Cathay Pacific Airways Reviews 726

Subject: Complaint Regarding Flight Disruption and Denied Mileage Credit – Cathay Pacific, September 20, 2025

My flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong was delayed due to mechanical issues, as confirmed by Cathay Pacific staff at the gate, the pilot during the flight, and rebooking agents in Hong Kong. This delay caused me to miss my connecting flight to Los Angeles and the rest of my itinerary. I was rebooked on alternate flights, including segments on United Airlines, which are outside the OneWorld Alliance.

As a result, I lost mileage credit and elite status progression with American Airlines, despite having booked the original itinerary through American Airlines and OneWorld partners. Cathay Pacific later denied my compensation request, falsely attributing the delay to weather. All through the process, representatives of Cathay Pacific told me they would take care of me by providing equal or better flight accommodations. What they provided was not equal to what I had booked. I would not recommend flying Cathay Pacific due to its poor treatment of its customers.

Poor service and overall experience with Cathay Pacific Airways! CX250 LHR to HKG was poor from start to finish! Food and drink service slow and ran out of wine! Worst of all the IFE TV didn’t work so a long 11.5 hour flight! Won’t use Cathay again but unfortunately I have 3 more sectors!

Huge inconvenience and rude staff
My flight was delayed and I missed the flight I didn’t get the hotel because I hold Nepalese passport and was offered lounge where there was no bed I didn’t sleep a minute and I’m boarding on 9hrs flight I asked staff to upgrade she was so rude she literally said no like literally just NO in a rude tone and asked me to leave from queue which I felt so disrespectful and disappointed with the airlines. I mean I said I will pay for the upgrade and she said NO. The night has been very traumatic for me my face is dropping off due to tiredness she has just shown the most inhumane behaviour.

I recently had a disappointing experience with Cathay Pacific due to incorrect information from their customer service. I had booked my Melbourne–Sydney–Hong Kong–Hyderabad flight directly on the official website. Before my trip, I called Cathay Pacific to confirm baggage transfer procedures since my first leg was operated by Qantas.

The representative told me that I would need to collect my luggage in Sydney, move from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1, and recheck it at the Cathay counter—which she said would close 1 hour before departure. She and her supervisor insisted there was no other option and advised me to change to an earlier flight at an extra cost of AUD $243.

On the day of travel, I discovered this information was completely incorrect. My luggage was checked through all the way to Hyderabad by Qantas, and Sydney Airport had an airside bus transfer system between terminals. Everything worked smoothly, and there was no need to change flights at all.

Because of this misinformation, I paid AUD $243 unnecessarily, had to take an earlier 6:45 a.m. flight instead of 8:10 a.m., and waited hours in Sydney for no reason. I’ve submitted a formal complaint and hope Cathay Pacific will review this matter fairly and issue a refund.

The in-flight service itself was excellent, but the customer service advice caused unnecessary stress and expense. I still believe Cathay Pacific can do better by training their support team to provide accurate information to passengers.

No means to check in online
NO HELP AVAILABLE AS INFORMED BY CATHAY PACIFIC AGENT to reset password.
In Japan so not password reset OTP sent to phone.
Great service in the air. Good luck trying to check in beforehand!

Business class. They emailed to say flights back to Australia from Spain cancelled. We thought it was a scam since no alternatives provided. But it was the HK typhoon of course. Then within a day another email saying they'd rebooked us on Qatar Business Class at no extra cost to us and no input needed from us. Brilliant.

Booked on a return flight, Manchester to Tokyo, via Hong Kong. Refused boarding because the onward flight from HK to Tokyo was grounded because of Typhoon Ragasa, but told they would organize an alternative flight home for us. Abandoned by staff at the airport, with zero support - finally we had to arrange our own return flight (and pay ourselves). The next day, we were offered an alternative flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo - impossible to take that because we were still in the UK! After a long-winded complaints procedure, where we carefully explained their mistake, we were refused compensation because "we had refused the alternative arrangements made". Cathay Pacific obviously didn't read our report carefully & we are still waiting for compensation. APPALLING customer support - stay away from this god-awful company.

Quite possibly the worst customer service you will ever experience. Long flight from London to Australia, the TV sound did not work. The inflight team had no other seats to offer in the same class and rather than offer a higher class, they refused to move me. So, we didn’t have use of the TV for the entire journey. Upon returning home, I was offered 12,000 Asia Miles compensation, equivalent to approx $60. We paid approx £3,000 for the ticket. On what planet is this fair and the fact there is no recourse, is perhaps the worst part.

I just spend a frustrating 3 days trying to use Cathay's WhatsApp channel to change to a cheaper flight. Because of this delay, I missed out on alternative flights that I could see online.

When I called their local number instead, it was all sorted within 15 minutes.

The WhatsApp staff seem really overwhelmed, and I feel for them. Their issue handling process has been badly set up by Cathay.

Every time they reply, my next request gets put at the back of the queue again. This is unusual, and makes it hard to resolve simple requests.

They seem unable to give specific information, or they can't do what I'm asking, but they also don't say that clearly, either. They just repeat a variation of their last comment. It feels very scripted.

They also did not direct me to more helpful contact channels, even though I asked.

However, although this delayed us by only 5 minutes, the issue was resolved by using the printer of another check in desk.

After going through the very long passport control, we arrived at gate B30 and shortly after we boarded our flights in groups via an airport shuttle bus.

The gate staff were professionally efficient and friendly as indeed, the air crew welcomed us on board as if we were family!

The airplane was spotlessly clean and well equipped as we took our seats 45A/B and C

The individual inflight entertainment system was excellent with a good choice of videos and music.

The pre-lunch drinks service was excellent with a plentiful selection of drinks including wine and liquors.

There was an issue with the dinner service as although there were 3 selections, one selection (Eggplants with potato in a tomato sauce) was unpopular.

This meant that by the time the trolley arrived at our seat row, this dish was all that was left to eat.

I complained about this to our server but of course, it was not her fault.

However, rather than simply paying me lip service, another dish (Tortalini) was brought to me from the business class.

Fortunately for me there was just one portion left and surprisingly, it was very nice.

My wife and Mother in Law ate the eggplant and potato dish and said that it was not very good but edible! Again, lucky me!

The rest of the flight went well although at one point there was a few minutes of severe turbulence but everybody was ok.

I must compliment the flight crew for their professionalism, their friendliness and caring manner.

In the past I have flown on Cathay Pacific Airlines many times and am impressed that they remain a world-class airline.

We travelled as a family of three with our 14 years old daughter. Cathay Pacific thought it appropriate to separate our party into 3 seats on each corner of the cabin.

We tried to ring customer service prior to the flight via phone and WhatsApp, they told us to the talk to the staff at the airport. The staff at the airport, told us to talk to the staff at the gate. The staff at the gate told us to talk to the staff on the plane. Ultimately, we managed to join 2 seats together and one of us sat on the other end of the cabin.

A really poor experience and not what we expected from what was once a premium airline.

Poor and disorganized service throughout, I prebooked a meal and paid for a ticket that would allow me to do that only to be told it's out of stock. Why are you even bothering to go through all of that trouble if youre not going to come through?

Stay away if you don’t want to ruin your holiday.
Cathay Pacific made a registration mistake on my flight and because of this, I was stopped by immigration and had to solve everything on my own.

During the whole process, there was no support at all from Cathay Pacific. The live chat kept disconnecting, and no representative offered help at the airport. I had to spend extra money and deal with all the consequences myself.

Later, after my formal complaint, the airline replied claiming that “thanks to the assistance of their staff” the issue was resolved - which is completely untrue, as no Cathay Pacific staff were present or helped me in any way.

Because of their mistake, I couldn’t use the next two tickets on my itinerary, and they didn’t even refund the taxes for the unused flights - not to mention any compensation or acknowledgment of their fault.

For an airline that positions itself as premium, this level of service and customer care is unacceptable. Even low-cost carriers take more responsibility and show more honesty.

Well Cathay Pacific. 554th review, you haven’t checked one. Tells me a lot. Obviously you’ve had so many great experiences. I’m an emerald member, for many many years. I’ve flown you once before, was a good experience and your lounges are fantastic. However….. the cancellation of our flight due to upcoming typhoon ragasa, you didn’t have a clue what the hell you were doing. Not only do I have proof and screenshots of how bad you are, and proof your phone lines shut down so you cannot get through to anyone. You then hang up on people on the only known way of contact - the online chat. The watsapp is useless, still not response some 9 days later (on two phone contacts). Yes typhoons happen sadly. Yes, it means flights cancelled and you have to deal with it but… that is your job. To not be able to contact anyone for 12 hours after not only manage my booking didn’t work, no phone line, watsapp not working, your email saying cancellation and what to do telling me how everything was fine ‘definitely wasn’t as didn’t work.
Karen and Madhura (all screenshots of the chat taken) utterly useless, so bad, what is the point of you employing them. Jason, the only person who assisted, and managed to refund me. Honestly, I think you need to look at yourselves. I work for a major insurance company, and will joyfully share the pathetic, hopeless, careless assistance you showed, who should realise, maybe being an airline is not what you should be. I for one will never even garner looking at flying with you even if the only alternative. I will send a complaint, with all proof. I will also send to one world, with all screenshots too. The stress and the anxiety you caused me and my partner was unacceptable beyond comprehension. As I say, I’m sure there have been many more good experiences than bad, I’m not blind, but this was horrific, and be ashamed. Pathetic.

Warning: Avoid Flying with Cathay Pacific
This airline served me moldy, expired food. When I complained, they dismissed it, saying their caterer followed “stringent hygiene standards,” essentially implying the customer was lying. I ended up traveling with stomach pain and no food OR drink for 20 hours.

Inflight Experience Case #04610518

Absolute garbage airline and lying customer service. There are so many instances to list I'll just pick a few: all within the same return flight:
- Flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong was delayed over an hour due to a broken coffee machine. Yes, that was the actual reason given. This resulted in a very nearly missed connection, only saved from my family's athleticism in the airport sprint in Hong Kong.
- Flight returning from Hong Kong to Vancouver - incoming flight was delayed by 3 hours. No reason given. We inevitably missed our connection in Vancouver. The way they handled it was atrocious. They split us up (a family of 3 with a young child and my wife that doesn't speak English) so that one "batch" would fly on a later flight that same evening, and the other "batch" would stay overnight in Vancouver and fly onwards the next day. They booked us a hotel and said, and I quote, "all of your additional expenses will be covered; just contact Customer Service after your flight". That's good, because due to extra taxi rides and food and lost time at work, that's hundreds of dollars of compensation. But guess what? Low and behold, they rejected our compensation claim and said it was "because of weather delays and therefore outside of their control and not covered in their compensation policy". That's an interesting lie, but I guess that means their compensation policy is very inconsistent - I mean, they paid for our hotel, right? So I guess it's more like "everything is up to our discretion, and our discretion is that we will never compensate you except in instances where we are legally obligated to". And that weather story was an absolute fabrication - I checked that flight and there were no weather-related issues at along the route of the incoming flight. They are liars from start to finish.
- They also damaged one of our bags. We didn't realize this until about 10 days after arriving, and guess how long you have to claim baggage damage? 7 days. That's fantastic. I'm not that bothered because I'm sure they would have just found another lie to get out of compensating us anyway. Maybe the fake weather disruption damaged the bag?

The worst flight and travel experience of my life - DO NOT book with Cathay or have a layover in Hong Kong. Booked what was supposed to be a 14 hour flight total including a 2 hour layover and then Cathay cancelling and rebooking my flight for one that had a 13 hour layover! This turned into an over 24 hour flight!!!! I did not approve this booking and was notified the day of; I tried to change this since the reschedule stated a free flight change option that was supposed to be included. I was traveling abroad so phone calls could not be made directly with my US number - I tried to request a different booking but was told in person at the airport and online that this alternative was the ONLY option I had. To make matters worse, the layover didn't arrive in Hong Kong until 1 am so all lounges were closed; our next best option was to try and get a hotel (which Cathay also didn't try to offer) but all hotels are over a 30 min taxi ride from the airport. The one that was attached was completely full. We had no choice but to sleep on the airport floor with hundreds of others. Hong Kong is also NOT overnight layover friendly; extremely rude and unhelpful staff plus literally no comfortable options to set up camp other than maybe the floor. HKG airport also makes it a point to announce things almost every hour so you literally can't try to sleep. Cathay didn't even attempt to offer alternatives (not even food vouchers) to make up for the extreme layover delay. I had to request a food voucher only for it to be denied at a restaurant because they said they've never seen food vouchers before. Boarding process for both flights were EXTREMELY disorganized. They didn't go by boarding group even though people were assigned one and they even set up signs based on boarding group BUT STILL did not go in order, it was like a huge free for all line. They also changed my PREPAID seat reservations to seats that I specifically tried to avoid (they sat me directly next to the bathroom and a seat with a wall behind it) - cherry on top, my seat was broken so I couldn't even recline it a little. Mind you this is a 11.5 hour flight after I just had a 5 hour flight PLUS the 13 hour airport delay until the connecting flight. I originally paid for extra leg room as well! Cathay doesn't offer free wifi no matter how long your flight is so be prepared to pay for that too. In flight service was also horrible, staff doesn't even try to put passengers in check who are out of line or rude. Overall, the experience was the worst I have ever had - I felt like they intentionally make things difficult or hard to find so they can avoid any accountability. DO NOT fly with them or book with them EVER. Heads up that customer service is also horrible, I get a response back every 5-6 hours from their chat via WhatsApp and if you get someone on the phone they will try to deny you a refund for anything (literally anything small like even a prepaid seat reservation even though they ended up cancelling my flight and picking one for me so the reservation was essentially pointless. Refund exceptions are clearly stated on their website and they still refused to refund me and acknowledge they were clearly at fault).

We were cramped into very tight Seats for a 10,5 hour flight. Even Ryanair had better Seats in a 2 hour flight. After departure we were served not so nice food. After that we were forced to put the blinds down alltough it was ONLY 14.30. Afterwards I realiseerde that they asked it bedause the crew didn’t want to be bothered during the flight. I did’nt see them anymore untill breakfast An hour before landing… rush rush…. I never was so thirsty and hungry on a flight. My body ached for three days afterwards due to the bad seats… for me never again….

Cathay Pacific will abandon you if they cancel your flight. My wife and I were scheduled to fly from Hong Kong to Rome in business class on September 25, 2025. Unfortunately, our flight was canceled due to adverse weather, and we were rebooked for October 4, 2025—nine days later—despite my repeated discussions with customer service about needing to reach Rome by September 29 for an Iceland trip.
This situation was further exacerbated by several factors:
• I proactively contacted customer service right after learning about the weather forecast, hoping to reschedule. They assured me I would be "protected" by a "protect flight" that would be the nearest available option, even if it involved transferring or flying with another airline. I was shocked when they rescheduled me for October 4; apparently, nine days is considered a short timeframe for Cathay Pacific.
• Given our numerous prepaid hotels and activities in Italy and Iceland, the new flight simply didn’t work for us. I made about ten calls over 48 hours leading up to our departure, but they completely ignored my needs, repeatedly stating that all flights were full and there was nothing they could do. I inquired about other airlines, reasoning that as a global aviation hub, Hong Kong should have available flights, especially after spending HK$88,370 (US$11,330) for our tickets. I even researched 3-4 alternative routes with airlines like Singapore Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, Sichuan Airlines, China Airlines etc. that could get us to Rome before September 29. I was willing to cover any additional transfer costs for these alternatives, but Cathay Pacific rejected all my suggestions, claiming they lacked commercial agreements with those airlines. Ironically, they could not clarify what agreements they did have for flights to Europe.
• Ultimately, they suggested I cancel my entire ticket and rebook, which was a huge, costly inconvenience: flights booked within 24 hours of departure are extremely expensive, and I also had to cancel my return leg from Amsterdam, which is absolutely absurd given that it was Cathay whom canceled my first leg.
• This experience highlighted two critical issues: first, their customer service seems to provide half-truths to get you off the line, passing you to another agent as the situation spirals out of control. Second, the term “protect flight” is a misnomer; I felt anything but protected.
As a result, I had to spend approximately HK$120,000 (US$15,380) to secure new flights to Rome on September 25, 2025, while waiting for a refund from Cathay Pacific. This amount is 36% more than our original ticket price, a burden we unnecessarily incurred due to their gross negligence and poor management. This adds to the time and emotional toll of countless stressful calls, each one feeling like I was pleading my case to a brick wall. As a Marco Polo Gold member (OneWorld Sapphire), I expected much better. The behavior of this flagship airline in a world city is truly shameful.