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THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT
Cathay Pacific has an industry-leading premium economy seat with good tech and storage, though the soft product wasn't as polished as I was expecting for a premium economy product, and had some missed opportunities |
4.5
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In September 2025, I flew Cathay Pacific’s new 777 premium economy class from Hong Kong to London Heathrow. Cathay Pacific introduced new business class and premium economy seats in 2024, and they started flying longhaul on select routes earlier this year. I’ve always seen Cathay Pacific’s current A350 seat as one of the best in the industry, so was curious to see whether the 777 seat was a further upgrade.
Cathay Pacific’s new 777 premium economy is every bit as good as their A350 seat, with good storage, and better in-seat tech. This is definitely one of the best premium economy seats currently flying. However, I did feel like the upgrade was extremely tech focused (much like with the Aria Suite in business class), and don’t think the seat is otherwise better than the previous-generation A350 seat.
If anything, I noticed this time round that Cathay Pacific’s premium economy soft product is more “economy class plus” than “business class minus”, and don’t think it’s the best premium economy product out there. While the main meals are good and there’s on-demand dining between meals, the service flow feels more economy-style, and there’s a surprisingly lack of drinks available.
How To Know If Your Flight Features Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy
Cathay Pacific’s new 777 premium economy flies on the following routes:
- between Hong Kong and London – CX255/CX250
- between Hong Kong and Melbourne – CX163/CX178
- between Hong Kong and Sydney – CX101/CX100
- between Hong Kong and Vancouver – CX888/CX865
- between Hong Kong and Beijing – CX334/CX335
- between Hong Kong and Frankfurt – CX289/CX288 (starting Oct 26)
The airline will operate the Aria Suite to Tokyo Haneda (CX548/CX549) and Sapporo Chitose (CX580/CX581) as well in the coming months, though do make sure you check the seat map. You’ll know if the premium economy cabin features six rows, as Cathay Pacific’s older 777s either have four or five rows of premium economy.
Booking Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy
Since there wasn’t any award space around the dates I was flying (this was peak season, as it was very close to when universities in the UK were starting term), I booked a one-way cash ticket for this flight. I chose to originate my itinerary out of Seoul specifically, so I could grab a cheap origin fare to London. The full itinerary cost £724 (HK$7,558) in premium economy one-way, with the Cathay Pacific flight from Seoul to Hong Kong being in economy class. Of course you can get better value if flying roundtrip, though the extra marginal cost to get new flight reviews was worth it for me. I ended up upgrading my Seoul to Hong Kong segment to business class for 19,500 Asia Miles, and reviewed that flight here.
The final itinerary for this segment looked as follows:
14/09 Cathay Pacific 411 Seoul Incheon – Hong Kong dep. 15:10 arr. 18:00 [Business Class]
14/09 Cathay Pacific 255 Hong Kong – London Heathrow dep. 23:15 arr. 06:20 [Premium Economy]
Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy Ground Experience and Boarding
After connecting from my business class flight on Cathay Pacific, I had dinner with my family landside, before heading back airside prior to my flight. Cathay Pacific offers two 23 kg checked bags for premium economy passengers, and I was able to check my bag at Hong Kong Airport, despite my itinerary originating in Seoul. While my boarding pass successfully generated, I asked to get my documents verified at the airport check-in counter (as I live in the UK on an eVisa and don’t need an ETA), and was asked to generate a share code for them.
Cathay Pacific doesn’t give their premium economy passengers lounge access, though they honour the highest cabin class in the itinerary, which meant that I could visit the business class lounges. I quickly checked out The Bridge and The Pier, though wasn’t able to properly write reviews of either, as I was fairly desperately hoping for a shower and both lounges were crowded. I’ll be sure to drop by both lounges again the next time I pass through Hong Kong Airport.
After finally managing to get a shower at The Pier, I popped out to gate 64, which was coincidentally right across from the lounge. There was a sizeable line for premium economy at the time, even though it was around 5 minutes before our 10:35 PM boarding time.
Cathay Pacific boarding gate at Hong Kong Airport
Boarding ended up starting at around 10:40 PM, starting with Cathay Pacific Diamond and Oneworld Emerald members, followed by business class, Cathay Gold and Oneworld Sapphire members. Premium economy was next to board – the airframe was also B-KQH, the exact same 12-year-old 777 as the one I’d flown over to Hong Kong one week prior in the Aria Suite.
Cathay Pacific Flight CX255
Sunday, September 14, 2025
Origin: Hong Kong (HKG) Gate: 64 Dep: 23:15 (23:35)
Destination: London Heathrow (LHR) T: 3 Gate: 18 Arr: 06:20+1 (07:05+1)
Duration: 14 hr 5 min (14 hr 30 min)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER Reg: B-KQH
Seat: 35K/34K (Premium Economy Class)
Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy Cabin and Seat
Cathay Pacific’s new 777s feature 48 premium economy seats, spread across six rows in a 2-4-2 configuration. This is by far Cathay Pacific’s biggest premium economy cabin, as their other aircraft feature at most 34 premium economy seats.
I was the first onboard this aircraft when I flew the Aria Suite over to Hong Kong, so managed to get clean cabin shots of the premium economy cabin. I’ve attached them below:
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy
These are modified Recaro R4 seats, which you’ll also find on EVA Air’s newest 787s, ANA, among others. It’s also Cathay Pacific’s first premium economy cabin to not feature sea-green colour tones – instead, the seats are mostly grey, with beige faux leather finishes. I’m a fan of these finishes, and think the cabin is sleek and understated, with a few pops of colour to prevent it from looking too sterile.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Cabin
As I didn’t board first, these were the best cabin photos I could muster up on the night.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Cabin
I’d originally assigned myself seat 35K, the right window seat in the last row of the cabin, which is my strong preference in premium economy.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Seat 35K
The seat is well-padded and supportive, and features both a legrest and a footrest (despite the appearance, the legrest functions as a single unit). There’s also an adjustable headrest. As you can see, there’s a privacy wing at each seat – it wasn’t large enough to block out the person next to you, and I also wish it was padded, so you could use it as head support while sleeping if you so wished.
Recline goes pretty far back in this seat, and I found the seat to be very comfortable while reclined – I had no issues getting comfortable in it. Unlike the fold-out footrest on the A350, the footrest here folds down from the seat in front – I don’t have a strong preference, though might marginally prefer what the A350 had.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Recline
The fold-down footrest was easily adjustable, and provided good support to the feet, especially when reclined. At the same time, I appreciated that there was a calf rest as well, so that this wasn’t the only form of foot support.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Footrest
The side table had some faux grey wood finishing, and was a good surface to place a drink. Right underneath was a remote for the TV, as well as some seat controls. I’d say that the seat control buttons felt very stiff and didn’t have enough haptic support, and my seatmate in particular had trouble pressing down far enough that the seat would recline.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Side Table and Seat Controls
Legroom was solid with a generous 40″ seat pitch, though the seatbacks in this product are quite thick. Also pictured below is a nice and sturdy double-layered seat pocket, which can very easily store a laptop.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Legroom and Seat Pocket
In terms of storage, there’s also a generous storage compartment under the TV screen, which is perfect for glasses, AirPods, or a phone. While there’s a label there discouraging stowage during taxi, takeoff and landing, these pockets weren’t cleared during safety checks.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Storage Compartment
There was another storage compartment underneath the other armrest, which would’ve also been large enough for a phone or small tablet. While I have issues with the storage space available in Cathay Pacific’s Aria Suite business class product, there’s definitely no issue with storage in this premium economy seat. The storage compartment even came complete with a light.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Under-Armrest Storage
In terms of in-seat power, there was a USB-A and 110V power port for each seat by the legrest, and a USB-C port under the armrest.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy In-Seat Power
The bi-fold tray table popped out of the armrest with the push of a button, and was easy to use, and fairly sturdy. I do wish it would have been slightly larger, so it could’ve been fully supported by the armrest on the other side, as per the A350 seat.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Tray Table
Additionally, each seat featured a 15.6″ entertainment screen, which was touchscreen and very responsive – a far cry from what’s available on the older 777s, and quite similar to what’s available on the airline’s A350s.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Entertainment Screen
While a very minor detail, I also liked that the seat numbers were engraved into the gold finishes around the seat.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Seat Numbers
Overall, the seat felt like a marginally upgraded and sleeker version of the A350 seat, with a little bit of added privacy and storage, and better in-seat tech. The A350 seat was already very good, and while this seat felt just as good in every way, I wouldn’t consider this seat better than the A350 one.
Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy Amenities
I really like Cathay Pacific’s longhaul premium economy amenities, and this flight was no exception. Waiting at my seat was a pillow (with a rough side and a smooth side – these used to be the pillows Cathay Pacific would use in business class), and each passenger was provided a substantial duvet as well.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Pillow and Duvet
Also waiting at my seat was an amenity kit. I like Cathay Pacific’s premium economy amenity kits – this one featured a skyline animation of Shanghai, and the interior featured socks, eyeshades, earplugs, and a dental kit.
Cathay Pacific 777 New Premium Economy Amenity Kit
I forgot to take apicture of the headphones provided (you can see that they were in the seat pocket), though Cathay Pacific provides the same headphones to premium economy passengers as they do in business class, and these are perfectly fine noise-cancelling headphones.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Headphones
I think there are other airlines that have Cathay Pacific beat on the amenities front – for example, EVA Air gives their premium economy passengers slippers. However, what I received on Cathay Pacific was more than enough for me to get comfortable on this overnight 14-hour flight.
Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy Pre-Departure Service
Serving pre-departure beverages in premium economy can be a challenge, especially since economy boards right past the full cabin. Around 30 minutes after boarding began, the crew came round with pre-departure beverages, including sparkling wine, orange juice, apple juice, and water. I chose sparkling wine, which was Astoria Lounge Valdobbiadene Superiore prosecco – this wasn’t too bad. All were served in paper cups.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Pre-Departure Beverage
We were also offered a hot towel prior to takeoff.
Taking off from Hong Kong Airport
My seatmate in 35H was super friendly, and we struck up a conversation about content creation, as I let him know he was reviewing the flight. He also mentioned that he’d bumped into his friend in seat 34K, the seat in front of me, and nicely asked if I could swap. I obliged, and was sat next to someone moving to the UK for an exchange programme.
At 11:10 PM, boarding was finished up. The captain came onto the PA, announced our 13h 57m flight time, and also mentioned that there were three pilots onboard.
Not only was this flight extremely full, but it was also packed with people who were moving to the UK for the beginning of university term. For this reason, the overhead bin situation was a bit of a mess, especially in economy. Many carry-on bags were moved around to fit snugly within the overhead bins, and a good number of economy passengers had their bags stored in the premium economy overhead bins. This didn’t bother me, since I didn’t have a carry-on myself (I’d checked a bag, and my backpack went underneath the seat in front of me). The crew handled this efficiently, though it still caused a slight delay.
Finally, the safety video was played at around 11:35 PM, 20 minutes after our scheduled departure time.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Safety Video
As we began our taxi out, the cabin lights were dimmed. Cathay Pacific’s newest 777s have mood lighting throughout the plane, as opposed to their older 777s, where mood lighting was only installed in the business class cabin.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Mood Lighting
Since the lights were only dimmed later on, I struggled to get photos out of the aircraft during our taxi.
Traffic at Hong Kong Airport
There was a very high-definition forward and downward camera, though, which I had on during the takeoff and landing. I’ll talk more about the entertainment system later, but this was very fun to look at.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Forward Camera
We ended up taking off from runway 07R at 11:55 PM, 40 minutes after our scheduled departure time. We turned right just short of Hong Kong Island, before doing a 180° left turn to head north towards London.
Takeoff from Hong Kong Airport
A few minutes after the takeoff roll, the guy in front of my seatmate reclined. It’s quite difficult to get out of your seat when the aisle seat in front of you is reclined in any premium economy, and Cathay Pacific’s seat is no exception. I couldn’t even manage to climb over my seatmate, but she had to get out of her seat completely whenever I needed to use the bathroom.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Recline
Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy Lavatory
Cathay Pacific’s new 777s feature two dedicated premium economy lavatories, featured at the back of the cabin behind row 35. If these are filled, there are two adjacent lavatories that are available for economy passengers as well (the curtain “divides” the two premium economy lavatories from the two economy lavatories, though it’s not enforced when the curtain is open). So this is around a 24:1 passenger to lavatory ratio, which is pretty good for a premium economy product.
The lavatories themselves are modern and feature a touch-free flush sensor and a pedal bin function, though are identical to what you’d get in economy.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Lavatory
Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy Entertainment System
While I didn’t watch a movie on this flight, and generally don’t consider myself an entertainment system expert whatsoever, I did scroll through Cathay Pacific’s entertainment system. Cathay Pacific’s newest entertainment system is brilliant, featuring a very responsive UI, a huge number of movies and TV shows, a lavatory availability function, a WiFi connectivity indicator, lighting controls for the seat, as well as an airshow. As aforementioned, the external cameras are extremely high-definition as well.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Entertainment System
Even the base interface is really user-friendly – there’s a timeline for when meal services will be served throughout the flight, when WiFi is activated, when you’ll be able to get food on demand, etc.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Timeline
There’s also a separate LCD bar at the bottom right corner, though I felt like this was a bit of a missed opportunity. The bar would only show whether the seatbelt sign was on and whether WiFi was enabled. However, a similar strip on Cathay Pacific’s A321neos and in the Aria Suite show other details such as the remaining flight time, which I would’ve found useful.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Entertainment System Strip
There’s also a remote where you can control the TV, though I never used it, since the TV itself was plenty responsive.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Remote
In addition, there’s also the function to watch a movie together with a seatmate, or connect your headphones to Bluetooth audio.
I really like Cathay Pacific’s new entertainment system, though granted I’m really not an expert when it comes to the quality and quantity of the entertainment selection provided.
Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy WiFi
Cathay Pacific’s entire fleet features WiFi. Cathay Pacific is working on making WiFi free for Gold members, as well as premium economy passengers. Neither of these had been rolled out yet on my flight, though having complimentary WiFi in premium economy is an exciting development.
My experience using WiFi on Cathay Pacific was largely, though not entirely positive. On the plus side, the package offering is very good, and US$21.95 (£16.48/HK$171) is very reasonable. WiFi measured 7.35 Mbps down and 2.90 Mbps up, which I consider to be pretty good for inflight WiFi. While I slept for most of the flight, there were also no dead patches for the entire time I was awake.
On the minus side, I found the portal to be almost unusable on this flight. When trying to log into my Cathay account (which would’ve made transitioning between devices more seamless), the portal was perpetually stuck on the login page, and I was never able to log in. Since Cathay Pacific is only planning to make WiFi complimentary for passengers in premium economy with a Cathay account, I’d need to be able to log in to take advantage of the service, which I wasn’t able to do successfully on this flight. These speeds were specific to the UI of the portal, as WiFi itself worked totally fine.
I proceeded without login in this case, and was given a guest access code and guest PIN for whenever I wanted to change devices. These were also sent to my email. Cathay Pacific needs to upgrade the responsiveness of their WiFi connection portal, as it’s very frustrating when that’s the blocker to being able to use an otherwise excellent WiFi offering.
Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy Meal Service
The meal service began around half an hour after takeoff, and the cabin lights were turned back on.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Cabin
There was a menu provided to every premium economy passenger during boarding, which looked as follows:
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Menu
The menu itself read as follows:
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Menu
The drinks selection read as follows:
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Drinks Selection
I was pleasantly surprised by the food menu, and a bit disappointed by the drinks menu. On the plus side, I liked that there were three meal choices during the first meal service, and while only two meal choices were listed for breakfast, the cabin crew actually listed four meal options when they took breakfast orders, presumably including the two offered in economy. All of the items also looked exciting as well – more so than my preceding flight in regional business class from Seoul to Hong Kong (admittedly this is down to personal preference). There were also on-demand mid-flight dining options, including egg tarts, a pastry, and cup noodles – I was very happy to see all of these on the menu. That’s not to say that I felt the food offering was particularly differentiated from economy class, though at least I was excited by it.
On the minus side, there’s nothing in the drinks selection that’s differentiated from what’s offered in economy. While I appreciated the addition of Cathay Pacific’s signature Betsy beer, all of the wines, spirits, beers, and non-alcoholic beverages were identical to what was available in economy, perhaps apart from the Coffee Academics partnership (which isn’t particularly impressive). The only thing extra here was a sparkling wine, which while not bad, cost £11 for a bottle. Surely it wouldn’t cost the airline too much to extend their signature Cathay Delight to premium economy, or to add maybe one or two more rudimentary cocktails (such as a screwdriver or a Garibaldi)? This is such a far cry from what’s offered on Qantas, what I consider to be the world’s best premium economy product – EVA, KLM and even British Airways have a better selection than this.
Anyway, the full meal was served on a tray (a bread roll was offered by default on top of the covered meal, and I placed it on the tray). There was no choice of garlic bread or any other options, even though that was available during my last flight in Cathay Pacific premium economy. Cathay Pacific did offer metal cutlery, though they now use metal cutlery in economy as well.
I had the braised beef brisket and tendon with chu hou sauce (or “beef with rice” according to the flight attendant). To Cathay Pacific’s credit, this was absolutely delicious – the beef was tender and so flavourful, and the vegetables and rice were well-cooked. The appetiser it was served with was a tasty Sichuanese chicken and cucumber salad – what a nice and refreshing appetiser, and so much of an upgrade over a boring side salad. This was also served with some fresh fruit, a packaged Canary Cheese square (a New Zealand cheese which was much better than I was expecting, and also offered by Singapore Airlines in premium economy), and some crackers, along with a chocolate.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Meal
I was asked what I wanted to drink with my meal, and went for a Betsy beer, Cathay Pacific’s house pale ale. The flight attendant asked how old I was, and (perhaps because I was not very put together) surprised that I was as old as I was!
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Betsy Beer
The meal also came with a chocolate, which was packaged in some cute Cathay packaging.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Chocolate
After the meal service, there was a tea and coffee service. I declined both, as well as ice cream.
I found the meal service to be very good, though perhaps very “economy class plus” rather than “business class minus”. It’s great that Cathay Pacific partners with restaurants such as Yat Tung Heen for some of their premium economy meals. However, overall I didn’t feel like the selection was massively upgraded from what I’d expect in economy – the drinks, sides, and dessert were all very similar to what you’d get in economy class. It wouldn’t have hurt to have seen small touches such as a small pudding, a larger drinks selection, or a bread basket.
Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy Service
On the plus side, I found that everyone I interacted with on this flight was friendly. Crewmembers were also willing to go above and beyond – for example, my seatmate asked if there was iced tea, and instead of saying that this wasn’t an option, the flight attendant offered to get some ice cubes and custom-make some.
However, service in premium economy really feels like an assembly line on Cathay Pacific, and lacks polish. For example, when serving up the first meal, instead of offering beef brisket, halibut or vegetable tagine as per the menu, we were offered “beef with rice”, “veggies with couscous”, or “fish with potato”. That’s such a missed opportunity to show some pride in the product, given that the food quality is good.
Also, it wouldn’t be in the service flow for crewmembers to come back and check on passengers’ needs – my seatmate woke up very shortly after breakfast was served, and despite the crew passing through a couple of times, she was never proactively offered breakfast. The crew seemed concerned that she hadn’t been served breakfast when she asked, so clearly this is a service flow issue, as opposed to an issue with this particular crew.
Overall, I felt like the service flow and training cheapened the overall perceived value of Cathay Pacific’s premium economy product, and despite the crew being so friendly, I thought there were a lot of missed opportunities to make the experience feel more premium.
Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy Service Between Meals
Meals were cleared about an hour after they were served (I’d say that’s average pace for a premium economy product on a longhaul flight). First mood lighting was turned on, then the cabin lights were turned off completely, so that passengers could rest.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Cabin
I slept very well for a few hours – Cathay Pacific’s hard product is so good, and the seat was as comfortable for sleeping as it gets in premium economy. I woke up around halfway through the flight, and while I could’ve gone straight back to sleep, I decided to take the opportunity to try Cathay Pacific’s mid-flight dining options in premium economy. It’s fun that Cathay Pacific has mid-flight dining options in premium economy, and that’s one of the more impressive elements of the product, though egg tarts and cup noodles are also available in economy (only the wrap is specific to premium economy).
I ordered both the egg tart and the turkey and mushroom cream roll, thinking I’d try them both out. I know from previous flights that the egg tart would take around 20 minutes to arrive, though would’ve appreciated being told that when I ordered this time – the cabin crew disappeared, and I just sat in the dark for 20 minutes trying not to fall back asleep. I also would’ve appreciated being asked what I want to drink – I remember in 2023 when I was asked for a drink with a banana I was offered on a Cathay Pacific premium economy flight, though there was no such offer this time.
My order did eventually arrive, packaged in cute disposable boxes. These boxes were not collected until landing.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Mid-Flight Snacks
The egg tart was nice – definitely not as flaky as you’ll get on the ground, though the custard itself was nice and tender. The turkey and mushroom cream roll was not that good – it felt soggy and a bit mushy, albeit still being satiating. Egg tarts are only available on flights out of Hong Kong, which means you’ll be stuck with either the pastry or cup noodles if you’re flying inbound to Hong Kong.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Mid-Flight Snacks
So overall this isn’t something I’d hugely look forward to, though it’s still nice to have the option to have a hot snack between meal services in Cathay Pacific premium economy.
Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy Breakfast Service
I slept soundly until the breakfast service, and woke up to a nice sunrise. Unfortunately the window next to my seat was quite scratched up, so pictures were impeded throughout the flight, even when it was light.
Sunrise over Europe
The meal was served around 1h 10m before landing. At this time, awake passengers were asked to put their seatbacks upright (this is why I prefer being in the last row of the cabin), though asleep passengers were left alone, even if the person behind was eating.
The menu mentioned a dim sum selection and a mushroom omelette as breakfast options, though we were also offered an off-menu scrambled egg with chicken sausage, as well as a continental breakfast. I had the mushroom omelette, as I figured I’d give Cathay Pacific’s western breakfast a test drive. The omelet was completely fine, and was served with some tasty bacon and sausage, some sloppily presented tomatoes, and some soggy potatoes. This was served with a bread roll and a croissant, fruit, yoghurt, and jam.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Breakfast
I was later offered a filter coffee, which was fine (though not necessarily very indicative of their Coffee Academics partnership in any way). Breakfast was cleared around 20 minutes after it was served.
Landing into Heathrow Airport
At around 6:25 AM, the captain came onto the PA to give a “30 minutes until landing” announcement. He mentioned that we were landing around 40 minutes behind schedule due to the strong headwinds and our late departure time, and we’d also potentially have to circle Heathrow for a bit, given that the airport was very busy at this time of morning. Shortly after, the cabin was prepared for landing.
Cathay Pacific 777 Premium Economy Cabin before Landing
We didn’t end up circling Heathrow. Unfortunately, even though I was seated on the right side of the cabin, we didn’t get the legendary views on approach over London due to the cloud cover – we were quite far west by the time we poked below the clouds. We did get some nice sunrise sky colours, though.
Landing into Heathrow Airport
It was a smooth approach onto runway 27L, and a swift taxi to Terminal 3, where we parked at gate 18 (this is the first time I’ve been on a non-Virgin Atlantic flight that parked at that end of the terminal).
Landing at Heathrow Airport
While normally I try to make it through to immigration as fast as possible (since Heathrow arrival immigration can be a mess at peak hour), in this case I waited for a friend onboard the aircraft, who was coincidentally on my flight in economy. We exited together, and although the immigration queue was as long as I’ve seen it before, it moved significantly faster than I was expecting. We were through in around half an hour, collected our bags, and I was on my way home.
Conclusion: Cathay Pacific’s New 777 Premium Economy
Cathay Pacific’s new 777 seat is great, perhaps one of the best in the industry. I didn’t consider this seat to be a major improvement over what the airline otherwise offers on their A350, as the A350 already features a very good premium economy product. However, the at-seat storage and seat comfort are top-notch, and the tech and entertainment system is good as well. Cathay Pacific also gets the basics right including good amenities and WiFi, and there’s even mid-flight dining between meal services. For that reason, I consider the “base” product really good, and wouldn’t hesitate to fly them again.
However, the “misses” in this product make it feel more “economy class plus” than “business class minus”, and that’s so easily rectifiable in my opinion. The service flow very much detracted from the premium feel of this product, and it felt like I was flying economy. While the main meals were good, some of the catering quirks are also quite economy-esque, such as the lack of a bread basket and the very limited drinks selection.
I’d say that overall I’d still consider Cathay Pacific’s premium economy above average, though it’s not one of the best in the world.
