Conclusion

All flights were on Cathay Pacific, either on flights with long haul configurations or with the regional configuration. Given the equipment change, I also had the possibility to try the old Olympus Business Class and compare it with the new Cirrus Business Class seats. The regional configuration was the new regional business class.

The Cirrus Business Class seats are still one of my favorite seats despite the fact that they are lacking some space to store things during take-off and landing as the larger compartment is (officially) not available as storage space during taxi, take-off and landing. But it seems that this is not so much enforced.

The older Olympus seat is also not bad and as a single traveler I have not so much a problem with the seat as other traveler according to their reports or feedback available on various reports in the internet. To me, it is not so much a problem to have the feet facing the aisle and the window in the back, but I can understand people traveling together, who want to talk to each other and are unable to do so given the high walls between each seat. For even more privacy, I would go for the seats on the left side (K seats) as those aisle only served on row of seats and thus means less traffic from passengers but could also mean more traffic from flight attendants.

In regard to service, I could not really complain about the food. This was good, not outstanding, but solid. However, the beverage service has a lot of room for improvements as beverage is rarely served with the meal and one has usually not the right choice of beverage for the right course. And this was my impression on nearly all flights which is not really acceptable. My personal impression is, that the way, the food is presented, means a lot of rush from the galley to the cabin bringing new dishes and therefore there is no time for an additional beverage service. It is less a problem on short flights with a light load but much more a problem on longhaul flight with a fully cabin.

The lounges in Hong Kong are still very good, especially the First Class sections of “The Wing” and “The Pier” with the possibility to dine on the ground and use the time in the air to sleep. The Cathay Lounge in Frankfurt was average at best, small and the food was served quite late in regard to the departure time of the plane. The JAL Sakura Lounge was better, though in regard to food also only average if at all. It might be to my advantage, that the lounge was not busy as I had been there.

No disappointment was the hotels on this trip and also the Taiwan High Speed Railway Trains were very good and reliable.

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