My take outs from this incident are that the deploying of the slide seems to me to hint at a level of panic (provided it remains the case that it was not ordered by the pilots) and that overall Cathay is not the airline that for many years was my primary carrier. Along with the war on staff and several people I know who have left the airline through that and the tensions with China, we have decided to continue avoiding this once much loved airline and HKG even as a transit point. Others have business and family links that will draw them back, but not sure we will get back to Cathay for a lone time if ever.