Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class Airbus A321neo (HKG-ICN)

During my Aria Suite Adventure to Hong Kong, I flew Cathay Pacific’s Airbus A321neo business class on the 2hr50min flight from Hong Kong (HKG) to Seoul Incheon (ICN).

I was looking forward to this flight, as it was my first time flying a Cathay Pacific narrow body aircraft. The A321neo is a fairly recent addition to Cathay Pacific’s fleet, though over time it’ll become an increasingly popular aircraft for the airline.

All-in-all, I had a phenomenal flight, given the short flight distance. What a contrast this is to flying a narrow body plane within the United States, in terms of service, food, drinks, and more. That being said, I don’t love Cathay Pacific’s regional “cradle” seat — it’s not an issue for a flight of this length, but I’d avoid this product on a longer or overnight flight, if there were a reasonable alternative.

How I booked my Cathay Pacific business class ticket

I redeemed miles for my Cathay Pacific business class ticket. Specifically, I booked the following in business class for 28,000 Cathay Pacific miles plus $65.15 in taxes & fees:

2/08 CX434 Hong Kong to Seoul Incheon departing 8:15AM arriving 12:45PM

Nowadays most of Cathay Pacific’s premium cabin award space is limited to members of the carrier’s own frequent flyer program, as this availability wasn’t bookable through other programs. Fortunately Cathay Pacific miles are easy to come by, as the program partners with some major transferable points currencies.

Cathay Pacific business class lounge & boarding

Cathay Pacific has exceptional lounges at its Hong Kong hub, including the Cathay Pacific The Pier Business Lounge. Best of all, if you’re a oneworld Emerald member, you can even visit the Cathay Pacific The Pier First Lounge or Cathay Pacific The Wing First Lounge.

In this case, my flight was departing from gate 17. This is the gate located in the concourse that can be accessed via the Sky Bridge. While I had visited this area before (because the Sky Bridge is incredible for aviation geeks), this was my first time ever departing from there. It was cool to see multiple Cathay Pacific A321neos parked down there, as narrow body Cathay Pacific planes are still a new sight for me.

Boarding was scheduled for 7:35AM, 40 minutes before departure. Sure enough, that’s exactly when boarding started, with oneworld Emerald members being invited to board first, followed by business class passengers.

Cathay Pacific A321neo business class cabin & seats

I was greeted by the friendly crew at the forward door, and then turned right into the cabin. Cathay Pacific’s Airbus A321neo business class cabin has 12 seats, spread across three rows, in a 2-2 configuration.

In business class, these planes feature the Collins Aerospace Air Rest seat, with customizations from Cathay Pacific’s long-term design partner, JPA Design. This is a hard shell seat, meaning that when you recline your seat, it slides forward, and doesn’t impact the person behind you.

Seats have 47″ of pitch and are 21.5″ wide, so these seats take up significantly more space than your typical domestic first class seats within the United States, for example. I assigned myself seat 12A, the window seat on the left side in the last row (the business class cabin only starts at row 10).

As far as seat features go, each seat boasts a 15.6″ 4K high definition entertainment monitor on the seat back, which has crisp picture quality.

The tray table folds out from underneath the entertainment monitor. If you just release it, then it’s essentially a small tray where you can place drinks.

If you then flip it over, you’ll get the full tray, which you’ll want to use if you’re enjoying a meal. While I appreciate the huge size of the tray, I found the tray to be positioned rather low in comparison to the seat, as there’s not much “clearance” for most people.

Next to the area where the tray tables folds out, you’ll find little bottle holders, which always come in handy, given how limited storage can be in these kinds of seats.

To the side of this space are the USB-A and USB-C outlets.

Meanwhile the AC power outlets are located underneath the center console between seats.

Speaking of the center console, this can hold drinks, and also has the seat controls, so you can recline your seat, or raise your leg rest. Underneath this area is some exposed storage space.

If you lift the leather panel to the side of the seat, you’ll find the entertainment controller, though I don’t find that to be needed, since the monitor is also touchscreen.

There’s a privacy shield between seats, which is always a nice feature when traveling alone. This one doesn’t actually move all that far — it will move maybe a few inches in each direction, so it’s better than nothing, but don’t expect that you’ll have any significant amount of privacy in these seats.

Cathay Pacific’s A321neo cabin has overhead consoles with individual air nozzles, which is always appreciated.

Cathay Pacific’s A321neo business class seat is well designed in terms of seat finishes and technology, if you ask me. For a daytime flight, this seat does the trick, and isn’t worth avoiding. That being said, I just struggle with this cradle seat concept in terms of comfort.

For context, below is what the seat looks like when fully reclined. Unless you have tiny feet, it’s really tough to extend the leg rest fully, because where are your feet supposed to go, unless you angle them in a really unusual direction?

The main reason I struggle with this concept is because the fully flat Collins Aerospace Diamond seat has roughly the same footprint, but offers a flat bed, and generally more comfort. This would be the same product you’ll find on the Korean Air A321neo, Starlux Airlines A321neo, etc. I just think that’s a better hard product, and I’m not sure I understand the motivation for going with this product.

Like I said, this isn’t at all an issue for a short daytime flight, but as Cathay Pacific’s A321neo fleet keeps growing, and presumably these planes will eventually be used for more red eye flying, it just seems like this isn’t the product that maximizes comfort.

Cathay Pacific business class amenities

Waiting at each seat upon boarding was a substantial pillow and a light blanket, both from Bamford, in line with Cathay Pacific’s partnership. The pillow, in particular, was much better than you’ll find on most airlines on such a short flight.

There were also a pair of headphones waiting at each seat upon boarding. While the quality of these isn’t great, I didn’t mind, given that Cathay Pacific offers bluetooth audio at each seat.

There was also a bottle of Evian water in the bottle holder between seats.

The (colorful) menu and drink list were stored in the literature pocket.

Toward the end of boarding, pre-departure drinks were served, with the choice of apple juice, orange juice, or water.

After that, warm towels were distributed.

Cathay Pacific A321neo business class entertainment & Wi-Fi

Cathay Pacific’s A321neos have entertainment screens at each seat, with Cathay Pacific’s typical excellent selection of movies, TV shows, audio, and games. The selection was massive, and you should have no issues staying entertained, especially on the short flights that these planes operate.

As usual, my favorite inflight entertainment feature is the moving map, which is what I typically have on in the background.

Cathay Pacific also has bluetooth audio in business class on its A321neos, which is an increasingly common feature on many airlines.

Cathay Pacific also has Wi-Fi on its A321neos, though for whatever reason, it wasn’t working on this flight. The crew tried to reset it, with no luck. I imagine that this was an isolated incident, as Cathay Pacific is usually good about having functioning Wi-Fi.

When Wi-Fi is available, it’s complimentary for business class passengers. For those who don’t receive it for free, the cost is $9.95 for one hour, or $12.95 for an entire flight (for flights of up to six hours). There are no data caps for these plans.

Cathay Pacific A321neo departure from Hong Kong

This Cathay Pacific flight to Seoul Incheon was full, with all business class seats, plus nearly all economy seats, occupied. The boarding process is more hectic on narrow body aircraft than wide body aircraft, since there’s a single aisle, and all passengers board through business class. Nonetheless, the crew did a great job performing pre-flight services while keeping boarding efficient.

At 8:05AM it was announced that boarding was complete, and at that point the captain added his welcome aboard, informing us of our flight time of 2hr50min, and anticipated on-time arrival. At 8:10AM the main cabin door closed, and at 8:15AM, we began our pushback.

We were parked next to a Thai Airways Airbus A320 that sure looked like it could use a wash.

At 8:20AM we started our taxi, with a nice view of the Sky Bridge.

We had a quick taxi, and within about 10 minutes, made it out to runway 7C, where we’d be departing from. I love the traffic over on this side of the airport, including a view of Cathay Pacific’s gorgeous cargo Boeing 747-8. What a beauty… we’re lucky to occasionally see these in Miami!

At 8:30AM we were cleared for takeoff, and were treated to some beautiful views on the climb out.

The seatbelt sign was turned off about 10 minutes after takeoff, at which point the crew sprung into action, starting with closing the curtains between cabins.

Cathay Pacific business class meal service

On this flight, breakfast was served, with meal orders having already been taken on the ground. You can find the breakfast menu below.

Then you can find the drink and wine list below.

The first course was served around 30 minutes after takeoff. Tablecloths were distributed first, and then meal trays were brought out. Breakfast started with a fruit plate and some yogurt. There was also a selection from the bread basket, including a custard danish or croissant.

To drink, I asked for a still water and a cappuccino.

Once starters were cleared, the main course was served. Of the three options, I selected the Korean galbi jim, consisting of braised beef with chestnut and radish, spinach, bean sprouts, and multigrain rice. While the presentation wasn’t great, the flavors were very good, and I enjoyed this dish immensely. I was also served some muesli with yogurt to go along with it.

After the meal, I decided to order a glass of champagne, with Piper-Heidsieck being on offer. I’m not usually a morning drinker, but honestly, on these trips my body never knows what time it is.

Cathay Pacific A321neo business class lavatory

Cathay Pacific has a business class lavatory on the A321neo, right behind the flight deck. It’s pretty basic, though as you’d expect on an Asian carrier, it was consistently spotlessly clean, and there was also good enforcement regarding who could use it.

Cathay Pacific business class service

Service in business class on this business class flight was perfect. For one, the staffing ratio was great, as there were two flight attendants (the cabin manager and the business class flight attendant) taking care of us just 12 passengers. The flight attendants were constantly roaming the cabin, and provided anticipatory service.

It’s amazing to contrast the service on short haul flights in the United States vs. in Asia. During boarding, the cabin manager came around and personally greeted each passenger, engaging in small talk, asking about everyone’s trip, etc. Then before landing, she was back in the cabin to say goodbye to each passenger.

Cathay Pacific is also really good about oneworld Emerald elite recognition. It’s probably not realistic to memorize each passenger’s name, but the crew consistently addressed me and one other passenger by name, and I have to assume that’s because we’re oneworld Emeralds (since we were both thanked for our “loyalty”). It’s funny how as an American elite, I get better recognition on Cathay Pacific than on American.

Cathay Pacific A321neo arrival in Seoul Incheon

After the meal, I gazed out the window and enjoyed the views. We initially flew over Taiwan, and then made our way across the East China Sea toward Korea.

At 11:55AM local time, the captain was on the PA to advise that we’d be landing in around 30 minutes, at 12:25PM. He informed us of the bone-chilling temperature at Incheon Airport, of -7 Celsius (19 Fahrenheit). Brrr… this Florida man was happy to just be in transit. The seatbelt sign was turned on at 12:05PM, 20 minutes before landing.

I loved the views on approach, as you could really see how freaking cold it was outside.

As expected, we touched down at Incheon Airport at 12:25PM, on runway 34L. Incheon is a huge airport, and within about 10 minutes, we made it over to Terminal 1.

However, due to some traffic in the alley, we had to wait for around five minutes. We made it to our gate at 12:40PM, around five minutes ahead of schedule.

I bid farewell to the crew, and then headed over to the Korean Air First Lounge, ahead of my Korean Air A380 first class flight to New York.

Bottom line

I had an enjoyable flight in Cathay Pacific’s A321neo business class, which was also my first narrow body flight on the carrier. Cathay Pacific’s cradle seats are comfortable for a daytime flight, and when you add in the friendly service, great food and drinks, and huge entertainment selection, I was pleased with this experience.

My only real criticism is that I don’t love the concept of Cathay Pacific’s cradle business class seats, especially as these planes presumably start operating longer flights, including overnight, as the fleet continues to grow. I understand the desire to keep a pretty dense configuration, but the Collins Aerospace Diamond seats have a similar footprint.

What’s your take on Cathay Pacific’s A321neo business class?