Cathay Pacific Airways Review (Hong Kong to London Heathrow CX255), BOEING 747-400

Route: Hong Kong to London Heathrow

Departure date and time of flight: 15th January 2009 01:05pm

Flight Number: CX255

Flight duration: 13 hours 15 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 747-400

Punctuality of the flight:

The plane departed on time and landed around 15 minutes prior to the listed arrival time. In terms of punctuality, you cannot get any better than this. For such a long flight, you cannot ask for more in regards to the comfort of the seats provided by Cathay Pacific.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

The check-in staff were polite, smiled and very professional. There was no problem what so ever. I had arrived around two hours before departure.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Choice of drinks (standard- tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or coca-cola). As with most of the airlines in China, the drinks (coca-cola, orange etc.) were all branded under the Cathay Pacific logo. A lovely choice of Whiskey, Vodka, Beer and Cognac were also on offer. Oh, you cannot resist those tempting peanuts for the flight. The packaging is all branded in the Cathay Pacific logo (the peanuts were packed in a yellow/silver coloured packet).

Comments regarding the first meal:

Dinner was served around 40 minutes’ after departure from Hong Kong. The plane went through some turbulence as we passed the southern region of Guangdong Province (just passed Guangzhou and heading towards the north of China).

The main dish contained a lovely portion of sweet and sour boneless pork decorated with buttoned mushrooms and served with a generous helping of boiled white rice and some green bean sprouts. The sweet and sour pork was to die for- just the right kind of smooth touch to the tongue- not too bland or hard.

Perhaps one of the most scrumptious, and healthiest, salads I have had on a flight was provided along with the main meal. A lovely dish containing a generous blend of Greek feta cheese, boiled mung beans, red lentils (daal), cherry tomatoes, scrapes of fresh carrot and forest green leaves.  The dish was small but the taste and the presentation was priceless.

It’s not everyday that passengers are presented with a pot of strawberry based creamy yogurt topped with muesli flakes and a green seedless grape. Again, another priceless invention by the chefs at Cathay Pacific catering.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal. Alcohol was served.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

Passengers’ could help themselves to “pot noodles”, Arnott’s “Tim Tam” chocolates and Arnott’s biscuits’.

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

An appetizing breakfast was served at around an hour and a half prior to landing at Hong Kong airport. The main dish contained a marvellous Spanish omelette made up of red and green peppers, a lovely portion of button mushrooms and two generous slices of British bacon. For a One World airline like Cathay Pacific this was one of the unsurpassed breakfasts’ I have had on a flight. Accompanying the meal was a gorgeous looking pot of strawberry yogurt. The jam was also of strawberry flavour and provided by Frank Cooper.

As with all airline meals there was a pot containing a few fresh slices of fruit- including those cute tangerines (and yes, they were fresh).

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

The IFE system of this flight was full of an interactive extravaganza of movies and songs.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The staff were very professional, always had a smile on their faces and were quick to respond to any kind of request from the passengers. The meal and the drinks were served at the right time without any delay. The beauty of the meal service was that the timing between the main meal and the drinks serving was timed perfectly so that passengers would not need to finish eating their meal in order to get the drink. So the drinks arrived just in time after the meal.

Improvements that could be made:

Perhaps have mood lighting when the aircraft is flying in between different time zones (morning, afternoon and evening) - hey, I could honestly find nothing else wrong with this flight!

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The Boeing 747-400 was clean, and had a fresh smell. The seats were coloured in the Cathay Pacific green colour. The aisles were also clean. It’s good to know that Cathay Pacific maintain their aircraft in pristine condition- so for example if an aircraft that carries so many passengers for such a long distance flight can still remain smelling fresh, unlike some airlines where the horrible stench of bio or other human waste can be clearly apparent in the fuselage after a long flight. In the toilets, Cathay Pacific uses toiletries provided exclusively by “Murad” (refreshing cleanser, Vitamin C “body cream”, and “perfecting night cream”).

For this long haul flight each passenger was treated to a sleeping bag that contained a pair of socks, eye-shades and a tooth care bottle (containing toothbrush and toothpaste).

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):10