Review: Cathay Pacific Arrivals Lounge Hong Kong Airport

Cathay Pacific operates an arrivals lounge in HKG for first and business class passengers. Is it worth the diversion?

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Touring Cathay Pacific’s HKG Lounges
Cathay Pacific A350 Business Class HKG-SIN


I had prioritized sleep over food on my DEL-HKG flight, and was starving upon arrival in Hong Kong. Fortunately, Cathay Pacific operates an arrivals lounge in HKG for arriving first and business class passengers.

Unlike some arrivals lounges that close in the early afternoon, this lounge is open pretty much round the clock. It operates from 5am to 12am, meaning that it’s not so much targeted at businessmen who want to grab breakfast and a shower before heading straight to meetings, but the general traveler.

The lounges are only open to CX passengers- oneworld F or J passengers are not welcome. Given the small size of the facility (we’ll get to that in a minute) I can see why.

The Arrival, as it’s ingeniously named, is not tough to find. It’s very near the entrance to the Airport Express actually- once you exit the secure area, look for the terminal connector between T1 and T2. The Arrival is in the underground passage connecting the two.

The Arrival map

The first order of business was to get a shower, because that’s the core value proposition of these things. There are about 12 shower cubicles available, and I can imagine the place getting crowded first thing on a weekday morning when many long haul flights get in. Fortunately, it was the weekend and there was no wait.

The shower cubicles are definitely on the small side, and you need to request for further amenities like a toothbrush or shaving kit.  But otherwise they have all the essentials you’d expect.

There were two sets of toiletries-  the ones on the countertop were Jurlique-branded, with purifying mist, foaming cleanser and hand lotion.

Interestingly enough, the ones in the shower came from a generic pump dispenser.

The shower itself was fine- hot water, good pressure. But given the smallness of the shower room the whole place heats up pretty fast, and any items you have near the shower will probably get wet too.

After showering I hungrily wandered up to the buffet to see what was on offer.

Where’s the rest of the buffet, you ask? That’s it. One single table top.  Don’t come hungry.

There were only two food warmers with three options inside- the Asian option of rice cakes

Or the Western option of scrambled eggs with chicken sausage.

There were juices, fruit and yogurt

Together with cereals and bread.

That was it. Needless to say, it’s a far cry from the veritable bounty at the American Airlines arrivals lounge in LHR. That had a full spread of English breakfast items, plus a cooked to order menu of eggs benedict, waffles, pancakes. Heck, that lounge even had mini Moet bottles.

The Arrival is a really small facility, all things considered. You can see it getting crowded during peak periods. That’s why the lounge staff are quite insistent that all large bags get checked at the coat check area- you certainly don’t want them clogging up what limited space there is.

There are a couple of computers with printing capability.

And Mac computers too if you want to feel fancy.

And that’s all there is to it. There’s really no incentive to hang around longer than you have to. From the way the Cathay website describes the lounge, you’d think it were some sort of Shangri-la, but in reality it’s just a very functional space to catch your breath before you head out again.

It does appear that the arrivals lounge has been the victim of some cutbacks at Cathay, because based on previous reports there used to be an ala carte menu that you could order from, but that’s since gone away.

I mean, say what you will about it but it’s still more than what SQ offers in Singapore.

Off to the W Hong Kong!

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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lifeonthego_k

Doesn’t seem that great a lounge then. Their lounges in the departure area are of course epic. Btw, OneWorld Emerald members flying CX or dragon air also have access, regardless of class flown.

Frida

Guys, this arrival lounge will be permanently closed and will have no replacement for it. To join the petition to save it, please click below link. Lets help to keep this shower space after long flight before meeting!

https://chn.ge/2uQoORp

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