Review: Cathay Pacific First Class B747-400
San Francisco to Hong Kong
CX 873 B-HKE B747-412 14hr 30mins
Cost 67,500 miles Aadvantage Miles and US$5.60 tax
Cathay use British Airways Terraces Lounge at San Francisco. The check-in close 45 minutes prior to departure. There were high wind and rainstorm at SFO area, with my connecting flight running 2.5 hrs late, I barely made it on this flight.
Bar in First Class lounge section. Limited food selection were offered.
First Class lounge section inside Terraces Lounge. It holds about 10 people.
With Cathay duty manager at SFO, who assisted my check-in depsite my last minute arrival rush at the check-in counter. Julie was delighted when I shared my passion of flying CX B747-400 across the Pacific instead of their new B777-300/ER. You know you're in excellent hands at the beginning of this long Pacific crossing trip!
Cathay flight board DIRECT from the BA Terraces Lounge at SFO without walking outside!
All CX ground and lounge stuff wish me a good flight. I was told due to the gusty cross-wind at SFO that evening, only B747-400 were able to takeoff without safety breach, all the B777 and A340 were grounded and delayed until the weather situation improves. I was delighted by my wise choice of flying the Jumbo Jet. It really shows the mightyness of the Queen of the sky!
2 separate aerobridges appeared directly after the lounge boarding walkway.
Hot Towels, Krug Champagne were offered immediately after settling down at my seat 1A.
Front cabin view. Between seat 1A and 1K is wardrobe storage.
Cathay First Class Suite
Cabin Ambience during dinner
First Class appetizer. Balik Salmon with Caviar. A Cathay long haul tradition in First Class!
My seat illuminated with soft lights. The dinner served around midnight hours.
A friendly stewardness offer to take a photo together during my dinner.
Soup of the Day: Cream Corn soup with Crab.
Dinner Salad
Main course, pasta with truffles. Later I swaped with Chinese main course.
Serving the Chinese dinner
Main Course: Abalone and Chicken with Vegetable
Cabin Ambience during dinner
Dessert: Berry Delight with Ice Cream. Very nicely presented.
The seat converted into a full wide bed.
How thoughtful! Good night Chocolate.
Mid-way snack. Lobster crab cake with Cathay Delight (a Kiwi Yogurt cocktail drink)
2 Hr 56 mins to Hong Kong after waking up from non-disturbing sleep. The suite seat offer excellent privacy. One cannot see another passenger while seating or sleeping unless have to lean over the body or stand up.
Surprise! This is how Cathay crew cooked their eggs to perfection for breakfast!
First Class Bathroom.
First Course of breakfast
Good morning Asia! Yum Cha and Dim Sum at FL 39000 feet.
I received $25 services voucher. There was this little inflight mishap happened right after takeoff, one of the Japanese stewardness brought my Krug Champagne but there were flight turbulance so the Champange landed on my shirt and pants. She was very apologetic about that and came 3 times to apologize and offer to wash my clothes. The inflight managed end up offer me an extra set of Pyjama and this voucher. I think the experience is not a bad one at all! 🙂
with less than 40 minutes to Hong Kong. This flight from San Francisco feels like a 3 hour regional crossing. I must have slept very well.
We took a very Northerly route over Alaska and Kamchatka, came directly over Beijing and proceed South to Hong Kong.
Arrival Gate 32 with connecting info showing on the flight map display.
After landing, some last photo opportunities.
I love the Cathay First Class on B747-400. The Privacy is done just right. There were always something special flying in the oval shaped nose of Jumbo Jet and I never got sick of it!
Suite 1K overview. Argubaly the best suite seat onboard, 1A and 1K
I will leave you to judge the service quality of Cathay from my pictures and your own experience. Personally, I have experienced one of my finest flight out of thousands. All I can hope is to re-live the experience again sometime soon! Thank you Cathay Pacific!