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.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS ECONOMY CLASS SAN FRANCISCO TO HONG KONG NON-STOP FEBRUARY 11, 2015 SFO-HKG 國泰航空經濟艙舊金山直飛香港

FEB 11, 2015

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS

SFO - HKG NONSTOP DIRECT

DEPART 12:05PM

ARRIVE 18:55PM

Seat 72D/72G reference seatguru

Economy Class

Boeing 777-300ER

Trying my favorite seat 72D again (72G is the same). 

Personal preference - i like this super wide aisle next to me

Massive aisle space. 

under the seat storage - mine

Mad storage under my seat. All mine. And under seat in front of me. Also mine. Mine mine mine.

Backside of 72D and 72G

Recline was decent. Seat pocket behind me also mine!

Best storage in volume in economy class!! Direct access right under my seat. No need to hog overhead compartment. Provided that you don't bring a giant thang that don't fit under your seat. 

Menu:

Alcohol menu

Chinese Dinner Menu

Chinese lunch menu

Dinner Menu

Menu

This flight departs at noon instead of midnight. Meal services include lunch and dinner, not dinner and breakfast. 

Since I was at the last row, they ran out of chicken so I had meatloaf on the plane =P but asked for seconds and got a penne pasta main too. 

Meatloaf with un-baked dinner roll (see that pale white thing on top)

Pasta entree

Cuponoodles mid-flight:

Cup o noodle whenever you want! "made" to order =)

Supper / Lunch. why they put the roll right on the tray? Ghetto =)

CX 免午飯 haha. Not bad at all. Inspiring me to add oyster sauce to my version at home. Must add raw egg tho. 

Snapped a couple pix while I was walking thru business class drooling like a retard. 

Beautiful beautiful throne for me! soon!

Business class seat that I didn't get to enjoy =( just yet

They had to peel me off the business class lie flat seat before they could take off. 

Hopefully this flight is the last flight ever I take between HKG and SFO on economy, alone. 

Nothing to complain about. Awesome flight attendants. Gave me whatever I asked for with a smile and spoke canto to me all the way =) totally understood what I meant by "the black cola" in canto. love the extra storage. 

Things I could not control but did not let get to me:

1. Hyperactive 5 year old ugly girl wearing head to toe pink hello kitty outfit running up and down the aisle non-stop for 20 laps no less. I swear her molecular structure was heavier than lead. I thought an elephant woke me up from my slumber. 

2. Dude sitting next to me took off shoes and retired to lotus position with naked right foot on my right thigh (this is possible in the advance yoga lotus position, don't argue with me). Then ordered 5 drinks within 30 min of take off. Three flight attendants told him they could not serve him alcohol for a while. When it was dessert time, he decided to communicate to the crew that his Haagen Dazs was rock hard by repeatedly stabbing the poor little ice-cream cup with his tiny little plastic spoon, violently. I told myself: take deep breaths and ignore. 

After a while flight attendant came by and politely said "yes, just wait a few minutes, they will get soft." With a smile. Such grace! 

I had no problem with it cuz I ain't gon eat it. Didn't wanna have an incident on the plane.