Flying with Kids Flight Review: Cathay Pacific Airlines

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Cathay Pacific Airlines, the flag carrier of Hong Kong was the airline we chose to book my recent transpacific flight – Bangkok to Chicago. I was more nervous for this flight than any other up to this point. I had no idea how flying alone with my 17 month old toddler would go. She has flown a ton (24 flights and counting). However, this was my first time flying alone with her without Joel and also she is ever more active and impatient. I chose Cathay Pacific because of fabulous word of mouth reviews from other Bangkokians and also because they offered a very attractive flight path: 19.5 hours of travel time, shorter than we’ve done in the past. Only one short stop in Hong Kong made the flight seem almost doable even with Miss C!

Seats: This was the first flight that we have flown where we booked Miss C her own seat (well, she shared with Puppy of course!). We were able to sit in the front row, bulkhead seat on our short flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong. The plane
was a 2-3-2 seating arrangement, so we had a row to ourselves with tons of leg room. It was a short (less than 3 hours) and comfortable flight.  On our second flight (15 hours), we were in a regular row, with a window and middle seat. Even with less leg room, having Miss C in her own seat still made it feel like we had a lot of room. One thing that surprised me is that I thought that Miss C would be allowed to sit in her own seat with the seat belt for the duration of the flight.  However, in reality she was required to sit on my lap with the infant seat belt because she is younger than 2.

Food: Meals on board were standard airline fare. Served frequently enough with various snacks available in between if you were to become hungry. I ordered the kids meal option for Miss C, and it came early each time with the other special requests meals. Even our picky girl found something to eat from each of our meals. And the portion was more than enough for our tiny toddler. My only wish is the same I have with every other airline – that they would find some way to pick up the trays earlier from these kids meals. My girl is long past finished and squirmy when they come to take her tray. Couldn’t they take the kids trays when they serve the adult meals? Overall, the food service experience offered by Cathay was a positive one.

Customer Service: The fabulous customer service is definitely the strong point of our Cathay experience and the main reason we will be happy to fly them in the future for our long haul flights. We had to phone the airline directly in order to book an infant seat. This is a minor inconvenience, but fabulous call center customer service made up for it. From that initial phone call to book the flight  to the ground staff who personally greeted us on the flight and offered us priority boarding, to the friendly and personal service of the flight attendants, I was impressed with the quality of customer service that Cathay offered. For this reason alone, I would be happy to book future flights with Cathay Pacific.

Lastly, one other reason I was so glad we booked a flight with Cathay was the view flying into Hong Kong. I had never been, and had no idea how absolutely beautiful landing in Hong Kong would be. So, grab a window seat and check it out! We will be back to explore Hong Kong soon and will be glad to book our flights on Cathay Pacific.

For most up to date information and policies for flying with children on Cathay Pacific, check out their webpage: http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/travel-information/special-assistance/children-and-infants/infants.html