Trip Report: Cathay Pacifc A350 Newark to Hong Kong in Business Class (EWR - HKG)

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A quiet, 15 hour late-night flight with a spacious-but-hard bed. Great service, decent food.

PROS

  • new A350 plane with higher cabin pressure and humidity
  • friendly and helpful staff
  • seat design allows for a flat bed with lots of leg mobility and possible sleeping positions
  • EWR is deserted at that time of night so it feels extremely calm and private
  • good in-flight entertainment options
  • good award availability
  • flight is fairly well timed for anti-jetlag fasting, NYC traffic, and first HK airport train
  • decent lounge with snacks and pour-your-own liquor

 

NEUTRAL

  • food was decent but unremarkable

 

CONS

  • no pajamas
  • no air vents
  • very hot cabin
  • seat is quite hard, despite its nice design

 

TIPS

  • avoid row 11 (first row of Business), especially the center seats
  • there’s a second, smaller business class cabin that seems like it’d have less flight attendant foot traffic
  • beautiful view of Montreal not long after takeoff

HOW I DID IT

75,000 Amex miles transferred to British Airways + US$112 per person, one way. Details are here.

 

 JETLAG RECOMMENDATIONS

flight leaves at 1:50a and lands at 5:30a
  • day of flight, eat “dinner” by 8am
  • fast until 8pm
  • eat “breakfast” at 8pm
  • eat “lunch” on board the plane right after takeoff
  • if you’re not asleep, order an inflight snack as “dinner” around 6 hours into the flight
  • skip the onboard breakfast entirely
  • eat breakfast once you get into town around 7:30 (maybe go to Tsui Wah)

 

Airport and Lounge

The flight leaves just before 2am and Newark is a ghost town. Our car hit zero traffic on its way there from lower Manhattan. There was no wait to check in and security was a breeze. The British Airways lounge is still open at that hour so we stopped in for a drink before takeoff.

No wait for check-in


Finger food only



The most important thing in any lounge :)

 

Boarding and Seat

The lounge was very near the departure gate and the staff did a great job of controlling the boarding scrum. A very nice blanket and pillow set were waiting for me at my seat, as was a bottle of water, headphones, and an amenity kit (which I opted to leave completely unopened).


Boarding process was very orderly
Cathay's A350 Business Class Cabin
Nice pillow and blanket were waiting for me when I arrived

The layout of the shoe storage gives you lots of knee room if you want to sleep in a more fetal position

I love the Mercedes-esque seat control
Water, headphones, and an amenity kit


I love watching the tail and body cameras
Espresso machine

No air vents

 

In-flight service

We were greeted by name soon after boarding and offered juices, water, and champagne. Cathay offers a wide assortment of special meals (pic below) but it's nothing like the Book The Cook option that Singapore Airlines offers in Business Class. The food was fairly decent but unremarkable. Full menus are below.

While the seat is a bit too hard in bed mode, I love the layout: lots of side-to-side room for your feet and the design of the shoe storage area and armrest platform meant that you could really bend your knees and curl up while sleeping. I went to sleep right after dinner and didn't wake up until right before we landed – I slept nearly 12 hours!

I opted to skip breakfast per the jetlag recommendations above, but I appreciated the cool little card they give you to specify if you want the long breakfast, the short breakfast, or no breakfast. The card also lets you choose whether or not you'd like them to wake you for breakfast or just let you sleep. My husband had the continental breakfast option. 

Cathay's special meal options

Shrimp and grits dinner. The salad is "optional" so order that when you order your food


Panna cotta for dessert
You can also have a cheese course after the main

A great view of Montreal right after takeoff

 
Continental breakfast

Arriving

Sadly, Cathay recently closed their arrivals lounge. The flight lands just in time for the first MTR train into the city, though. I was surprised that our hotel (the New World Millennium) offered us a room when we arrived at 7:30am. I don't know if this is common, but it beats storing your luggage and then schlepping around town for 8 hours waiting for your room to be ready.

Menus

click to enlarge…
Food
 
Food 2

Drinks
Drinks 2

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