Tag Archives for cathay pacific.
Cathay Pacific just threw open the doors to its ultra-rare first class cabin—two JFK-Hong Kong awards you can still grab before they vanish.
The aesthetic of the space, combined with excellent restaurant-style dining (Cathay’s food > BA’s) and a calmer, more polished service make this one of the best outstation first class lounges anywhere.
Pasengers were trapped onboard Cathay Pacific flight 883 from Los Angeles to Hong Kong for about 28 1/2 hours on August 4.
During final approach into Hong Kong, there was a “Black” rainstorm warning, forcing the aircraft to divert to Taipei – after around 14 hours in the air.
Flight attendants served a three-year-old boy wine instead of water on Cathay Pacific flight 255 from Hong Kong to London a couple of weeks ago. The child’s mother complained online after she found the airline’s response insufficient, and sharing concerns about her child’s long-term health from drinking alcohol so young. But the boy took only one sip, complaining to his mother that it was “too sour.”
Cathay Pacific finds itself managing a crisis because their inflight entertainment system provided access to an episode of The Family Guy.
Cathay apologizes, blames a third party that handles their inflight content, and promises that they’ve provided proper “instructions to ensure that the recommended content meets” State Party censor demands “our company standards.”
It’s been expected that Cathay Pacific will call its new first class on the Boeing 777-9 “Halo Suites.” We’ve only seen concepts they were playing with for it. It’s delayed, because the 777-9 is delayed now by at least six years, to 2026.
But the commitment Cathey has to the product is extreme, delaying retrofits of Boeing 777s to retain first class until the new product is available, and the airline’s chairman believes when they reveal what is next it will be unrivaled.
It’s a flight that should have been added years ago, when Cathay could codeshare with American Airlines on routes that took them over Russia, and when Hong Kong itself mattered more as a destination from the U.S.
Cathay Pacific will leave the American Airlines terminal 8 at New York JFK airport and relocate to the new terminal 6 once the first 5 gates open there, projected for “early 2026.”
Cathay will open its own roughly 10,000 square foot lounge there, its second in the U.S. after San Francisco.
There’s exceptional availability in both business and first class on the New York JFK – Hong Kong route in April and May (generally first class is just back from Hong Kong) and you can use this to connect onward in Asia.
Finnair, based in Helsinki, is a member of the oneworld alliance. It is even part of the transatlantic joint venture between American Airlines and British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus. But until recently its frequent flyer program wasn’t very useful.
The airline has linked up with British Airways and other partners to use Avios as its currency, now guarantees award availability for at least two business class seats on its own flights when schedules are first released if you’re redeeming Avios, and has revised its award chart to offer some fantastic values.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
