CX257 HKG-LHR First Class

Cathay Pacific First Class has the reputation of being one of the best ways to fly, up there with Singapore Airlines Suites. Although not offering the privacy of Etihad or the bling or Emirates, the legendary service and wide seats are well-known amongst premium class flyers. After US Airways joined OneWorld, we were delighted to find availability on CX from Hong Kong to London as part of a redemption including JAL F on the outbound. 

We started our journey home with a pick-up from the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong (thanks Blacklane for the upgrade to a Mercedes S class) and proceeded to the underwhelming check-in counter. We were soon on our way to The Wing lounge, which was unfortunately very busy (hence no photos) and a shower didn't become available within the 70 minutes or so we were there. Breakfast was ok (nice fruit and dim sum) but there were few spare seats and the ambience was more business class than first class, similar in atmosphere to BA's Concorde room at LHR, a big disappointment.

Dining

Shortly after boarding the plane, we were offered a pre-departure drink (Krug of course) and an amuse bouche was served. It was a nice touch to serve a light snack before take-off and quite unusual in our experience. Although crab wouldn't be our first choice at 9 am, the combination with mango was fresh and tasty. After takeoff, we chose to have a light breakfast of fresh fruit and Mrs D2T tested the dim sum, which were  surprisingly good, considering they were cooked in a metal tube at 30,000 feet. 

Lunch started well with caviar and more Krug, but the main courses were unmemorable. Dessert was good though - lovely fresh berries served au naturel and delicious chocolate pralines afterwards.

Seat

First things first -  the seat is huge. Mr and Mrs D2T could comfortably sit side by side, and with only 6 seats in 777 first class cabin (compared to 14 on BA) there is a really feeling of space and exclusivity. We took seats 1A and 2A, located on a single aisle and would advise couples travelling to do the same. With a wall running down the other side of the aisle, this is a very private area with little foot fall and almost feels like a private jet!

At 36 inches wide with an 81 inch seat pitch, even the tallest plus size flyer will be comfortable. In lie-flat mode, the bed is superb - not at all claustrophobic. We had a glitch on our flight in that Mrs D2T's seat would not recline and needed taking apart (after resetting twice) - the three crew members tried tirelessly for over an hour and were thankfully successful.

Overall Impression

Cathay First is a great way to fly, but on this trip, the surprise winner for us was JAL F. We had expected to be blown away by Cathay, especially as we have had a number of excellent business class experiences, so perhaps our expectations were too high. However, we found the ground services at their home airport lacking and the lounge was really too busy - there was nowhere to sit in the restaurant, hardly any seating available in the lounge area and no showers or cabanas available in the whole time we waited. When flying first class, we expect a level of exclusivity that wasn't present.

In the air was a different story with only 6 first class seats. However, although the service was friendly, it wasn't as attentive as we had expected - in general, we needed to request a drink or the chocolates at the end of the meal, rather than being offered them pro-actively. It was a shame that Mrs D2T's seat was jammed and took so long to sort out - we would have thought that this may have been known before the start of the flight. However, as the flight was full, there wasn't an option to change seat and it was a long process of around 90 minutes in total when the resets and maintenance were taken into account. Amenity kits with Aesop goodies had useful contents that we are still using at home and the PYE pyjamas were comfortable and not too thick.

Whilst we would of course be happy to fly CX F again, we would probably save the miles and go business class next time or fly with JAL. If using Avios, CX is clearly a better option than BA (though what isn't!) and availability can be better than JAL. If paying, the Middle Eastern airlines often have some great business class promotions (we recently snapped up Europe to Bangkok via Doha for under £800 each return).