Cathay Pacific Business Class: A330 Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh Review

Having had an enjoyable few hours in Cathay’s First Lounge, we were excited for our first Business Class experience on Cathay Pacific. We chose to pay for these flights using Avios via British Airways and ended up paying 15000 points each, plus an additional €33.50 in taxes and fees.

This would be a short flight of about 2.5 hours, so we measured our expectations accordingly. Cathay Pacific business class offers a solid shorthaul product. This flight was operated by an a330 with a lie-flat business configuration – not bad! Cathay Dragon also operate this route, although the business cabin isn’t lie-flat.

Lounge

Flying in business means you’ll have access to one of four Cathay Pacific business lounges in Hong Kong. Due to oneworld Emerald status we tried out The Deck and The Pier First Class lounges. Both were extremely impressive.

The Cabin

Boarding was efficient, and we were offered a welcome drink of either water of champagne. Noise cancelling headphones, a blanket (very nice quality) and a pillow were waiting at our seats. Disappointingly no amenity kit was provided.

In-flight entertainment was plentiful, with a range of options to choose from, and the screen was fairly intuitive. Although on a flight of this length I wasn’t tempted to sleep, upon testing the seat was comfortable in lie-flat mode, and there was certainly plenty of space to stretch out. The seat also benefited from plenty of storage space. It certainly wouldn’t have been a great effort to spend longer onboard.

Food and Drinks

The cabin crew on this flight although not overly friendly were very efficient and the service was difficult to fault. Menus were distributed prior to take-off, and shortly after orders were taken. We both opted for the lamb dish, and this was accompanied by bread. Fresh fruit and ice cream were also served. Although the menu wasn’t particularly exciting, and the presentation nothing amazing, the quality was good. I may be in the minority, but I’m never particularly excited by ice cream as the sole option for dessert, but it’s a small thing.

Cathay Pacific’s drink selection is of a good quality. I opted for the French red and it went well with the main course. I was tempted to try Cathay’s signature cocktail ‘Cloud Nine’ although due to the short nature of the flight wasn’t able to (maybe next time!).

Although not proactively offered after the main dinner service had ended, it was no problem using the call button to request another drink. When doing so the service was fast and efficient.

Conclusions

We landed into Ho Chi Minh City on schedule after what seemed like a very short flight. Cathay Pacific offer a solid business class product, even on a short flight like this. Although not highly memorable, the food was more than adequate for a flight of this length. At 15,000 avios it seemed like a great value redemption. It’d be especially good value if you didn’t have status and as a result were able to gain access to the Cathay Business lounges in Hong Kong.