Review: Sichuan Airlines Lounge Chengdu Airport

I booked a roundtrip in Sichuan Business for $1400 in Dec CAN-LAX, @Lucky, sent me a list of things I should bring onboard!

Amazing. They actually have foldable chairs that I assume they have to deploy every day.

That A/C just outside the lounge looks nasty

Yes, you are right. Required by boarder control. Seperate international outbound pax with domestic pax.

I head it is their temporary place waiting for the new lounge to be renovated.

The reason that the flight is so weird is following:
1. The flight departs from CTU and arrives at TNA, then continues to LAX. Hence, the segment from CTU to TNA is technically a "domestic flight"
2. However, the airline and the local authority wants to market the flight as a direct flight from CTU to LAX. And technically it is, just with a stop on the route. Hence, this is the reason why the flight is considered an international flight.
3. Another however, due to Chinese custom regulations, passengers must clear customs on their last stop leaving the country, which means passengers departing from CTU to LAX have to clear customs in TNA, which makes departure airport, CTU in a difficult situation. The airport has to put all passengers from CTU to LAX in an international departure area, and access to the area should not require passengers clearing customs in CTU (otherwise they would clear customs twice)
4. Thus, such a complicated nature of the flight makes it to depart from a sterile gate and it is much more difficult for airlines to build lounge facilities there due to the limited space (usually they are very small) and small number of flights (only these kinds of flights depart there).

If you fly from LAX to TNA then continue to CTU, you would find the system even weird. The airline wants to market is as a direct flight from LAX to CTU, but the custom regulations require passengers to clear customs in TNA. Passengers themselves clear border control in TNA. When arriving at CTU, those from LAX have to be bused to the international baggage claim area, claim their baggage, and then clear custom.

My personal preference is to avoid these fake direct flights at all cost. Transiting in PVG, PEK, CAN, etc is a much more pleasant experience than these *direct* flights.

Doesn't United fly CTU-SFO? How did they handle it at that airport? Same weird lounge setup?

@Jim For United CTU-SFO and Hainan's CTU-LAX it will be much better as it is a normal International Direct Flights so you can clear immigration and custom at CTU and have a proper International terminal/zone with lounges, restaurants and duty-free shops. It is the extra domestic stop that make this kind of flights so bizarre...

Hi Lucky,

I have booked FRA-CTU-SIN on Air China in business class early Jan. 3:15 layover in CTU. Is this lounge the same one we will have to use? Are there any shops, restrauants or other services in the international area at all?

You’ve got me worried enough to consider changing my flights...

@Summend ， you mixed up custom and immigration.

If you buy CTU-LAX, you luggage cleared custom but youself did not clear immigration.

@Andrew
You will be using normal international lounge.

This area is only for international departures marketed as direct flight but with domestic stopover.

I wonder why you have to go to that gate early--can you stay in the rest of the terminal and possibly use priority pass to access some other lounges, and only go to that gate at boarding?

@David Liu

Thanks for putting my mind at rest. Three hours in that lounge after a long-haul flight with a 6 month old baby and a 5 year old child would not be a pleasant experience...

Thank you for this report. I took this flight recently and took into consideration that I would not have access to the rest of the airport. When you clear security, it’s only to this one gate. So here’s my (unusual) suggestion: There’s a KFC directly across the first class check-in counter. If you arrive hungry, you can spend a fair amount of time there. From my experience, the airport restaurants outside the secure area are usually not crowded (its usually fairly empty at this location). And yes, I know its a terrible suggestion to say that you can pass the time at a KFC. But trust me, with this current system, you’ll have no better option. Its a far better experience that what Lucky went through.

Yes, I said it. Spending time at the KFC will be a better experience than waiting at the first class lounge. Indeed bizarre. :-/