Duringmy Aria Suite Adventure to Hong Kong, I had an extended layover at London Heathrow Terminal 3, as I was arriving inBritish Airways business class, and connecting toCathay Pacific business class. After checking out the Qantas Lounge, my next stop was the Cathay Pacific Lounge.
Continue reading: Review: Cathay Pacific Business Lounge London Heathrow Airport (LHR)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
That's an absolutely beautiful lounge. Honestly, I can't see too much difference from The Pier. Maybe you don't have a few items on the food and drink menu that you'd get flying F through HKG. But ze ambience and the furnishings look very similar.
I am super excited to see the renovations to The Wing and what they do there, since the whole white marble and burgundy leather look was getting a dated. If it's in the direction of The Pier and outstation lounges, it's gonna be pretty awesome.
Anyways, this is a standard-bearer for business class.
The difference in lounge decor, staffing, and general level of elegance seems to be something that is so different by airline. I wonder, does it happen (in the good way) because someone in the executive team or someone who is an institutional "steward" who makes the look, feel, and operation of the lounge system their passion and ensures it keeps on being operated the "proper" way?
Versus at some other airlines, someone comes in with a concept, then drops it on the floor and assumes it gets done but doesn't linger to make sure it does? And then the lounge is a sad barely-maintained, outsourced-to-whatever-local-labor-can-be-scrounged, cost center?
Sometimes you can tell when a place is really looked after with hour-by-hour consideration versus just left on autopilot, so to say.
Spent a few hours at the CX First Class lounge on Sunday.
I really enjoyed the shower, the water pressure and temperature were excellent.
And the views are avgeek-friendly.
@Eric Schmidt - I watched a documentary a while back on Cathay Pacific's team when designing the updated logo and livery, as well as the overall updates to the brand. You could clearly see the passion in the eyes and from the words of the director of that project, especially as he explained the thought process of designing and creating the new brand updates. I believe that passion and commitment to the brand and product is from the company culture, and/or the airline hires directors/managers/executives who have that passion and level of commitment and attention to detail.
Either way, I believe it is part of something bigger in the company than just the person who oversees the lounges.
Cathay has consistently great lounges. However a lot of that has to do with their locations.
The SFO Cathay lounge is arguably the worst one because it's based in the US. Compared to cities/countries that actually care about service, like HKG/SIN/BKK, where they can provide proper service.
JB - A slightly different take:
Airlines that truly care about the concept and value of lounges most often engage a series of external contractors to realise their 'corporate' vision.
- DESIGN / IMAGE: Cathay LHR (among other destinations) designed, outfitted and furnished by Ilse Crawford from Studiolise (London).
- Qantas regularly uses Woods Baggot (SYD) for the same design functions
- AIRLINE F&B (food and beverage): concepts usually designed / curated by the particular airline's celebrity chefs, with knowledge of the local markets and their cultural reach / requirements.
- SERVICE / STAFF: are often contracted to major (significant) hotel groups ie. QF outsourced the 'operation' of it's SYD First Class Lounge to the Sofitel Group (part of Accor) on a multi-year contract. This ensures that quality service reflecting the airline's image is a necessary, measurable and critical element of their appeal.
You will generally find that in the above situations, there will be only 1 or 2 senior (airline) staff managers to ensure consistency of experience in each lounge - and they provide regular feedback on suggested improvements, renewal of of worn / damaged items for replacement and maintenance issues. They also evaluate contractor performance on a 'live' basis while acting as the airline liaison point between the airline and contractor(s).
Other airline groups - where lounge facilities are less 'desirable' or more ordinary in scope / offering - are often directly run by their own airline staff staff. But eventually, they learn the lesson and value of running an sub-optimal operation vs improving appeal. Points in case would be the old DL Crown Room at FRA, BA's woeful TXL lounge in Berlin and some of the SkyTeam out-station lounges recently reviewed (a few months ago) by Ben. This is why we are seeing the 3 major alliances stepping up their game. Of course, 'budget' is always a significant determinant too.
So, while airline execs may have the original 'vision', putting it in place and gaining accolades for superiority, is determined more by how *well* those execs actually execute it.
Please note: the post above SHOULD have been posted as a reply to the SANTOS / JB post above (which was the reply' location clicked on).
Not sure how it ended up in it's current location. Apologies.
A great lounge, except when infested with obese Trumptards flying back to their pariah state.
I hope they restrict entry to those flying on American.
@Ben or anyone, how do they manage/monitor the shared bathrooms, especially if they're in the main corridor? I've been to lounges where reception handled showers for the F/J lounges. IIRC, those lounges had dedicated toilets for each section, so there was no overlap on that end. Curious how they prevent J pax from entering the F section. Is there a 2nd F-only reception between the bathrooms/showers and the F lounge?
Sorry if I'm asking the obvious, but: is it ok to get into this lounge when flying BA Short-Haul from T3? When flying to Lyon I was always ashamed to check out the CX/QF lounges in T3 as I would imagine they'd tell me "use the BA lounge instead". Anyone?
How sad for BA that there are so many airlines with outstation lounges at LHR that are either better (Cathay, Qantas, Singapore, maybe even UA) or just as good (Air Canada) than their own lounges.
If you are flying on any Oneworld flight out of LHR, you should have access to this lounge if you are in a premium cabin and/or have status with Oneworld.
I should have been here a couple of weeks ago... But the Elizabeth Line broke on me and forced me to get to Heathrow so late I had to go straight to the gate. The sense of FOMO is so real now.
I'm visiting LHR next week in T5 and have 3 1/2 hours. Is it reasonable to expect terminal change to take 30min? Is there a risk they refuse me at T3 security due to T5 flight?
You will not be allowed to pass T3 security with a T5 boarding pass.
Terminal change also takes minimum 90 minutes.
Having been through this lounge in last couple of weeks I have to agree with everything in the review - great lounge.
And I did eat at the noodle bar where made to order and was excellent!
You can actually switch terminals once airside, tried it multiple times in the past year. Just be persistent and mention you’d like to visit the lounges. A 3 hour connection on the other hand is tight. If you know where to go, 30 minutes to switch terminals is doable.
Thanks a lot! If I can stay airside for this I will probably take the risk and try.
You absolutely can access any OW lounge in T3, infact it’s a right of passage to do a “wine flight” in each one.
Can't wait to see this one and compare this w/ the Cathay First. Looks fabulous!
You do realize that's Rothschild toiletries. Lady Bamford is part of the big R family - the ones responsible for the whole Ukraine mess. Look up the saga over the Rothschild's Yukos shares which Putin nationalized back in the early 2000s (Jacob Rothschild was about to be appointed chairman). This marked the transition from western investment in Russian energy projects, to a more adversarial stance aimed at breaking up Russia. And yes, that means the hand behind the curtain of your neo-cons is the Rothschild family, still going strong after 200 years, although perhaps losing their grip now, thanks to the opposing hidden hand behind Trump which seems way better organized this time round.
Denied entry today as a OWE because of capacity. Wasn’t even allowed in the biz lounge. First time that’s ever happened