Tag: HKIA

On a whirlwind business trip to Shanghai and Hong Kong, I managed to spend some time at the very much acclaimed Cathay Pacific lounge at their home base – Hong Kong International Airport.

Cathay Pacific has a ridiculous number of lounges in HKIA itself – a grand total of six, of which two have dedicated first class lounges.

If you need a whirlwind introduction, Lounge Buddy has a handy guide here.

For this trip I went with The Wing, Cathay’s flagship lounge which was recently renovated. The double-storey lounge is located closest to the immigration counters, on the left right after immigration and security right across gate 2.

The lounge has two sections – one for business class and oneworld sapphire members, accessible through the entrance opposite gate 2, while the first class and oneworld emerald section can be accessed directly to the left once you clear immigration into the upper floor. For business class passengers this can be quite a walk (maybe five minutes), which was the case for me.

Upon approaching the lounge the façade looks very understated, but when you step into it, the feeling transforms. If it’s your first time into the lounge, be sure to head upstairs first if you want to hit the food directly, but if you want to have a shower stay down.

There are several zones in the lounge, so let’s tackle them one by one.

On the lower floor, there are the showers, and a smaller lounge with a self-service beverage bar.

I first headed to the showers to cool off before having my lunch on the upper floor. The walkway to the showers were mood-lit, leading you to an array of 24 private shower suites. There was hardly anyone taking a shower when I was there and I had plenty of rooms to choose from.

The shower layout were standard by airport showers, but very elegantly dressed. Cathay Pacific offers up Jurlique amenities in-flight for business class customers, so similarly the Jurlique products were used in the shower rooms too.

Unlike the Qantas lounge in Singapore, the towels are made available within the showers, and replaced after every passenger who uses a shower room. This is a lot handier than having to take one from the counter before showering.

The upper floor is where the fun is. Going up the stairs, the First Class lounge is on the right (which will be cordoned off anyway), but on the left is a myriad of zones with different offerings.

The Long Bar stretches across the entire first zone you see, overlooking the gates and the aircraft stands. Not to be confused with Singapore’s Raffles Long Bar, this sleek bar serves up an extensive list of spirits, wines, classic cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages. The only downside is the choice of draught beer – there was only Tsing Tao available.

The famed Noodle Bar is tucked right at the end, completed with long wooden benches and well padded stools.

On the menu was a selection of four made-to-order noodles and three baos (oriental buns) to choose from, and right beside the bar was a mini buffet of dim sum and other oriental treats, complete with a beverage bar where you can pick drinks, water and coffee from.

Adjacent to the Noodle Bar is the Coffee Loft, serving up barista-made coffee, along with an array of pastries and cakes to choose from. A little known secret is that this place also serves up Haagen-Dazs ice cream and the very local Hong Kong milk tea!

To sum it up: I love the lounge. the open top concept on the upper floor exudes a feeling of space and allowing plenty of light into the lounge during daytime, and the multi zone concept gives passengers a choice regardless of the time of the day they visit. Serving up hot favourites such as freshly cooked noodles, a comfort food for many Asians, is also a big plus point for me.

My only regret is the lack of time to spend in this lounge as the immigration lines were far longer than I planned for. The business class lounge is amply spacious, although there were quite a far number of passengers inside given its proximity to the immigration checkpoints.

If you have never been into a Cathay Pacific lounge at Hong Kong airport, this is definitely a good place to start with before checking out the other lounges offered by the airline.