Cathay Pacific to Begin A350 Service Between Hong Kong and Vancouver
Earlier this summer, Cathay Pacific took delivery of its first A350. The airline has been flying it within Asia for the past few months, with service to Europe (Dusseldorf and London-Gatwick) set to launch next week (September 5 and September 4, respectively). Until now, Cathay had yet to announce A350 service to North America, but we have some good news: The airline just shared plans to operate its Hong Kong (HKG) to Vancouver (YVR) route with the new A350 as of March 26, 2017.
With the upgrade in aircraft, Cathay also announced that it's increasing its service from 14 to 17 weekly flights. Here's the schedule, which will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in both directions:
- Cx856 Hong Kong (HKG) 11:00am Departure ⇒ Vancouver (YVR) 7:55am Arrival
- CX855 Vancouver (YVR) 9:25am Departure ⇒ Hong Kong (HKG) 1:45pm (+1) Arrival
The A350 is comprised of three cabins: business, premium economy and economy. The business-class cabin offers 38 lie-flat suites that have 45 inches of pitch and are 20 inches wide in a 1-2-1 configuration. The premium economy cabin is comprised of 28 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. Each seat has 40 inches of pitch and is 20 inches wide. The economy cabin, meanwhile, has 214 seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. Each seat has 32 inches of pitch and is 18 inches wide.
There appears to be excellent award availability on the route, with two seats on almost every flight:
If you're interested in booking this award, you'd get the best value out of using American AAdvantage miles (70,000 one-way in business class) or Alaska Mileage Plan miles (50,000 one-way in business class). Keep in mind that even if you don't have Alaska Mileage Plan miles in your account, you could buy more with a 50% bonus through September 29, 2016.
H/T: One Mile at a Time