The New Cathay Pacific Slider Seat

Cathay Pacific is a great airline providing great service, but the new seat is thumbs-down.

The new Cathay Pacific economy-class seat doesn't recline. Let me repeat that. The new Cathay Pacific economy-class seat doesn't recline. The inner padded part of it just kind of slides down 2 or 3 inches. But no recline.

Pluses:

* The seat back is high. Designed to accommodate the video screen in its back, this is a plus for tall guys like me.

* The middle seat has a power outlet in it, to be shared by the row.

* There's a drink-holder in the seat-back tray accessible when the tray is in its closed position. Kudos to the guy who thought of that!

Minuses:

* No recline.

* The seat is thin. It lasts for about an hour. After that, you think you are sitting on a rock. Good for a 15 hour flight? No. Take pain-killers.

* If you get a bulkhead, you lose the coveted electrical outlet.

I had a 3 1/2 hour flight from Hong Kong down to Singapore that had the conventional seat. It was infinitely more comfortable.

Bottom-Line.

The new seat may work for Asian-sized bodies. Doesn't work for me.

Let's hope it doesn't catch on.

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I survived the outbound flight because I had read the reviews and went out and bought a $30 Obus Forme seat wedge to pad to seat. On the inbound, I paid an extra $100 to secure an aisle bulkhead seat. This gave me extra leg-room and allowed me to get up and dance in the aisle at will. The Hong Kongers looked like they'd never seen a Caucasian guy dancing in the aisle before.

* * *

One other weird thing. On the outbound flight, I ordered "chicken with pasta". It was chicken with rice. On the inbound, I ordered "beef with pasta". It was beef with mashed potatoes. What's up with "pasta" on Cathay Pacific?!

Late-breaking news.

Update: Going, going, gone?

Snookered By Cathay Pacific

Image by E-Mans av8pix.com via Flickr

I haven't even boarded my Cathay Pacific flight for Hong Kong and already things are going off the rails (if you'll excuse the bad metaphor).

Here's what I booked, weeks ago:

Cathay Pacific Airways
Flight 827 (on Boeing 777-300)
Requested Seats: 30G
Total Travel Time: 15 hrs 25 mins

Silly me. I thought when Cathay Pacific invited me to select my seat and accepted my seat request of 30G (aisle bulkhead with extra legroom), that I had booked seat 30G.

Apparently not. When I went online this evening to print my boarding pass, 30G belonged to someone else, and there were only about 5 seats left; 3 middles and 2 windows. I took a window.

So, 15 1/2 hours of being stuck in a window seat, in what I think is going to be one of the new non-reclining seats, on a full flight.

Not a great start.

Maybe things will improve when I get to the airport in the morning.

Update: I was told seat selection is a request, and nothing more.  I guess that makes it one step below a Seinfeld RAC reservation.  I've requested an aisle seat at the airport.  Let's hope a bunch of aisle seat economies get their business class upgrades.

Quote of the Day: "The new [seat] design is completely insane"

                 Image via Wikipedia

I'm flying Toronto - Singapore via Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific next week. Economy. I heard Cathay Pacific has some new economy seats that slide rather than recline.  Went to AirlineEquality.Com to check things out.

Doesn't look good.  Sample reviews :

Being 6'6" makes any seat difficult but to Cathay's credit, they gave me an exit row. Without this act of kindness, I would have been crippled because the new shell design (non-reclining) is completely insane. Have the cushions slide forward and describing this as the same as reclining is absurd. Your knees end up in your face - try it at home! One can only hope that these things get scrapped and a legitimate engineer designs the new ones. Cathay Pacific dropped the ball on this one and I cannot understand how it hasn't affected their rating.

* * * 

New economy seat. Absolute torture. I'm 6'4" Doesn't recline, only slouches, so you slump down and your neck is bent at a torturous angle. No support, no legroom, luckily I was in an aisle seat and could stick one leg out in the aisle. Very disappointing as the Cathay inflight service is very good. Never again.  

Maybe this explains why Cathay Pacific had the best  prices -- people want to avoid anything resembling Tortureair.

On the positive side, a 5' 1" reviewer reported she had plenty of leg room...

I'm taking a travel pillow and booking aisle so I can get up and stretch (for sleeping segments, I prefer window). Any other advice on long-haul survival strategies would be appreciated.

Then, back in about eight days and I'll let you know how I make out.