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Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class 777-200 Hong Kong to Beijing
ICMYI ( This is part of my mom’s 75th birthday surprise trip around the world ). We’d just arrived from Boston and were hanging out in The Wing – WHICH IS PHENOM. Mouth drop, head spin, thank God they have Cabanas cause I need a cold shower. In addition to the splendor of The Wing My parents were still buzzing over their Cathay First Class flight and it seemed this was the perfect time to reveal the next stop with a boarding pass to Beijing. BAM! She was very happy! I’m pretty sure she had a little bit of an idea where she was headed, but was uber thrilled that she’d get to visit mainland China for the first time! It also meant she’d be seeing the Forbidden City and walking The Great Wall of China – something that has been on her bucket list for quite some time. Let’s check out the next leg of our Mega Surprise Trip around the world: Cathay Pacific Business Class 777-200 Hong Kong to Beijing
Since we booked these tickets with Alaska miles we had to fly on Cathay Pacific planes for our flight from Hong Kong to Beijing. One, Alaska doesn’t allow you to mix partners on award tickets, and two, Cathay isn’t partners with Cathay Dragon ( which has far more routes to Beijing from Hong Kong than does its parent company Cathay Pacific), they’re only partners with Cathay Pacific.
What did this mean? We had to fly on an inferior product in order to utilize the miles and fly the same day. It’s not a long flight ( ~3 hours) and we were perfectly comfortable.
The value of this ticket…$1075
Were you to end your itinerary in Hong Kong or continue elsewhere in Asia…it’s 50k Alaska miles in business, 70k in First. HELLO! It’s a no brainer. Alaska will also allow you book in a stopover free of charge so find somewhere else to fly in Asia…it’s basically free to get there.
We were able to check out the following lounges on our layover which I HIGHLY recommend.
- Cathay Pacific The Wing
- Cathay Pacific The Pier
- Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge.
We got to the Gate with about 10 mins to spare.
The Deets:
- When: April 2017
- Where: Hong Kong to Beijing
- Loyalty: Alaska Mileage Plan ( part of Boston to Hong Kong to Beijing ticket) 50k in biz; 70k in First.
- Flight: CX 390
- Departure: 08:20
- Cabin: Business
- Seat: 15C
- Time: 3 hours
This Cathay Pacific Business Class 777-200 isn’t the most ideal, but fine for a few hours. 2-3-2 in Biz? Yikes!
Not the product you’d want to fly long haul. But…you know what? The service was still top notch.
It’s a big difference from what’s offered on the 777-300ER
Seat 15C.
I was seated with my mom, while my dad was right across the aisle from us.
Fully Reclined…
While the seat doesn’t go that far back none of us really minded. The cabin maintains the Cathay color schemed which I find to be quite handsome and we weren’t looking to sleep or even lie down. For 3 hours – this fit the bill just fine.
The menu.
Even though I’d eaten at The Wing…I still managed to squeeze some more food in. SMH.
Overall:
This suited us quite well. However, if you were to book this same itinerary with AA miles you could book with Cathay Dragon and access planes that feature a business class akin to what’s offered on Cathay’s 777-300ER. That’s a big difference when it comes to the seat, but for a short flight, I’m not sure it makes all that big of a difference. The crew as very nice, we watched movies, and got excited about what we would do in BEIJING!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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