Is Cathay Pacific First Class Losing Its Touch?

I actually don’t think the falling standard of Cathay Pacific First Class has anything to do with the mistake fares. Ultimately, there are only a small amount of passengers who purchased the mistake fares. Trust me CX will not honor all these fares if there are a huge amount of people, who bought this fare. Cathay Pacific is already under some financial pressure prior to the mistake fare and I will blame their management especially their ill-planned fuel hedge. Shortly before Covid-19, CX has made an attempt to update its first class service again, but god knows what it will be like on post-Covid-19. I flew the new CX first class service once but it was clear that it was just a very basica update. It did not address the new trends of offering on demand meal services and the food is basically the same but now served in new chinaware and glassware. The only saving grace is that there are no additional cuts, likes its so-called new business class service. First class is basically on its way out and Covid-19 may actually speed up its process. Sadly Cathay Pacific has passed its heydays and its decline will continue, unless a new management is willing to step in. Cathay Pacific first class most importantly needs a new seat. Then CX catering needs a radical change. The amenity kits need to be better and the BAMFORD amenity kits are just not premium enough. The only thing that they should not change is the PYE pajama and slippers. Nonetheless, no one knows what the new post-Covid-19 world will be like. Hopefully you can get in the air soon and reviews on the post-Covid-19 first class travel.

I still think CX should have not honored the mistake fare.
I really don’t think they gained anything by honoring it: There is 0% chance that those who jumped on the deal are ever going to purchase a normal revenue first class ticket on CX, so it’s not like a short-term revenue loss (swallowing the mistake fare cost) is going to result in any long-term revenue gain.
If anything happened as a result of honoring the mistake fare, it resulted in lower quality of the overall experience as you precisely described in your post, and I fear CX reduced the budget for first class, both onboard and in the lounges, to compensate for the mistake fare cost.
Just for the records I am not blaming anyone for jumping on the mistake fare and taking advantage of it…I just don’t understand the economics behind CX’s decision that is now affecting people who actually purchase regular first class revenue tickets on CX.
I know one person who does buy CX first class tickets a couple of times every year (technically his company pays but..) but this year he started giving his money to another airline instead after the mistake fare fiasco.
He also feels CX’s first class experience is not as nice after it happened.