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Trip Report on Cathay Pacific (SFO-HKG-DEL and MAA-HKG-SFO)

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  • #31
    Final thoughts? Overall, Cathay Pacific in my opinion isn't a bad airline at all. Their food was really good as it had a lot of protein. My mom can't say the same about it. Some food she liked, some she didn't, but I still think in terms of food quality, Singapore Airlines is still #1 for this.

    Cathay Pacific is also a major timesaver, along with different carriers like Emirates, especially if your destination lies in Southern India like Chennai. A 14 hour flight from SFO-HKG plus 1-2 hours layover and about a 5 hour flight = 20-21 hours, certainly worth doing. Coming back, also a major timesaver. 5 hour flight to HKG + 4 hour layover + 11-12 hours from HKG-SFO = 20-21 hours, which is great. This is an option we opt to use if other airlines like SQ and EK are expensive when capping our going or return destination from a place not served (i.e. Trivandrum) so we can use MAA as an alternative and plan our trip such that we depart from there.

    Because I took a local flight from DEL-VNS, if there's an event where I must touch TRV first or last and SQ and EK are way more expensive, I would be happy to take CX to MAA and connect to a local flight to TRV, which is anyway 1 hour and v.v.

    Thoughts on the seat? 10-abreast Economy Class on a 77W is usually never a pleasant thing. I actually do agree, but both trips I sat on the left side and I found the seat to be very comfortable. The screens were bigger too, so I was pretty happy with that. Luckily both the sectors (879/870), the person in front of me did not recline their seat at all. For my mom, this happened, and she felt uncomfortable. She did not enjoy this seat, but she enjoyed the Cirrus seats on the A330 and the 9-across 77W. If you ask my dad, he won't really care to answer or just say it's just okay. One thing he does like is any plane that has 3D maps to play around and zoom to different cities for information kind of like me.

    When walking in the cabin, the left side is noticeably roomier to walk in. The right side is quite narrow. In fact, I heard that if you sit on the aisle or right side of the seats, the seats feel much more narrower than sitting on the left side. Can anyone confirm? Doesn't matter what airline.

    The Cirrus seats were very comfortable on both the A330 and 9-across 77W. Wider and generally a little easier for sleep.

    Thoughts on the service? On pretty much all the legs, the F/As were really friendly. Only on CX879 from SFO-HKG, sometimes they were a little unresponsive and unfriendly, but for the most part, this is NOT a bad airline. Similar to SQ, you can always help yourself to snacks and ask for any drinks whenever you feel dehydrated. They're always happy to make sure you're well fed and hydrated however they can.

    More than that, I think the spacing and timing of the meals are terrible. The last time I flew CX, they had their meal timings similar to SQ. Like on the afternoon flight out of HKG, you have a lunch, then later you have a breakfast. I'm not sure why it was a lunch and dinner. On the reverse, lunch at the beginning which was fine, but 5-6 hours later another meal. When I flew SQ15, lunch service and 2 hours before arrival a light snack meal. On top that on 1 out of 4 of my CX flights, we got an antiseptic towelette to freshen up our face or even wipe our hands and this was only on CX879 from SFO to HKG.

    Would I fly CX again? For the 10-abreast, probably not. But yes, I would if the price is significantly cheaper than SQ or EK and as long as we're not picky on destination choices. This time for the 10-abreast, I really don't have too much to complain about, but I am certainly looking forward to when the 777X comes to many airlines and hope 10-abreast on that will be like 9-abreast on the 77W. Cathay Pacific overall has a good value for money in my opinion.

    However, even in spite of these comments and feedback, I would still prefer to fly SQ as their service is still top-notch, the price is good, food is the best, etc.

    Now about some of the photos. I honestly have tried to rotate some of the photos by orientation and it still won't work for tinypic. If you view them on a mobile device it comes along just fine, surprisingly. If you have a suggestion on how I can fix the problem, please let me know. I'm all ears.

    Thanks again for reading my TR. All comments and feedback are welcomed.
    Last edited by SQfanatic; 8 December 2018, 01:33 AM.

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    • #32
      Thanks SQfanatic Its not easy to write a long TR, but i appreciated your observations.

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      • #33
        Thanks for the TR, SQfanatic! A very well written TR...

        I especially liked the pictures of India, especially Varanasi...what an amazing city...

        That bed in the Palace of the Steps hotel looks really comfortable!

        I like the new Y cradle Y seats on the A330 (And the 9-abreast 77W) as well. A nice product. Not so sure about 10 abreast Y on the reconfigured CX 77W's though.

        Enjoyed reading this!

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        • #34
          Originally posted by loldude333 View Post
          Thanks SQfanatic Its not easy to write a long TR, but i appreciated your observations.
          Thanks loldude333. I know what you mean, but having read TR's from other members on this forum, I always take them as not just reading them, but also taking into consideration on what to improve or better include for future trips.

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          • #35
            Originally posted by yflyer View Post
            Thanks for the TR, SQfanatic! A very well written TR...

            I especially liked the pictures of India, especially Varanasi...what an amazing city...

            That bed in the Palace of the Steps hotel looks really comfortable!

            I like the new Y cradle Y seats on the A330 (And the 9-abreast 77W) as well. A nice product. Not so sure about 10 abreast Y on the reconfigured CX 77W's though.

            Enjoyed reading this!
            Thanks yflyer. The bed was indeed comfortable in that hotel. The negative thing was that the room was actually the smallest I've stayed compared to US hotels, but it was still manageable and decent. Except for the maze it's a really good hotel to stay at. I think you'd have to specifically book a particular room that faces the Ganges.

            I'm glad you got to enjoy my Varanasi pictures. You should definitely visit it one time. As mentioned, I recommend in November or sometime when it's less hot. I would still suggest for hotel bookings, book a couple of months in advance.

            Honestly, I loved those Cradle seats as well. I was able to get a very good sleep on them. My mom actually liked those much better than CX's 10-across 77W seats.

            As you did read, I was on the 10-across 77W on Cathay Pacific. Personally for me, it's fine if you sit on the left side. I didn't really complain about anything like I thought. The left aisle is actually roomier than the right. I think if I had picked the right side for viewing, there would be a difference in comfort. My mom actually sat in the aisle seat on CX870 (53H I believe) and she really did not enjoy the seats they were narrower than the right side. My dad was luckier however on the return. He got the 9-across 77W from Chennai to Hong Kong (B-KQO), and more surprisingly than not, on CX870, he actually got a 9-across 77G similar to the one he came off from MAA and that he flew back in June 2017 (B-KQQ) and the old livery of course.

            Because this is not SQ and having flown SQ more than CX, they do lack a footrest in their seats for longhaul flights. Personally to me for the food and service, I thought it was reasonably good. They still have the option for you to help yourself to snacks at any time throughout the flight.

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            • #36
              So, something has come up this month and I've had to book a ticket to go to India again this month. I happen to be flying Cathay Pacific again except it will only be to MAA, as I am only touching Coimbatore (and going to Palakkad for religious purposes), hiring a car to go to Cochin, go to TRV, return to MAA and fly out a few hours later.

              Flights from SFO are the same as this TR. For the sake of time, I dunno if I will post another TR, unless deemed necessary. The duration of this trip from departure to return from SFO will only be a week (~ 9 days)

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              • #37
                Originally posted by SQfanatic View Post
                So, something has come up this month and I've had to book a ticket to go to India again this month. I happen to be flying Cathay Pacific again except it will only be to MAA, as I am only touching Coimbatore (and going to Palakkad for religious purposes), hiring a car to go to Cochin, go to TRV, return to MAA and fly out a few hours later.

                Flights from SFO are the same as this TR. For the sake of time, I dunno if I will post another TR, unless deemed necessary. The duration of this trip from departure to return from SFO will only be a week (~ 9 days)
                Fascinating.

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