It’s August and our Italian holiday has started. The lovely people at Cathay Pacific are transporting us from a cold and dark New Zealand to a warm inviting Italy. The flight was broken up by a 4 hour layover in Hong Kong which meant an 11 hour first leg skirting around Australia and then north over the Philipines and a 12 hour second leg across Asia and Europe.

There is no feeling quite like waking up to a sunrise over Kazakhstan as your plane zigzags between war zones.

This trip we flew Cathay Pacific. They are a great airline and their Premium Economy product is pretty good. For us the added legroom is the key attraction but priority boarding and an upgraded food offering is nothing to sneeze at.

But we still rate Emirates as having the best Premium Economy product in our experience. It just feels special and is more “business lite” rather than Cathay’s “economy plus”.

One more thing that Cathay does right is the electronic check in and automated baggage process at Auckland Airport. It is brilliant and removes all the queuing and angst of the traditional approach – plus they have enough helpers working the kiosks to make sure everyone who needs a bit of help gets it.