- Introduction: Flying China’s Other 5-Star Airline
- Review: Four Points By Sheraton Seattle Airport South
- Review: The Club At SEA Seattle Airport
- Review: Xiamen Air Business Class 787 Seattle To Shenzhen
- Review: St. Regis Shenzhen
- Review: Shenzhen Airport Lounge
- Review: Xiamen Air First Class 787 Shenzhen To Seattle
I got to Shenzhen Airport at around 9:30AM for my 12:45PM flight to Seattle. I arrived extra early because I wanted to pay to upgrade to first class, which is offered on a first come first serve basis.
The Shenzhen Airport terminal exterior is super impressive. While a lot of major Chinese airports are impressive architecturally, this airport takes the cake.
Shenzhen Airport exterior
Shenzhen Airport exterior
The mesmerizing architecture continued inside — Shenzhen Airport has the most jaw-dropped terminal I’ve ever seen.
Shenzhen Airport check-in hall
Shenzhen Airport terminal
Shenzhen Airport terminal
Entering the airport was interesting, as everyone’s hands were swabbed (presumably for explosives). Basically there was one main entrance where passengers could enter a “holding pen.” Everyone’s hands were swabbed (a few dozen passengers at a time), and then once a check was run on the swabbing device, everyone was cleared.
Inside the terminal I was surprised by the number of police officers in golf carts. There seemed to be 4-6 armed officers per golf cart, and there were riot-style shields resting against the back of the golf carts. It was clear the carts didn’t actually drive around, but rather that they just stood there. The officers sitting in them looked super bored, and struggled to stay awake from the looks of it. There must have been a dozen of these golf carts throughout the check-in area. I’ve never seen anything like this at a Chinese airport, so does anyone know if Shenzhen Airport has a special security theater initiative, or…?
Shenzhen Airport police
Anyway, Xiamen Air’s check-in counter was located in row “E,” though upon arriving there I realized that check-in only opened at 9:45AM. So I roamed the terminal for a bit. A guy approached me and tried to sell me an iPhone. When I politely declined he walked away and then returned five minutes later and tried to sell it to me again at a lower price. I don’t think he understood that I didn’t need one.
Xiamen Air check-in Shenzhen Airport
Finally at 9:45AM check-in opened, and I was the first in line at the business class counter.
Xiamen Air check-in Shenzhen Airport
I wrote a separate post about my experience requesting a paid upgrade at the airport, which was quite an experience. Xiamen Air has a published upgrade program on a space available basis on the day of departure.
Xiamen Air upgrade process
If my experience is indicative of the normal procedure:
- Expect the check-in agents to be confused about the program at first
- Expect to have to go to the ticketing desk (rather than the check-in desk) to have the upgrade processed
- Expect for the process to take a while
- Expect that you’ll have to pay for the upgrade in cash (like, crisp bills, and not with a credit card)
I won’t talk more about the process here, though check out my previous post for more details. 30+ minutes and $450 later, I had a confirmed seat in first class.
Paid upgrade on Xiamen Air
The agent handed me my boarding pass and lounge invitation, and I guess that was slightly lost in translation, because when she handed me those things she said “here is your boarding pass and restroom invitation.” Hah!
At that point I headed towards departure immigration and security, both of which were painless despite there only being one line. Shenzhen Airport is so much more peaceful than Beijing Airport or Shanghai Airport, which I guess shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Within about 10 minutes I was through both immigration and security, and then I turned right and followed the signage towards gate 9, where my flight would be departing from.
Shenzhen Airport airside terminal
That was the first gate after entering the terminal and walking right, and the lounge I was entitled to use was located immediately across from it.
Shenzhen Airport airside terminal
Xiamen Air uses the Shenzhen Airport Joyee First & Business Class Lounge, which seems to be contracted out to many airlines. If you don’t have access to either of these on account of your boarding pass, there are a couple of Priority Pass options in Shenzen Airport, where a credit card with lounge access could help.
Shenzhen Airport First & Business Class Lounge exterior
Upon presenting my lounge invitation I was welcomed in and informed of the password for the Wi-Fi.
Inside the lounge and to the right were about two dozen leather chairs.
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge seating
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge seating
At the end of that room and to the left was another long room, with many more red chairs in a similar configuration.
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge seating
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge seating
While the furniture in the lounge was fine, it amazes me how consistently crappy lounges in China are, even in airports as nice as this one. You have a beautiful, spacious, open-air terminal, while this lounge has no natural light and feels like it was built as an afterthought.
The food selection was located near the entrance, and was spread across three counters.
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge food selection
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge food selection
There were instant noodles, dim sum, cereal, pastries, muffins, packaged snacks, whole fruit, toast, cookies, etc.
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge food selection
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge food selection
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge food selection
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge food selection
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge food selection
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge food selection
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge food selection
Then there were soft drinks, water, juice, etc. It’s entirely possible I missed something, but I didn’t see any alcohol.
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge drink selection
The lounge’s restroom was located back near the entrance and to the left, and was decent enough.
Shenzhen Airport Business Class Lounge bathroom
I had a seat in the lounge, and a couple of minutes later the attendant came up to me and invited me to the first class section of the lounge, apologizing that she hadn’t done so earlier. The entrance to the first class lounge was located just inside the entrance and to the right, with the entrance being between the buffet area and the seating in the business class lounge.
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge signage
In addition to the sign, there was a partition used to separate it from the rest of the lounge.
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge partition
While the business class lounge consisted of two long and narrow rooms, the first class lounge was basically one big square room.
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge seating
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge seating
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge seating
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge seating
Back near the entrance of the first class lounge were some booths, which had PCs.
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge seating
There was also a small snack selection in the first class lounge, though that was just a sub-set of the business class selection. This included cookies in a jar as well as some packaged snacks. There were also a couple of bottles of wine — perhaps that’s what makes the first class lounge unique?
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge snack selection
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge snack selection
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge snack selection
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge signage
Next to that was a display with magazines and newspapers.
Shenzhen Airport First Class Lounge magazines & newspapers
My one annoyance with the first class lounge was that there was a TV turned to a high volume. This is one of my biggest lounge pet peeves. It’s one thing if a lounge has a dedicated TV room, but otherwise TVs in lounges should always be on mute, in my opinion. What are the odds that a majority of the people in a lounge want to watch whatever is being shown?
The Wi-Fi in the lounge was reasonably functional, so I spent a bit of time getting caught up on work. Eventually a few other people joined me in the first class section.
I decided to head to the departure gate at 11:45AM, given that I was hoping to be among the first to board. As mentioned above, the departure gate was right across from the lounge.
Shenzhen Airport terminal
The Xiamen Air 787 was already at the gate, having just arrived from Xiamen.
Xiamen Air 787 Shenzhen Airport
Xiamen Air 787 Shenzhen Airport
While boarding was scheduled for 12:15PM, it actually started at 12PM. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to board, though. At Shenzhen Airport, Xiamen Air first boards the transit passengers who were coming from Xiamen, and then once all those passengers are accounted for they begin boarding passengers starting their journey in Shenzhen. The flight was fairly full, and about 80% of the passengers seemed to be coming from Xiamen.
Xiamen Air boarding gate Shenzhen Airport
Xiamen Air boarding gate Shenzhen Airport
Finally at around 12:20PM boarding began for passengers originating their travels in Shenzhen.
Shenzhen Airport Lounge bottom line
Shenzhen Airport as such is architecturally beautiful and easy to navigate, though the lounge left a bit to be desired. While it was fine compared to some other lounges I’ve visited in China, I thought the terminal was much nicer than the lounge itself. So if you’re just hoping to get work done then the lounge isn’t a bad place to kill some time, though otherwise I certainly wouldn’t arrive early to use it.
Perhaps the most “interesting” part of the airport experience was the process of upgrading to first class.
Speaking about impressive airport, Take a look at Ashgabat's airport. The Design Air did an article on this airport.
lol lounge is translated to "a place to rest" in Chinese so the check-in agent might have messed up. The increase in security was because of an incident in Shanghai/PVG where some said one guy threw an homemade explosives in a beer bottle becuase of the excessive delay while others said it was a pax playing fireworks.... Hope that you enjoyed Shenzhen! It's my home
The thing is that Shenzhen Airport has very few international flights every day, so if I remember it correctly, all airlines here don't provide a self-run international departure lounge and all use the contracted lounge provided by the airport. Since most international flights here are short-haul service (SZX-SEA and SZX-FRA are the two only trans-continent regular services, both of which were started less than half a year ago) and more than half of them don't...
The thing is that Shenzhen Airport has very few international flights every day, so if I remember it correctly, all airlines here don't provide a self-run international departure lounge and all use the contracted lounge provided by the airport. Since most international flights here are short-haul service (SZX-SEA and SZX-FRA are the two only trans-continent regular services, both of which were started less than half a year ago) and more than half of them don't even have business class (LCCs like AirAsia, Tigerair) so there are very few passenger in the lounge everyday (less than 40 per day I think) and the airport seems to have no incentive to upgrade the lounge. To give a fair critic I think you should try the Shenzhen Air Domestic lounge or CZ one just as Kalv mentioned above which should be more decent.
I didn't visit the lounge, but I agree: The Shenzhen airport is super-cool.
Thought I'd point out - "but otherwise TVs in lounges should always be on mute, in my opinion in my opinion" - an accidental copy, perhaps?
Nevertheless, good read! The airport is certainly so visually stunning.
The Shenzhen Airline Lounge at the Shenzhen Airport is much better though (the best in China imho, although its nowhere close to Cathay's). Give it a try if you have the opportunity next time =)
Barry - learn how to not be a douche.
Learn to edit. No one needs to see urinal photos
More about the terminal:
http://newatlas.com/fuksas-shenzhen-airport/30060/
"I guess that was slightly lost in translation, because when she handed me those things she said “here is your boarding pass and restroom invitation.” Hah!"
Probably still better than your Chinese, Ben :)
@Ben
China has been maximizing its security in response to the recent terrorist attacks in Europe, actually, they've been doing that for about 2 years already in several public venues(eg. Train stations)
Best,
Jack
Ha, I kind of understand why the agent said "restroom" - the Chinese word for "lounge" is "Xiu Xi Shi", which literally means "room for resting". Glad you enjoy Shenzhen Airport's interesting architecture!
Personally (not being an American), I find the agent's use of 'restroom' much more sensible than using it to mean toilet/lav/loo/bog - one actually goes there to rest, for a start!
Nice review! I love Shenzhen since I lived there for some years. the new airport looks really good, I always fly through HK though whenever visiting Shenzhen, so I haven't been there yet.
About the alcohol in the fridges, right fridge, left door. The grey cans look like Kingway beers, the green ones behind the right door seem to be Tsingtao beers.