The last flight of my trip to Nepal is from Hong Kong to Chicago on a Cathay Pacific Business Class 77W. I’ve flown this route before, but this is my first time experiencing Cathay’s modified Business Class service. A great seat, and service was mostly good, but I found some misses as well. I’ll also compare this flight to an earlier flight I took on this same trip. My flight from Hong Kong to Delhi was also on a 77W with the same business class seat.
Zodiac Cirrus reverse herringbone business class seat
This is my favorite business class seat I’ve experienced. Cathay owns the rights to this particular seat, and it is used on much of their longhaul fleet. There is a newer version of this seat on their new delivery A350s. American 77W’s have this business class seat as well, so I’ve experienced it many times. The seat is very private, and the legroom, while not wide open, is not constricted. I prefer the Cirrus seat to Super Diamond, which is a very common product mostly because of the taller walls making it more private.
For my flight to Chicago, I was in row 11, the first row of the front business cabin in front of door 2. On the flight to Delhi, there is no first class cabin, but the business seats are the same. I again took a window seat near the front.
Cathay has certain destinations that require their longhaul fleet due to distance. There are also destinations, mostly in Asia that are considered regional, and usually have regionally configured aircraft. There is an informative Flyertalk thread that breaks this down. Obviously, the nonstop flight to Chicago is on a longhaul configuration, as was my flight to Delhi. So both of these flights have the excellent Cirrus business class seat. My flight from Kathmandu to Hong Kong is operated by Cathay Dragon and their regional offering.
Cathay Pacific Business Class 77W from Hong Kong to Delhi
After my long flight from Chicago in Cathay First Class, I knew this would be a step down, but still business class is a lovely way to fly. I had an overnight layover on Hong Kong, with my inbound flight arriving at night, and my flight to Delhi departing in the evening. Made my trip a little longer, but I never mind having time to hang out in Hong Kong.
Service began with a drink and warmed nuts.
Here are the menus:
Always a fan of spicy food on planes, the lamb curry was my selection. The meal started with the starter and salad on the same tray. Shrimp starter was tasty, salad was unmemorable. Garlic bread is another go to on planes. This didn’t disappoint
The curry doesn’t win any points for presentation, but flavor was good.
Lemon Merengue pie for dessert was a good choice, and oddly served with a spork…
Obviously, after this flight I’d have several weeks of south Asian food, but I really enjoy it, so even though it came from a catering kitchen in Hong Kong, it was a solid airplane meal.
Service wise, very friendly service as expected, although after the main meal the crew went missing for a long while, and oddly provided a hot towel only after the meal.
Our flight left Hong Kong nearly an hour late, but we still made it to our arrival gate on time. From here, we had one night in Delhi before continuing on our adventure to Bhutan and Nepal.
Cathay Pacific Business Class 77W Hong Kong to Chicago
This is a much longer flight, the preflight routine is similar to other flights in Business class on Cathay. One thing different with this flight is a new service concept. Chicago was a test market for this, and some of these changes have since been incorporated systemwide. The flight attendant was very friendly, but she seemed very flustered. When she took my drink order pre-departure, I noticed Campari on the menu, so I ordered a Campari Spritz. She had no idea how to make it. I was going to help her out and show her the recipe, but instead just opted for something easy. Totally a first world problem, but that was notable and a little disappointing.
Window seat view. Until next time Hong Kong!
The flight from Hong Kong to Chicago departs late morning, so lunch is served after departure. Here is the menu:
Lunch began with a potato salad with smoked salmon, a small green salad and more tasty garlic bread
For my main, I went with the breaded pork. This is a bit of a carb bomb, but tasty.
Then a rather sad cheese plate. The fruit and cheese offering in AA domestic economy is more extensive.
Finally I had a small fruit plate, which was fresh
This meal had small portions, but I had plenty of food before my flight in the Pier, and didn’t need more. After the meal, I settled in, watched a few shows, and then reclined my seat and slept for a while, trying to get back onto my home time zone.
Eventually I was hungry again. There is a burger on both the lunch and snack menus. Despite ordering this around the midway point of the flight, there weren’t any burgers left. Oh well. Didn’t need the calories.
As we approached Chicago, I ordered the congee with dim sum. As on many long flights, pre arrival meal is breakfast. Even though we arrived in early afternoon…oh well.
Final thoughts Cathay Pacific Business Class
To me, the seat is the key feature to a good business class experience. On that measure, Cathay does very well. The Cirrus seat is excellent. While service from the flight attendants is friendly as expected on Cathay, on both flights I had some minor complaints. Not being able to make cocktails and running out of the burger were disappointments. Still, I’m always happy to fly with Cathay, especially in premium cabins in their excellent business class seat.
Have you flown with Cathay Pacific in business class? How was your experience?
