Cathay pacific no seat assign

by Gary Leff on March 9, 2014

Cathay Pacific is strange (though not unique among Asian airlines, see also ‘Asiana’) in blocking many of the seats in their first class cabin.

With only 6 seats in their first class cabin on the 777 though that can be frustrating. It makes it tough to assign seats together (as if such a thing exists on this aircraft) when traveling together.

In addition, Cathay Pacific will only assign seats 6 months in advance on its website, through airline partners, or if you call the US call center.

But you can assign any seats you wish if you call Hong Kong. And they will do so more than 6 months in advance.

That’s useful for getting first class seats together, or getting your preferred first class seats.

It’s also useful as a business class passenger, because on a 777 offering first class (4 class 777, “77H”) what you want is the forward mini cabin — rows 11 and 12, and really row 11. (The middle seats if traveling as a couple, the window seats if traveling solo.)

It’s a little more complicated picking seats for first class.

I explained this back in September but having just walked through the process again I thought I’d share my experience, in part as catharsis because of the long telephone hold times involved.

Traveling together most passengers want seats 1A and 2A — these seats on the left hand side of the aircraft are ‘separated’ from the rest of the cabin, because seats 1D and 2D open towards the right window seats on the left hand side of the cabin.
Some people like seats 1D and 1K, or even 2D and 2K, when traveling together because the seats open up towards each other.
Of course first class on Cathay Pacific is not like on other airlines, there really are not ‘couples’ seats. Airlines that have 4 seats across often have 2 together in the middle, you can often put up dividers but these are couples seats. Cathay has the most separation between seats, even though they’re not suites with doors, and you cannot see your traveling companion when you’re both seated.

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