Review – Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Business Class, Hong Kong – Amsterdam

On my recent trip to Europe I was especially excited, not only was I going to be visiting my favourite city (Amsterdam) but I also finally got the chance to fly on an Airbus A350-1000. I’ve already flown Cathay’s -900, so I was already familiar with the product but was more so just excited to tick another aircraft of the list to fly on.

For this flight, I used a total of 42,500 Alaska miles one-way which is an absolute steal considering JAL is 60k via Tokyo and Qantas well, 90,000 doesn’t sound too appealing to me.

Boarding for the flight started on-time however it was worth noting that it was quite chaotic. I find Cathay to do premium boarding quite well and I’ve often seen people shown to the back of the line, this wasn’t the case on this flight.

Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Business Class

For this flight, I decided to go with 17A, which is about halfway in the business cabin. Cathay’s A350-1000 features 46 reverse herring-bone Zodiac Cirrus seats which feature a pitch of 45” and an overall width of 20.”

Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Business Class

Awaiting at your seat will be a pillow, a pair of noise-cancelling headphones amenity kit, a bottle of Evian water, menus and a small mattress topper that will be found at the footwell.

Once everyone was seated the cabin crew came around to offer passengers a choice of either champagne, water or juice, I went with the champagne.

Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Business Class

Each seat is fitted with an 18.5-inch high definition IFE screen which is filled with hours of entertainment. I’ve always found Cathay to have a great and quite regularly updated selection to choose from, the only downside, the lengthy unskiable ads.

HD IFE Screen

On the side of your seat is where you’ll have a personal reading light, IFE remote controller as well as movable buttons for your seating positions.

Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Business Class

Each seat is given a bottle of Evian water and a pair of noise-cancelling headphones which can be found in the storage compartment. The door can also be used as a vanity mirror when you pull the screen down.

Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Business Class Storage Compartment

As you can see, the clickable buttons adjust your seat and are quite responsive except for mine which decided to not work just before starting our descent into Amsterdam – the crew said this is quite common.

Business Class Seating Controls

Seat 17A In Cathay Pacific Business Class

As well as the amenity kit, the only other amenity you’ll receive is a pair of comfortable slippers. Cathay doesn’t provide pyjamas (even on long-hauls) in business class as they can become very costly for an airline as they’re not always utilised.

Cathay Pacific Business Class Slippers

Here are both the food and drink menus for the flight:

Food Menu

Drink Menu

For my main, I went with the beef burger, which was really flavourful, and it reminded me heavily of the one I had when visiting the Pier first class lounge a few years ago. Ahhh I miss Oneworld Emerald…

Beef Burger

For those wanting to maximise their sleep and arrive feeling refreshed, this flight is a perfect choice for you. The flight departs Hong Kong just after midnight and arrives into Amsterdam just after 6:00 am and is 12 hours in length. I can see this route being extremely popular which business professionals who have a full day of work ahead of them and don’t want to be wasting time flying during the day.

Mood lighting After The Dinner Service

Shortly after the meal service was complete, the crew turned on the mood lighting to simulate a sunset and eventually into darkness for passengers to be able to sleep.

Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Business Class

After a solid nine and a half hours or so it was time for breakfast. As someone who rarely sleeps more than 5/6 hours and never eats breakfast, I was feeling refreshed and energetic, so I decided to see what the breakfast was like. The breakfast was pretty standard, nothing really too special but I enjoyed it.

Breakfast In Cathay Business Class

Business Class Amenity Kit

Cathay’s business class amenity kits contain your basic essentials like toothpaste, a toothbrush, socks and an eye mask. It’s nice to see airlines also include and a small individual mouth wash which I think more airlines should introduce – nothing worse than coffee aircraft breath or so I’m told…

Amenity Kit Contents

You’ll also find some Jurlique amenities which are the same ones you’ll find in the business lavatories as well as Cathay lounges.

Jurlique Amenities

Overall

I had a fantastic experience on my first -1000 flight and it again showed why the A350 is my favourite aircraft, it’s just soo damn quiet and I find it very spacious.

Cathay business class is a very solid product and the only thing I would improve is the introduction of pyjamas but who knows if that will ever happen. At only 42.5K miles, you really are getting some fantastic value as this flight can often be priced in the high thousands.

Have you flown on Cathay’s A350-1000 before?