Cathay Pacific Business Class Review A330 CX 407

Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class Airbus A330-300 [TPE – HKG]

FROM:
TPE

TO:
HKG

CABIN:
Business

SEATMAP:
Airbus A330-300

DATE:
October 2026

Cathay Pacific Business class on their A330-300 from TPE to HKG offers an acceptable international regional short haul experience. A solid ground experience is let down by an aging in-air product and lackluster meal offerings.

Overall Rating:

This is the first leg of a 2 leg Taipei to Jakarta flight. Cathay Pacific offers a couple of regional business class products on their A330-300s. This flight will be on their much older 2-2-2 configuration, featuring old style business class shell seats. The second leg will be on their more modern 1-2-1 A330 configuration.

My expectations are not high when it comes to the hard product. So we will see how the other bits come together

In This Post:

How I Booked Cathay Pacific Business Class
Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Pre Flight
–Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Lounge
–Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Boarding
Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class In Flight
–Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Cabin
–Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Seat
–Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class In Flight Entertainment
–Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Lavatories
-Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Meals
-Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class In Flight Service
Bottom Line
Photo Gallery

How I Booked Cathay Pacific Business Class

This was the first leg of a 2 leg flight from Taipei to Jakarta booked through Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. This cost 32,000 miles and 1128 HKD. Cash fare is right around 600 one way for this flight, bringing this redemption to right around 2CPP. With taxes, kind of below my minimum for a redemption, but my cup runneth over with points.

Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Lounge

Cathay Pacific flies from the older T1 terminal at Taoyuan International Airport. All of the lounges line a corridor up some stairs/elevator after immigration. 

The Cathay Pacific lounge is the last lounge at the end of this corridor.

Cathay Pacific Lounge | Taoyuan International Airport

I am not sure how many Cathay flights operate out of Taiwan, but I am happy to see a dedicated lounge in this airport.

Across from the entrance is a large space with some snack and drink options. The hall to the right leads to the restrooms.

Nicely designed space with open wood walls.

Further down the hall is a computer ‘alley’

This then opens up into the restaurant space, with the noodle bar to the right.

The dining room is quite large and empty this morning.

Passed the dining room is the first lounge area to the left with high back chairs.

Across from that is anther small room with drinks and an espresso machine.

A number of self serve cold drinks, hot water, and coffee.

Continuing on is the first of two large rooms. Well designed and spacious. I am a fan of Cathay’s lounge color palate.

The next room opens up into a similarly designed space with a large staffed bar at the end.

I appreciate the ‘living room’ feel by having a variety of seating options spread around, rather than just the rows of chairs you’ll sometimes see.

Nice job Cathay.

Taiwanese beef noodles from the noodle bar – very good.

Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Boarding

Boarding from B6 today – maybe a 5-10 minute walk fro the lounge. Boarding began early.

Water, Orange Juice, and Apple Juice were offered upon sitting. As well as meal and drink orders before pushback.

Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Cabin

This is clearly a much older plane. Due to the early boarding, I was a bit late and the cabin was a bit chaotic – with folks coming from the economy jetbridge area, as well as the business class jetbridge.

This is Cathay’s older regional business class arranged in a 2-2-2 with shell/recliner style seats rather than more modern full lie flats.

Low center bins make the cabin feel a bit tight. But just a part of life with these older planes.

Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Seat

The older 2-2-2 configuration naturally lacks direct aisle access for window seats. Fortunately a less than 2 hour flight so wont be a problem. Decent width, and comfortable enough with good leg room. There is  no expandable middle partition for privacy between seats.

Despite the age of the aircraft, it seems it has recently had a USB-C upgrade.

Basic seat controls. Just above the only available seat storage.

‘Just ok’ might be the best description. Certainly on the lower end of the angle recliners that I have experienced.

Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class In Flight Entertainment and WiFi

Just a little old screen.

Seemingly good quality Cathay branded headphones – comfortable enough anyway.

Solid wifi speeds. Free for business class passengers.

Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Lavatories

Lavatories were clean as expected. Though all amenities beyond soap have been removed. Not sure if this is a route or flight length thing but would be nice to keep them around.

Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Meals

Pretty basic looking meal options on this quick 2 hour hop to Hong Kong.

Meal

Everything was brought on the tray at the same time. I went with the frittata this morning. Pretty underwhelming. Though the tomato and croissant were both quite nice. The croissant being the stand out – warm fluffy and flakey.

I’m not sure what the standard should be on 2 hour regional business class flights as I have not done many, but I am a little disappointed in the meal offering. Perhaps the noodle option would have been better.

Cathay Pacific Business Class In Flight Service

Service on this 2 hour hop was as friendly and speedy as you can expect. No problems here.  I did notice the back of their in flight magazine notes their crew won a Skytrax award for 2026. Deserved – service was great. 

Bottom Line

Its a 2 hour flight that ended up being only 1.5 hours. So it’s not really fair to expect too much.

The groundside lounge, and in flight service were great, but I would still try to find an airline with a better in flight hard product. EVA Air, for example, regularly uses their 787s for some of these shorter flights if you 

I will be sampling their older 1-2-1 Sefran Cirrus II which will be a more fair comparison to the current modern standard.

They have also recently begun retrofitting 777s with their new Aria Suites which should be quite nice, so I’ll look for those on a longhaul.