Cathay's friendly cabin crew. Photo / Grant Bradley
The Plane: One of Cathay's newest planes, the Airbus A350-900. The airline has 13 of these beautiful things in service.
On time: Yes for departure and landing.
Flight time: 11 hours, 15 minutes.
Class: Premium Economy.
Seat: 31G, middle row on the aisle, one row back from Business Class. Premium Economy features padded leg rests and a seat that reclines to a 9-degree angle, which Cathay Pacific says is an improvement over the Boeing 777's 8-degree angle (though that means the guy in front of me gets to recline a bit more into "my" space). AC wall plugs and USB power ports are available (look below the armrest in front and between seats for the USB port). There's also a tablet/mobile device stand in front of the inflight entertainment screen.
Price: Return Economy Class fares start at $1630, while Premium Economy starts at $3410.
Entertainment: The CX Studio in-flight system with 12.1-inch screen had plenty of choices — Western and Asian movies, music and TV. I watched La La Land, and a whole season of Inside Amy Schumer (I wouldn't recommend the latter if you're sitting next to a child).
Service: Cathay staff can't seem to do enough for passengers, at least for those of us in Premium Economy. We were directed to our seats, immediately offered a choice of water, orange juice or sparkling wine, then given hot towels, another drink and roasted almonds, followed by a meal service with — more drinks. Staff promptly removed rubbish and asked if we wanted anything else.
Food and drink: We got a menu upon arrival. Today's lunch was shrimp cocktail (three small shrimp with some dressed cucumber and lettuce), and choice of either stir-fried prawns with vegetables and rice; venison with edamame, peas, asparagus, pumpkin sage gnocchi and cranberry jus; or penne, peas, capsicum and creamy wild mushroom sauce. I chose venison, and while the tender hunk was tasty, it was difficult to saw with a silver butter knife. I gave up mid-piece and ate everything else. Dessert was Movenpick strawberry icecream, accompanied by tea or coffee. No wonder the toilets had a queue.
Midway through the flight, along came more food and drink — fresh fruit, stir-fried beef with veges and rice or chicken, buttered carrots and mushroom fricassee. Noodles and other snacks were available upon request.
How full: The flight was nearly as stuffed as my belly after all that food and drink.
Toilets: Clean, but the bin was chocka with hand towels when I used the loo three and-a-half hours after take-off. On the plus side, lotion sits alongside soap in a dispenser — great for soothing dry hands mid-flight.
Fellow passengers: A mix of business and leisure travellers, older folks and young families. A team of lanky young men wearing black college track suits and trainers were aboard, too — the captain announced they were en route to a football tournament in Europe.
Luggage: In Premium Economy, we get 35kg. Back in Economy it's 30kg. A generous amount in either cabin.
Airport Experience: Auckland's International terminal was quiet and efficient at midday Monday. Easy, peasy. Things were much the same when I flew out from Hong Kong for the return journey on a Friday evening. There were very few queues.
The final word: I would fly this again unless I were on some horrible low-calorie diet. Eating and drinking on this flight was practically a sport. Wonder how the young athletes enjoyed it?