school. We love to make liveries using your templates and probably spent most of 8th period in 6th grade reading these! We don’t have any classes together anymore, but still always come back to read these once or twice a month! Great website and keep up the good work!!!!!
Glad that I’ve been able to provide so much value (and entertainment!) over the years. I’m actually surprised that I’ve been able to keep this going for as long as I have lol…
Enjoyed the review, Scott. For comparison, I flew CP for the first time back in July, JNB-HKG, and HKG-LAX. The first flight was an A-359 with a senior crew who kept the business class restrooms absolutely spotless. The second flight was a B773 with the previous generation business seat. This flight had a more junior crew who seemed a bit overwhelmed, and the restrooms were not so clean; disappointing. The food was likewise disappointing. And neither flight offered any salt/pepper in any form with the meals; go figure. So I came away with mixed feelings about CP. With the right aircraft and crew, it can be good; otherwise, meh. Keep traveling…
Thanks Dave! Bummer that there was so much inconsistency between the two flights. That’s not so common (from what I hear), and I too would’ve been disappointed if I didn’t get the “proper” CX experience. Especially on long haul!