Just looking at booking flights to Brisbane and have come up with Cathay Pacific and Emirates who are pretty much the same price and both from Newcastle. Emirates via Dubai and Cathay via H Kong any thoughts on the airlines etc thanks Nicky

I have flown with both and they were pretty much the same.

Are you breaking up your flight? If so Hong Kong is not a bad stop.

Personally, Cathay - superb service,excellent food,and Hong Kong is a good airport to stop in.

Personally Cathay for me too, they have a 5 star rating and Emirates 4 but check out these reviews and you can see what others think too

http://www.airlinequality.com/

Have a good flight

Emirates had a little bit of near major miss early this year at Melbourne airport (from that areas Etihad is the one now)..... Cathay for me, after Singapore, Australia's favourite Airline

we flew with emirates last year and although they were very good the one thing that spoiled it was the untold stop over in dubai which we only learnt about when we checked in (nothing was mentioned on the flight times ) - they took us to a hotel at 1 in the morning and then told us we needed to check out again at 6! with 2 young children in tow i would have preferred to have just stayed in the airport.
my parents flew with cathay only last week and changed flight in hong kong but from there to brisbane they had a stop in cairns which again wasnt on the flight times.
why do they do that!

I think you had a few hours to change in Hong Kong and I think the other was 2 hours in Dubai

We usually fly Emirates (as they fly to Birmingham) and they usually offer a good service. The ICE entertainment system is top notch and the food is usually edible.

I know a few people on here were less than complimentary about the new seats (seems you either love it or detest it) being used by CP so check that out as well.

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/cathay.htm

We flew Cathay and have done for years.

The only thing I would say is that HK-Brisbane is usually on an Airbus and the seats are not long haul - more appropriate for 4 hours or less so got uncomfortable. The new seats in the 747 were fine, just took a bit of getting used to.

Certain Brisbane flights do go through Cairns - luckily I got a heads up before I booked and avoided those flights!

The new Cathay coach class seats are uncomfortable i think. They are wafer thin padding and whilst the guy in front will never recline into your personal space because the seat backs are fixed - this means that the recline is reduced for you as well. It kinda slips your butt forward and slopes the back of seat a little, I found it really uncomfortable.

The rest of it -food, in-flight entertainment etc - are all excellent.

If you go to hong kong -have a stop over -that was the #1 regret from our travels here that we didnt take a weekend in HK or somewhere on the way - because once you are here - that will be a v.v.v.expensive little trip to do.

HK is a dream to get around - english speakers everywhere, signs in english ,etc, and safe as houses.

Sounds to me like you need to learn how to read a timetable! Both Cathay AND Emirates are very clear about where their flights go.

Cathy planes to Qld do alternate HKG-BNE-CNS-HKG-CNS-BNE etc etc etc...
and All Emirates flights go through Dubai and Singapore (which some people consider an advantage being on shorter flights more chances to stretch your legs mid-journey)...

There is now a direct flight BNE to DXB (EK435) which cuts out the need for a touch down in SIN if you want that service. When we went back the other month we still used the service which touched down in SIN as we like to be able to get off the plane and break the journey up into 3 x 7 hour legs.

We flew Emirates in March, Went from Birmingham to Dubai then Dubai to Brisbane, didn't touch Singapore

I'd go Cathay. Have flown both and most recently with Emirate. Dreadful airline. The only bonus with Emirates is the extra baggage allowance.

In that case I apologise for being incorrect - its been a while since I looked at an EK timetable!