CATHAY PACIFIC ECONOMY CLASS SAN FRANCISCO TO HONG KONG JULY 4 CX 873 國泰航空經濟客艙三藩市直飛香港

July 4, 2014
San Francisco to Hong Kong
SFO - HKG
Economy
Coach
Seat 72D
72G similar
Boeing 777-300ER

Sharing my experience with an economy seat on Cathay Pacific flight CX 873 from SFO to HKG hoping to help anyone choose the best seat. It's a paid coach fare, lowest fare that included mileage accrual.

72D

Decent seat 72D with a little bit extra elbow room and unofficial storage space behind seat, good for books, newspaper, or a small light bag. Just be discreet and keep from sight of flight attendants. It reclines just enough. 

Pillows, blankets, and headphones were all already placed on seats before boarding. Headrests were the ones with two ends folding out to keep your head in place. 

Back of seat in front

72 C to 72 G all recline backwards. Seat in front does not recline towards you. Personal entertainment system is all touch screen now. There is no physical button nor any retractable corded handheld control pad. Nice touches include mini hook for hanging small items, small shelf right below monitor is perfect for cell phone or small electronics. A small cup-holder can be used by itself without folding the whole tray table out.

Widened aisle

Advice taken from Tripit.com, there's a giant aisle between you and the rest of the seats, enough to hang your elbow and leg out a lot more than the regular aisle seats along the narrow aisle. Your elbow is also protected by the partition right behind your seat, which sticks out by a few inches.

USB jack

USB port at bottom of personal display. AC power outlet is under the seat. See below for photo taken on the flight back from HKG to SFO.

Cathay (exclusive?) under plane belly loqw-res camera

Pretty awesome to have a view of a small albeit low res camera at the bottom of the plane. Super fun during take-off and landing. You can also switch between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios.

Menu pages:

English breakfast menu

Available wines

Supper Menu

Chinese supper menu

Food was decent. I will take more pix in future posts. Portions of courses on planes are never big enough for me. I've asked for seconds before and have succeeded on both SQ and CX flights, economy class. It doesn't hurt to ask. There's also the usual cup noodles, chips, dried fruits, crackers, chocolate ..... , etc . . . The snacks and fruits are usually placed on a basket in the galley, self serve.

Breakfast pic

I had the beef stirfry for dinner and scramble for breakfast, both very good. One cannot really expect the little baby shanghai bokchoy to be fresh green color though =) it's been cooked and microwaved. 

I have nothing to complain about this flight though I had an empty seat next to me yay!

Just an observation: there were a lot of 3-5 year old kids seated in premium economy section. I wonder if they have filthily rich parents or is it Cathay's policy to gather up all the kids in the premium economy sections now? Will keep observing. 

Yay! My first travel review is online!!! Thanks for reading!

under seat photo - universal power outlet present!

Yes, confirmed, the power outlet is under the seat.

Uh oh they stopped speaking mandarin on the flight I was on. There's no more mandarin announcement. Is this planned? Flight attendants kept speaking Cantonese to mandarin people and say sorry I do not speak mandarin after switching to English. Is this a protest??

September 25, 2015 update:

On my latest flight on Cathay Pacific, announcements were only in English and Cantonese, no Mandarin.

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES ECONOMY CLASS SAN FRANCISCO TO MAUI KAHULUI AIRPORT & back JUNE 5 - 10 HA 41 HA 42 SFO - OGG 夏威夷航空經濟客艙三藩市到夏威夷茂宜島卡胡盧伊

June 5, 2015

Hawaiian Airlines HA 41 

San Francisco to Maui Kahului 

SFO-OGG

Seats 26AB

June 10, 2015

Hawaiian Airlines 42 

Maui Kahului to San Francisco 

OGG-SFO

Seats 18HJ

Both Airbus A330-200

Seat Guru Seating Plan

Bought this pair of tickets with Hawaiian Airlines Barclays co-brand credit card's promotion with buy one get one half off + 30K miles. First checked bag free. After this one round trip, I got enough for a free round-trip back to Hawaii, any island! It's well worth the $89 annual fee. First year of annual fee was not waived and it went on the first billing cycle.

This time flying with Dr Wong to cousin Ivan's wedding in Maui. I have not been back to Hawaii for 25 years . . . First time was 1988 I believe, to Waikiki with the whole family. Stayed at Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Hawaiian Airlines were using SFO's international terminal. Check in was quick and easy. We had one checked bag, no question was asked for the first free checked bag.

On the plane! Typical Hawaiian Airlines' Airbus A330-200 economy seat configuration, 2-4-2. We took 26 AB and 18 HJ. These are perfect for people traveling as a couple in economy.

2 x 4 x 2 configuration

Each seat is equipped with a personal AVOD (audio-video on-demand) IFE (in-flight entertainment system). These are not the "shell" seats (where they slide forward) so when the person infront of you do recline, you'd have to re-adjust the screen a bit.

Back of seat

The pay-per-view movies are relatively recent and there's a good selection. I stuck with the free programs such as music and free tv shows. Hawaii guide and current flight route can be viewed as well.

Personal display unit at every economy seat

USB jack is provided at every seat as well. Charging is slow but where else are you gonna go?

USB jack right next to personal display

Took an under seat pic. Confirmed that there's no AC power outlet under the seats. Some airlines do include these but they do not advertise it. It's always good to check. No-one else would know about it so you can hog it when it's available.

Photo of space under seat - no power outlet there

Pretty decent leg room for an economy seat. I am 5'-9". If I remember correctly, this is much better than any of the United pig pens.

Decent leg-room

Dr Wong was quite excited about the sturdy fold-out head rest for securing his head for napping. He even demonstrated how it helped with channeling drool onto oneself than onto the person sitting next to you.

Demonstration of added comfort with fold-out head rest

The seats felt just fine. Maybe a bit more spacious than the typical US carriers. I usually fold up the aisle side arm-rest to get more space when the flight attendants are not serving food/drink. There's a little hole at the bottom back of the arm-rest where you can press in and release the locking mechanism.

Dr. Wong took a nice pic of fog coming into Half Moon Bay. 

Fog coming into Halfmoon Bay, view from the plane

Meal service is included! So excited. Airplane food is not exciting for most people but I LOVE looking at them and eating them. I like seeing how different airlines present it differently.

I had the penne with meat sauce. There wasn't much meat in the sauce it's almost vegetarian. No matter. It was quite yummy and I asked for seconds. Hawaiian Airlines' also known to give coach passenger a free glass of wine while dining.

Not served on the plane but right outside secured boarding area at OGG. Saimin noodle soup $9. Quite yummy!

Trip-It flight info panel on way back

Meal on the way back. Nothing fancy but it's better than nothing!

Meatballs with rice and fukujinzuke! Very Hawaiian!

I have absolutely no complaint about the food. I did not have any expectations. Flight attendants were super friendly and nice. I asked for seconds nicely and she brought me another penne pasta in no time, "Excuse me, if there's any of the pasta left, would you mind bringing me another one?" It had not failed me so far. I do eat a lot and 2 airplane portions equal approximately half of my usual portion. They even said the meatballs were turkey meatballs! It's almost a loco moco! I'd take this over a dry sandwich or soggy wrap any day.

I enjoyed these 2 flights and it's a plus to fly Hawaiian since they try to show their culture in the magazine, vids, and overall branding. I learned a bit more about Hawaii on the way. I knew about O-Paka-Paka before I landed, what a yummy Snapper!

Air fare was comparable or cheaper than the typical boring airlines from the mainland. I think someone told me Alaska also serves complimentary meals. I'd fly Hawaiian again given the choice. It's just a lot more fun than UA AA or DL.

EVA AIR HELLO KITTY FLIGHT BR858 HKG-TPE ECONOMY SEAT 20D AirbusA330-200 長榮航空經濟客艙香港到台北再回香港

JULY 5, 2014

EVA AIR BR 858

HKG-TPE

DEPARTURE 20:55PM

ARRIVAL 22:40PM

Seat 23A, 23C, 23D
Economy Class
A330-300 (333)

Seat map from SeatGuru.com

Taking papa and mama on a short trip to Taipei for 4 days. Can't afford to fly them on business yet, maybe in 10 years =) sorry!

I was assigned seat 23A but let mamapapa sit together at 23A and 23C. I took 23D with an uncle next to me. Configuration is 2-4-2 generally throughout economy cabin. 

Was very exited about this Hello Kitty themed flight but turned out the theme was literally paper thin. 

Hello Kitty boarding pass

Boarding pass. Cute. I would've been a lot more excited if I were 5 years old. 

Hello Kitty safety card

Safety info card is themed too. 

Hello Kitty themed content

Very low res low quality display constantly playing hello kitty while passengers were boarding. 

Seat with Hello Kitty head rest liner in PINK

TV and tray table

Seats were very old school aka late 90s United / the very first generation of on demand on SQ. 

Wired control unit, doubles as phone (not LED)

Headphone jack and button for reclining seat back

Retractable control and 3-prong audio. Very retro, not in the good sense. 

Headphone plug

Headphones came in a plastic bag with Hello Kitty printed on

Headphones were the ones that you'd insert the black sponges onto the ear piece yourself. At this point I gave up. 

From top left clockwise: chocolate cake with pink sugar Hello Kitty head, puke bag, cutlery, facial mist and liquid soap

Clockwise from top left: headrest liner, air freshener holder, paper cup, toilet paper

Various paper products used to theme the plane. While I appreciate the effort, it is quite minimal. 

Pink plastic silverware and a pink hello kitty chocolate placed on inedible non-descript cake were the only themed items on the meal tray. Meal was forgettable. 

Granted it was a 1.5 hour flight, there were no menu handed out, no diet coke, no coke zero, no choice of meat ..... Etc. I know I know, it's coach. But I was a bit spoiled by CX and SQ. Chief flight attendant could barely speak English. Captain's English was passable. 

And I looked everywhere. There's no power outlets. 

Updated July 11:

Life size card board hello kitty in EVA uniform welcoming you to Tao Yuan Airport

Return flight from TPE back to HKG 4 days after. There are a lot more themed items at Taipei airport. 

Hello Kitty Check-in Kiosk

Another Hello Kitty themed area at Tao Yuan Airport with a whole roomful of pink-ness.

义燒炒飯

Dinner - BBQ pork and shrimp fried rice with a piece of ribbon shaped carrot.

什菜絲沙律

Hello Kitty fish cake on top of an Asian slaw. No mayo. The raisins were a disgusting touch.

Hello Kitty Livery

Got a shot of the whole plane at Tao Yuan airport.

Conclusion:

All in all, it'd be a lot more exciting for a 5 year old girl. I don't know what I was thinking ...... It was a good experience though. But will most likely not get out of my way to get on it in the future.