Cathay Pacific releases "CX Mobile" Android app

Travellers with Cathay Pacific who are also in the rapidly growing pool of people using Google Android-based smartphones now have their own app.

The app is available through Google Market on Android handsets, or you can check it out online here.

It's a bit of a one-trick pony -- it provides a front-end to Cathay Pacific's existing WAP-style mobile website.

However, it does have a wealth of information tucked away in the "city guides" option -- more on that later.

The main menu is a straightforward list of options. Unfortunately, there's no option to book flights, as seems to be the case with most major airline smartphone apps at the moment.

For that, the best option is still to turn to Kayak for Android, Orbitz for Android or simply through the non-mobile version of the Cathay Pacific website, given how good the browser on Android phones is.

(It should be pointed out that Singapore Airlines has managed to produce a mobile app that allows booking of flights, though when we tested it, we didn't find it particularly easy to use, so perhaps that's a nut still waiting to be cracked by airlines generally.)

You can, however, check-in for your flight via the app -- which essentially just links you to the existing online check-in functionality on the Cathay Pacific mobile website. We were unable to test it as we didn't have a CX flight booked.

You can also get arrival and departure times, and flight schedules.

The real value in the app, though, is in the City Guides section, which has concise city guides sourced from Lonely Planet for all major world cities.

The functionality is great for travellers doing frequent city-hopping and wanting the potted version of what they need to know rather than having to read through a lengthy guide each time.

The unique feature of the app is the Cathay Pacific crew tips, with lots of great on-the-ground tips from flight crew and airline staff in each city.

There's also a guide to Cathay's numerous lounges in Hong Kong airport (though we'd like to have seen a worldwide guide to all Cathay lounges, not just the home ones).

And finally, there's a section outlining all the new features in Cathay Pacific's new business class. Of course, for more comprehensive info of the seats and what's new, you should check out our full review article.

If you're carrying an iPhone or iPad, there's also a CX Mobile app for iOS with similar functionality.

danwarne