I have not used these before but apart from Air India and Turkish airlines both Royal Jordanian and Cathay Pacific are coming up cheapest for a UK -BKK return flight..

Are Royal Jordanian and Cathay Pacific airlines any good? They are coming in at £540 (ish) return with good stopover times.

Or would I be better off using Emirates / Oman Air type companies?

Appreciate any feedback.

Is Cathay any good is rather like asking do Porsche make nice cars!

if the timings work I would jump at it, and while Royal Jordanian are decent they are not in the same league.

The routing is via HKG, probably one of the world's more civilised airports, so what is there not to like?

Cathay are an airline with a very good reputation but right now there are loads of complaints about the new seats that they have installed in economy and 12 hours is a long time to be in a bad seat.

Edited January 14, 201214 yr by RabC

Is Cathay any good is rather like asking do Porsche make nice cars!

if the timings work I would jump at it, and while Royal Jordanian are decent they are not in the same league.

The routing is via HKG, probably one of the world's more civilised airports, so what is there not to like?

Cathay are an airline with a very good reputation but right now there are loads of complaints about the new seats that they have installed in economy and 12 hours is a long time to be in a bad seat.

Thanks for the quick replies.

Never having used either before I had no real idea about them. Oman Air, Emirates, Etihad have all been good but their prices seem at lot higher at present.

Yes, via HKG. And good to know CP are a good airline.

Yet to be traveling in economy and to have bad seats does not sound too good. I'll have to look into that a bit more.

Cathay have an excellent reputation, Emirates are good too, the others are cheap for a reason. £540 Cathay jump aboard quick!

Is Cathay any good is rather like asking do Porsche make nice cars!

if the timings work I would jump at it, and while Royal Jordanian are decent they are not in the same league.

The routing is via HKG, probably one of the world's more civilised airports, so what is there not to like?

Cathay are an airline with a very good reputation but right now there are loads of complaints about the new seats that they have installed in economy and 12 hours is a long time to be in a bad seat.

Thanks for the quick replies.

Never having used either before I had no real idea about them. Oman Air, Emirates, Etihad have all been good but their prices seem at lot higher at present.

Yes, via HKG. And good to know CP are a good airline.

Yet to be traveling in economy and to have bad seats does not sound too good. I'll have to look into that a bit more.

Dingo

Have a look here for latest passenger reviews of airlines: http://www.airlinequality.com/

Cathay are an airline with a very good reputation but right now there are loads of complaints about the new seats that they have installed in economy and 12 hours is a long time to be in a bad seat.

And their business class seats, often referred to as 'coffin class", is not something I want to spend 12 hours in either. "Good reputation" is one thing, but for a long haul flight of 12 hours, I think seat comfort is the most important criterion.

B.A. is doing a special at the moment £659 inc for a one year so a shorter one would be cheaper. Not bad for a direct flight.

Edited January 15, 201214 yr by fredob43

Cathay are an airline with a very good reputation but right now there are loads of complaints about the new seats that they have installed in economy and 12 hours is a long time to be in a bad seat.

And their business class seats, often referred to as 'coffin class", is not something I want to spend 12 hours in either. "Good reputation" is one thing, but for a long haul flight of 12 hours, I think seat comfort is the most important criterion.

I actually enjoy the privacy of the new Coffin Class, it also means I know why my ticket is C class.......

CX shell seats are HORRIBLE-read the reviews from airline equality, thank goodness they are in the midst of changing them but who knows if you will be lucky and get a normal seat.

RJ reviews are fairly decent but some flights from Amman to LHR are narrow body.

Thanks guys for the input. It is good to have people around with this sort of information that you might stumble upon by accident or a lot of hours surfing the web.

Yes, a long flight in bad seats gives cause for concern and with having a bad back to begin with I do not want to exacerbate that.

I am glad I am looking in advance for flights. I may have to be a bit more flexible in my time spent back in the UK but with a combination of factors like visa, the Olympics and also the summer holidays looming I want to make sure I am out of the UK well before then. Back to the searching for me. At least I have time.

I flew Royal Jordanian in Y last year. The seats are fine....for long stopovers at Amman they bus you to a hotel for a few hours and provide food.

Overall I would happily use them again.

As for Cathay Pacific I found them inconsistent, also why would you want to fly all the way to Hong Kong and then back to Bangkok? Don't make sense.

Qatar are an airline that do some decent fares and aren't too bad service wise if you don't mind transiting through DOH (not my favourite airport). TG are bloody expensive compared to their rivals on all long haul flights but I do use them when cashing in my air miles as I make allot of short haul flights with them and can't fault their service. BA is my carrier of choice simply because I prefer the direct flight & BA009/BA010's schedules suit me down to the ground, & it's the air miles thing again as I do allot of travelling in Europe using London as my base.

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can you link to cathay at £540 ish

As for Cathay Pacific I found them inconsistent, also why would you want to fly all the way to Hong Kong and then back to Bangkok? Don't make sense.

HKG-LHR goes via China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Estonia and Denmark to LHR. (see link below)

The route makes more geographical sense than it might seem thanks to the Great Circle Route.

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=hkg-lhr

As for Cathay Pacific I found them inconsistent, also why would you want to fly all the way to Hong Kong and then back to Bangkok? Don't make sense.

HKG-LHR goes via China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Estonia and Denmark to LHR. (see link below)

The route makes more geographical sense than it might seem thanks to the Great Circle Route.

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=hkg-lhr

It still takes hours longer than flying direct.

I've flown on CP's new seats and I found them ok. Mid you I do have short legs so I'm not fussed about pitch too much. They're built inside a fixed shell so that when you recline the seat slides forward and the back slides down into the shell. I must admit I was expecting CP to be much better than they turned out to be and I thought HK airport was large, bleak and depressing.

Is Cathay any good is rather like asking do Porsche make nice cars!

if the timings work I would jump at it, and while Royal Jordanian are decent they are not in the same league.

The routing is via HKG, probably one of the world's more civilised airports, so what is there not to like?

+1

Cathay are an airline with a very good reputation but right now there are loads of complaints about the new seats that they have installed in economy and 12 hours is a long time to be in a bad seat.

This, depending on the aircraft model and configuration of seating.

Only about one half of the CP fleet have this new installed "questionable" seating throughout economy.

Cathay are an airline with a very good reputation but right now there are loads of complaints about the new seats that they have installed in economy and 12 hours is a long time to be in a bad seat.

This, depending on the aircraft model and configuration of seating.

Only about one half of the CP fleet have this new installed "questionable" seating throughout economy.

I wouldn't trust this airline to fly me from HGK-BKK never mind long haul. Expect a couldn't care less approach.

can you link to cathay at £540 ish

Qatar @ £496

http://www.wefly.co.uk/travelreq.php?6021838e-4026-11e1-b8be-b8ac6f12e7e3

CP @ £553

http://www.kayak.co.uk/#flights/LON-BKK/2012-06-19/2012-12-05

Searched through Kayak Flights.

Note These are June 2012 - Dec 5th 2012

Cathay is okay i think ,never try Jordanian though.

I have flown on Cathay several times. For me there is no such thing as a comfortable airline seat, so the Cathay seats were not much different than other economy seats. I did like the fact that the person in front could not recline and force my knees into my chest. I found the service to be very good. I will fly them again.

I don't know why HK airport is considered one of the best. It is basically a shopping center with an airport attached. It will take you at least 20 minutes once you have passed security to get to your gate.

Flown both a lot on short hops from HK to BKK, and Cathay back to the UK. Both are very good and can not fault them. The Jordanian one is amusing though because you get very very blatant sky cops on there. On one occasion I was the only person in Business class, and flirting outrageously with the two stunning trolly dollies. That got stopped when these two guys came in, bored, took off their jackets with their holstered sky gun things in their holsters and lounged around behind me. B*stards.;