Cathay Pacific First Class (NYC-HKG)

This was my second time flying first class on a super long-haul flight (just over over 16 hours) and my second time flying Cathay Pacific First Class (CX First). Last time I flew HKG-ORD and was disappointed by the age of the plane and the service I received. I was excited to fly their “flagship” North America routing ex-NYC.

I called the CX American office the day before my flight and, after being kept on hold for 40 minutes, managed to request 2A with a full cabin. 2A is the most sought after of the six seats in CX First because row “A” is physically separated from the other four seats and nobody walks past you to use the one of the bathrooms (you walk past 1A). This means four of the six seats have three windows. The seat slides down and a mattress pad and sheets are put on top to make an in-flight bed.

The first thing I noticed when I sat down was the orchid was missing from the flower holder next to the window. I was worried it might be a sign of tough times ahead. It wasn’t. The flight was awesome!

I devoured my caviar, popped some sleeping pills and slept for a few hours. I woke up over Russia and and caught up on some movies I had never seen (Ex Machina, Bridge of Spies, Mission Impossible, Ant Man and Paper Towns). Yeah, it got pretty bad there at the end.

The in-flight service was great and on this flight they gave me a new bottle of water each time I asked (HKG-ORD in First they re-filled my bottle from the big bottle–not cool). Standard CX First amenities include a PYE jump suit (pajamas), Aesop care kit and Bose headphones (I prefer my own). In NYC you are given access to the British Airways lounge at JFK Terminal 7 and the Arrivals lounge in Hong Kong (showers, food, drinks, etc.).

I actually stayed with a CX pilot in Hong Kong (hey Richard!) and it was fun to talk about how awesome his airline is. You can bet I’m flying CX the next time I go to Hong Kong.

You can see a quick recap of my trip in the video below (first 30 seconds are CX First and some of Hong Kong):