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Just weeks after Delta announced plans to end service between Seattle (SEA) and Hong Kong (HKG), Cathay Pacific has swooped in to announce a new flight of its own.
Cathay’s new service will launch on April 1, 2019 and will operate four days per week with the airline’s Airbus A350-900, which I reviewed on one of the world’s longest flights earlier this year.
The flight will operate with the following schedule.
- CX857 Seattle (SEA) 1:05am Departure → Hong Kong (HKG) 5:25am (+1) Arrival (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday)
- CX858 Hong Kong (HKG) 11:55pm Departure → Seattle (SEA) 9:00pm Arrival (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday)
The early morning Hong Kong arrival will allow passengers to make connections to virtually any Cathay Pacific flight onward in Asia, while the late departure will accomplish the same on the return.
The A350 is Cathay’s first long-haul aircraft to offer in-flight Wi-Fi. There are 38 lie-flat seats in business class, arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration. In addition, there’s 28 premium economy seats arranged 2-4-2, and 214 seats arranged 3-3-3 in coach.
Cathay flights can be booked using miles from Oneworld partners, including American Airlines, in addition to Alaska’s Mileage Plan program. With AAdvantage miles, you’ll need to redeem 70,000 miles to book business class or 37,500 miles for economy each way. With Alaska miles, awards cost just 50,000 miles for business; 35,000 for premium economy or 30,000 miles each way in coach. Plus, you can add a free stopover in Hong Kong before flying to another destination in Asia on Cathay Pacific — even on one-way awards.
Awards are bookable now, and space in all three cabins appears to be quite plentiful:
Cathay Pacific also offers nonstop service between Hong Kong and San Francisco (SFO), Vancouver (YVR), Los Angeles (LAX), Chicago (ORD), Boston (BOS) and New York (EWR and JFK). A flight to Washington, D.C. (IAD) will launch with the new Airbus A350-1000 in September.
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