My mom landed from Tampa around noon, and I landed from Seattle a few minutes after that. This left us a comfortable connection for our 3:30PM flight to Hong Kong. Once we both arrived we headed over to terminal five, where Cathay Pacific departs from. I sure do wish they’d just leave from American’s terminal,…
Continue reading: Review: SAS Lounge Chicago
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Ben- When does the Swiss lounge open? It is still listed on the Cathay website as an option for Chicago.
I had the same problem at SFO- the BA lounge almost wouldn't let me in at a time they were nearly empty, even though I had a CX F ticket (and thus OW F lounge privileges).
(BA's lounge is a lot closer to the CX SFO gates than the CX lounge.)
When my family of 4 checked in for our ORD-HKG flight in CX first class this summer, an agent personally escorted us past the long T5 line for ID check, then walked us through a special security line. Essentially, we only stopped moving for TSA to look at passports and to take our shoes off for security.
She then deposited us in the Swiss lounge.
So to be fair - the CX experience at ORD begins at their check-in counter, for sure!
@ John -- Seems they haven't updated the site yet. I'm not sure when it opens, but it's definitely not before the Cathay Pacific flight.
@ matt -- Yeah, realized after the fact that they do offer an escort through security, which is a nice feature. That being said since security lines were short that wasn't really a big deal.
I wish more lounges had desktop computers, sometimes I just want the convenience of a full size office desk setup.
On at least the days when Swiss operates LX2609 departing ORD for ZRH at 2:40pm, the Swiss lounge is open early. However, be warned that the Swiss lounge is very small and reaches capacity quickly; I saw several non-Swiss passengers being told by the lounge guard to go to the SAS lounge.
One thing to note is that the SAS lounge doesn't have restrooms. In addition, Although wifi is available with a code, the SAS lounge uses a Scandanvian VPN or something so things like HBOgo or any uS streaming service doesn't work. On the upside, you get Scandanvian ads.
Fdw
@ FlyingDoctorWu -- Whoops, totally forgot about the lack of restrooms. Will update the post to reflect that.
Can't wait for the Bali-KL flight on mH review, assuming you did the 738 one and had a similar experience as I did, I'm sure it will be a hilarious read.
@ Andrew -- Hah, I actually did the 777 from Bali to KL. Was entertaining as well. 😀
My favorite thing at T5 is Rick Bayless restaurant, Frontera grill. I quite enjoy some very nice Mexican food before jetting off! Much better than spending time in any lounge at T5.
FDW
I flew the same route earlier this year for Chinese New Year and used the Swiss Lounge instead and it is nicer. Better food and drinks selection. They do separate first vs business class customers.
Fortunately it now seems starting on Oct 1st, the CX flight will be using the British Airways lounge! Perhaps they'll push the "CX exclusive" food trolley down to the BA lounge now. 🙂 Wondering if they'll allow the CX F access to the BA First Lounge or just the BA Terraces?
@ TrAAveller -- That's good news. I assume first class passengers will get access to the first class lounge since it really isn't anything special.
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