Me again! You might've seen my hotels thread here.

Booked on Cathay to HK. I'll be flying on an A330. I've flown Cathay before to Australia years back (747) - flight was nothing brilliant, certainly not poor, but it was bloody packed!

My question...what are CX's A330's like these days? Fairly new/old/fleet being upgraded so it could be pot-luck? Do they all have personal seat-back screens, or do they still fly A330's that have screens that drop down from the overhead luggage compartments? (Eeek!)

I've flown A330's before but they've been Qantarse.

Is CX's entertainment good? How's the food & service? I always hear they're good, just fishing for what I might expect.

Thanks again! :):)

CC

I don't think Cathay has any pax aircraft without PTVs. However, I'm not sure whether you'll get AVOD (on-demand) entertainment. But even if not, you will still have plenty of TV channels to choose from.

The food is fairly decent. I find Hong Kong catering to be quite good, especially since they serve Haggen Daz ice-cream that is Made in France.

Me again! You might've seen my hotels thread here.

Booked on Cathay to HK. I'll be flying on an A330. I've flown Cathay before to Australia years back (747) - flight was nothing brilliant, certainly not poor, but it was bloody packed!

My question...what are CX's A330's like these days? Fairly new/old/fleet being upgraded so it could be pot-luck? Do they all have personal seat-back screens, or do they still fly A330's that have screens that drop down from the overhead luggage compartments? (Eeek!)

I've flown A330's before but they've been Qantarse.

Is CX's entertainment good? How's the food & service? I always hear they're good, just fishing for what I might expect.

Thanks again! :):)

CC

all CX aircrafts are fitted with PTVs. for flights operated by A330-300 (33B), B777-300ER (77A) and B747-400 (74A), all PTVs are equipped with AVOD entertainment system. so double-check if they're using A330-300 (33B) on the kangaroo route im personally not sure! then again, even without the AVOD system, the movies/programmes they offer are usually quite good so i wont worry too much about entertainment.

think the average age of CX's A330s is around 8 years so they're not brand new but the interior's certainly not old or knackered in any way.

food is also generally above average...

CX isn't always good (food, service, PTV...) but it already better that most others (CO, UA, AA...) I take CX any day.

i think CX overall is a very great airline. but somehow they used a very old plane on the Mel-HKG route. or maybe i was unlucky on that day..(1.5 years ago)...

But i love the flight from Bkk-HKG. new plane and great service.

^^ yea, the 747s they use for the HKG SFO route were also quite old.

I like the new redesigned cabins on Cathay.

I don't like Cathay.

Basically ever since I was feeling incredibly sick (and hungover) on a flight and got up to go throw up in the toilet. However, the fasten seat belt sign was on and there was a bit of turbulence. Anyway, one of the Stewardesses proceeded to stop me going to the bathroom, and kept repeating "we are not responsible if you injure yourself". Wtf? I'm feeling sick and need to go throw up and she stops me to talk to me about legal issues?

Turbulence can come in surprise seriously injure you. The attendant did every right to keep you from possibly hurting yourself on the plane in the middle of nowhere. And that's why you have a vomit bag in the pocket in front of your seat, just in case you need to throw up and can't go to the bathroom.

It's not that, it's the attitude. She didn't say "could you not throw up in the bag, as there is a chance you could hurt yourself." She said we are not responsible.

Another point. I've often struggled to understand some of their English - honestly. For a carrier with truly international aspirations, surely the ability to communicate effectively in English is paramount. Hiring pretty stewardesses that are not particularly great communicators ahead of better staff that can is a bit of a no no for me. I'm not saying I don't like hot women, I do, just it's a pain not being able to understand someone while you're on a flight.

What else.... oh yeah. Cathay aren't particularly nice to travel agents, also.... with the personal TV's, while they are generally good (with a much better in flight entertainment system than say KLM), they could still improve (e.g. Virgin's), where you can select what you want and play/pause instead of having a choice of channels.

Having said all this, I don't think I've flown Cathay for about 4 years so what do I know.

Another point. I've often struggled to understand some of their English - honestly. For a carrier with truly international aspirations, surely the ability to communicate effectively in English is paramount. Hiring pretty stewardesses that are not particularly great communicators ahead of better staff that can is a bit of a no no for me. I'm not saying I don't like hot women, I do, just it's a pain not being able to understand someone while you're on a flight.


Orgasm and screaming are an international language dude.

;)

What else.... oh yeah. Cathay aren't particularly nice to travel agents, also.... with the personal TV's, while they are generally good (with a much better in flight entertainment system than say KLM), they could still improve (e.g. Virgin's), where you can select what you want and play/pause instead of having a choice of channels.

Having said all this, I don't think I've flown Cathay for about 4 years so what do I know.

The new planes and the recently renovated planes have already equipped with the fully personal entertainment system as what you want. Indeed, such system wasn't as popular 4 years back.

The new planes and the recently renovated planes have already equipped with the fully personal entertainment system as what you want. Indeed, such system wasn't as popular 4 years back.

Speaking of which, how many of Cathay's planes are renovated so far?

Speaking of which, how many of Cathay's planes are renovated so far?

if your talking about PTV, then all planes have them

if your talking about AVOD, in economy then all 777-300ER have them,
on the 747-400, its HOS,HOT,HOV,HKE,HKF,HOY,HUG,HKD,HKV,HKU
and the A330 its LAE,LAF,LAG

all long haul business class and first class cabins have AVOD

^^ where did you get this info?

I want to know when the hell SFO is getting it. The new cabins.

I like Cathay, one of my favourite airlines besides SQ and ANA...

Personally, I would fly them to Europe if they didn't offer a 25 min connection in Hong Kong OR if their flights to America were a little cheaper...

But Cathay doesn't seem to have a uniformed cabin. Once I flew them on a B777-200, I got super primitive PTV, basic TV, movies and airshow. Once I flew them on a B777-300, it was more basic but by today's standards, primitive AVOD. Seriously hope the problems are ironed out.

I also don't understand why is Cathay not looking to new aircraft like A350/A380, B787. By 2015, the 77W may well be inefficient compared to the A350/B787.

Depends on the type of flight. Regional business class obviously would likely get the older interiors, while the long-haul ones should get the nice AVOD and perhaps the new business class.

Also, Cathay is taking the cautious approach with new aircraft types. Why be a guinea pig and experience the pains of delayed first deliveries that we saw with the A380, which threw route planning and fleet scheduling into mayhem when Airbus delayed delivery several times. So do you sell your old aircraft or no in the meantime?