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Business Class Clash: American vs Cathay Pacific

a plane on the tarmac

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Business Class Clash: American vs Cathay Pacific

Drum roll please…it’s a business class clash!!!  On this installment of business class clash we will put two Goliaths against one another: American vs. Cathay Pacific. OHHHHH MYYYY GOOODNESS – we are pumped! Both are lie-flat, outfitted with Zodiac cirrus seats, and are known to be world class. I’m warning you now…This isn’t for the faint at heart, people. Miles will be the judge and jury on this clash and he keeps real.  He likes his champagne glass filled, his seats super comfy, and if that eye mask doesn’t fit just right – watch out!

Last year I had the pleasure of flying Cathay Pacific Business Class from Johannesburg to Hong Kong and then on to Tokyo’s Haneda. This year, I’ve had the pleasure of flying American’s 777-300ER several times: to London, domestically to Miami, and as an economy seat from Chicago to Los Angeles. Let’s put Cathay’s JNB-HKG route up against AA’s LAX-LHR route and get ourselves a good old fashion Business Class Showdown: American vs Cathay Pacific edition.

The Cabin:

What does it feel like when you walk into the business class cabin? Both products make you wanna do the Stanky Leg.

whipwhipYou’re gonna be happy either way…it’s like do you want 5 Andrew Jacksons or 1 Ben Frank? You’re rocking a hundo either way.

Cathay Pacific Cabin

cathay-pacific-business-class-jnb-hkg-55-of-72

AA’s 777-300ER Business Class Cabin

screen-shot-2016-12-28-at-8-44-24-am

The Winner is…Tie

The Amenity Kit

Cathay wins some serious points with the design of their amenity kit bag. Both feature quality products inside, but Cathay’s is just so cool and feels in line with brand. It features Jurlique products.

While the American Amenity kit is housed in a Cole Haan bag and features C.O. Bigelow products. The products themselves are awesome and in terms of functionality…the American Bag is much better.

screen-shot-2016-12-28-at-8-49-19-am

The winner is: American

Champagne:

Cathay Pacific features Reserve du Bastion

Whereas American features Nicolas Feuillatte brut

I can’t believe I don’t have a picture with Miles and the champers…he must have enjoyed it too much! Anyways…

The winner is: American

The Service:

Cathay Pacific:

American

This isn’t from the 777 but it basically embodies the consistent love that Miles gets on AA.

american-air-lax-mex-11-of-24

Cathay Pacific is known for providing a top notch “soft-product” and I certainly experienced that on one of my legs: Hong Kong to Haneda. The other leg the cabin crew was cranky-pants. This seems to be an outlier based on other reviews, but it’s my outlier and it was disappointing to say the least.  On the other hand…American has provided me really great service on every single long-haul flight I’ve taken with them. This is going to be a controversial decision

The winner is: American

The Seat and bed:

Cathay and American both feature the same exact product, the Zodiac Cirrus. It’s a reverse herringbone design that provides a lot of privacy, comfort, and storage. However, American’s product is newer than what I flew on Cathay. Comparing the actual blanket and pillow…it’s a toss-up.

Cathay Pacific Seat and Bed

cathay-pacific-business-class-jnb-hkg-52-of-72

American

screen-shot-2016-12-28-at-9-29-36-am

The winner…tie

 

Overall:

You are going to have a great flight regardless of taking Cathay or American. They are both incredible products. If you’re looking for an experience that is “different” than what you might receive in America, go with Cathay. If I had a flight to Hong Kong and there was availability on both American and Cathay I’d probably give Cathay a go again just to see if my experience was an outlier. However, all things equal…I actually preferred the American hard and soft product more than Cathay.

By this review…American Won, but both are world class products.

 

 

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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5 Comments

  • Jen Cotter December 29, 2016

    The craggy crusty bunch called cabin crew on American should’ve tipped the scales toward Cathay. Don’t even get me started on food and drink and…

    How much is American paying you for this review?!

  • Jake December 29, 2016

    100% agree with Christian. The fundamental hard product of both airlines is nearly or literally identical depending on aircraft. Beyond that, CX wins in every single aspect of soft product. Even down to how the FAs are dressed/groomed. And let’s talk about lounges and other ground services. Again, CX is lightyears ahead of AA.

    I’d even go so far as to say that any travel blogger that would claim AA beats out CX on anything, really, loses a remarkable amount of credibility.

    • Miles December 30, 2016

      Jake – thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts. there’s obvs no comparison on ground services and lounges, but I was comparing in flight experience, and I agree with the hard product comments ( except my AA flights have had newer versions), and EVERY single review you’ll ever read lauds and praises CX, but that’s not what I got. I got a cranky, grumpy, 12 hour flight where the crew made it obvious they were “at work.” I’ve had MULTIPLE AA flights were the crew couldn’t do enough for me. In terms of credibility…if I overlooked my experience to placate CX fans, I think that would challenge my credibility.

  • Christian December 29, 2016

    An interesting take. Having flown AA first DFW-ICN and some different segments on Cathay in first and business over the past year, I’d disagree. For starters, I noticed that food was never brought up. My wife and I both found Cathay to have vastly better food. On the amenity kits, let’s be honest: you collect enough of them after a few flights that you stop paying attention for the most part. If the basics are there, the brand becomes secondary. For champagne, both were fine in business. So as not to avoid mentioning the seat, we were in first on one of the last AA 777-200’s, the ones with the “Captain Kirk” seats that rotate. The seat was fine, but certainly not amazing. Finally, on service I’ve just found Cathay to overall be in an entirely different league than American. The AA crew would get you pretty much whatever without a fuss, but on CX they really seemed to enjoy providing great service. I know you got the grumpy group on one flight, but that’s not really the norm. Regardless, it’s always refreshing to have someone else’s perspective. so keep up the good work.

    • Miles December 30, 2016

      Christian – thanks for thoughts! It’ll be interesting to fly Cathay again to compare, but I knew my review would draw some controversy as it’s FAR from the norm. Thanks for reading!

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