Cathay Pacific’s regional subsidiary Cathay Dragon doesn’t get quite the glamour of its long-haul sibling but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t offer a truly world-class inflight experience, discovers Maggie Chooi on a recent business flight between Hong Kong and the Malaysian island of Penang.
Check-in/Boarding
I checked in using Cathay Pacific’s app, which also allows access to Cathay Dragon flights, selecting my seat in advance. However, I still needed to check-in luggage at Hong Kong International Airport, where the Cathay Dragon counters have recently been moved to the same aisles as Cathay Pacific, which makes sense.
As it was an early morning flight I decided to skip a visit to one of Cathay Pacific’s lounges and instead made directly for 500 gates, where a bus whisked us to our waiting aircraft. We boarded KA633, an Airbus A330-300, at 7.35 am and I quickly found my window seat, 11A. The crew were very friendly and efficient and helped passengers find their seat quickly before serving fresh smoothies, juice and water, as well as wet wipes, blankets and newspapers.
The Seat
The Airbus features 24 seats in the airline’s business class, in a 2-2-2 configuration. Each seat features a width of 20-inches and a pitch of 32-inches, making it more than comfortable enough for the three-hour fifteen-minute flight to Malaysia. Cathay Dragon‘s business class is the same as Cathay Pacific’s regional business class and is an intuitive and refined product that is very much centred around convenience and passenger comfort.
The seats are slim and sleek, with an innovative cradle recline and a six-way headrest. There’s also an extended leg rest, a spacious tray table that lends itself as much to work as it does to dining, and a modern personal monitor in the seatback in front, as well as easily-accessible AC and USB charging ports. My only niggles would be a lack of storage space in such a minimalist design – even my small TUMI backpack couldn’t fit in the seat in front and needed to go in the overhead bins. The cabin was 70 per cent full.
Dining
On this morning flight to Malaysia we were offered a choice of cheddar cheese omelette, served with veal sausage, button mushrooms, and tomato; a dim sum selection with vegetarian glutinous rice, vegetarian fun gor, chicken siew mai, and a mixed mushroom dumpling; or stir-fried porcini noodles with chicken and vegetables. The menu had a notation that all food served on board was halal which is a nice touch given the destination we were headed to.
Breakfast mains, which were served at 9.15 am (only 25 minutes after take-off) were served with a fresh fruit plate, yoghurt and a selection of breads, while the menu offered a selection of none alcoholic beverages, including juices, soft drinks, freshly brewed illy coffee, and a wide selection of Chinese tea. This was the finishing touch of a thoroughly refined meal perfectly suited for the time of day and the duration of the flight.
Service
I’ve always found service levels on Cathay Dragon to even exceed that of Cathay Pacific, with young, energetic crew always happy to help in any way. Senior cabin crew member Cherrie was wonderful, greeting each passenger with a warm smile while handing out breakfast menus. She also took time to brief each passenger on the flight time, on our 35-minute departure delay, and on immigration procedures in Malaysia.
She and the rest of her team were welcoming, informative and efficient and it seems that both Cathay Dragon and Cathay Pacific are working hard to turn the corner after falling service standards of late (let’s be honest, even on their worst day they’re still leagues ahead of many airlines).
Entertainment
The Cathay Dragon inflight entertainment system has good selections of new movies as well as a great range of classic flicks, many of which I noticed were also on offer on my Cathay Pacific flight the previous week from Osaka Kansai to Hong Kong. The system is easy to navigate and intuitive.
What We Loved
Service levels were a highlight of the flight, although we have always had pretty good experiences with Cathay Dragon. The crew were attentive and offered genuine warmth. We also landed on time despite our delayed departure, which was great for my connecting flight.
What We Didn’t
I do wish that both Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon would roll out wifi on all their aircraft as this was precious day time work hours that could have been used better.
Cathay Dragon Business Class, Hong Kong-Penang return from US$1,388 per person.
Note: The Author travelled on a full fare business class ticket without the airline’s knowledge
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