Cathay Pacific Economy Class Review

To finish off an around the world trip we flew from Hong Kong to Melbourne with Cathay Pacific in their Economy class.

After checking in online and selecting our seat, when we arrived at the airport we were able to check in our bags and then proceed through security with no hassle. Hong Kong airport is great and is easy to get around (Read our Hong Kong Airport Guide here). 

When we arrived at the gate our plane was already waiting but boarding was a bit chaotic as an Air Canada plane was boarding at the same time across the terminal so there were people everywhere. In the end, our boarding was delayed 5-10 minutes, but once boarding started everything ran very smoothly.

The Cathay Pacific economy cabin has a 3-3-3 configuration and had a good amount of legroom room compared to other carries. This extra space made it easy to put hand luggage under the seat in front or in the seat back pocket without giving up on space.

The seat itself is very comfortable, but it doesn’t have a very big recline making it feel like you were sitting up straight when it was reclined the whole way.

When we arrived at our seats we were greeted by a soft pillow, headphones and blanket. The pillow and blanket were soft and comfortable. Unfortunately for my seatmate, her headphones didn’t work, but the helpful Cathay staff swapped them for another pair and fixed the problem.

On the back of the seat, there is a small shelf for your device, so you can easily watch your own entertainment without having to use the tray table. Here you could also charge your devices with a USB charger, unfortunately, the shelf has to be open to use the charger, when it is closed the port is covered.

The entertainment screen is a good size and the Cathay Pacific onboard entertainment system has a great range of entertainment options. The only downside to the entertainment was the same 4 minutes of ads at the start of each new program, luckily unlike on some other carriers, you can skip these by scrolling across the bar at the bottom.

Shortly after boarding, we were presented with the menu for the flight which was a really nice touch and not standard in Economy, to know what was going to be served made flying economy feel a little more luxurious.

For dinner, we had the choice of fish, beef, or vegetarian pasta, we choose the pasta which was delicious, one of the best economy meals we had during an around the world trip. The pasta came with a duck breast salad and bread. Once this was cleared we were served ice cream for dessert.

About an hour and a half before landing breakfast was served, with the choice of a Western or Asian style breakfast. We choose the eggs and it was the perfect sized meal before coming into land in Melbourne ahead of schedule.

This flight also had WiFi connectivity on board, and it is very easy to get connected. In every seat pocket was a flyer with instructions on how to set up, the instructions on the phone are also very easy to understand. Prices for the Wifi start at US$9.95 for 1 hour, as this was a night flight we only connected for an hour but it performed really well.

Overall the Cathay Pacific economy cabin was great and made flying from Hong Kong to Australia a comfortable experience, to find out more about Cathay Pacific or to plan an around the world trip contact our team of expert travel consultants today.