Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class review: A really comfy way to smuggle gochujang paste

Calm down. Although what you’re about to read is a thorough review of a flight on of one of the best airlines in the world, I recommend toning down your excitement just a notch. At least two clicks.

Don’t get me wrong. Cathay Pacific A330-300 regional business class is good. It’s just that the seats are old. There is no privacy. And I could count every pixel on the in-seat video screens one by one.

This is a far cry from their typically legendary long haul business class experience. Think of it as a sample of what you could have experienced had you planned just a wee bit better.

CX417
Seoul, South Korea (ICN) – Hong Kong (HKG)
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Aircraft: A330-342
Registration: B-HYQ
Duration: 3 hours 2 minutes
Seat: 16K (Business Class)

Cathay Pacific A330-300 side view illustration by NorebboStock.com

CX417 flight tracke — Our route from Seoul to Hong Kong today as CX417

My full review of Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class from Seoul (ICN) to Hong Kong

Cathay Pacific has a dedicated sub fleet of A330-300s for flights in and around Asia. The following is a review of their regional business class product on one of those aircraft. Be sure to read my Cathay Pacific 777-300ER business class review to get a taste of what the real CX business class experience is like.

Arrival at Terminal 1 Incheon Airport

Cathay Pacific (along with all other Oneworld airlines) operates out of Terminal 1 at ICN. This flight to Hong Kong was scheduled to depart at 10:10 AM, and I showed up at approximately 6:30 AM because I don’t know why. An airport is just my kind of place I guess.

Terminal 1 at Incheon Airport departures level — Welcome to Terminal 1 at Incheon Airport! What do you suppose all the CCTV cameras are for?

Korean writing on the ground outside of the entrance to terminal 1 incheon airport — I’m not very good at reading Korean, but I’m pretty sure this is a warning. *“If our CCTV cameras catch you doing anything stupid, we will not hesitate to punish you *(one testicle at a time)* for your actions.”*

Scott (SANspotter) walking into terminal 1 Incheon airport — Our hero (and his testicles) have passed the first test of the day with flying colors. They all look forward to a great flight down to Hong Kong in Cathy Pacific business class.

Cathay Pacific business class check-in ICN — Not a lot of action yet here at the Cathay Pacific check-in counter. (*“Like duh, Scott. You showed up something like 10 hours early.”*) Looks like I’ll be the very first business class passenger in line. (*“Oh please. Don’t even try and pretend you didn’t plan it that way.”*)

Please put gochujang paste into check in luggage sign at ICN — Knowing what I just learned about breaking the rules in this airport, this is a sign I would take very seriously if I had any gochujang paste in my possession. Let’s just hope the days-old dirty socks and underwear in my carry-on bag won’t get me into trouble…

Arriving early was to my advantage (neener neener). I ended up having a really good breakfast in the Oneworld Lounge, followed by about an hour of nerdy plane spotting afterwards. The views of Terminal 1 are pretty good from up there.

Passengers walking inside terminal one at ICN — I wonder how many people successfully smuggle gochujang paste through the security checkpoint on a daily basis? Props to them for being so bold, but I value my testicles too much to risk the consequences of being caught.

Scott (SANspotter) waiting for a flight in terminal 1 at ICN — Besides, they’ve really been looking forward to seeing the Hong Kong Airport again, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I had to leave them behind here in Korea.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 parked at Gate 48 terminal 1 ICN — A very ~~milfy~~ mature A330-300 sits ready to go here at gate 48. You’d never know that she’s 21 years old just by looking at her from this distance.

Passengers waiting for flight to board at gate 48 terminal 1 ICN — Waiting (for the boarding process to begin). Wondering (who’s smuggling gochujang paste).

US passport and Cathay Pacific boarding pass Incheon airport — Ready (and raring to go). Hungry (for you know what).

The boarding process

Despite how busy it was in the gate area, I managed to nab the number two boarding spot in the business class queue. Pretty impressive considering how nonchalantly I strolled up to it.

Passengers lining up to board through gate 48 Incheon airport

Walking down jet bridge to Cathay pacific A330-300 ICN airport

The boarding process started exactly on time. I took one last look at my seat number on my boarding pass just before setting down the jetway, and stuffed it away in my back pocket thinking “I won’t be needing that again!” What an idiot…

Cathay pacific A330-300 forward boarding door — *“Quick! Hide the gochujang stash!”*

Business class seat and cabin overview

There are several different configurations of Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class flying around the time of this writing. The aircraft that I was on featured a 2-2-2 regional business class layout with 39 seats total. Not gonna lie: it looked (and felt) a lot like Asiana A330-300 business class.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 bulkhead row business class seats — Was it wrong of me to expect something a little more green? These are nice looking business class seats though, and I’m not complaining. Gray is a color too (a severely underrated one that I quite like).

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class window and aisle seat — If it’s privacy you want…I suggest wanting harder next time. This looks cozy.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class bulkhead row legroom — That glorious moment when all of that wanting you’ve been doing for a business class seat with tons of legroom finally pays off.

Unlike the regional business class seats on some other Asian airlines (China Airlines A330-300 business class for example), there are no privacy dividers. Introverted types may not feel all that comfortable IMHO.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class bulkhead row wall — **Warning:** the bulkhead row is not for those of you who didn’t want hard enough to see the video screen. If the small size doesn’t irritate you, the reflections certainly will.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class bulkhead row seats — I’m more of a legroom kind of person anyway, so the puny / reflective-y video screen thing didn’t bother me. At least not in the same sense that people who don’t use their turn signals do.

Complementary bottled water in Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class storage bin underneath Remote control for a video entertainment system

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class noise canceling headphones — They didn’t hand out amenity kits on this flight, but I was totally cool with the puffy noise canceling headphones.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class hot towel — Wouldn’t you know it? They handed out hot towels just as I was feeling cool about the headphones. Perfect timing.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class pre-departure drink — No you guys, that’s not toenail clippings at the bottom of this glass of water. It’s the Cathay Pacific logo!

Remember how confidently I dismissed my boarding pass even before stepping onboard the airplane? Well, it turns out that I was looking at the wrong boarding pass (resulting in memorizing the wrong seat number).

Imagine how embarrassed I felt when the flight attendant informed me that I needed to schlep my sorry ass back to 16K. At least now you get to see what a non-bulkhead row seat looks like…

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class seat back with video screen — I take back everything negative that I said about the video screens so far, because they don’t seem all that small when they are closer to your face. Being positioned at eye level helps to negate any hard feelings as well.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class row 16 legroom — My comments about the legroom earlier? I ain’t taking sh*t back. It’s just a spacious back here as it was up there!

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class looking forward from row 16

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class adjustable headrest

The departure

Our gate departure was four minutes early at 10:06 AM. Quite a feat considering that it was a completely full load today. Add in the time that it took for the cabin crew to figure out that I was sitting in the wrong seat, and well…I’m such an idiot.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 pushing back from the gate at ICN — Pro tip for anybody reading this who has aspirations to become an airport tug driver: do your training at ICN. There’s enough room here to yank planes around all the way up to the North Korean border (blindfolded…and inebriated) without the worry of hitting anything.

Looking out the window a of a Cathay Pacific A330-300 while pushing back from the gate at Incheon airport

Cathay Pacific A330-300 lining up for runway 16L departure at ICN

It took just 12 minutes to taxi over to runway 16L, and we were in the air two minutes early at 10:18 AM.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 taking off from runway 16L ICN with a view of the airport terminal below — How does that Elton John Rocket Man song go again? *“On the road again…”*

The view from my window after departing Incheon airport on a sunny day

Cathay Pacific A330-300 wing and engine view moments after departing ICN

In-flight entertainment

Studio CX (Cathay Pacific’s in-flight entertainment system) is generally very good, but it’s not all that great on these older A330-300s. Yes, there is an incredible amount of TV shows and movies on tap, but the user interface is several generations old (and it looks dated AF). Not only that, the screens are low resolution and very glossy.

Cathay pacific Studio CX welcome screen — So nice to see the Studio CX welcome screen again! Not loving the portrait though, as that’s the face of a guy who just can’t stop making fun of me for sitting in the wrong seat earlier. *“Loser doesn’t even know how to read a boarding pass!”*

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class Studio CX movies

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class Studio CX movie detail screen

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class Studio CX moving map screen — The moving map screen. How is screen resolution this low even possible in the year of our Lord 2025?

Noise canceling headphones are provided, but they felt a lot better than they sounded if I’m being honest. The ones I got to try in EVA Air 787-9 business class were so much better.

Scott (SANspotter) trying out the noise canceling headphones in Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class — (Trying to think of words to describe how great these headphones feel without sounding gross and/or perverted isn’t easy).

Food and drinks

It was the service from the cabin crew (especially during the meal service) which made this such a great flight. They presented us with three options for the main course, and in default SANspotter form, I went with the chicken.

It worth noting that there was no pre-meal drink and snack service on this flight. They just went straight into the meal service.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class drinks menu — The drinks menu. Or is it the drink menu? I won’t be partaking in any of this anyway, so I guess the issue of singular versus plural doesn’t matter.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class lunch menu — The foods menu looks fantastic!

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class lunch appetizer — The appetizer: Snow crab, mango and avocado salad.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class lunch appetizer plate — Yeah, it was good, but it wasn’t *gochujang paste* good.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class lunch chicken main course — The main course: Steamed chicken with red date and shiitake mushroom.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class lunch detail — They weren’t bullsh*ttin’ about the shiitake mushroom BTW. That thing was a beast.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class lunch cheese plate — For dessert: A plate of goodies cheesier than this entire review has been so far.

Food quality was typical of what you would get in regional Asian business class. It was far from fine dining, but it was delicious nonetheless.

Seat recline (and comfort)

The seats on these regionally-configured Cathay Pacific A330-300s are not fully lie flat. Instead, they are angled lie flat, which means that the seat itself stretches out to be completely flat, but at a 15-20 degree(ish) angle to the floor.

Scott (SANspotter) testing out the seat recline in Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class — **Pro tip:** there’s not much privacy in these seats, so picking your nose will require “scratching your ear.”

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class seat recline — Slouching is pretty much the only way you’re going to get fully comfortable in these seats IMHO. Pretty wild to think that all of our teachers (and mothers) scolded us for this.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class dark cabin after the lunch service — Apparently the sun doesn’t shine here along the western shores of Taiwan. I had no idea.

Connecting flight information on the video screen in Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class — Yay, connecting flight information! Oh wait…

The decent and arrival into Hong Kong

We were nearly 30 minutes ahead of schedule just as we begin the descent. Not only that, the weather was surprisingly good (a rarity for this part of the world). I think there’s only been one other time in my life that I’ve arrived in Hong Kong under clear blue skies.

Cathay Pacific A330-300 approaching HKG over the water — The moment you discover the inspiration for the Cathay Pacific color scheme. Should I be embarrassed that it took me this long to find out? Probably.

Overwater bridge and mountains as seen on approach into HKG

Cathay Pacific A330-300 landing on runway 07L at HKG — Welcome to Hong Kong!

We touched down on runway 07L at 12:20 PM, which was exactly 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Maybe the nice weather had something to do with it. I don’t know.

Taxiing past a HK Express A320 at the Hong Kong international airport

Cathay Pacific A330-300 parked at the gate at the Hong Kong international airport

It was a 14 minute taxi over to Terminal 1, and we docked at gate 13 at 12:34 PM.

Unbuckling my seatbelt in Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class — *“We want to see! We want to see!”* (I wasn’t kidding when I said that my testicles were really excited about this)

Walking through the business class cabin while deplaning a Cathay Pacific A330-300 — The rush to deplane before the boys start taking matters into their own hands.

Passengers walking up a glass jet bridge moments after arriving on a flight at the Hong Kong international airport

Scott (SANspotter) walking up a glass jet bridge moments after arriving on a flight at the Hong Kong international airport

Pros and cons of Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class

Most Cathay Pacific A330-300 flights in or out of Hong Kong five hours in length or less will likely be operated by one of these regionally configured aircraft. You might get lucky with an internationally-configured bird (which are far more premium), but this is pretty much what you can expect on flights in and around Asia.

Pros

No matter what the seats look like, you’re still going to get the same great Cathay Pacific onboard service from the cabin crew.
The seats are very soft. Very squishy. Very comfortable.
These are hard shell seats, which limits the amount the person in front of you will be able to recline into your lap.

Cons

The in-flight entertainment system is extremely dated. The selection of content is good, but the user interface is slow (and straight out of 2007).
The seats don’t lie fully flat.
Window seat passengers might have difficulty getting out into the aisle if the person in the aisle seat is reclined.

4 Comments

jack says:

August 31, 2025 at 12:40 am

yeah well you ended up on the old plane because you seem to be allergic to cathay a350s

1. Scott (SANspotter) says:
  
  August 31, 2025 at 10:08 am
  
  Wait, Cathay Pacific has A350’s?? 🙂 I know I know I know…hopefully I can scratch that one off my list relatively soon(ish).
  
Kwan says:

October 15, 2025 at 8:14 am

Hey Scott, from the pics, it would appear you were on one of the former Dragonair (later renamed Cathay Dragon)’s A330s that once offered 2 rows of “First Class” at the front. Did you notice anyone sat there? Cathay would likely have sold these seats as business class as well, I would guess.

1. Scott Leazenby (SANspotter) says:
  
  October 15, 2025 at 11:47 am
  
  Yes, there were people sitting in those seats if I recall correctly. I didn’t even notice that they were different. Interesting!

Cathay Pacific A330-300 business class review: A really comfy way to smuggle gochujang paste