Cathay Pacific must be one of the best Asian Carriers – we flew Manchester-HK-Brisbane return and they were top notch. Loads of spare seats both ways, if you were quick off the mark after take off you could get a row of 4 to yourself for a kip! As said before the only slight problem (I’d say an advantage) is the stopover in Hong Kong of 10 hours. We went off and explored Hong Kong for the rest of the day and ate some fantastic food before returning for the night flight to Brisbane. On the return there was a stopover in Amsterdam while they unloaded most of the passengers, but we were only in the Transit lounge for an hour while they cleaned the plane and then we were back on board again for the short flight to Manchester.

Thanks OzTennis. Will let you know how we got on and which one worked! May well try the bold approach!

We flew with them when we emigrated. They are a very good airline almost up there with Singapore. We stopped off for 4 nights so I do not know what the connections would be like.

The airport is very efficient and if you have time have a look at trying the following.

http://www.thepeak.com.hk/

It is the highlight of HK and worth the trip out of the airport. Also very easy to get to from the airport.

We were thinking what to do during the stop off (8 hrs), and this looks great.
Thanks for the info Boni

Regards
Andrew

Re Upgrades. Airlines give an upgrade when they have overbooked economy class and have seats to spare in Business, so its not really about creating an upgrade its about if they need to stuff in some more passengers:D

Have something very nice in your passport, Company Director, Doctor etc

Dress business class. With Singapore airlines there was a business class section downstairs, just bigger seats really, but the luxurious Raffles class 'upstairs'. Very obvious that the smarter of the business class que were going up the top. Its wonderful, from the second you get up the strairs they take your coat hang it up, put away your luggage, all the staff use your name, Mrs this Mr that etc. Plus the 20 point adjusting armchairs such fun :D

do all these CP flights from London to HK stopover somewhere strange on the way??

we're flying CP London -> HK -> Auckland but there's no mention of any extra stopovers?? are these stopovers marked on the ticket??

extra stopovers would be hell....

Not as far as I am aware.

Checkout the Airline's website.That will give you details of the route.
Plus the menu,entertainment etc.

G

I flew cathay heathrow/hong kong/sydney, about 2 hr wait in HK wasnt bad.
pleasant flight but had hard time at check-in counter because I had one way. The guy tried to tell me I couldnt get on because I didnt have a resident visa and oz wouldnt let me in without a return ticket !!! Supervisor set him straight, the cheek of it all !!!

There are plenty of free internet points as well. If you are really bored and have some spare change the massage chairs are a laugh. Not sure if they do you any good but the sensation is very strange.

Some of the Hong-Kong - Brisbane flights stop in Cairns - which is a small pain in the butt. Not every day of the week, and its not shown on the ticket, but be prepared for it! If you are on one of those, you have to take your hand luggage off, but not the hold luggage, and you just have half an hour in the transit lounge (with shopping!!) while there is a crew change.

Our Cathay flight was Manchester, Amsterdam, Bangkok, Hong Kong; 10 hour wait for connection (as someone said might be useful to do some sight-seeing); Sydney, Melbourne which ended up over 15 hours longer door to door than Emirates or Singapore. As someone said check out their website, if you have the flight number you can check the route.

OzTennis:)

Thanks for posting this Oz. Just about to confirm the booking & they said only 3 flights a week fly direct from Hong Kong to Perth and you can guess which one they were going to put us on!! via Sydney & Melbourne which would have put on another 15 hrs on our trip.
Anyway we are now on the direct root

Andrew