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THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT
This intra-Asia shorthaul redeye flight was so well-executed – a great seat and good WiFi, a very tasty and efficient meal service, and 2.5 hours of solid sleep on this 3h 20m flight |
5.0
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During my crazy journey to Hong Kong and the Philippines, I flew Cathay Pacific’s premium economy class from Singapore to Hong Kong. This was my first time flying Cathay Pacific’s shorthaul premium economy class in over 10 years, and also the first time I’d flown Cathay Pacific’s A350 premium economy class since 2020. Although there was award space in all three cabin classes, I elected not to fly business class, as I’d reviewed both Cathay Pacific’s A350 business class and their regional business class product in recent history.
This was also my first time flying one of Cathay Pacific’s shorthaul redeye flights, which I was also looking forward to sampling on my way back to Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific has long offered a variety of short 4-5 hour redeye flights to/from Japan, Singapore, and Indonesia, and clearly treats them just as high-yield as their daytime flights. Part of this is because of fleet optimisation – it allows the airline to operate early morning flights out of Japan/Singapore, and/or evening flights out of Hong Kong to these destinations, without having the aircraft sit at an outstation overnight. However, these routes have also picked up popularity in the meantime by leisure travellers in particular, who prefer to “waste” as few of their waking hours flying as possible.
I ended up really enjoying this flight – if you can get over the fact that you won’t be getting much sleep, these flights are operationally extremely reliable with barely any queues at both ends, almost always arrive early (except for weather or maintenance delays), and the meal service onboard is efficient and maximises sleep. Here’s my review of the flight, where I’ll dig into all of the above.
Booking Cathay Pacific’s A350 Premium Economy
My Emirates itinerary left me in Singapore, so I booked this flight to get me back to Hong Kong. It would’ve been fun to try a new airline flying between the two cities, though my Emirates flight landed at 10 PM, and I wanted to maximise time in Hong Kong with family. There aren’t any other airlines that currently fly a redeye flight between Singapore and Hong Kong, hence I chose this flight.
As aforementioned, there was award space in all three cabin classes. I made the intentional decision to choose premium economy, as I wanted to write an updated review (a review of Cathay Pacific’s economy class is coming later this year – I would’ve wanted to do it on a longer flight). This cost 20,000 Asia Miles and HK$587 (£57) in taxes.
The itinerary was as follows:
07/08/2024 CX714 Singapore – Hong Kong dep. 01:45 arr. 05:50 [Premium Economy Class]
Cathay Pacific Premium Economy Ground Experience in Singapore
After clearing immigration and spending some time wandering around Changi Airport’s The Jewel (adjacent to Terminal 1, where my Emirates flight landed), I took the bus to Terminal 4, where my Cathay Pacific flight would be departing. Once I got to Terminal 4, the Cathay Pacific check-in counters were located at Aisle 6.
I already had a boarding pass, though since my (carry-on sized) bag had a bottle of wine I was bringing my parents from the U.S., I had to check my bag. This was painless, and I was able to use one of the automated kiosks to send my bag through. Admittedly this was around 2.5h before departure, so I don’t know whether a slightly longer line formed later in the evening.
Cathay Pacific Check-In Area at Changi Airport T4
Security and immigration were a breeze, and T4 also has centralised security screening, which meant that there was no further check to undergo (unlike at Changi Airport’s other terminals, where you clear security at the gate). Changi Airport’s Terminal 4 is the airport’s terminal for budget carriers, but you couldn’t tell from the way it’s designed. It’s such a gorgeous facility, and has a great food hall to boot as well.
Changi Airport Terminal 4
For a sense of the airlines that fly out of Changi T4 as well as how busy the terminal was at this time, here’s a picture I took of the departures board at around 12:50 AM. There were about six flights flying out of the airport at that time, a majority of which were on narrowbody jets. Generally, AirAsia and Jetstar Asia dominate the departures board, and there are a few other Southeast Asian low-cost airlines that fly out of T4 as well. Cathay Pacific, Hainan Airlines and Korean Air are just about the only full-service airlines I can spot (most of the other full-service airlines you see on the board are Jetstar Asia codeshares).
Changi Airport T4 Departures
Cathay Pacific has their own lounge at Terminal 4, though I didn’t have access – premium economy passengers don’t get access on Cathay Pacific (and you can’t purchase lounge access), and I don’t have status with Oneworld. Instead, I enjoyed a bowl of noodles from one of the food court vendors, then had a glass of Tiger beer at the airport’s Tiger pub.
The airport was mostly very quiet, with only a couple of flights departing. Changi T4 is “T”-shaped, with the shorter top of the “T” being well-suited for larger widebody planes (further from the concourse), and the much longer “body” of the “T” predominantly being for smaller jets, predominantly from AirAsia, Jetstar Asia and budget carriers from neighbouring countries. Since Korean Air also has a redeye flight leaving Singapore at a similar time, the top of the “T” further from the concourse was unapologetically busier.
Changi Airport Gate Area by Gates G18 and G19
Our flight was leaving from gate G19, and boarding was done through biometric scanners. There were separate lines set up for first class (Oneworld Emerald members), business class, premium economy, and economy class.
Changi Airport Gate Area
I couldn’t get a great picture of our A350 (which was a shocking 7 years old – less than two years younger than the tired Emirates A380 I’d just flown over from Dubai), as there was quite a bit of light in the terminal.
Cathay Pacific A350 at Changi Airport
Boarding was scheduled for 1:05 AM, and surely that’s just about when it started. A couple of business class passengers were invited to board, and I was the only person in the premium economy queue. It’s crazy how different this would be from a flight leaving at 4 PM, where half of the plane would have some sort of membership status.
Cathay Pacific Flight CX714
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Origin: Singapore (SIN) T: 4 Gate: G19 Dep: 01:45 (01:45)
Destination: Hong Kong (HKG) Gate: 71 Arr: 05:50 (05:35)
Duration: 4 hr 5 min (3 hr 50 min)
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900 Reg: B-LRP
Seat: 33A (Premium Economy Class)
Walking Past Cathay Pacific’s A350 Business Class
The entire plane was boarded through the forward door, so I walked past Cathay Pacific’s A350-900 business class cabin to get to my seat. I last flew this cabin back in 2022, and it’s one of my favourite reverse herringbone seats in the air – though I wasn’t too disappointed to give it a miss on this short overnight flight. Business class passengers were given Bamford pillows, though otherwise only the “regional” bedding with a light blanket was provided.
Cathay Pacific A350 Business Class Cabin
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Cabin and Seat
After walking past the business class mini-cabin, I made it to the 28-seat premium economy cabin, laid out in a 2-4-2 configuration. These cabins feature Cathay Pacific’s currently signature sea-green colours, and have four rows on either side, with three rows in the middle.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Cabin
I had selected seat 33A (I originally confidently walked to seat 33K, and only at the last minute caught myself that I was at the wrong seat – whoops, long travel day!), which was the window seat in the last row of the premium economy cabin.
These seats are great – they’re decently padded, and also feature an adjustable headrest, a fold-up legrest and a fold-out footrest. Recline in these seats also feels very substantial.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Seats 33A and 33C
There were separate seat controls for the recline, fold-out legrest, and footrest extension, which were all quite intuitive.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Seat Controls
Seat pitch is a generous 40″, which translates to quite a lot of legroom.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Legroom
One of the things that makes Cathay Pacific’s premium economy seat so great is the sheer amount of storage it offers. In front are two different storage nooks – one compartment with a door for storing smaller items in a secure way, and a larger nook that could fit a phone that swung outwards.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Storage Options
There was also a little compartment by the armrest, which could hold a book, a phone, or another thin item. Storage in these seats is brilliant, and super well designed, in my opinion.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Storage Compartment
In terms of table space, a sturdy bi-fold table comes out of the armrest, and “rests” on a little platform on the armrest opposite.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Tray Table
Meanwhile, there’s also a cocktail table that folds out of the armrest, which is a little more spill-prone.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Cocktail Table
In terms of in-seat power, there’s one USB-A port and a 110V power port at every seat, though no USB-C charging.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Power
There’s also a reading light that comes out from behind the adjustable headrest.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Light
The TV screen in front is also super high-definition, and in this case had the airline’s upgraded UI installed (though not the airline’s newest IFE system, which features Bluetooth audio connectivity).
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy TV Screen
These seats have been in operation for 9 years at time of writing, and I can’t get over how cutting-edge they still are. Airlines are only just starting to catch up with the amount of storage Cathay Pacific has always featured in their premium economy seats, and simple elements such as a sturdy tray table are so easily overlooked by so many airlines in premium economy class. This seat doesn’t skimp on details as well, such as 110V power ports at every seat (*ahem* Qantas *ahem*), an extremely high-definition TV screen, a legrest and sturdy adjustable fold-out footrest, an adjustable headrest, etc.. I’d consider Cathay Pacific to have one of the industry’s best premium economy seats.
Also, while Cathay Pacific has run into maintenance issues in the past, I found this aircraft to be extremely well maintained. This A350 was over 7 years old at the time, and I still thought it felt quite new.
Cathay Pacific has an even newer premium economy seat on some of their 777s with Aria Suite, and I have plans to fly them in the near future – I can’t wait to see if that seat is even better.
Exploring Cathay Pacific’s A350 Economy Class Cabin
I was one of the first people on board the plane due to the fact that there weren’t many frequent flyer elite passengers, so I had plenty of time to check out the economy class cabin (also, Cathay Pacific’s A350s don’t feature dedicated lavatories for premium economy passengers, so you have to use the ones in economy – which I did). I’ve never flown Cathay’s A350 economy class before, and it was fun to be able to get a close-up of these seats.
Cathay Pacific A350 Economy Class Cabin
These seats have decent padding and recline, and the headrest has a fold-out feature – this sounds really nice in theory, though they chose too firm of a leather strap to support the head (I’d have gone with a stretchy spacer mesh fabric instead). I’ve heard that not many end up using this feature, and would like to try it out someday.
Cathay Pacific A350 Economy Class Recline and Headrest
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Lavatory
As aforementioned, there aren’t dedicated lavatories for Cathay Pacific premium economy passengers on the A350-900 (they do on some other aircraft, including their A350-1000s and select 777s), so you need to use one of the five lavatories between the two (front and rear) economy cabins. There’s also a sixth lavatory at the back of the plane, which makes one lavatory per 40 passengers.
The lavatories themselves are bog-standard A350 economy lavatories, perhaps with the addition of Nobility toiletries.
Cathay Pacific A350 Economy Class Lavatory
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Amenities
Back at my seat, I found a pillow, as well as a similar blanket to what you’d find on a regional business class flight with the airline. Both of these were more than enough for this short four-hour flight – you get the same pillow and an upgraded duvet on longhaul flights.
Cathay Pacific A350 Economy Class Pillow and Blanket
We were also given a bottle of water, which was the extent of the pre-departure service on this flight – Cathay Pacific doesn’t serve pre-departure beverages in premium economy on shorthaul flights.
Cathay Pacific A350 Economy Class Water
There were also noise-cancelling headphones, which were okay.
Cathay Pacific A350 Economy Class Headphones
Taking off from Changi Airport
Boarding was completed in due course, and the premium economy cabin went out probably a maximum of 25% full, with the back row otherwise completely empty – score! From what I could see, business class didn’t look full at all, whereas economy probably had around a 70% load factor. For what it’s worth, the picture below makes the cabin seem emptier than it was – there were definitely people in the first couple of rows.
Empty-ish premium economy cabin on Cathay Pacific
The captain came onto the PA to announce our 3h 20m flight time, as well as our flying altitude of 40,000 feet. He mentioned that we’d have fine arrival conditions upon landing into Hong Kong. This was followed by the airline’s then-brand-new safety video, showcasing parts of Hong Kong.
Cathay Pacific Safety Video
The inflight service manager then welcomed us over the PA as well, also listing out the codeshare airlines in the process – this flight was codeshared by American Airlines, Qatar Airways, and MIAT Mongolian (!), as well as Finnair.
We pushed back at 1:50 AM. While there didn’t seem to be much activity at Changi Airport at this hour, our taxi still took 20 minutes, since we went through the entire length of runway 02 in order to take off. However, the late flight time meant that we were first in line for takeoff after we got to the runway, as opposed to having to queue.
Taxiing at Changi Airport
At this point the cabin lights were dimmed, as we prepared to take off.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy cabin with dimmed lighting
We did eventually rocket off runway 02R at 2:10 AM, initially heading southbound before doing a 180° turn left to head due north towards Hong Kong. One of the drawbacks of being in premium economy is that it’s almost always over the wing, which doesn’t make for particularly great views.
Taking off from Changi Airport – bye Singapore!
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Entertainment System
While I never consider myself an entertainment system expert, Cathay Pacific’s new A350 entertainment system is stacked with movies and full TV shows. I also found the new UI to be extremely sleek (the old version was also very easy to use).
Cathay Pacific A350 Entertainment System
My favourite feature of the entertainment system was definitely the tail camera, though admittedly it wasn’t until landing that there was much to see on the tail camera at this point (as we were flying in the dark).
Cathay Pacific A350 Tail Camera
If you’re looking to watch movies on a Cathay Pacific flight, you won’t be disappointed by the selection, and I also really enjoyed the UI upgrade that this entertainment system featured.
Cathay Pacific A350 WiFi
Cathay Pacific’s A350s also feature WiFi. On this Singapore to Hong Kong flight, WiFi was priced as follows:
- A “Messaging” pass for text messaging came at US$3.95 (£3/HK$30) for the flight
- A one-hour pass cost US$9.95 (£7.50/HK$77) with no data caps
- A full flight pass cost US$12.95 (£9.75/HK$100) with no data caps
This is great value if you’re looking to work. I wanted to stay connected with family, though didn’t really need to get any work done and was hoping to get some sleep on this flight, so I purchased the Messaging pass to try it out. It did the trick – good enough for messages, couldn’t really load or send any photos, and worked pretty much as expected. WiFi is also a strong point of Cathay Pacific’s onboard product.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Meal Service
On these shorthaul redeye flights, a meal service is what differentiates premium economy from economy class. In economy you’re given a snack box, whereas premium economy passengers receive a full hot meal.
“Sunrise” blue and orange mood lighting was turned on for the meal service once we reached cruising altitude.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Cabin during Meal Service
There was no menu on this flight, though the crew communicated the options to me when coming round with a trolley. The options were:
- Chinese-style pork with stir fried vegetables
- Halibut with potatoes
The dish was presented on a single tray. I chose the Chinese-style pork with stir fried vegetables, which was extremely flavourful, and hit the spot on this short flight. It was served with some fruit and a delicious chocolate cake, and I ordered red wine as my drink of choice, which I enjoyed as well (I don’t know what the wine was, since I wasn’t handed a menu, and also didn’t ask).
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Meal
Not long after I was finished, my tray was collected, and the cabin lights were dimmed, before being turned all the way off.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Cabin After Meal Service
It was great to have a substantial meal service onboard this shorthaul flight, though what impressed me most was the pace that the meal service was carried out at.
Cathay Pacific A350 Premium Economy Service
Flight attendants on this Cathay Pacific flight were very friendly, despite the unpleasant flight time. Interactions were understandably limited as efficiency was prioritised throughout.
The meal service kicked off at 2:30 AM, 20 minutes after takeoff, and it wrapped up at 2:50 AM. The cabin lights were then off for a full two hours before the “30 minutes before landing” announcement was done at 4:55 AM. Considering the entire flight was 3h 20m, I consider that to be pretty impressive.
Sunrise enroute to Hong Kong
Once the pre-landing announcement was done, I decided to peek at the sunrise happening from one of the right windows, since seat 33K was also empty.
I don’t wake up early enough to enjoy sunrises often, so they’re often one of my favourite moments when flying, especially when it’s shorthaul. There’s just something fun about seeing something beautiful whilst sleep-deprived, and a sunrise with an A350 wing backdrop is no exception.
Sunrise enroute to Hong Kong
Landing into Hong Kong Airport
At around 5:15 AM, we approached Hong Kong over the water, before doing a right turn to land on runway 07R. At this time, the cabin was prepared for landing.
Landing into Hong Kong Airport
We touched down at 5:30 AM, before a very quick taxi to gate 71, where we’d be parked.
Arrival at Hong Kong Airport
We ended up reaching gate 71 at 5:35 AM, 15 minutes before our scheduled arrival time.
Pulling into Gate 71 at Hong Kong Airport
I managed to catch a glimpse of the A350 that had taken us from Singapore, though unfortunately couldn’t get a great view.
Cathay Pacific A350 at Hong Kong Airport
Gate 71 is one of the further gates from the immigration concourse, and while there’s usually an automatic people mover to speed up the process, it doesn’t start running until 6 AM. I kind of enjoyed the morning walk to immigration, though – while many of Cathay Pacific’s U.S. and Europe routes land very early in the morning, few land as early as 5 AM, so the airport was still very quiet at this time. Once we got to baggage claim, my bag took a further 20 minutes to arrive.
After this, I got on the Airport Express, and headed home to meet family.
Conclusion: Cathay Pacific’s A350 Premium Economy
We’re quite quick to scrutinise Cathay Pacific at The Alviator, and have pointed out many a fault with the airline’s management, cost base, complacency, and overall passenger experience. With that in mind, my Cathay Pacific flight was exceptional, and I wouldn’t hesitate to call it world-class.
The seat is one of the most well-designed, and despite being almost a decade old, it still manages to beat out many competitors on storage, legroom, and in-seat power. The IFE is industry-leading, amenities are good (and better on longhaul flights), and catering is very good as well. Obviously this wasn’t a longhaul flight with Cathay Pacific’s “full” premium economy flight, though I find those flights to be extremely well executed as well.
I also enjoyed being able to fly one of these shorthaul redeye flights – they’re operationally super smooth, always on time, are almost always operated by longhaul-configured aircraft (though sometimes operated by A330s without premium economy), and I was in a position to get a bit more solid sleep once I got home. All in all, this flight was extremely pleasant, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do a similar flight again.
Have you flown Cathay Pacific’s shorthaul premium economy class before? What was your experience like?
