PASSENGERS boarding a plane are familiar with the configuration - first class at the front, business class in the middle, and economy at the back.
But this layout is relatively recent. Neither has it always been easy to watch films, or have seats like upmarket hotel beds.
Fifteen years ago, first-class travellers could expect as many unscheduled surprises as those in economy endure today.
There were no state-of-the art 747-400 planes then. In the mid-1970s, Cathay Pacific used second-hand Boeing 707s, and the first of the Tristars arrived in 1975, before 747s came on stream in 1979.
It was not until 1980 that Cathay Pacific introduced its business class, one of the first airlines in Asia to do so, said Stewart John, Cathay's engineering director.
He remembered the introduction of first class in 1977, with seats that had ''relatively generous leg room, reasonable recline and no leg support''.