A Pillow Fight in First Class

Cathay Pacific Airways is joining the airborne bed battle this month, installing fully reclining sleeper seats in first-class cabins on its nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Hong Kong--matching United Airlines, which has similar seats on the route.

By April 30, Cathay’s daily nighttime flights on the route will have the seats, said spokesman Gus Whitcomb. They will be added to the three-times-a-week daytime flights by summer’s end. The new seats on the Boeing 747-400 recline into full-length, 25-inch-wide beds. Passengers get pajamas, duvets, pillows and privacy screens that can be raised to create a mini-bedroom. Also new is a 10.4-inch personal TV with nine TV channels and a choice of 30 movies.

When upright, the pitch of the first-class seats (distance between seat backs) is 79 inches versus 50 inches in business and 32 to 34 inches in coach, Whitcomb said. Scrunched coach fliers can take comfort in paying about one-ninth as much: $977 for restricted advance purchase round trips for a typical midweek May day versus $8,697 for first class.